Francis: Heterodox Even For Lutherans!

Please take this “Frank the Hippie Pope” video cum grano salis: this is made by Lutherans, and Catholic doctrine does not say a Lutheran will certainly go to hell (though he will be certainly at risk; it will depend on his degree of ignorance). Still, I must say even these Lutherans seem to have a better grasp of Catholic doctrine and of the role of the Pope than the army of tambourine-playing Pollyannas who insist in reading Hitler through Snow White. I am, in fact, rather sure this video expresses the feelings of many Proddies who simply know Francis is talking rubbish, simply because they have a basic knowledge of Christianity; which, to be very frank, I doubt can be said of him.

If anything, those who have followed Francis closely will notice the Lutheran video-makers are, if anything, too gentle with him. It is absolutely not true that the Pope says “true, Jeff” every time “Jeff” corrects his rubbish. In fact, not one single time has the Bishop of Rome intervened to officially correct a statement of his, and to demand that it be given a Catholic interpretation. If Francis were to say: “true, Jeff” only once, the screaming of the Pollyannas would be deafening.

One thing it is now impossible to ignore: Francis is on his way to become the butt of jokes of everyone who takes Christianity halfway seriously.

How can you blame them? I have Hindu acquaintances who say to me, tongue in cheek, “who am I to judge?”. Even your average Hindu has a far more advanced ethical system in place than the kindergarten-goodism of our Pontiff, disgracefullyy reigning.

“But this is obvious, Mundabor” – you might say – “they are Proddies: of course they mock the Pope!”

Erm… not really. They do not find him ridiculous because he wants to be Pope. They find him ridiculous because he does not want to.  Imagine the same authors making the same critical video about Pope Pius XII, and think of how different – and wrong – the criticism would be. Or imagine whether they would be able to make the same “hippie Pope” video about…. Benedict.

In Francis’ case, when he is made to say: “ah, man, was I supposed to get, like, a manual with this job? ‘cos I forget what I’m supposed to be doing, like, aaaall the times…” this is true and too gentle at the same time. True, in that the man certainly has no idea of the “manual”; too gentle, in that Francis has never admitted he has strayed from said “manual”. Rather, by continuously refusing to correct his statements he has made very clear he doesn’t care two straws about it.Bergoglism is what counts.

Hey, he had a mystical experience. He said it himself. Or perhaps… not really. Doesn’t matter…

In a Lutheran video mocking a Pope whilst not even saying all that there is to say about said Pope is all the tragedy of a man whose boundless ignorance and teenager-like vanity is going to make him a very bad service, both in this life and – it is greatly to be feared – in the next. In the meantime, millions of souls are being led astray by his antics.  

Pray for Pope Francis. That he may not be eaten by the wolves. Though I am sure they are salivating like it’s lunch time.    

Mundabor

Say “Yes” To The “Defensor Doctrinae” Project!

Louie Verrecchio at “Harvesting The Fruits Of V II” is thinking of launching the “Defensor Doctrinae” Project.

This would be a page where all the heretical or questionable statement of the Bishop of Rome are saved in order, and with the indication of the occasion, the date and where possible a stable link. A kind of “Bergogliopedia”.

Personally, I think such an instrument would be invaluable.

For us blogger, it would be a fast reference to recover past snippets of Bergoglism. As I have often said, we must read Francis through Francis, and a ready to use collection of pearls of Bergoglism would allow to very easily link the latest madness of the Pontiff to similar utterances made in the past. Whilst Francis is very chaotic in the way he expresses himself, his streams of consciousness follow, like Wagner’s music, a Leitmotiv (or several of them) that can be regularly observed through the cacophony of his speeches.  A project like this one would allow to “connect the dots” far more rapidly than by googling at random among the sheer ocean of the headlines originated by the questionable (or worse) statements of the man. 

In addition, it would be a huge help for every blog reader. Whenever Francis utters something “funky”, he would be able to visit the page and compare with past statement to see whether his gut feeling was justified.

In fact, this would become a sort of “syllabus of errors” of a new type, specifically aimed at the tidal wave of Francis’ confused, confusing or openly heretical statements. Again, an extremely useful study material and occasion for proper instruction. 

Mr Verrecchio asks what would be the cons of the project. I can’t see any. On the contrary, it is extremely fitting that every questionable of heretical statement of the Pope be allowed to remain on the internet in an easily accessible place, “sculpted in cyber marble” so to speak, in order for this and the following generations to realise what is happening.

Seriously, I can’t see what could be wrong with that. It is not us who publish the questionable or heretical statement, it is Francis. It should be the desire of every blogger and every decent faithful that no Catholic is confused just because one does not want to appear to “go against the Pope”. If the Pope wants that the list does not become longer, he must do only one thing: stop talking rubbish. Orthodox Popes never caused any negative reaction from orthodox faithful.   

Mr Verrecchio is still gathering opinions.

If you like this project – as I am sure most of you will – you can do worse than follow the link above, visit his page and leave one or two fast lines of approval and encouragement.

Best luck to him, and – if he starts the project – the support of at least the grateful blogger who calls himself

Mundabor

The Good Gardener And The Modernist Weed

Knew how to deal with weed: Pope Pius XII.

I have read around – I suspect, from the usual V II crowd – that repression of heresy doesn’t really work, as soon after the death of the last “repressive” Pope they were everywhere in just a few years. I found the reasoning so wrong I need to write a post of explanation, in case the argument should emerge in your own discussions with friends, on the Internet, etc.

in my eyes, that repression of Modernism works fine is abundantly proven by the fact that for more than 50 years Modernists were absolutely nowhere as far as mainstream Catholicism is concerned. Their work was limited to some isolated theologians, who were promptly censored or condemned, and – presumably- to a subterranean current of followers which, being underground and therefore silent, could not be easily spotted, much less attacked.

Still, the work of the good Popes of the past was so good, that even in such a situation they did not hesitate in keeping a very strict control over what was happening. It is said Pope Pius XII had put his own “plants” in the major Catholic universities and seminaries, exactly in order to flush out, as much as he could, even the heretics working in the shade. Seriously, how anyone could do better than this is beyond me; and whether it worked, of course it worked!

Still, heresy in the Church is like the weed in a huge field. You can do as much as you want to eradicate the weed, but it will pop up again and again, and it will never be possible to eradicate it completely. Even constant attention will not lead to the problem’s extinction; but neglect will soon cause the problem to explode.

This is exactly what happened when John XXIII was elected. Suddenly, there was no real interest in the extirpation on of weed anymore. As a result, the weed started to grow at a prodigious rate, and in just a few years took over the field. To say the policy of the former Popes didn’t work merely because the following Popes refused to care for the extirpation of the weed is to put things completely upside down.

Repression of heresy works. It works, in fact, beautifully. If after Pope Pius XII we had had Popes who care for the extirpation of weed, the field would be exactly in the same beautiful shape now as it was in the Fifties. Of course, we would still have heretics working in the dark. But this has always been the case.

Those who say the Popes of the first half of the XX Century were not effective against heresy are like those who blame the good gardener who left the garden spotless for the mess caused by his successors, and for the weed now growing everywhere, undisturbed.

Don’t blame the good gardener. Blame the bad ones.

Mundabor