No, David, it is about the Church founded by Christ and the Deposit of Faith handed down to us intact. We have no right to dilute or undermine that Faith because doing so belittles Jesus who founded. That's what pretend unity does. It belittles Jesus, the source and summit of our faith. We have no authority to say that it's ok for Lutherans to deny the existence of purgatory; to pretend that two people of the same sex can have a true marriage; to pretend that a woman can act in the person of Christ at the Mass; to declare that the bread and wine remain bread and wine after the Consecration. Nobody has that right, not even the Pope. We will have unity when everyone believes the one, true faith. Now, the Pope can hold hands and sing kumbaya with the Lutherans all he likes if it makes him feel good and look good in the media. We aren't at war with Lutherans. We can acknowledge them as Christians but we can't share with them the Body and Blood of Christ until they profess the one, true faith. Anything short of that is a sham as is declaring preacher of the Gospel a man who propagated errors and took it upon himself to prune the Bible of anything he considered didn't pass his litmus test. We can love each other in humility as humans but we have no authority to dilute the faith. The Pope needs to stop believing his own publicity and take care of business at home before cosying up to yet another group who don't share our beliefs. We have more than enough heretics calling themselves Catholics without giving papal approval to the sect that instigated most of the heresies that are being spread within Catholicism. It's like watching Nero fiddle as Rome burns.
I wonder what all of you would say if Jesus was the Pope. That's the perspective we should take. The only one Jesus ever condemned was Pharisees. And even when he said sin no more is when the sinner came to him. I think many of you are so determined to destroy the Holy Father...you are causing more damage to the Holy Mother Church then you know.
Who said this of the Jews? Adolf Hitler? "First, to set fire to their synagogues or schools … This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians …" "Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed." "Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing, and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them." "Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb …" "Fifth, I advise that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews. For they have no business in the countryside …" "Sixth, I advise that usury be prohibited to them, and that all cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them …" "Seventh, I recommend putting a flail, an ax, a hoe, a spade, a distaff, or a spindle into the hands of young, strong Jews and Jewesses and letting them earn their bread in the sweat of their brow … But if we are afraid that they might harm us or our wives, children, servants, cattle, etc., … then let us emulate the common sense of other nations such as France, Spain, Bohemia, etc., … then eject them forever from the country …" No - Martin Luther ! At the heart of the debate about Luther's influence is whether it is anachronistic to view his work as a precursor of the racial antisemitism of the Nazis. Some scholars see Luther's influence as limited, and the Nazis' use of his work as opportunistic. The line of "anti-semitic descent" from Luther to Hitler is "easy to draw",according to American historian Lucy Dawidowicz. In her The War Against the Jews, 1933–1945, she writes that both Luther and Hitler were obsessed by the "demonologized universe" inhabited by Jews, with Hitler asserting that the later Luther, the author of On the Jews and Their Lies was the real Luther. Martin Luther - Hitler's spiritual ancestor.
Pope Francis is not Jesus much as the people whose aim is to turn the Church into a political tool would have us believe.
You are correct. And like Jacinta said at Fatima, we must pray, pray much for the Holy Father. I believe he is the Holy Father she was talking about. The main reason I believe she said in the end there will be diabolical disorientation was she saw what this Holy Father was suffering from, diabolical disorientation.
Well at least this is one post (as well as fallen saint's) that I can agree with. Most of the above posts are just endless complaints about Pope Francis without any reference to Christ's request of us that we be one. Pope Francis remains rock solid in faithfulness to Christ and His Church and the criticisms being made of him perfectly match (as fallen saint points out) those of the Pharisees in their accusations against Jesus - even to the extent of 'diabolical disorientation'!
The conservatives won't save us and neither will the liberals and neither will, God help us, the liberation theologians. Like CJ says, only God can save us.
David, They are indeed beautiful words spoken by Our Lord. What is profound, in this statement of Our Lord is that Jesus gives us the reason for the necessity to be one, in the same statement! He says.......’that the world may believe that the Father hast sent me’. How succinct! Our Lord is telling us that for the world to believe that God sent his Son, we must be one. When a person hears and digests the fact that God sent His Son, they begin to understand their worth! They begin to realise that they are a child of God who is loved with an infinite measure! And Jesus cried from the cross, of His Thirst for souls. Today the world is full of pagans, atheists, Muslims, drug addicts; in short people who don’t know their worth. How many of these unfortunate souls must look at the divided Christian faith and ask....... is there truly a God that sent His only begotten son?
Another paragraph from the encyclical Mortalium Animos: 3. Nevertheless, when there is a question of fostering unity among Christians, it is easy for many to be misled by the apparent excellence of the object to be achieved. Is it not right, they ask, is it not the obvious duty of all who invoke the name of Christ to refrain from mutual reproaches and at last to be united in charity? Dare anyone say that he loves Christ, and yet not strive with all his might to accomplish the desire of Him Who asked His Father that His disciples might be "one" (John 17:21)? Did not Christ will that mutual charity should be the distinguishing characteristic of His disciples? "By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another." (John 13:35) If only all Christians were "one", it is contended, then they might do so much more to drive out the pest of irreligion which with its insidious and far-reaching advance is threatening to sap the strength of the Gospel. These and similar arguments, with amplifications, are constantly on the lips of the "pan-Christians" who, so far from being a few isolated individuals, have formed an entire class and grouped themselves into societies of extensive membership, usually under the direction of non-Catholics, who also disagree in matters of faith. The energy with which this scheme is being promoted has won for it many adherents, and even many Catholics are attracted by it, since it holds out the hope of a union apparently consonant with the wishes of Holy Mother Church, whose chief desire it is to recall her erring children and to bring them back to her bosom. In reality, however, these fair and alluring words cloak a most grave error, subversive of the foundations of the Catholic Faith.
I was moved at Mass yesterday to read and hear the epistle of St paul to the Ephesians, the day after I commented on Our Lords words about being one. As here the Lord spoke again! Ephesians 4: 1-6 1 I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you therefore to lead a life worthy of the vocation to which you were called. 2 With all humility and gentleness, and with patience, support each other in love. 3 Take every care to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. 4 There is one Body, one Spirit, just as one hope is the goal of your calling by God. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 and one God and Father of all, over all, through all and within all. I say........ Amen
Out of control vatican! http://www.speroforum.com/a/WXCWADH...Paul-II-exhortations-on-marriage#.WA0bvVgrLcs
And what about this inter-communion talk? No way! https://cruxnow.com/interviews/2016/10/21/pope-sweden-break-ground-inter-communion-bishop-says/
Looks like another case of Catholics being drip-fed information so the usual "Pope Francis is nearly as popular as Jesus" spin doctors can work overtime on the fait accompli. May as well prepare ourselves for women priests who are merely preachers in some Catholic churches but, thanks to synodality and the personal view of the bishop, priests in other Catholic churches. So, Mrs. Lutheran priest and her wife could be con-celebrating Mass in Vienna Cathedral but if they move to Philadelphia they will do well to get a spot giving the homily. Will belief in purgatory and the Immaculate Conception be optional? How much of the Deposit of Faith is up for grabs in the name of unity?
Looks more like another case of Catholics being drip-fed information so the usual "Pope Francis is the antichrist" spin doctors can get to work early.
