Editor's note: One is tempted to laugh. Would that be unmerciful?
Francis Apparently not Happy with Roman
Posters
The
unidentified posters accused Francis of having "ignored cardinals" and
"decapitated the Order of Malta" — references to a bitter dispute between the
order and the Vatican that benched a conservative cardinal.
The day
after the incident, the pope called on pilgrims during the Angelus prayer to
stay far away from "the polluting germs of ego, envy, and slander."
The following Sunday he
criticized the everyday use of "insults," an apparent reference to the anonymous
posters, though it seems he was also alluding to a barrage of criticism he has
received in recent months over his progressive Vatican reforms and his dissent
from Church teaching and practice. In his weekly Angelus address, Francis
highlighted Jesus' commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," saying the edict applied
not only to actual homicide, "but also to those behaviors which offend the
dignity of the human person, including insulting words." He added that he "who
insults his brother kills that brother in his heart."
Insults indeed are grave
sins against charity, especially insults against the Faith. However, the
anonymous posters were not intended as insults to the pope, but were earnest
inquiries as to where his mercy is at. After all, he has shown mercy for liberal
U.N. anti-life agents who use his Vatican to promote a more "sustained" planet
through population control (abortion), and he has exonerated people like
Albrecht von Boseselager of the Knights of the Order of Malta after he was
rightfully dismissed by his superior Fra' Matthew Festing for distributing
$millions worth of contraceptives and abortifacient drugs, while Festing was
asked by the pope to resign. Where is the pope's mercy?
He has shown his mercy to
offenders like abortionist Emma Bonino whom he called "one of Italy's greats,"
and to Fidel Castro who lived by the firing squad, while demoting and showing
disdain for outstanding Vatican prelates like Cardinals Burke and Sarah for
their humble witness of the Catholic Faith.
Worse yet, he has made fun
of young Catholics who prefer to attend the Traditional Latin Mass, and went so
far as to say that the reason young people attend this more "rigid" form of the
Mass is to "hide their evils." In an interview given by Pope Francis to his
close confidant Fr. Antonio Spadaro SJ, who is Editor-in-Chief of Civiltà Cattolica, he expressed
wonder over why young people, who were not raised with the Latin Mass,
nonetheless prefer it.
"And I ask myself: Why so
much rigidity? Dig, dig, this rigidity always hides something, insecurity or
even something else. Rigidity is defensive. True love is not rigid."
Words like these are "the polluting
germs of ego, envy, and slander" that need to be cleansed from the Church. When
Christ said "Thou shalt not kill," it also meant not to kill the spirit of young
people, who after much prayer, deliberation, and struggle, have decided to do
something right in life to the delight of their Maker. A crime it is that they
should be insulted this way for
their fidelity.
If Francis were true of heart, he
would cry tears of gratitude that these young people, who could be using their
time to engage in pop culture and sin, have chosen rather to grow up and to
attach themselves to God in the old Mass. And he would be instant to understand
that it is Christ himself who gently draws these precious souls to himself in
the Traditional Mass. Why should Francis Wonder!?
He seems to have a phobia
about the goodness of God. This goodness was manifest through the ages by
the glories of tradition wherewith God enriched his Church. In his mercy He
extended to us the jewels of sacred tradition and the Latin Mass, that it might
be a joy and cleansing to his people, so why does Francis scorn these treasures
while adulterating the Church with change? Women deacons? Lay Eucharistic
ministers? Communion to adulterers? Respect for "gay orientation?" Youth Mass on
the beach with guitars, beachwear, and gay dancers? What kind of scandal is he
pushing on the youth? He discards rules and regulations and then teases the
flock with this socialist merry-making that he calls mercy! "Woe to the world
because of scandals!" (Matthew 18:7)
Nay, the posters in Rome were not
an insult to the pope, but were providentially arranged for his instruction. Let
us pray that Francis will revisit this matter and learn by it. And let him "dig,
dig," that he might discover his own "rigidity" which makes him "defensive"
against tradition.
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