The Chameleon Effect, Or: The Impact Of A Bad Papacy

More Catholic and less Communist than Francis

I am often led to reflect about the impact that a bad Papacy has on our Western culture, and I would like to spend two words on my reflections.

Like everyone working in the UK, I have a good deal of heathens under my colleagues and acquaintances, and it is perfectly evident to me that Francis is irrelevant to them: they barely know who he is and they do not care about what he says.

Then there are the atheists; who, coming from a Western background rather than from Sri Lanka of Pakistan, very well know who Francis is and in what he differs for his predecessors. However, they do not care about him, either. They think of him and his antics as an evidence that the Pope thinks like them, but even they know all too well that this is not what the Church teaches. They dismiss both as false, and the thing ends there.

The instructed Catholics are horrified by the man. They do not drink that kool-aid at all. They only differ in the degree of public criticism of the Evil Clown: very timid or even cowardly for most, assertive and combative in some. But the horror is the same.

Last, the tepid, wannabe, thin-varnished, hearsay Catholics. They certainly use Francis as an excuse for their becoming even more tepid and even more wannabe than they already are, but this seems to me more the willed acceleration of an erosion process that would be underway anyway, than a change of direction of any sort. Yes, the weakness of the Church may one day cause the disappearance of Catholicism from Countries like Italy of France; however, this would happen not directly because the Pope orchestrated it, but rather very indirectly because the dechristianised people of Europe want it that way in the first place, and being dechristianised don’t even care whether the Pope agrees with them or not.

In short, it seems to me that a bad papacy creates a sort of chameleon effect: it disappears in the background of the atheist, perverted Western world, and exactly in virtue of this disappearance it has little effect on the world at large. The largest impact of a bad papacy is, if you ask me, rather in this: the dismissal and refusal of the role of the Church, of her mission to be an enemy of the world.

Francis is hugely damaging in that he prevents the Church from being a strong force for Catholic truth. But as for actual, active damage, leading people who wish to be good towards a bad life, it seems to me that he does not have this power.

Catholicism stands like a huge block of granite against this idiot, continuously scratching at it with a fork as he shouts “look at me, comrades!”. Only people who hate the granite will ever be impressed, and not even many among them.

If you become like the world you disappear in it. Irrelevance is the price of acquiescence.

M

 

 

Attacking The Straw Man

Pope Francis has stated he is “saddened” by “perfect Catholics” who criticise others.

This is a typical straw man argument. There are no perfect Catholics who say that whoever is not perfect must be criticised. The object of the criticism simply does not exist, and is chosen to make people who do exist look bad.

What does exist is Catholics who, whilst sinners, strive to live a Catholic life and justly criticise overt and covert attacks to it. Francis cannot put it that way, however, because it would reveal the fundamental soundness of the criticism.

This very mediocre, very emotional, completely unintelligent line of attack is perfectly in line with this Pope: a stupid, ignorant, arrogant man who hates Catholicism and all who love it.

It is a blessing that our heretical Pope is at least a dumb one. I start to fear what might happen if his successor were one like him, but with a better brain.

Please, Lord, save us from an evil worse scourge than an ass as Pope.

M