MarriageGate: What happens Next

Cardinals and Bishops shut up like one man. 

Cardinal Burke tells us the Pope’s statement are not magisterial, and there’s nothing to be worried about. You are a bad Catholic if you confuse the faithful by criticising the Pope.

We are made to understand the video might have been “mistranslated”. 

Some bloggers tell us it’s not a big deal. Relax. Smile. It’s no worse than Uncle Rob, who is always a bit embarrassing in his old age…  

Commenters on Catholic blogs start discussing whether 80% of marriages are invalid, or 60%, or perhaps 50%. Our Holy Father might be up to something here… 

Commenters on Catholic blogs suggest the Pope might have dementia. Alas, they won’t explain why he never forgets his heresies… 

M

MarriageGate: Even Fox News Asks That Francis Resign!

 

 

This is a real bomb, coming from a publisher known for his “neocon” (means: “I will put up with everything provided I pay less taxes”) stance. As I write this, it leads Fox News’ editorial page.

The article asking for Pope Francis’ resignation is signed by Adam Shaw. The man is clearer and more cogent than the vast majority of non-traditionalist Catholic sites and blogs out there. Actually, his clear arguments put their weakness and complicity with Francis to shame.

Let us quote some of his statements, with some comments from yours truly when opportune: 

Pope Francis’s three-year-old papacy, marred by controversy from the beginning, has hit a new low.

Note here: the man is not only fed up with MarriageGate. He is fed up with three years of total mess.

Attaboy! 

From his “Who am I to judge?” statement on gay people that seemed to offer a hint at a change in church teaching, to his fumbles on contraception, to his recent claim that Donald Trump is not Christian, his off-the-cuff remarks cause headlines across the globe, often followed by some sort of “clarification” from the Holy See Press Office.

Notice the subtle indictment here: the man is a maverick and the Vatican apparatus is left to clean up after he has piddled outside of the potty again. 

His papacy has been a litany of confusing statements for the faithful on the most sensitive and delicate topics. While clear on political topics dear to his heart, but where Catholics can legitimately hold differing opinions, such as immigration, economics and climate change, on matters of doctrine, Francis muddied the waters to an extent that many well-meaning Catholics feel they no longer know where the Church stands on issues of faith.

Another well-spotted point, that you won’t find anywhere on “Patheos”: when he wants to make Socialist propaganda, Francis is neither nuanced nor ambiguous. He only discovers his Jesuit side when he wants to attack everything Catholic.  

For a “pope of the people” he certainly doesn’t give Catholics much credit. For a Catholic marriage to be valid all that is needed is the freedom to marry, consent from both parties, and the intention to marry for life and be open to children. That’s it.

I would correct this, or perhaps make explicit what the author might be thinking already: Francis hates and despises Catholics, and his forma mentis is entirely secular. This is why he does not believe in the Sacraments (and does not like Catholics). 

For Pope Francis to say the great majority of marriages are null implies that the great majority of Catholic are ignorant fools who cannot understand the responsibilities of a bedrock of society that has existed for thousands of years.

Quite so. 

It also suggests severe doubt in the mercy and grace of God. The rule of thumb when the validity of sacraments, whether it be marriage, the Eucharist or the priesthood, is concerned, is to assume validity unless something clearly contradicts that. So just like a priest doubting his faith as he is ordained is still a priest, a bride with jitters is still validly married — God makes up for our frailties.

I would say, here, that at the root is a different, extremely secular, atheist thinking: sacraments have no value, they confer no sacramental grace. They are simply rituals, ceremonies. This is why Francis thinks they can be tampered with, and does not see anything in them beyond a ceremony of purely formal value; which, in turn, is why he thinks those living in adultery are just in the same position, if they are “committed”. 

Francis’ words put the devil’s doubt into the hearts and minds of good Catholic couples who may be going through a rough time, and who instead of saying “We’re Catholic, we’re married, this is until death parts us,” may now say, “Well, the pope says most marriages aren’t valid anyway…maybe ours isn’t either” and give up.

Francis makes the work of the devil.  Yep, this is literally what the man says, and kudos to him. he also encourages them to discount the value of their marriage (whilst he encourage concubines to consider themselves married).

Insane. Or Atheist Church hater. Tertium non datur.

Francis’ statement demonstrates a lack of faith in the Church and its ability to vet couples seeking marriage, to teach them about what marriage is, and to administer the sacraments effectively.

Yep, that’s the point. The man does not believe in the Church. He does not believe in anything Catholic. Not in Catholic virtues, not in Catholic doctrine, actually not even in a Catholic God. 

If most marriages are invalid because couples don’t understand a life-long commitment, does that mean most priestly ordinations are invalid too? If so, are most masses invalid? Most confessions?

Well spotted again; and in fact, this is the only logical conclusion that can be drawn from Francis’ atheist statement. If a sacrament like Catholic marriage (of which every child knows it is a commitment for life) cannot be understood, how can First Communion be understood? What about Holy Orders? How can confession be valid, if the concepts of “contrition” and “firm purpose of amendment” are not understood, because nowadays people “don’t know what they are saying”? Why should people not doubt whether they have validly received the sacrament of Last Rites (yes, I keep calling it that way)? And so on…

The Church’s authority rests, in part, on its claim to be able to communicate the sacraments and the teachings of Christ. Francis has cast doubt on the former, has done a poor job of the latter, and by doing so has brought the Church’s legitimacy into question.

 Another extremely good point. This is a man who declares the total bankruptcy of the organisation he leads; her total inability to do what Jesus put her on earth to do.  ^“Go ye therefore, and utterly fail in teaching all nations; even those in which you have a millenary tradition…”

 His comments come after he dealt more confusion to Catholic marriages by allowing the liberal Cardinal Walter Kasper to take control of last year’s Synod of the Family — who turned the whole thing into a referendum on gay people and communion for divorced and remarried Catholics.

Francis’ subversion is rightly recognised. The Fake Synod, falsely manipulated by the “gay” clergy, is not forgotten…

Francis made things worse this year with his vague document on the family — Amoris Laetitia — in which he buried the hot topic of divorced and remarried Catholics in a footnote, and muddied the waters some more by saying that such couples could receive sacraments “in certain cases.”

… nor is the huge scandal of Amoris Laetitia.

When asked to clarify he said “I don’t remember the footnote.” Wonderful.

The man is embarrassing even in his evil arrogance. 

Once upon a time Catholics would have been stuck with a bad pope, but since Pope Emeritus Benedict opened the door for a pope resigning when he can no longer do his job, it is time for the faithful to look at Francis and ask — “is this man able to lead the Holy Catholic Church?”

I must disagree here. Catholics were never required to stick with a heretical Pope without asking for his removal. However, the power to remove him is not in their hands. Benedict’s resignation would make it easier for Francis to save face, but is not the reason why he can be asked to go, or can legitimately be seen as unable to lead the Holy Catholic Church. 

At this point it is clear, Bergoglio has repeatedly proven himself unable to lead, and is doing incalculable damage to the Church that will take decades to heal.

I think “unable to lead” here means “astonishingly incompetent”. Nothing to add on the incalculable damage. 

Pope Francis should resign, and Catholics should demand it, so the Church can begin recovering from the havoc his ill-advised and arrogant papacy has wrought.

Two very important points to close, both again very well spotted: it is a duty of a faithful Catholics to react to this impiousness by demanding that the Pope resign (as opposed to Pollyanning around blathering nonsense like “relax, the Holy Ghost is in charge!”), and the damage done is so massive, that even if Francis resigned today it would a very long time before the Church can be said to have recovered from it.

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Even the mainstream press now starts to demand that the man be made to leave; and again, with words clearer than you would read in fake Catholic sites and blogs.

The world woke up, and discovered that the Pope is an Evil Clown.  

M