It’s my nature, for better or worse, to shoot from the hip all-too-often, but I deliberately forced myself to take some time to reflect before commenting on Evangelii Gaudium in any great detail.
Before highlighting specific points, however, I must first say that I’m struck by the degree to which this exhortation is not so much “Apostolic” in tone as it is “Bergoglian.” It reads far more like a journal comprised of personal reflections than as an instrument of the papacy wherein the Vicar of Christ intends to encourage the children of the Church in the ways of the Faith.
If anyone feels offended by my words, I would respond that I speak them with affection and with the best of intentions, quite apart from any personal interest or political ideology. My words are not those of a foe or an opponent. I am interested only in helping those who are in thrall to an individualistic, indifferent and self-centred mentality… (EG 208)
Setting aside the richness of this reference to individualism, there’s little pretense being made here; this document is very much the pleading of the man Jorge Bergoglio, and in this one must grant that he is entirely consistent.
If nothing else, the experiences of the last eight months have amply indicated that Jorge Bergoglio did not so much become pope as the pope became Jorge Bergoglio.
Sure, every Roman Pontiff brings his own gifts and experiences to the papacy, but who can deny that the storyline of this pontificate, at least thus far, is Jorge Bergoglio Goes to Rome, and it has been this way from moment one.
Consider, by way of contrast, the elevation of Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti to the papacy in 1846, a cardinal who was widely considered a liberal and who was even the subject of unsubstantiated rumors of having joined the Freemasons.
As Pope Pius IX, his pontificate became an expression of the Petrine Office, the Office did not serve simply as a platform for expressing him, and he left to the Church such lasting gifts as the Syllabus of Errors and Ineffabilis Deus, dogmatically defining the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
We must fast and pray that a similar transformation will take place with Pope Francis as well.
The pope has indeed become Jorge Bergoglio, which explains the growing cult of personality surrounding this pope. Hey, he seems to be a guy just like me!
Dear Louie,
I wholeheartedly understand your desire to see a transformation of Jorge Bergoglio, and as catholics we ought to pray for the conversion all men. However, doesn’t the example of Judas Iscariot teach us something in this regard? That is, that some men are so reprobate that not even all the graces that the Lord sends to a soul do not effect their conversion? Is it realistic to think that Bergoglio will change course? Shouldn’t we see him rather as a man sent to punish mankind for its sins by causing further confusion and turmoil among the faithful, and to test their faithfulness to Him? What world-renowned arch-heretic of the magnitude of Bergoglio in the history of humanity has converted to the catholic faith? None that I know of.
[1] Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?
[2] And the woman answered him, saying: Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat: [3] But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die.
[4] And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death. [5] For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil.
It is well documented that the masons have infiltrated the Catholic Church. Sadly, it is clear that they now have their man in the top spot. This is the fulfillment of the latter portion of the third secret of Fatima which we have been deprived of knowing. Those who have read it–including Cardinal Ciappi, spiritual director to three popes, maintain that it states there would be a ‘generalized apostasy that begins at the top’. Malachi Martin who read it concurs with the statement that it says,’ the last pope will be under the control of the devil’. When Bergoglio mocks sister Imelda as a ‘goody goody’ (Scarlfari interview), criticizes an altar boy for folding his hands reverently, (seen on video), and dismisses as pathetic creating spiritual bouquets, we a are observing what I call ‘little satanic mockeries’. He cannot help himself. The devil gives himself away with such small evidences of hatred. Pay close attention to the changes in the curia that are already planned and soon will be here,, the giving of doctrinal authority to bishops’ conferences, to the ‘changes in structures’ that Bergoglio tells us not to fear. W3e will see the Catholic Church dismantled right before our eyes.
When considering how to read Francis, it may be helpful to employ the methods of “decadent Thomism”. As an example, consider the following analysis:
Objection 1. It would seem that one ought to try to convert non-Catholics. For Pope Francis says (Homily, April 23, 2013): “Today let us think about the missionary nature of the Church: these disciples who took the initiative to go forth, and those who had the courage to proclaim Jesus to the Greeks”.
On the contrary, Pope Francis says (Evangelii Gaudium, #254): “Non-Christians, by God’s gracious initiative, when they are faithful to their own consciences, can live ‘justified by the grace of God’, and thus be ‘associated to the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ'”.
I answer that, as Pope Francis says (Video Message, August 7, 2013), “Should you go and convince someone else that he should become Catholic? No, no, no! Go and encounter him, he is your brother! And this is enough. And go and help him, Jesus or the Holy Spirit will do the rest”.
Reply to Objection 1. We ought to mention “those who had the courage to proclaim Jesus to the Greeks” when
it is the Reading at Mass, since one can only give homilies condemning gossip so many times!
Barbara Jensen…you are spot on!!!
I would add Jorge Bergoglio the VII agenda Jesuit Goes to Rome.
In 1965 the Jesuits handed in their resignation as the ‘pope’s men’.
“Asia has a lot yet to offer the Church, to the whole Church, but we haven’t done it yet. Maybe we have not been courageous enough, or we haven’t taken the risks we should”. In an article on Nicolás, Michael McVeigh said that Nicolás has also expressed his wariness of missionaries who are more concerned with teaching and imposing orthodoxy than in having a cultural experience with the local people, saying, “Those who enter into the lives of the people, they begin to question their own positions very radically. Because they see genuine humanity in the simple people, and yet they see that this genuine humanity is finding a depth of simplicity, of honesty, of goodness that does not come from our sources…the message of the Jesuits is “a message of salvation” and the challenge of discerning the type of salvation that people today are waiting for.” Adolfo Nicolas – Superior General SJ
EG could be summed up as an exhortation to have a ‘a cultural experience with the local people’. *
We can add, ‘individualistic, indifferent and self-centred mentality’, to Pope Francis’ ‘little book of insults’ * http://thatthebonesyouhavecrushedmaythrill.blogspot.co.nz/2013/12/the-pope-francis-little-book-of-insults.html
*
This is a quote from the pre-pope bergolio: “Journalists sometimes risk becoming ill from coprophilia and thus fomenting coprophagia” He’s toned his insults down, a bit. This snake sure knows how to bite.
Can we even talk about the “next Pope” after Bergoglio? Will there be a papacy left? And I mean a real Pope not a Bishop of Rome?
So those who say “we just have to wait this out”, I say no. If we just wait there will be nothing to wait for. There will be no “next Pope”. The papacy will have been destroyed.
God can do all things, even make a faithful Catholic, even an authentic pope out of Francis 1, Bishop of Rome. True Jorge has free will to continue along with his Jesuitism and it’s post John XXIII disdain for the Papacy – remember Benedict insisted on a formal acknowledgement of loyalty to the Papacy from the Society? With Freemasons on one side, Marxist Jesuits on the other, gay-lobby useful idiots in-between, and liberal indifferentism all around, the Papacy is in quite a pickle. But we still know, God can do all things. The Immaculate Heart will triumph.
READ = “If anyone feels offended by my words [you are] in thrall to an individualistic, indifferent and self-centred mentality.” Is there anyone this guy doesn’t hate or want to have a go at? He has some seeeerious unresolved issues. They say he was a psychologist? Not in practice, one would hope. He conducts himself like a bully, a name-caller, a mess-maker, with no respect for that which preceded his own advent. Jorge does after all appear to have a penchant for Triumphalism – he seems to be a thoroughly dedicated Jorgist – he just needs the platform of the Catholic Church to fulfill that humble ambition. Do we have to go to confession over these pointed observations of the man the media are calling the Pope? St Paul warns us that even if an angel from heaven, or even if he and his brothers suddenly started to teach something new – anathema.
@ Saluto, re:READ = “If anyone feels offended by my words [you are] in thrall to an individualistic, indifferent and self-centred mentality.”
These words could have been said by Obama. Maybe they have been.
@nemo
Since he’s ripping the pope’s quotes – as Fr Z said, ‘blech’ – it’s entirely possible that these two see eye to enough.