Cognitive Dissonance: the Francis Effect and Desiderio Desideravi

An early case of cognitive dissonance

I once experienced a severe case of vertigo. Not only could I not stand up without holding onto something, my stomach was in turmoil, and the only relief came from lying down. It's something I hope never to go through again. My body was not in conformity with the world. 

Every time I read one of Pope Francis's documents I get that same sense of dizzy confusion, a sort of spiritual vertigo with the world moving unsteadily and no firm place to stand. Psychologically, the most appropriate term to describe the Francis effect is cognitive dissonance.

The American Heritage Dictionary describes cognitive dissonance as:

The psychological tension that occurs when one holds mutually exclusive beliefs or attitudes and that often motivates people to modify their thoughts or behaviors in order to reduce the tension.

One of the examples given in a search is the Aesop's fable of the Fox and the Grapes. The fox tries and tries to get the grapes, but can't reach them. He finally gives up and walks away muttering that they were probably sour and he didn't want them anyway. He altered his views in order to reach a state of relative equilibrium.  

Let's apply this to the pope's latest missive, DESIDERIO DESIDERAVI (ON THE LITURGICAL FORMATION OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD). It did nothing to alleviate the sense of cognitive dissonance inflicted on the Church. In fact, the pope increased it.

For me, paragraph 5 was the first explosion of dissonance:

The world still does not know it, but everyone is invited to the supper of the wedding of the Lamb (Re 19:9).... We must not allow ourselves even a moment of rest, knowing that still not everyone has received an invitation to this Supper.... This is what I spoke of when I said, “I dream of a ‘missionary option’, that is, a missionary impulse capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channelled for the evangelization of today’s world rather than for her self-preservation.” (Evangelii gaudium, n. 27). I want this so that all can be seated at the Supper of the sacrifice of the Lamb and live from Him.

Wait just one minute!

Is this the same man who appointed Bishop Erwin Kräutler, as one of the main authors of the prep documents for the Amazon Synod? Remember Bishop Krautler? He bragged that "in thirty years working in the Amazon region [he] never baptized an indigenous person." Hey, the final document made it clear how spiritual the pagans are and how much we can learn from them. Those Catholic missionaries, like the North American martyrs, were colonizers and exploiters who didn't respect the natives. They deserved to be tortured, axed, and have their hearts cut out and eaten by the "spiritual" pagans. And then, of course, we have the veneration of Pachama and the pope's participation in the "sacred circle of spirits" led by a shaman instructing the pope and the bishops to put their hands over their hearts which they did. So who are the real missionaries from whom we should learn?

Oh...and don't forget the Abu Dhabi statement where the pope said that the "diversity of religions" is "willed by God." Bishop Athanasius Schneider called on the pope to correct this heretical statement which makes Jesus a liar when he gave the Apostles the great commission to go out and baptize the whole world. The pope claimed privately that he was talking about the "permissive will of God," but never publicly corrected the statement, one more act causing cognitive dissonance.

Then, of course, we have the Assisi meetings begun by John Paul II and continued by his successors which confuse people into believing that all religions are the same and all paths lead to God. Who needs the Eucharist when you can get basically the same thing at the local synagogue, mosque, or Buddhist temple? Archbishop Lefebvre, that great missionary of Africa, was right when he heard about the first Assisi meeting, bent his head in sorrow, and lamented, "It's the death of the missions."

All of this confusing double-speak, the Francis effect, leads to cognitive dissonance in the faithful. My episode of vertigo represents the current state in Francis church. The best remedy is to study Church doctrine and the lives of the saints and to pray for the wisdom of the Holy Spirit in order to distinguish between truth and error. Unlike the "sour grapes" the fox couldn't reach, the truth is accessible to all who seek it. In the meantime, read anything Francis writes with a critical mind. He has proved himself to have a forked tongue.

To be continued....