https://catholicherald.co.uk/clash-of-the-prefects-an-olympian-struggle-between-two-opposed-theological-visions/ Cardinal Gerhard Müller: “…Blessings for homosexual couples would, in Müller’s view, cross the doctrinal Rubicon and undermine the position of the reigning pontiff. “To bless the immoral behavior of persons of the same or opposite sex is a direct contradiction of God’s Word and will; it is a gravely sinful blasphemy,” he said. Were the Synod to approve blessings for homosexual couples, “every ecclesiastical official would have lost his authority and no Catholic would be obliged any longer to religiously obey a heretical or schismatic bishop”.”
I have looked in the past on Prophecies on the Great Pope but they don't get that specific in a way that would describe him. No idea what country he might be from, his race, his age , his background. But he will be quite extraordinary. They say he will be so holy he will pretty well convert the world on his own. Which may be an exaggeration, but that's what they say.
I suppose they cannot describe the Great Pope because he must be hidden. If they could track and trace him he'd be dead before he even got started,the same with the Great Monarch.
To me these are waffle words from the Vatican. What do they MEAN??? Let your yes be yes and your no be no.....
If it will make you feel better you can send me to punctuation jail. For the record I have not, nor will I ever deviate from the Truth. I know in my heart when the Truth is being distorted. I will never abandon Christ. I will continue to pray for the Pope's conversion as I always have, but in good conscience I cannot condone any statements coming from him that intentionally cause confusion and distress among the Faithful. A good shepherd would never allow this to happen to his flock. Jesus never clouded the Truth when He spoke, or left anyone guessing. The 10 Commandments were never open to interpretation. Homosexual blessings are a dangerous and slippery slope, it will not end well because it is not God's plan for us. We can only pray that Our Lord will intervene and fend off the wolves who are prowling about our Holy Catholic Church.
Excellent post Clare. You say so well what my jumbled thoughts are sorting out since yesterday. Point by point you cover it.
I gave up trying to understand what these people say a long , long time ago. If what they said was of good intent it would be plain and simple to understand. I don't think a super computer could make any sense of them.
There’s a point that needs to be made. Many good faithful Catholic commentators insist we cannot question the validity of this papacy according to the dictates of the Faith. Then they close their remarks by saying they continue to pray for the conversion of this pope. Do they fail to see the contradiction in their words? According to Saints and Doctors of the Church, a pope MUST be Catholic. If we’re praying for the conversion of a pope, we’re saying he is NOT Catholic but needs to convert to it. Implicit in praying for a pope’s conversion is the admission he is not Catholic - and therefore not pope.
Well said. A False Shepherd is not a Shepherd, how could he be? It's a contradiction in terms. Like saying evil could be good. It's a logical impossibility. An evil Pope who undermines the Faith would at once cease to be Pope and if it were his intention to do so could never have been Pope in the first place. It would be like saying black could be white at one and the same time. It is a contradiction in terms. Isaiah 5:5
There were evil Pope's in the past, of course there were. But none of them were actively working to destroy the Faith. They only cared about themselves and making good. None of them were intent on destroying the Church and building a false one. We are in a whole new ball game here. An historical first.
My head is spinning, please bear with me Brian I am honestly trying very hard to sort this out. We have a bad pope on our hands. If PF was once a Catholic in good standing but he went off the rails, would we not pray for his conversion back to the Faith? I understand that there is much controversy surrounding his election, and it is a given that corruption within the Vatican runs deep. Even though the possibility exists that he was not validly elected, it is highly unlikely that we will receive any official decision on this on our lifetime. What can else can we do but to live the Truth and pray?
The thought occurred to me that we ought to pray for his conversion just as we ought to pray for anyone’s conversion. I agree with your post. My head is spinning as well.
Please don’t misunderstand, my comment wasn’t directed to your post, but the comments of well known Catholic commentators, even trads, who say out of one side of their mouth we absolutely cannot question whether Bergoglio’s papacy is valid, yet know he is a heretic in that they are praying for his conversion, from obvious heresy into Catholicism, out the other side of their mouth. (We only hope he is not in apostasy, not heresy. Only God can know that.) I DO believe we will see this resolved within five to ten years, or less, which IS within the lifetimes of many here. God will not permit His Bride, the Church, to remain sullied like this for long. Until then, we just need to stay faithful confessed committed Catholics. We don’t need to wear any other labels than faithful Catholic, regardless of what we believe about this papacy - or anti papacy. Canonized Saints have supported anti popes, while at the same time other canonized Saints supported the valid pope. Let’s not be hard on ourselves or each other for being in one camp or the other.
I am an expert ONLY on my own (not so humble) opinion. That opinion carries no weight whatsoever. I have no credentials or education to offer anything more than a lay person’s opinion. So even though I tend to defend my opinion quite strongly, I am often just plain wrong, and my opinions in this thread could be way out of bounds.
Everyone is given a blessing at the end of every Mass. Every priest and deacon can bless anyone on request already without reference to their spiritual situation or seeking their superior's permission and so Francis is clearly talking about some other situation than a simple blessing of an individual and, to me this is obviously one in which a priest might legitimately refuse or might need a superior's permission. What other interpretation can there be other than that he is talking about knowingly blessing couples in sinful relationships and so treating their relationship as in some way or to some extent acceptable to the Church and to God?
