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I was told by a well-known English priest long ago not to let Francis rent space in my head and I prefer to think about Benedict XVI.
For a long time I ignored papal news, but it became impossible.
I remember the deal with the Chinese Communists allowing them to appoint bishops, the arrest of Cardinal Zen by the Chinese Communists and the silence with which the Vatican greeted the news, the protection of a series of priestly sex criminals and embezzlers.
The suppression of the Tridentine Mass broke Benedict XVI's heart and those of many other people.It was cruel. Pope Francis was, by all accounts, ruthless and, I suspect, sometimes vindictive.
His personal austerity was fine but I wish it had been a private thing. As Archbishop of Buenos Aires he travelled by bus, often with a journalist present.
The papal apartments that he did not use needed to be cleaned and kept in order, while he took the room at a hostel where another priest could have lived.
At a time when Europe was being invaded by infidel economic migrants he urged governments to accept more, though in practice almost all who got here were allowed to stay. Pope St Pius V who organised the Catholic alliance which defeated the Turk at Lepanto was made of different stuff
Former Archbishop Vigano, whom Francis excommunicated, says he told Francis about McCarrick's crimes to no result. He said today, "His soul has not disappeared. He will have to account for the crimes he has committed." "Crimes" may be harsh and Vigano is a bit crazy now but, as Francis memorably said, who am I to judge?
"Pope Francis was the first pope, at least in modern times, to put the answer to the old question, “Is the Pope Catholic?,” in doubt." Robert Spencer https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-barack-obama-of-the-roman-catholic-church-has-died
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ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Gallen_Group
Whilst in Rome before the 2005 papal conclave, the cardinals who were members of the Saint Gallen Group sent their host Ivo Fürer a card saying: "We are here together in the spirit of Saint Gallen",[12] and before the conclave they came together for a talk over dinner.[13] According to an anonymous cardinal's diary excerpts which were published by Brunelli, two of them, Lehmann and Danneels, were "the thinking core" of the reformisti during the conclave. These reformisti did not want to vote for Joseph Ratzinger, and tried to prevent his election by giving all their votes to Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who thus might achieve a blocking minority.[14] They succeeded, but Bergoglio, "almost in tears", begged not to be elected.[15] Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI.
ReplyDeleteThe year after Ratzinger's election, what remained of the group met for the last time. The gathering was attended by just four members: Fürer, Kothgasser, Danneels and van Luyn.[16]
Three of the remaining members, however, participated in the 2013 papal conclave: Walter Kasper, Godfried Danneels and Karl Lehmann. Cormac Murphy-O'Connor was too old to participate in the conclave, but he was present in Rome during the pre-conclave period. Unlike in 2005, there is no anonymous source to report from within the conclave on what role they played in the election of Pope Francis. According to Austen Ivereigh, the four worked in concert to advocate the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio at the conclave, still hoping to elect a more modern leader for the Church. Also, in the first edition of his book, Ivereigh writes that "they first secured Bergoglio's assent". All four cardinals, however, denied this.
Why all the fuss about this pope if ordinary Catholics themselves are dying out and the few that are left are nowhere near as practicing as they were in the still Christian times?
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