Some Catholics erroneously believe that the Holy Ghost chooses the pope. If that were true, one would have to wonder how competent He is in view of the number of corrupt, licentious and just plain bad popes that have filled the chair of Peter over the centuries. NO! The cardinals don't lose their free well when the doors of the conclave are locked. And anyone with open eyes saw the machinations behind the election of Jorge Bergoglio. The St. Gallen Mafia certainly didn't gather to pray the novena to the Holy Ghost for the next pope. They gathered as liberal church politicians intent on electing their man to turn the Catholic faith into one more modernist Protestant sect.
Still think the Holy Ghost chooses the pope? Listen to a voice of authority. In 1997, Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) was asked by Bavarian television if the Holy Spirit chooses the pope. His answer?
I would not say so, in the sense that the Holy Spirit picks out the Pope. . . . I would say that the Spirit does not exactly take control of the affair, but rather like a good educator, as it were, leaves us much space, much freedom, without entirely abandoning us. Thus the Spirit’s role should be understood in a much more elastic sense, not that he dictates the candidate for whom one must vote. Probably the only assurance he offers is that the thing cannot be totally ruined. . . There are too many contrary instances of popes the Holy Spirit obviously would not have picked!
Obviously we laity have no control over the election, but we can certainly storm heaven for the cardinals to give us a holy pope after the Lord's own heart. Tomorrow we begin a novena to the Holy Ghost. You can find it here. Please join. In addition to the novena, Larry and I will be offering rosaries for the election of a holy pope and prayers to St. Joseph, the guardian of the Universal Church.
We certainly need all the heavenly help we can get. Another pope like Francis would surely be a sign that Catholics deserve more chastisement -- which reminds me of the statement by Pope St. Pius V: "All the evils of the world are due to lukewarm Catholics." In the days of the conclave let us prove that we are anything but lukewarm. Let our zeal for the election of a holy pope be boiling hot!
.... Personally, I prefer the method used to elect the Coptic Pope of Alexandria because it acknowledges the Holy Spirit should make the final decision. After a complex multi-step process to select three candidates, a blindfolded child pulls one of three cards from a silver urn. The name written on that card becomes the Pope.
ReplyDeleteThis would be man creating a process and claiming chance = holy spirit.
DeleteNow if God told us to do it this way, OK, then I would not argue.
But He did not, so it's man's process trying to conjure the spirit. Quite failing. Just the same as bishops going into a seance with a ouija board.
Can't agree. Have you forgotten Acts of the Apostles? The selection of a replacement for Judas and naming deacons to help run the Church? The process hasn't changed much, just the size of the Church. Gathering the bishops in councils began in the first century with Peter meeting with the others to determine the requirements for the Gentile converts.
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