What are we to make of any person who proclaims, for example, that 'Islam is a religion of peace'. Anyone who has read the Koran, the Hadiths and knows anything about Islamic history, not to mention recent torture, rape and murder of non-Muslims by Muslims in the middle east, knows that Islam is most definitely NOT a religion of peace. So, is the person who says so a fool? Well ignorance can be understood and forgiven in some but I venture that it would be difficult to make such an allowance in this case, especially when those in the Church whose expertise is in the history and recent fate of eastern Christianity have specifically contradicted his words. Is a Christian leader who invites a notorious Imam to the Vatican for an inter-religious prayer meeting and who stands by while the Imam prays (in Arabic) for the victory of Islam over its religious foes, a fool? Perhaps not but I would take some persuading of that claim. When the atheist friend of the Pope, Scalfari, tells us (among several other worrying things) that the Pope assured him that non-believers are not punished but 'annihilated', and the Pope makes no denial of this conversation, are we to assume that his close friend is a liar (and has lied about the contents of several conversations and yet still remains a friend with easy access)? Or are we to take it that the Pope does not believe what the Church teaches? I won't bore you with the fate of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, Malta, Cardinal Burke's humiliations, etc. etc. etc. You say that we owe the Pope our loyalty and obedience whatever the circumstances. It doesn't work that way either, in fact we are required to resist in the light of some of his words and actions. The question is not if but how and pointing out to others how dangerous his words and actions are, seems to me as being charitable to them rather than uncharitable to him.
Personally, I think Pope Benedict was asked by God to step down. Now God could have brought him home, rather than retire, but I think he still has a mission from God left to perform. When his mission is through God will take him home.
We are in a very awkward place. One the one hand he is our pope and needs our prayers. On the other he seems to be working with the devil's puppets on earth over and over again. For my part, I will pray and sacrifice for him, but I will speak the truth where and when I see it being twisted with half truths. It will get much worse before it gets better. It is all part of God's plan and the purification will be long in suffering. It will take great graces to persevere these times going forward.
I think you misunderstood my point Steve. My post was simply about being charitable towards the Vicar of Christ and not developing a personal animosity towards him. This is what we are called to do. This is not my idea it is the teaching of the Church. And you said I stated this: "You say that we owe the Pope our loyalty and obedience whatever the circumstances." Which I never said. Following anyone into sin is forbidden. I choose my words very carefully when I post, please do not put words in my mouth. I closed my post with "We must fight error!!!" I put 3 exclamation points. I thought I was clear, but perhaps not.
Dolours, Sorry I didn’t get to respond to you yesterday. I started writing this up, but in doing so it was much longer than I thought it would be so I finished it today. You mentioned you suffer from pride. I myself suffer from it as well. It is my main fault. All sin originally derives from pride, as all sin is essentially choosing ourselves over God. It’s true that what the priest suggests in the video is very hard indeed. You asked if I had any ideas how to cope with the current situation. I am by no means an expert, but I will give you some advice on what I have discovered that helps. What I have found best right now is to focus in on the current situation from the perspective of you and your relationship to God. Don’t fixate on a lot of the external chaos that is going on in the Church. Knowing what is going on is one thing. Being obsessed with it is another. What is happening is not only a test for the Church, but also truly a test for each one of us individually. In the end your main responsibility is working on your relationship with God and becoming a Saint through His grace. The time period in which you are born is just your vehicle to do that. God is not calling you to solve all the Church’s problems. In fact we know from prophecy that the crisis is beyond human problem solving at this point. It is up to Our Lady to vanquish the devil. We are merely given the great honor in assisting Her in doing that. God is only asking you to pray, be faithful to Him and fulfill your station in life. That’s all. Stress comes from trying to have control over our environment and other people. Once we realize that we cannot control either of these and must rely solely on God then much spiritual advancement can come. God wants us to rely entirely on him and not on our own power. That is why He often shakes the great Saints down to nothing before he remolds them as He wishes. Getting upset over the Pope and the state of the Church is just an extension of being stressed over events and people not conforming to what we would like them to be. I will give you my own personal spiritual “regimen” derived from approved Church apparitions, Saints and Church teachings. This is just what I do, or at least try to do, but I think it would be very helpful to most people. Much of this has been said before, but it is not often compiled into one place. It is important though and when taken as a whole I think it is the “prescription” given to us for this time period. First put on your “armor”. 1. Consecrate yourself to Jesus through Mary. This is perhaps the best thing I ever did. Mary will pull you to God even if you are pulling away. I cannot stress the great graces that come from this. There are different methods to do this. I use the St. Louis DeMontfort method but there is also the St. Maximilian Kolbe method and a modern one by Fr. Michael Gaitley. 2. Pray. Especially the Rosary. A lot. I mean every day with out missing. Like ever… I never used to think prayer was important, but now when I miss a day I feel myself drifting quickly. I do not think the daily Rosary is optional anymore. At least it isn’t for me. Sister Lucia has told us it was given extra strength during this time period. Use it. The word “armor” is not a metaphor. It actually does deflect the attacks of the enemy. 3. Wear the Scapular and enroll in the confraternity and have it blessed according to the proper formula. 4. Wear the Miraculous Medal and enroll in the confraternity and have it blessed according to the proper formula. 5. Do your First 5 Saturdays and First 9 Fridays. Now. Before it is too late. Things are most likely about to explode in the church and the world. It is possible we may not be graced with these two devotions much longer. Do them with a good priest who believes all the Church teaches. These things are great protections. They were given to us during this time for a reason. We need them.
Continued... Okay now that our armor is on what do we do? 1. Realize that what is happening is a part of God’s plan. Yes we need to participate by warning others and fighting for Christ’s teachings, but we do not need to be anxious about what is happening. Or worried “they” will “win”. The apostles were upset and confused when Jesus was being arrested, tortured and crucified because they couldn’t see the whole picture. Have faith that God is in control and that what is happening has a purpose. It is to shake up the world and bring as many souls back to God as possible. To lose everything so we must rely totally on God. We know how the story ends. The Church will be utterly torn to shreds then it will be gloriously “reborn” pure and unadulterated. All of the rotten changes that will have been made to it will be reversed. We should in a very real way be excited and joyous. We are told as much in the Gospel: “But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand.” -Luke 21:28 2. Do not give in to novelties. Believe what the Church has always taught. The Church teaches that Truth cannot change. If something seems fishy just ask yourself “Is this what Catholics believed a hundred years ago?” 3. Work on your personal sanctity. This is a big one that many may be missing. We have an amazing opportunity here. During times of great evil God makes great Saints. Where evil abounds Grace abounds more. Take advantage of this fact. There is a reason that others are blind and we can see what is happening. We have been greatly blessed. There are no accidents, we are being called to participate in something amazing. If we have been forewarned of all of this there is a reason. It may be different for all of us, but there is a reason. 4. Read the Bible and also the lives of the Saints. This has helped me a lot. Sometimes in all the hubbub we forget that the Saints often times didn’t do any “great deeds” as the world sees it. They made themselves small and humble vessels of prayer. They cleaned bathrooms and scrubbed floors. Did Our Lady conquer empires or depose kings? No. She was a simple woman who lived a life of humility, love and faith. Yet she is greater than all of the other Saints combined. This is important because it shows us how we are to act. Imitate Mary. Be simple, prayerful and small. God will make use of us however He sees fit, even if we do not see the whole picture. We are just one piece of the puzzle, a fragment that may seem to make no sense until the puzzle is completed. All we need to do is make ourselves available to God to use as He puts the puzzle together. In the end all will make perfect sense. 5. Be humble. This is a key point. God loves the small and meek and dislikes pride. He will reward those who admit to Him they are incapable of doing anything without Him and everything with Him. It is not up to us to “win” this fight. All we are responsible for doing is making ourselves available to God to use as instruments to channel His Grace. Our Lord and Our Lady will win this battle, the outcome will not be because we saved everything by human efforts. If you never read another news article about what was happening but just prayed for the Pope and did everything I mention here you would have fulfilled your role. If God wants something particular or extraordinary of one of us then He will make it known to them. 6. Pray for the Pope. This is especially mentioned at Fatima. If you are having trouble being charitable towards the Pope then make it a point to overcome this (this is actually something we should do with anyone we are upset with). Think of him as one of God’s children. A wonderful and unique creation. Created by God for a special purpose that only he can fulfill, just as each of us are. Always separate actions from the person. I would actually meditate on Pope Francis. Read about some good things he has done. Sometimes when all we read is negative articles about someone we get a caricature of them in our heads. Making people appear to be one dimensional is precisely the tactic militaries have used historically to dehumanize the enemy. Putting the Pope in the “enemy” category in your mind is dangerous ground to be standing upon. No person is all good or all bad. People who we find it difficult to deal with are put in our path so that we can make spiritual advancement by growing in charity towards them. It is not uncommon in monasterys and convents for brothers and sisters to be in close quarters with others who they find very difficult to live with. The cloistered find that these are great blessings for them to grow in charity, not obstacles to be upset about. Another thing to remember is that we will be judged on everything we say and do. Some saints have been blessed with seeing a judgment of their souls during life. They were often shocked at how even insignificant things that they said or did were offensive to God. If only for the good of your own soul, the next time you think something unkind about the Pope (or anyone) say a quick prayer for them and ask forgiveness of God. As we judge others so shall we be judged. If we are unmerciful we should not expect mercy. Heaven is a hierarchy. The Church is a hierarchy. It seems God likes hierarchies. He also likes loyalty and obedience. Not blind obedience where one follows even into sin, but reverent obedience. This is why when we see error coming from above us in the hierarchy we must be humble and charitable when dealing with it. You mentioned that humility in this situation is hard because it seems akin to self deception. I admit this is a hard tightrope to walk and in truth we are all called to do slightly different things in this battle. Being humble though does not mean you need to capitulate and let people promote sin and error. We cannot do this either. We must warn others when error is being taught for the good of their souls. This is our duty, but we are only to do this according to our knowledge and capability and only with the greatest degree of charity. If we don’t even know the faith we cannot teach it to others. Pray every day to be given the graces you need. God wants to give them to you. For anyone looking to make some good spiritual progress I recommend the small book “Trustful Surrender To Divine Providence” by TAN Books. This is a little volume but it will make you a Saint if you follow it’s advice. There is a very good section in it near the beginning that explains how everything from the largest to the smallest things that happen in our life, except sin are from the will of God. Even sin though is used by God as a vehicle to shape us and help us advance spiritually. I hope this is somewhat helpful. I do not mean to be preachy, but I know a lot of people may read this and so I was trying to go over a lot of basic points as to how we should act in the current crisis as well as to try to answer your questions and address your concerns.
You said "Refusing to accept the authority of the Pope is called schism and it incurs an automatic excommunication from the Church. Some people will say "I am loyal to the Papacy, but just not this Pope". Sorry it doesn't work that way. Our loyalty to the Papacy is not dependent upon our personal feelings towards a particular Pope." So what do the highlighted words mean in this situation? Seems to me - not a lot, we are in a situation of having to pick through his words and actions and compare them to the truths handed down to us and reject much of what is said/done because they conflict. I can legitimately refuse to accept the authority of anyone who spouts untruths and heresy IN SO FAR AS THEY DO SO and will encourage others to do the same and will warn them of situations arising where this is clearly the case. Foolish statements are made by fools and heretical statements are made by heretics. A foolish Pope loses no authority for being a fool, an heretical one loses ALL authority.
I am sorry you feel you can judge the Pope to be in heresy and refuse his authority Steve. No where in Church law does it say the laity have the right to do this. Of course you can do this if you want to, but it is the canonical crime of schism and it incurs an automatic excommunication from the sacraments which can only be lifted by a Bishop. I honestly would beg you to reconsider for the good of your soul.
Yes dolours. This talk gives us what we need. This good priest cautions us to be very careful and keep charity without condoning the errors. It is a tightrope we are on.
I can't thank you enough, Praetorian, for the above and your previous post. It gives me a lot to think about and to act on. I can check all the boxes of your first post apart from the Consecration to Jesus through May which is something I had been considering but hadn't committed to for fear of starting something I wouldn't finish. I will look into it again with a more positive attitude. I'm curious about something regarding the miraculous medal and scapular. Thanks to the nuns in our school, I have been enrolled in the miraculous medal and scapular confraternities. What do you mean by properly blessed? I ask this because I have only recently started wearing the scapular which I had blessed by a Carmelite priest who blessed it using the same words that priests always use when blessing religious items. Same for the miraculous medal. Should I get them blessed again? If so, how could I tell that the next priest knows the correct blessing to use?
It is my understanding that once you are enrolled and the scapular is blessed that blessing carries to every new scapular you wear from then in. This is what a priest told me. I feel so vulnerable when I am not wearing myscapular. I keep extras around in case it gets lost
With all due Respect, this is the essence of Papalotry at worst or a exalted view of the Papacy at best, according to your understanding of the Catholic Doctrines, we would have to embrace the Heresy of Pope John XXII, to accept the Arian Heresy and even worse to Accept Francis heresies....etc...those are not the Teachings of the Church and Papal infallibility is among the most misunderstood of Catholic doctrines, so let me suggest you this article below and written by a Scholar, much safer, hopefully this will help many others as well , thank you : Francis, A Pope for our times : https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/francis-a-pope-for-our-times
This is not papalotry of any sort whatsoever and I resent your unfounded accusation. I am very well aware of where the line is in this issue. All I have stated is that we are supposed to show the Pope the greatest degree of charity when dealing with these issues. That is what Cardinal Burke and the other 3 Cardinals are doing. I will take Cardinal Burke's charitable position over your position any day. You stated this is my position: "according to your understanding of the Catholic Doctrines, we would have to embrace the Heresy of Pope John XXII" I NEVER even hinted at that. Stating that I did is slanderous. I was very clear in what I was saying and perhaps your read into what you wanted to rather than what I wrote. I never said we are to follow anyone into sin or error. We are always to oppose this. Everything I wrote is in line with Church teaching. I would suggest you go back and watch the video on the dubia that Dolours posted in this thread a few days ago. You will find what I wrote is exactly in line with what the priest was teaching.
Thank you Praetorian for posting this. In line with your suggestions, since today is the fourth anniversary of the new pontificate and I am sure many of you pray the Rosary daily, I just want to share that I am going to pray a Rosary exclusively for the Pope and his close collaborators (Cardinal Madariaga, Cardinal Parolin, Antonio Spadaro, Cardinal Kasper, Bishop Victor Manuel Fernandez, Cardinal Marx, etc.), asking our Mother the grace that they give witness to the Truth. In case any one wants to join.
From Mundabor's blog Here we go again: Vatican Radio publishes a short report on Francis’ prayer with the pilgrims from his window. His initial remarks are clearly Catholic. One understand someone else has written them and Francis is just being too lazy to go expounding on them, so he repeats them verbatim. However, the rot will out. The very last words of the quote give us another example of this strange religion Francis keeps peddling to more and more scandalised Catholics (emphasis mine). Let us make sure that the Cross marks the stages of our Lenten journey, that we might understand more and more [perfectly] the gravity of sin and the value of the sacrifice with which the Redeemer has saved us – all of us.” Redemption is confused with salvation, and the advent of the Redeemer is now smuggled for universal salvation. Universal salvation directly contradicts the words of Our Lord and makes Catholicism, Christianity, the Sacraments, the very Pope surplus to requirements. No surprise that the man goes on insulting all of them, including past Popes. This is more of that “no one can be condemned, because this is not in the logic of the Gospel” rubbish.
That is correct AED. You only need to do the enrollment with the scapular once, when they wear out you can just purchase a new one. I am not sure if that one should get a regular blessing or not.
