He is a perfect example of the kind of Catholic he seeks to criticise. ‘Rigid… this or nothing’ Catholics are ‘heretical’ and ‘not Catholic’ is a very rigid 'this or nothing' statement.
Isn't that just one of the many ills that has afflicted the Church? The Mass is not a show; the celebrant is not the headline act; and the homily is not about entertaining an audience. Cult of the personality has found its way into Christ's Church and we can't blame Pope Francis for that. I cheered when Pope Francis said early in his papacy that the Church is not just another NGO. Now, what I'm seeing is the Pope behaving like the head of just another NGO who says all the right things to all the right people, embracing any influential secularist and making sure to not step on the toes of the rich and famous while using the Gospel to undermine and even condemn faithful Catholics who have long been the whipping boys of the elite whose egos he massages - all in the name of Jesus Christ. Preaching Christ's love is good. Giving the impression that Jesus would have given a different teaching on marriage had He lived in our time is not good. There are times when Pope Francis starts out by reiterating what has always been Church teaching and then proceeds to use language that can very easily be interpreted as a contradiction of Church teaching. Here's an interview with the Pope's new Nuncio to the USA. At about 6 minutes into the interview, the Nuncio talks about Pope Francis and it all sounds good to me. By the 9th minute I was getting the impression that when the Nuncio talks about "rediscovering our faith" he means reinventing the faith. He says that very often we form our ideas first and then try to fit the Gospel to our ideas. Isn't that what the Pope is doing in Amoris Laetitia regarding "irregular situations" and Communion?
Thank you for posting this video. From listening to him, I can see why Francis chose him. He is a true believer who is in love with Jesus.
I understand that when the Holy Father was a religious superior with the Jesuits they had to send him into exile for a period because of difficuties with his people handling skills. This problem appears to still be in action. A kind of sudden rage and rigid intolerance with those who question him. Troubling. I would have thought by this stage he might have been far beyond all this, seemingly not. 'A titanic struggle for the soul of Catholicism ensued. Bergoglio had strong support within the Jesuits when he became provincial superior in 1973. But by the time he ended his leadership role as rector of Buenos Aires’s Jesuit seminary in 1986, those who loathed him had begun to outnumber those who loved him. By 1990, his support within the order had been eroded by his authoritarian style and his incorrigible inability, in the words of the Jesuit, Father Frank Brennan, “to let go the reins of office once a [Jesuit] provincial of a different hue was in the saddle.” Another senior Jesuit told me: “He drove people really crazy with his insistence that only he knew the right way to do things. Finally the other Jesuits said: ‘Enough.’”' http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/08/pope-francis-cordoba-exile-humble/402032/ 'By the time he was sent into exile, according to one senior Jesuit in Rome, around two-thirds of Argentina’s Jesuits had lost patience with him. In his first interview after becoming pope, Francis attributed this dynamic to his own “style of government as a Jesuit at the beginning. ... I found myself provincial when I was still very young. I was only 36 years old. That was crazy.” As a young priest in powerful leadership positions, Bergoglio did not have the maturity he needed to cope with the competing pressures of Jesuit factions, the Vatican, and a ruthless military dictatorship. In response to these cleavages within the Argentine Jesuit community, Jesuit leaders in Rome eventually decided to strip Bergoglio, then 50, of all responsibility. In 1990, he was sent to Cordoba to live in the Jesuit residence, pray, and work on his doctoral thesis. But he was not permitted to say Mass in public in the Jesuit church. He could only go there to hear confessions. He was not allowed to make phone calls without permission. His letters were controlled. His supporters were told not to contact him. The ostracism from his peers was to be complete.'
Such a fate within the Jesuit order might very well be praiseworthy. Perhaps not in this case, it seems. He seems to have been demoted upwards for the remainder of his career. Now a man who could not lead a province of an order is leader of the entire Church of this world.
Unquestionably. It is worth copying some more paragraphs from the article padraig posted: “Cordoba was, for Bergoglio, a place of humility and humiliation,” said Father Guillermo Marco, who was later Bergoglio’s right-hand man on public affairs in the diocese of Buenos Aires. There seems to have been more to this than learning from experience. Francis later admitted to having made “hundreds of errors” in his time as leader of Argentina’s Jesuits. Cordoba was, he revealed in his first interview as pope, “a time of great interior crisis.” In 1992, when Bergoglio returned to Buenos Aires as auxiliary bishop, he had totally remodeled his approach to being a leader. His style became delegatory and participative. And his manner was distinctly different. He developed what became one of his best-known habits: ending all encounters by asking the other person to pray for him. It has become clear that the pope’s gestures are not spontaneous, but are planned to set out what is in effect the program of his papacy. For the new Bergoglio, humility was more like an intellectual stance than a personal temperament—a tool he developed in his struggle against what he had learned were the weaknesses in his own personality, with its rigid, authoritarian, and egotistical streaks. In Cordoba, Bergoglio had had two long years to reflect on his divisive leadership of the Jesuits in Argentina, and on what he had done wrong or inadequately during the Dirty War.
You are so right Dolours. I have always disliked bullies, and the pope is surely one of them. Quite simply put, he seems to have lost his faith in the truth that the catholic faith holds. Charlie Johnston is dead right, the pope is going to make a big mistake and we are in the middle of it.
Perhaps you might explain how the recent sermon displays his epiphany of participativeness and humility and rejection of divisive leadership and authoritarianism? Are there examples of his asking those Catholics with the temerity to believe the Catholic Faith, whom he has dismissed as heretics (if they're not the target, who is?), to pray for him?
I have known people in my life who have had the widespread reputation of being saints and very humble and meek persons. However when I have lived with them I have found very often that there was a snake of pride under the stone. Mouth open and ready to bite. I remember one such man , a Franciscan priest ,who it was widely rumoured had frequent apparitions of the Virgin Mary and a really great reputation for saintliness. However the cook told me how difficult he was to cook for. The eggs had to be boiled for just so long for breakfast, just so much salt to season his food, the meat had to be cooked just so, the list was endless. This burst my bubble. The greatest testimony to St Padre Pio I ever heard came from a fellow Capuchin Friar who commented that he had met many friars who had lived with Padre Pio in San Gionvanni and not one ever had the least bad word to say of him, that they wre all in awe of him. Just as no man is a hero to his butler, no religious tends to be a saint to his fellows who live with him/her. I would tend to look to those who actually lived alongside Pope Francis. My own impression of the Holy Father is, if I were a Cardinal or Bishop in the Vatican and I had a critique of the Pontiff I would be very much inclined to keep it to myself, if I valued my career and well being. Perhaps I am wrong in this, but that is the strong impresion I get, that he is a gentleman not to be crossed on any account. That people are treading very,very lightly. I might myself if I were in that position.. I may be wrong in this but that is my strong impression. http://aleteia.org/2016/06/08/watch-rare-footage-of-a-day-in-the-life-of-padre-pio/
You're welcome David. The Nuncio certainly appears to be a man after the Pope's heart. He talks the same talk and I expect will walk the same walk. Humble? I'm not so sure. In my experience, "humble" is not a word the truly humble use to describe themselves. Sometimes, in fact more often than not, it is an adopted persona used to disguise passive aggressive traits.
Which corresponds very closely to Vallela's account. "Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble, And perfect in every way...". Who was that, TR Dallas, wasn't it?
TR Dallas, now there's a blast from the past. The Nuncio quotes Pope Benedict. That's a sign to me that US Bishops who aren't sufficiently "merciful" will need to watch their backs.
Exactly. That is why the pope sacked Cardinal Burke before he got a chance to question him. Pope Francis is beginning to remind me more and more of President Obama.
Brian, Whatever happened to "who am I to judge?" I feel like my faith is under attack again, this time from the pope!
And despite all this, perhaps because of all this, Jesus has him as His representative and our pope. I find the gulf of understanding and acceptance and approval that exists between my mind and heart and some on this forum to be unconscionable. I have never found found him confusing or heretical. I am neither a fool nor a fanatic. I am no saint but I think Pope Francis has this potential in abundance. The burden he bears is immense. One of the grounds for canonisation is the example of heroic virtue. He shows this every day in his discipline and in his duty. The sooner the Warning comes to correct our consciences the better. May God lighten his load and brighten his road. Amen.
I hope you are right Joe. I heard a priest a while back in Church during a sermon describing Pope Francis as the greatest Pope who ever lived. I hope he is right too. I never wished more in my life that I might be wrong. I've been wrong about a billion, billion times in my life and I'll probably be wrong a billion more times before I leave this world, so it wouldn't surpise me I got it totally wrong on this too. Though I have to say by this stage of the game , through banging my nose against brick walls a right few times I think I've become a pretty good judge of character and I do doubt I am wrong about this, but I certainly hope so. Actually the Holy Father reminds me of my boss in work at the moment . She has just arranged a promotion for me to get rid of me , to send me to another hospital. But I won't go into that. She can't take the least criticism either and laps up any kind of flattery like a Cheshire Cat, she not so much likes to be liked as likes to be adored. I think she is horrified that I don't hand her any you're wonderful and allways rights bullshit. I can see how Cardinal Burke ended up way out there in the the middle of nowhere on the island of Malta, he strikes me as the kinda guy tells it like it is , no bullshit , too. Me , 'I'll probably end up working in a hospital in Tibet somewhere. Promoted , but in Tibet. That's the way they work things. She must be the Holy Father's aunt or something.
You describe my feelings precisely, Joe. We have been given such a special man as our leader and guide and to read the endless criticisms is difficult to take. But I gain strength from seeing his determination to do what is right regardless of the critics.
Hi Padraig. I am not so concerned about being wrong as being hypocritical. Sometimes (often) I feel I am presenting a better picture of myself than I really am. I just hope this does not cause others to feel bad by comparison. I don't really know about the true state of Pope Francis' heart and mind and soul. I only trust the impression I have and that impression is one of goodness. I do have a much better idea about my state and it leaves much to be desired. So when I receive my education in the Warning I sincerely hope I have the humility to receive it graciously and gratefully and humbly. Some say I am a sensitive soul. I think touchy would be more accurate. Like your boss I hate criticism. I don't know if I am getting any better with that. If it wasn't for people we'd all be saints. I know I respond well to affirmation which is different to flattery. There is something in scripture about the joy of a sage in an attentive ear. I know that with me this joy can border on, and sometimes become, an ego trip. The great thing about the morning offering is that I know Jesus knows me through and through and that my 'Gift' of myself for the day will be full of dents and cracks and scuff marks and thoroughly unpresentable. Yet he will look upon it with kindness and mercy and only with justice when it needs that glance. As I have quoted before from Fr Bob "God does not make junk but He does collect it." I am glad to be part of His collection and I know that every day, despite my impatience and intolerance and self pity and pride and selfishness and self centredness he lovingly restores me bit by bit. As they used to say in Scotland "It's a sair fecht." But it's fair and good. It is right and fitting. May His will be done. May the potter fashion me according to His Hand. May He prune and hone to His Heart's content. May He soften what is hard and warm what is cold. May He bend what is rigid and 'rege quod est devium". May He keep us going til His work is done and present us to Our Eternal Father in accordance with His prayer "Be Ye perfect even as your Heavenly Father is perfect." Then we will be pleasing in the sight of God.
If you believe that Our Lord delegates obedient automatons as 'His representative', how do you explain the likes of the Borgia popes and quite a few others who were less than paragons of sanctity? St. Peter was privileged to know Him in the Flesh and to hear His Words and see His Deeds, yet still repeatedly betrayed Him. Are some of the byes that are being given and allowances being made running the risk of blind and heretical papolatory? Were the writers of the Gospels unconscionable to record the failings of Peter? I have repeatedly asserted that Pope Francis has not preached heresy (thankfully), but if you consider he is not confusing I'm sure everyone on here will be grateful as you clear things up.
