I think they used the Amazon to highlight environmentalism. Some governments and their puppet NGOs probably saw it as an opportunity to push their strategic interests. The tribal people were just props. I know he's a bit of a hypocrite, but I do believe that Pope Francis cares about the indigenous people. He really believes that climate changes will see vast numbers of poor people displaced. That's probably one of the reasons he's big into the open borders agenda. Unfortunately, too many people who don't care about their temporal or spiritual well being seem to have the ear of the Pope. I think the wooden idol was a tool used to give the Pope the impression that conversions are happening. I'm not convinced that there really are tribes who have never had some kind of interaction with people from the developed regions. Remember that video of the supposedly newly discovered tribe where the tribesman was running through the forest carrying a machete.
It is so strange. Scripture underlines again and again and again the importance of taking care of the poor, the widow and the orphan, the stranger in a strange Land. Jesus Mary and Joseph were ordinary working class folks and ended up refugees. I am working class myself and come from a working class family, just like the Holy Family. I can see the long lines at the Food Banks and how ordinary people are struggling at the moment ; even with cold and hunger. I love the way St James in scripture thunders at the unjust rich who oppress the poor; a theme echoed time and time in Scripture. Yet looking around me I am always bewildered to see the very people I would most like to support and vote for, champion causes like the murder of the unborn and promotion of gross immorality and crime of every type. It leaves me feeling a little bit orphaned myself at times. It is as if their waters had become poisoned and the very waters I would love to drink at would lead to me and others being poisoned. Catholic Social Teaching is so very different from Marxism and Socialism and Progressive Liberalism. It finds its roots in simple kindness and love for others. Not forcing others to do what we consider to be right , more doing ourselves in what is right in being charitable and loving and kind to others, this rather than a Dictatorial Government which we treat as some kind of fix it all God. I notice in life of the Venerable Anna Maria Tiaggi that she had a wonderful way with all this. She had plenty of chances to get large amounts of money and security for both herself and her family. She preferred to rely totally on the Providence of God. Being very poor herself and with a very large family, still she went out of her way to help those even poorer than herself. But I do feel orphaned that the very people I would like to support I cannot. That the Wells of our Political Life have become so polluted. I also notice a huge hypocrisy in all this. That very often the people who champion, or claim to champion the poor are filthy rich themselves and show no signs of becoming less so from helping others. I thank God that circumstances have led me to live a very simple life. As did my parents and grandparents before me. More and more as I grow older I grow to consider that a simple working life, like that of the Holy Family , is the Golden Road.
Yes. On every point. This cognitive dissonance is here in the US too. Those who claim to champion the poor do not really deliver thd goods so to speak. And they push hard for death on every side. Euthanasia and abortion--even infanticide. They promote the culture of death. They have indeed drunk from poisoned wells. I have no political home. The Republicans are as compromised as the Dems--many at least. So many Catholics vote Democrat and support the legality of the abortion because poor women need this apparently. Catholics I know say this! God's Holy Word on the subject counts for nothing. The Marxist infiltration has done a superb job of undoing Catholic faith and identity in two generations. Shaking my head.
Whoever says he is without sin is a liar or is blind. Sometimes we are saddened by the weight of our sins. May we not be discouraged. Christ has come to lift this burden and give us peace. Let us not close our hearts, let us not lose confidence, let us never give up: there are no situations which God cannot change, there is no sin which he cannot forgive if only we open ourselves to him. Being Christian is not just obeying orders but means being in Christ, thinking like him, acting like him, loving like him; it means letting him take possession of our life and change it, transform it, and free it from the darkness of evil and sin. ... Let us show the joy of being children of God, the freedom that living in Christ gives us which is true freedom, the freedom that saves us from the slavery of evil, of sin and of death! The Church is the home that accepts everyone and refuses no one ... the greater the sin, the greater the love that the Church should show towards those who convert.
Thanks PNF for that information which has been very educational. That does change my thinking alright. I note that Wikipedia says the following regarding Pachamama: "Due to religious syncretism, the figure of the Virgin Mary was associated with that of the Pachamama for many of the indigenous people." The reference paper is in Spanish but it does seem that the pachamama has indeed been co-opted to be a representation of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. However, in your first web link (fli.org.au site) it says the following: "Various experts have used the children’s bodies to study aspects of biology and anthropology; they unanimously identified Pachamama as the intended recipient of the Capacocha sacrifice.”[1] In the [1] reference (a PLOS ONE paper) I found the following: "The expedition recovered the preserved bodies of two young children (a 7 year-old boy and a 6-year old girl) and one 15-year old adolescent girl known as “the Maiden”. The three children had been sacrificed to Pachamama, the earth goddess, in the ritual of Capacocha [17], [18], [19]." I give the individual references for sake of completeness: 17.Ceruti MC (2003) Llullaillaco: Sacrificios y Ofrendas en un Santuario Inca de Alta Montaña. Salta: EUCASA. 18.Reinhard J (2005) The Ice Maiden: Inca Mummies, Mountain Gods, and Sacred Sites in the Andes. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. 19.Wilson AS,Taylor T,Ceruti MC,Chavez JA,Reinhard J,et al. (2007) Stable isotope and DNA evidence for ritual sequences in Inca child sacrifice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104: 16456–16461.
Thanks Garabandal, That's a forthright view. In view of PNF's information and the association between pachamama and child-sacrifice it is most probably the most adroit and correct policy on the issue of pachamama. I do recognise the limitations of my original pitch on the bringing of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. By that I have in mind the current praxis in the Church, e.g., the Argentinian Bishop (somebody mentioned his name recently) who declared that he had never baptised any indigenous people in his many years of ministry. I am thinking also of our Holy Father's recent signing of a document deprecating proselytism and religious coercion. It does seem to disregard Our Lord's words, "Go and baptise all nations". Some years ago I either read or saw a video where it was reported that St.Teresa of Calcutta (Kolkata) was asked about her policy on converting (or baptising) people of other faiths. It troubled me to hear of her response. She said that she would not try to convert people of other faiths. That when she was with a Muslim person, she wanted them to be a good Muslim. When with a Hindu, a good Hindu etc. Can this be true? I hope I am not misrepresenting her. I will be judged on every word that comes out of my mouth. I asked a Carmelite about this. She was not bothered by it. She said that one cannot convert a hungry person. You must first look after people's basic needs. And since St. Teresa was with the poorest of the poor maybe that was the correct approach. It reminds me of what Our Lady of Garabandal said to Conchita: "First you must lead good lives... so that you do not come to Heaven with empty hands". However, She also said after that, I think, "you must visit the Blessed Sacrament more often.... Less and less importance is being given to it". Forgive me but I am paraphrasing within these quotes, but that is the gist of what she said.
Proof that the economy of Pope Francis is based on flawed principles. He is simply is out of his depths when it comes to understanding economics. Yet he is being hailed as some kind of economic guru by the media. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatic...sco-global-movement-ethical-young-people.html
Bishop Schneider says some really radical things here I’ve never heard him or any other bishop or cardinal say before regarding this papacy. Please, if you haven’t watched or listened to this yet, take a moment to do so!
Brian, Can you please highlight what you are referring to. I watched the video and I’m sure that I didn’t pickup all of the details that you have. Thank you. I did find this, https://gloria.tv/post/cokfUDjh44oq3yEhc4PYBmkdM
Pardon me if this has already been posted. I just saw this this morning and it is not a good sign for what is going to come out of the vatican next. What needs to happen if a Pope resigns?
Agree, Brian. He spells it out. Straight up. Cardinal Mueller did as well on World Over. I think our prelates with courage are finally saying g " a line has been crossed" and are alerting the faithful.
I was thinking about Bishop Schneider and him saying that it would be right to disobey the Pope if he ordered a shut down on the Traditional Mass. Firstly let me say I have a huge , huge respect for the Bishop and consider him something of a learned saint. Nevertheless if the Pope through our local Bishop shut down our local Traditional Church I would obey this. It would cause me great pain, I would regard it as wrong, very, very wrong. Nevertheless the Pope is the Pope and I do think he has the authority still to do so. I may be mistaken in this, but my conscience simply would trouble me too much. I would not be happy or comfortable with this. Bishop Schneider may very well be right. He is a very,very Holy and learned man. But we all at the end of the day must follow our consciences. Obedience is a really big deal for Catholics. My big example for all this would be Padre Pio who was always, always obedient. I would not choose to criticise others like Bishop Schneider who walk a different path. Nevertheless their path would not be mine in this grave matter.
Many of us would not only disagree with you on this, we would insist your position is gravely erroneous and based on a fundamental ultra montane misunderstanding of the papacy itself, Padraig. No, the pope does not have the “authority” to do this. It’s part of Tradition, a part he can organically change incrementally but not wholesale abrogate and replace. You have a leftover sense of “obedience” in this situation, left over from your time in religious life that, while laudable, is simply mistaken.
“… the Holy See is now occupied, to some extent, occupied by forces which are damaging the Faith - evidently undermining the Faith - [an] occupied city. But it is a temporal phenomenon…supernaturally we have to look at the Church in the hands of … Christ…the boat cannot sink even in the greatest tempest…” “…we need to pray for him. We need to love him, maybe more because he is in a pitiable situation. What he has to answer for before the judgement of God. Imagine! It is frightening for what he has to answer for, leaving such chaos in the Church, confusion.” “…even when, in some case where we have to say, ‘We cannot obey now, to the pope, he did these commands or orders which are evidently undermining the Faith, or taking away the treasure of the Liturgy, which is the treasure of the church, - not of him - of the Fathers, of our Saints, so we have the right to this.’ And then in this case, even if we disobey, we will obey the entire history of the church, of all times. And we will even do this with such an apparently formal disobedience and honor to the Holy See, that we will have kept the treasure of the Liturgy, which is a treasure of the Holy See, but temporarily limited …by those who currently hold office…all this is for the Honor of the Holy See and the pope.” “This is a true rare case in the entire history of the Church where…our current doctrinal moral crisis…is a crisis in the papacy…which occurred rarely in the doctrinal aspect of the 2000 year history of the church…but the confusing of Doctrine is more grievous than a pope living his personal life immorally. It is doing greater harm because it is undermining the foundations of the Faith itself.”
Let's say Padraig that your local parish in Clonard took a heretical position and you knew their Masses were no longer valid. But the traditional Latin mass at the institution of Christ the King was valid but forbidden. Leaves us in a precarious position about receiving the Eucharist. Much to pray about. P.S. I don't believe the Pope has the power to abrogate the traditional Mass because he favours the Novus Ordo. That is an abuse of power. Likewise he could not abrogate individual confession because he believed that general public confession was superior.
You know years and years ago when I was very young I went through all this before. At that time we used to have the Mass of the Pope Pius x Society in our house (Archbishop Lefevbre..who I also consider to have been something of a saint). Anyway the Pope of the time clamped down (rightly or wrongly) and I went to my parents and told them it was time to stop the Mass. My parents for whatever reason , were inclined to listen to me and the mass stopped. Anyway it is a good rule of thumb in Discernment when you are in a very difficult moral decision to listen to your heart. If your heart has chosen wisely it should be full of joy and peace and inner certainty. I can only say my own heart is buzzing away peacefully about this. On the other hand when you listen to other people it is so important to listen to, not only what folks are saying but what they are not saying. I was watching both Bishop Schneider and Mother Miriam when they were saying that disobedience to the Pope is right and the strong impression I get is that they do not share this inner peace and certitude. That their hearts were not buzzing away. But that in fact they were both deeply, deeply uneasy. Anyway they may be right and I wrong, but we can, all of us only listen to the inner leading of grace.
