My friend told me of a wonderful miracle that happened to him many years ago. His father had died and he wasn't moving on. His Doctor recommended a Counsellor, but instead he went off on his own to London to get his head showered . He used to pass a Bar every night but never went in , though he felt an urge to do so Finally he went in. The barman was a Catholic Charismatic who prayed over him when the bar was closed because he felt he needed help. He told him his father had just died and his dead uncle was with him. He named their names, he said they were both happy but his dead father said that my friend was becoming to involved in other family members troubles and that he needed to let go his grief. This was a great turning point for the better in his life
MATTHEW 7: 22-23 22 "Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers"
This I think is pertinent to some of the discussions on this thread. From Daniel OConnors latest blog post: 4) Did you succumb to regarding the Pope as the incarnation of the Holy Spirit? Pope Francis’ personal opinions are just as prone to error as anyone’s. While, as Catholics, we must respect the Pope as our spiritual father, and we can (and must) submit to the actual text of his actual Magisterial documents (e.g., Encyclicals), we should not necessarily submit to or agree with his opinions – regardless of how publicly or insistently he repeats them (e.g. in interviews, in books, on social media, in homilies, in impromptu remarks and speeches, and now in TV talk shows). Since the onset of the Pandemic, some of the Pope’s personal opinions have been particularly egregiously mistaken (e.g., his insistence that taking the vaccine is a “moral obligation,” his implicit endorsement of many aspects of Covid-tyranny, his cooperation with global elites pushing explicitly diabolical agendas). One thing God is doing with this Pontificate is training the remnant faithful to be more discerning: to not suppose that “but the Pope said so!” is sufficient to establish the truth of some assertion or the morality of some act. Soon, however, the false prophet will arise, who will work in tandem with the Antichrist (the Beast). This Biblically-foretold false prophet may even wind up becoming an antipope (which means that many Catholics might just innocently, though erroneously, suppose he actually is truly the Pope). And he will make Pope Francis look like Archbishop Vigano in comparison. The false prophet will superficially respect Christianity and Catholicism, but he will flatly and blasphemously profane dogma after dogma, and he will urge the faithful to undertake many sacrilegious acts and to lend their full support to the Antichrist. Whoever is in the habit of uncritically accepting some proposition merely because the Pope agrees with it may soon find himself gobbling up a “gospel” straight from the pit of hell. Therefore, remember: stick with the Bible and The Catechism. Every. Single. Word. Of. Both. No Pope has any right to contradict either. True Magisterium cannot contradict True Magisterium. So as I’ve said many times before: if in doubt, stick with what is clearer. Clarity enjoys superiority to ambiguity in faith and morals, whereas mere recentness enjoys no special status over age. “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:8
Part of the problem is that pretty well all of the Pope's for, say the last two hundred years have been Saints and declared to be so by the Church. I think this has led us to expect that every Pope that comes along would be a Saint. Now that one has come along who is...well problematic at best...we are left totally flummoxed and dont know quite what to make of him or how to react
I believe in JesusChrist, in His True Church, and in His Vicar: Pope Francis, the true succesor of Peter. God promised hell would never prevail agaisnt the Church, I believe the Pope is Holy, and if he is Holy and if he's the pastor God left us with, my trust is above all in the Divine Providence, and the Holy Ghost which objectively based on our doctrine is with Pope Francis. Teaching anything different is heresy. But I'm not the judge of those that do the work of the devil, this late one who's always after the shepherd; as it is written in Zechariah 13-7 "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones." When the Shepherd is attacked, the sheep are scattered and easier to prey, specially those that are weak of spirit and easier to deceive(who will always believe willingly protestant lies, like Pope Francis being the antichrist, and other nonsense like that of the OP in this thread). There's no doubt in my mind that all the lies and distortions of the press that attack and manipulate the Pope speeches, and his actions to make it always look bad; would nowadays still claim the same even if St. Peter himself was down here; in fact isn't that what the protestants already do? claiming that Peter wasn't a true Pope because he denied Christ 3 times and Jesus called him Satan, and many other lies that they in their unlimited pride demand you to explain in the fullest of detail while they listen to none of it. They similarily lied about the previous Holy Pontiffs Benedict XVI, St. John Paul II, etc. But these liars that manipulate the truth and distort it to attack the true Church of Christ and His Vicar are not always mercenaries, but they arise from our own too in order to make the flock abandond the shepherd that God Himself has put in there for us. Acts 20,28-30 "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." And 1 John 2,19 "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." How do we know when a sheep is from our own? let's see what Holy scripture has to say: Luke 10-16 "He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me." Jesus tells His apostles that anybody who still remains obedient to them is with Him, and anybody who despises the apostles He left us with also despises God. How else can we recognize the sheep that remain in His flock? John 21,15-18 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He said three times to St. Peter "MY" sheep, the sheep of God are with Peter, and because of the previous quote we know that, by scripture, the sheep of God supports Peter. Pope Francis being the succesor of Peter has His sheep, and those that willingly decide to obey this shepherd also obey God. Because the spirit of rebellion is from satan, and the spirit of lies is satan himself. Why would the media, then, lie so much about what Pope Francis has to say? why are they always manipulating the truth? why are they always insulting the Pope while pretending to be Catholics? spreading lies and calling him communist. Because they are not catholics, they are from satan, that is why they have to lie. It's no surprise that the Vicar of Christ will be hated since Christ Himself was hated. And it is not surprising that His Church will be attacked because He Himself was also attacked. Matt 10-22 "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved." What an absurd thing to belive that this Holy man that is constantly being attacked by the world could be sided with the same world that hates him so much. Has anybody here ever asked themselves "what should we do when the world attacks our Holy shepherd?", if you are truly interested in the answer let me tell you that when the world attacks the Pope it is our duty to defend him. Every true Christian has to defend the pope. How? with prayer. Luke 22,31 "And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." Our Lord has said that satan is after Peter, but He prays for him. It is our duty to do the same, to pray for Peter, the Pope, to follow the steps of He Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And to trust entirely on His Holy might, because even if it appears like the Ship is sinking, Our Lord is always with us. Mark 4,37-40 "And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?" This is what it means to abandon ourselves in the Divine Providence, in knowing that God is not a liar and we have the confirmation that He will be with us until the end of the world: Matthew 28-20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. So we have to conform with everything that happens as if coming from God. It is God that wanted Pope Francis to be our current shepherd, it is God that allowed all of these scandals, and it is God who will also judge us based on how we act about it. It is His Church and it can be attacked, but hell will never prevail agaisnt it. That is enough reason for us to Trust in everything that is happening, without falling into the sin of calumny agaisnt the Holy Pontiff, our shepherd. Numbers 21,7 "Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people." Agaisnt the LORD and... agaisnt thee. (Moses, the head, the pastor, the shepherd) I find it suspicious that there's such a big interest in trying to trick us into hating the Pope but not the other leaders, into muttering against the Pope but not the other leaders, into distrusting the Pope but not any of the other leaders. Why is there's such a big emphasis into that? The answer is obvious, to me. The other leaders are not a threat agaisnt the devil's plans; so the world will never tell you that the other leaders, or members of the other religions will be the antichrist, even when members of the other religions, or men of science, atheists, etc; have it easier to hate Christ; who is an antichrist based on John? anybody who rejects that Jesus is the Christ. God will always give us a shepherd, because he does not want us to to be like sheep without a shepherd. Numbers 27, 15-17 And Moses spake unto the LORD, saying, Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, Which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the LORD be not as sheep which have no shepherd. This is the thought of the holy scriptures, the people of God can never be like sheep without a sheepherd. There must always be a head, put in there by God, so that we obey, and not mutter agaisnt or difame. This is one of the reasons I believe a forum like this is also being infiltrated by the devil, yes, that trash is after the church, but remember that we are also part of the church; so it is not a surprise to see how when you check older messages of this forum, the members gave the impression of being more friendly. 1 John 3, 14-15 "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." And it's not surprising that we might also find people attacking the Pope, and attacking those of us who still trust in the succesor of Peter.
Well this is a long post. We have had evil Pope's in the past and no doubt we'll have more bad Pope's in the future, if writing that makes me a bad Catholic, we'll then I'm a bad Catholic who knows his history. If saying we have had bad Pope's in the past (something which is self evident) does not make me a heretic , I don't see why saying our current Pope is bad. We are expected to Worship God, not Pope's
Well written and well said. I spent some time reading the website and maybe I shouldn't even mention the name, I won't... but I'm not talking about here and over there at ... gloria.tv ; eventually, whatever one's faith inclinations are, you will probably be offended. Your defense is noble and just for me, we are called per: Matthew 22:36-40 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.” This ultimately speaking for me, is what it is about and has always been about, there is room for other but helping feed the poor, the sick and so on, the Beatitudes, has always been of utmost import. We had all of those fundraisers in school for basically kids starving in foreign countries.
--padraig: Well this is a long post. Believe it or not, it was a longer one, but had to be cut because too many words. -- We have had evil Pope's in the past and no doubt we'll have more bad Pope's in the future, if writing that makes me a bad Catholic, we'll then I'm a bad Catholic who knows his history. So what? you're evil too, I am evil as well. We are all evil here. Who's not a sinner among us? Can Saints not fail? Saints can fail. Can popes not sin? Popes can Sin, Peter denied Christ 3 times. Peter was called Satan after Christ gave him the keys of Heaven: Matthew 16,23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. So Jesus tells Peter that He will give him the keys of Heaven in Matthew 16,19 but in Matthew 16,23 only 4 verses after, he calls Peter Satan and rebukes him. In Luke 5,8 Peter himself admits to be a sinful man: Luke 5,8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. The Holy Pontiff still has to go to confession, the Holy Pontiff is still human. We all have sinned, all human Saints, save the Virgin Mary, have offended God. Does that mean we are to disobey the Holy shepherd? no, Peter himself made mistakes even after pentecost, when the Holy Ghost made him Holy. Galatians 2,11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. St. Paul, who was such a terrible person agaisnt Christians to the point he consider himself the least of all the apostles (1 Corinthians 15,8-9), gets to blame Peter. But even this same St. Paul, was submitted to the command of St. Peter as is seen in Acts 15,1-12; when there's a dispute over the circumcision of gentiles. This is a long quote, so I will not post it, but the conclusion is, Peter always had the final veredict, sometimes in a more supernatural way like in acts 10,34-45 and some other times in a more natural way like in the previous conflict. There's never a time when we see the apostles begin to difame him, fall into muttering, or disobeying him. He was after all the first of the apostles and surprisingly the one that gets reprimanded the most in the Gospels. But this sinful man was the one to love God more, and God rewarded him by giving him His own Holy seat. He is in the stead of Christ; and obeying him like if he was Christ Himself is not a sin, but in fact what God commanded us, remember "Those that hear you, hear Me". This is why we call him, the Vicar of Christ, he is there in charge, in His seat until our Lord comes back. This is the meaning behind giving him the Keys of Heaven: Isaiah, 22,21-22 And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. In the old tradition, if the King had to leave, he used to give the keys of the kingdom to his servant; and everybody in the kingdom had to acknowledge this man as a father. This is one of the reasons why we call Peter a father, a Pope. He in charge here, because the King himself gave him the keys. And we have to acknowledge the Pope as a father, and honor him as one, this is a commandment that gives glory to God. Can your own worldy father make mistakes sometimes? can your own mortal father of the flesh make mistakes? does that justify sinning agaisnt him? I will post an interesting story that I heard from a priest. He said that this one time, a girl of about 25 of age came to him crying inconsolably, or weeping terribly bad; you know, as in she looked entirely destroyed in sadness. The priest thought to himself "her boyfriend probably died", and then she came to him and told him something like: "father you can't imagine what happened", and he said: "what?, what happened? what's wrong?" And she told him: "I discovered that my mother is not my real one, but that she found me in a dumpster when I was a baby; my real mom threw me away like garbage" and the priest got very confused and he asked: "how did you figure this out?" she replied: "a neighboor lady told me", then he asked her: "does your mom know? what did she say?" the girl replied: "She said she's my real mother"; after this conversation, the priest rebuked her and told her: "you silly girl, you are not dumber because you are not bigger. Dumb girl! believe your mom.", and then the girl said something like: "I used to, but this lady has repeated this every time she sees me, and now she finally made me doubt". This is where his story ends; the priest put that example to show us how the doubt is enough to turn us away from the truth, to even make us distrust our own fathers; and this is exactly how the devil works, he firsts has to plant the doubt, how? by repeating the same lies over and over. We combat that by standing firm on our faith, and our doctrine. If we are not, then anybody can appear at our door teaching false doctrine, and we will rather believe that stranger than our own family who's been with us all the time. So if a Pope can be evil, even more so can the media that attack him and lie about him; if a Pope can be evil, even more so can the world that is constantly mocking him; if the Pope can be evil, even more so can we the laity, whose actions we don't know. At that point, in a story like that of the 25yo girl, who are you going to believe? the Pope or the accuser? If it's already not my duty to stone my adulterer sister, even less so the father I have to honor with my faith and that God Himself gave me. --If saying we have had bad Pope's in the past (something which is self evident) does not make me a heretic , I don't see why saying our current Pope is bad. Do I know you? no, so I will not talk about you or your sins. But I will tell you some of the sins you can fall for if you decide to believe the lying media before the Holy Pontiff(even those lying media disguising itself as angels of light, or that claim to be catholics). Pointing the following sins is not a sin in itself, but falling for them is indeed a sin: -Faulting the 4th Commandment. (Honor your Father and Mother: every other of the sins you can commit will be magnified because you are commiting them agaisnt your spiritual father. Every act of rebellion or disobedience, every time you risk mocking the pope, every time you speak ill of him, every time you oppose him, and lose your love for him; you are falling into this sin.) -Faulting the 1st Commandment. (By your disobedience to the authorities, by your disobedience to the word of God and the Gospel, by refusing to listen to the Pope and always listen to those that hate him instead.) -Faulting the 8th Commandment. (The sin of calumny, when we believe the false articles that manipulate the truth, when we spread these half-truths and lies, etc.) -Faulting the 5th Commandment. (The sin of slander, when you hate the pope you become a murderer(1-John, 3-15). When you pass from the love for the pope to the hate for the pope, when you become responsible for the hatred others have agaisnt the pope, etc.) You can also risk falling into the following sins agaisnt the Holy Ghost: -The 3rd sin- Opposing the known Truth. -The 5th sin- Obstinately remaining in Sin. -The 6th sin- Final Impenitence. Not to mention the lack of humility, you risk thinking of yourself holier than the Pope; which has you fall for the capital sin of pride. I don't know you but the sins for opposing the pope are evil. So evil, that there are sins only the Pope himself can forgive, among which there is the act of violence against the Holy Pontiff. --We are expected to Worship God, not Pope's. Worship is to adore, to revere, to love, in extreme to a point that has no limits. Can we love God if we don't listen to the pope? no. Can we love God if we hate the pope? no. John 14,15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. We cannot claim that we love God if we don't do as he says: Luke 10-16 "He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me." Despising the pope, refusing to listen to him, and disobeying him(among other things like attacking him, etc) also despises and rejects God. Romans 13,1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Rebellion is not from God, lying about the authorities, gossiping, mocking, revolting, etc; none of that is from God. Praying for the authorities is from God(Luke 22,31). We are only meant to disobey in case of sin (Acts 5,29). Now allow me to remind you that I don't know you; so I will post your own signature: "At the end of the day we shall be judged on love. " Well, do you love the pope?
It is not just you. That is what Charity is. In 1-Corinthians 13,1-13 St. Paul talks about this virtue: Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. Charity is the greatest virtue, many of the things this world praises will vanish away and don't matter that much. But love is forever, after the resurrection and forever after. Although I have to admit, I am still trying to improve that virtue on me, I've seen it often in this site, and it's one of the reasons I liked this forum enough to join, I've visited other catholic forums and people wastes too much time arguing and complaining about the problems of the world(yeah I can relate), but in here I've found people who pray for those problems and those people instead; even those that seem to directly contradict them. I am sure it used to be better in the past, but it's still very inspiring to find people so firm in charity and in the doctrine.
the pope himself has promoted disrespect for his Petrine ministry by allowing the German synod to promote ideas such as the legitimization of sodomy and female clerical ordinations that undermine the unity of the Church he must swear to uphold. Disagreeing with that doesn't mean I hate the pope or don't respect his authority.
There were 4 cardinals who submitted a Dubia to Pope Francis asking for clarification to his document Amoris Laetitia. He never answered them. Two cardinals have passed away. It is a spiritual work of mercy to admonish the sinner. It’s actually an act of charity to do that.
You don’t need to be an ultramontanist to be a good Catholic. For instance it may give us pause when the Holy Father seems to say that all Catholics go to heaven, even apostates and persecutors of the faith. Now we learn that Cardinal Hollerich has said the Church’s teaching on homosexual acts is outdated and rather than being gently corrected he is put in charge of the synod on synodality. Francis sows confusion because he does say some beautiful things (st Joseph) but then he does other things that give scandal (pachamama).
It's not a sin to avoid scandals. Pope Francis didn't say anything new. You die and Jesus appears to you to judge you, you don't understand what kind of judgment; but in his infinite mercy He tells you that He will pardon all of your sins, but on the condition that you respond to a single question. You see heaven, hell, purgatory, limbo, all of that; the destiny of your soul depends on your answer, and he asks you: "do you truly believe that Pope Francis promoted the ideologies of the German Bishops?" He's not responsible for the actions that come out of disobedience. In your case you are not disagreeing with the debate, which is the cause of the synod, but with the position of one side which has constantly acted agaisnt the Pope himself. The apostles discussed the subjects when they were in disagreement as seeing in Acts 15,1-12 the apostles, together with the disciples, and the recently converted jews, had to discuss a controversial subject; and the subject was settled on the decision of Peter. He's not promoting disrepect for his Petrine ministry, but you are when you accuse him of being the promoter of the very things he's openly against. The problem is that you can't prove he said that. It's another distorted interpretation like always. The homosexuality thing won't be accepted as dogma, even if it's discussed in 1000 catholic synods. Cardinal Hollerich has my respect, and you are correct in that he's wrong; but the last word is still on Francis. The pachamama crap is a long subject if I respond to it with my thoughts perhaps this message would be too long. It is not the first time that something like this happens, it happened in (Acts 17,22) and in (1-Corinthians 8), the great apostle was among pagans, he didn't destroy the idols, he didn't get among them to condemn people, he didn't attack them zealously, what he did is to preach them, he became like them to convert them: 1 Corinthians 9,19 For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. This proves the humility of the Great Apostle, something that Pope Francis teaches a lot, but many of us have forgotten. 1 Corinthians 9,20 And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; Notice how he didn't say: "I kicked all of the jews", but that he became like them. Talking with someone of another religion, visiting another religion or culture, is an opportunity to convert people. 1 Corinthians 9,21 To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. So basically, among pagans he went like a pagan(without stop being a christian). In this context he's talking about the law of Moses, and about the pagans or gentiles, the ones that didn't follow it. Akin to the cultures of the world that are still away from the knowledge of Christ. It is not a sin to be part of their culture, but an opportunity to preach them the Gospel. 1 Corinthians 9,22 To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. So the indigenous inhabitants of the amazonia, are weak, poor, recluded people, and pagans who worship idols. Being kind to them is not a sin, and approaching them is not a sin, otherwise how do you expect to convert them into accepting Christ? So you get the idea: 1 Corinthians 9,23 And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. It's not a sin to help those people, and in this subject helping pagan cultures is very good for the Gospel. This is how it initially spread after all. When St. Paul was at Mar's Hill, he praised their culture, he praised their religiousity and their faith because they worshipped everything. Then he proceeded to preach them the gospel. This passage can be read in Acts 17,22-34. Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, “People of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’ Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. When the situation was over, some mocked him, some attacked him, and some very few kept at least the doubt to listen to him again. Among which there were Dionysius and Damaris. In 1 Corinthians 8, there was the subject of touching or eating the meat offered to idols, and the subject of idols in itself. It's a whole chapter so it's probably going to be long. Now concerning those things that are sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up; but charity edifieth.And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he hath not yet known as he ought to know. But if any any love God, the same is known by him. But as for the meats that are sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one. For although there be that are called gods, either in heaven or on earth (for there be gods many, and lords many); Yet to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. But there is not knowledge in every one. For some until this present, with conscience of the idol: eat as a thing sacrificed to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. But meat doth not commend us to God. For neither, if we eat, shall we have the more; nor, if we eat not, shall we have the less. But take heed lest perhaps this your liberty become a stumblingblock to the weak. For if a man see him that hath knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not his conscience, being weak, be emboldened to eat those things which are sacrificed to idols ? And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ hath died ? Now when you sin thus against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Wherefore, if meat scandalize my brother, I will never eat flesh, lest I should scandalize my brother. St Paul tells them that it is not a sin to eat meat offered to idols, and it is not a sin to be among those who worship them and eat with them. But if you are found surrounded by those people, and eating with them, the weaker of mind, the ones who don't understand it as easy can misinterpret it by seeing you eating with the idol worshippers and their sacrificial meat. The pope knows that pachamama statue was a worthless object, we know that as well, he didn't worship it or asked us to worship it; maybe the only mistake one can claim from it would be that he let these misled weak of mind be confused, but even on that there are many others that can take the blame in misleading too.
It is one thing for the Early Church to discuss pastoral norms for converted Jews, quite another to allow discussion of something that the Church has condemned from the beginning such as homosexuality and the clerical ordination of women; if we go this way, a synod will soon be allowed to discuss the dogmas of the divinity of Christ, literal resurrection and immortality of the soul; dogmas that Francis denied in interviews with journalist Eugênio Scalfari. the Pope intervened to ban the Tridentine Mass, worried that this rite would harm the unity of the Church, but he never rebuked Cardinal Marx (one of the promoters of the German synodal path) and even rejected his resignation last year.
