Who among us isn’t deeply concerned about the prevalence of evil and discord in the world today; in particular as it relates to Muslim violence being perpetrated against those who profess a faith in Jesus Christ?
Well, fear not Christian soldier; come 8:45 pm Rome time on September 1st, the nations of the world, thanks to His Holiness Pope Francis, will be set squarely upon the pathway to peace!
No, not hand-in-hand with the Madonna on a journey toward the Prince of Peace, but accompanied by the likes of Diego Maradona along the sweaty confines of the “Pitch for Peace.”
Like a fella once said, ain’t that a kick in the head?
Surely, by now you’ve already marked your calendars for the upcoming Interreligious Soccer Match for Peace, but just in case details are still lacking, Catholic News Agency (which it pains me to say is quickly becoming the go-to source for those with their heads in the sand, if not elsewhere, for information on the pontificate of Pope Francis) has an article on the upcoming match that, ironically, is piercingly on the money.
Vatican City, Aug 25, 2014 / 08:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A priest and close friend of Pope Francis says the pontiff’s idea for an upcoming inter-religious soccer match for peace shows his keen interest in promoting the topic on all levels of society.
“The hope is that after this football match, this sports event, there will be an impact that raises awareness for peace,” Father Guillermo Karcher told CNA Aug. 25, explaining to other journalists that “the Pope’s concern for peace is very great.”
“He sees in this event, this punctual message of the match for peace, a very positive element that gives a contribution, because it’s necessary to try to build peace from all sides; from the political and diplomatic point of view,” he said.
According to the report, the match will include “different cultures and religions, including Buddhists, Christians – Catholic and Protestant – Jews, Hindus, Muslims and Shintos.”
And what, pray tell is so wrong with hosting an interfaith play day?
Well, in and of itself, nothing really. The problem, oddly enough, lies in its lofty goal (no pun intended).
“The Holy Father continued to support [the match], and now comes this very beautiful nuance, which is to invite everyone to believe in peace,” Fr. Karcher said.
And therein lies the problem, not just with this event, but with this entire miserable pontificate.
Pope Francis will invite Muslim clerics to plant trees at the Vatican, he’ll send personal letters to the United Nations, and he’ll host interreligious soccer matches, all with the intent of inviting people to “believe in peace,” but the one thing he refuses to do is to invite everyone – Muslim, Jew, and atheist alike – to believe in Christ Jesus, who just so happens to be the only way to authentic peace.
The truth, far too bitter for many to swallow, is simply this:
Pope Francis is a humanist, through and through. His words and his deeds betray a steadfast belief, not so much in the “IHS” that is found in the symbol of the Jesuit order to which he belonged, Iesus Hominum Salvator – Jesus the Savior of men; but rather in man, in keeping with whatever religion he may happen to embrace, as the savior of men.
This being the case, is it any wonder the world is inundated with violence and teetering on the brink of economic, political and humanitarian disaster?
So what I want to know is this: is the interfaith soccer game going to be held in the city of Assisi, Italy? It sounds a bit like Pope Francis’ version of Assisi lV, in that the same sort of guests will be invited. Hopefully the skull-ticklers don’t play soccer. But it wouldn’t be fair to leave them out, would it.
I have a great idea!!!! Let’s have a “Bake-Off” for peace! Who ever makes the best chocolate chip cookies wins!!!!! Makes as much sense as a soccer match.
Was I the only one reminded of this?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2gJamguN04
Dear M2C:
Good idea, however not chocolate chip cookies. Not universal enough. Think pizza.
S.A.
Speaking of red cards, scandal alert. Priest refused Requiem Mass.
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This at the EF blog:http://eponymousflower.blogspot.com/2014/08/traditional-priest-refused-requiem.html
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I think that the good Fr. David Meyers, the Rosminian Provincial (dm@ic-uk.org) needs to hear from the sheep w/r/t this matter.
So jejune and trite. He’s ultra bizarre as our pope. There is not a scintilla of intellect here.
I imagine ISIS is really yukking it up during this pre-game planning.
It must be proclaimed that only Jesus brings peace and who better to do it than the Pope? I am bereft over the lost opportunity.
Such a double standard when it comes to this Pope as if previous popes didn’t also try to promote harmony and peace between peoples of different religious beliefs.
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Do any of you realize that the Muslim Turkish state commissioned a statue of Pope Benedict XV(the Pope who reigned during World War I) with the following inscription:
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“Benefactor of all people, regardless of nationality or religion.”
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Was Pope Benedict XV a humanist?
Dear Akita,
He throws so many comments at the media that seem to indicate that, but others who know him well, say otherwise–making it all more dangerous:
— Anglican Archbishop Gergory Venables, bishop of Argentina and former Primate of the Southern Cone:
“[Bergoglio] is much more of a Christian, Christ centered and Spirit filled, than a mere churchman…….I have been with him on many occasions and he always makes me sit next to him and invariably makes me take part and often do what he as Cardinal should have done. He is consistently humble and wise, outstandingly gifted yet a common man. He is no fool and speaks out very quietly yet clearly when necessary.”
“”He called me to have breakfast with him one morning and told me very clearly that the Ordinariate [creating by the Catholic Church to accommodate alienated Anglicans] was quite unnecessary and that the church needs us as Anglicans.”
The statue of Pope Benedict XV, which stands in the courtyard of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Istanbul, was commissioned by the Church, though Muslims, Jews and Armenians later contributed to the fund. It was meant to commemorate the Holy Father for his having opened up Catholic health facilities along the Syrian-Turkish border for the wounded from both sides of the Great War. While the Holy Father was obviously a humanitarian, he most certainly was not a humanist – though it seems the distinction is entirely lost on those suffering from the errors of Modernism.
And Pope Francis is a humanitarian and not a humanist although that distinction seems lost on those who work themselves up into a lather over a soccer game.
What are you saying Indignus? Your post is a riddle. Are you saying he is humble and gifted and speaks clearly or are you implying he is a shrewdie? My point is that a soccer match is a most childish way to respond to the beheading of Christians, the annihilation of Christians and other “minorities”, the desecration of ancient Christiab churches after their members are exiled undered extreme duress.
The difference Louie is highlighting is that, whereas Pope Benedict XV put Christ front and center in his exhortations to peace, Our Lord is conspicuously absent in analogous statements made by Pope Francis. For an example of Benedict’s writing on the subject:
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“Our Lord Jesus Christ came down from Heaven for the very purpose of restoring amongst men the Kingdom of Peace, which the envy of the devil had destroyed, and it was His will that it should rest on no other foundation than that of brotherly love. […] Far different from this is the behavior of men today. Never perhaps was there more talking about the brotherhood of men than there is today; in fact, men do not hesitate to proclaim that striving after brotherhood is one of the greatest gifts of modern civilization, ignoring the teaching of the Gospel, and setting aside the work of Christ and of His Church.” (Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum)
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Will Francis invite the Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Shintoists to accept the Gospel of Christ as the foundation of true and lasting peace? Or will he instead lead them to believe that lasting peace can be had on the basis of the ‘shared values of human civilization’? If the former, he would prove himself a true humanitarian. If the latter, nothing more than an agent of humanism.
Ganganelli, you sure are cherrypicking traditionalist criticisms of Pope Francis. It’s the whole of his pontificate, not just a mere soocer game, that is criticized, from his allowing Fr. Volpe to curb the Franciscans of the Immaculate to his putting a beach ball on the altar of St. Mary Major to honoring priests advocating sodomy!! When he consistently says he will not try to convert anyone to the Catholic Faith, there’s something rotten in the state of Denmark!
And only a few days ago Bergoglio insisted that the protestant layman, Palmer, be given an ‘Catholic Episcopal Requiem’. Newchurch.
“the one thing he refuses to do is to invite everyone – Muslim, Jew, and atheist alike – to believe in Christ Jesus”. In short, he refuses the mission of Christ.
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Where is Christ to Whom has been given all sovereignty on Heaven, Earth and under the Earth in all this milieu? Who does Bergoglio look to destroy evil? soccer players? It’s interesting that Bergoglio’s solutions are either irreligious in nature, religious indifference or protestant. In essence he teaches and demands nothing Christ would have him teach or demand.
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There was a chap, Sir Halford John Mackinder, who around the turn of the century, came up with the “Geographical Pivot of History” theory, in which he pitted the ‘sea powers’ that is to say the ‘West’ (a de-Christianized west) against those in control of the pivot of ‘civilization’, or the Eurasian landmass. He proposed that the west must gain control of this ‘pivot’, and in no small measure the geopolitics of the 20th (including Wojtyla’s geopolitics and the politics at play during VII) and 21st century has been aiming at this come hell or high water – supporting and encouraging both Israel and Islam at different turns, in order to establish a ‘new world order’ so to speak – that is, to have control of the ‘pivot of civilization’ presumably to establish some sort of rabbinical utopia. Listening to Catholics’ skewed break down on world crises is an ‘education’ – some Catholics are even foolish enough to think that a caliphate will get rid of the ‘jewish tyranny’, or that Israel is necessary to contain the muslim evil. Judaism and Islam sing from the same song sheet – not in harmony (there can be no harmony bereft of Christ) and thier song is the denial of Christ; and now the ‘west’ is singing their discord with gusto – Bergoglio Inc. included.
p.s. remember Bergoglio’s distaste for the Holy Rosary? When held hostage James Foley prayed this despised Rosary: “I began to pray the rosary. It was what my mother and grandmother would have prayed. I said 10 Hail Marys between each Our Father. It took a long time, almost an hour to count 100 Hail Marys off on my knuckles.”
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Occassionally you’ll see soccer players get out their Rosaries at a penalty shoot-out. Would such a Catholic practice be permitted at an inter-religious non-religious event essentially celebrating satan’s victory over the ability of a so-called Catholic prelate to speak the Truth? It’s a soccer game. And if they did, they wouldn’t be sending up Roses for peace.
Ganganelli ” And Pope Francis is a humanitarian and not a humanist although that distinction seems lost on those who work themselves up into a lather over a soccer game.”
Wrong. Both humanitarians and humanists both help humans in need, out of compassion and mercy. Both want peace ultimately. What sets them apart from a Catholic perspective is the emphasis placed on the spiritual things that help determine where those same humans spend eternity.
—The only way to judge that emphasis is to listen to what they say and do.
Benedict XV negotiated so the POW’s in WWI would not have to work on Sundays and holy days.
Pope Francis has scheduled a Sunday as the first day of work for the October Synod; has promoted reception of the Eucharist by continued adulterers as (misplaced) mercy; assured protestants, Muslims and Jews,, and non-Catholic religions, that he has no intention of converting them (to the One True Church and even to belief in Jesus as their savior-where that apples) telling Atheists to “just do good”. Assigning the best possible motives to those words and actions, we could assume he believes good intentions alone overcome the powers of Hell in this life, and there is no real need for anyone to be Catholic.
—-That is the reason for our grave concerns over the continued pursuit of ecumenical gatherings such as a soccer game. Bringing people together to further delude them that all is well as long as they continue to coexist, is not the mandate Christ gave to his disciples..
Dear Akita,
You stated:— “There is not a scintilla of intellect here.”
We stated contrarily: —“.. “but others who know him well, say otherwise–making it all more dangerous.”
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The quote we provided included the opinions of someone who knows him well enough to be invited to breakfast, and who praised him effusively, (giving the quote more credibility as an honest belief, lacking any negative motive).
–. The fact that he called the Pope “outstandingly gifted” and “no fool” were the two comments it contained, which contradict your view that “there is very little intellect there”.. — The fact that he was being told it would be better for the Church for Anglicans not to convert, demonstrates our final point, that the way the Pope uses that intelligence makes him all the more dangerous.
–As we made no claims to agree with the other opinions, is does not follow that we hold them.
p.s. Although we contradict the second half of your comment with what we believe is the truth; the point we made only enhances your initial view of the harm of his responding to the current crisis with a “soccer match for peace”.
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-It adds to the growing mountain of evidence that not only is he not a fool, but he is pursuing the same agenda we have all been subjected to for the past half century, which includes the pulling down of the walls that were built deliberately by God, upon the foundation stones of His Church, which divide truth from falsehood, and that needs to be pointed out, because souls are being lost..
Maybe if the Pope talks to them about- Faith and Reason- during a time out?
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Buddhists 969 Movement versus Moslem 786 – in Burma –2012-2014 Buddhist mob-calls for Muslim extermination in Burma
Human Rights groups report “such acts are spurred on by hardline monks associated with the 969 Movement.” :
1. BUDDHISTS (believe in numerology) 969 = “3 jewels”: 9 attributes of the Buddha; 6 attr. of his teachings; and 9 of the monastic order.
The 969 movement’s ideological roots are from a book written- late 1990s by U Kyaw Lwin,-ministry of religious affairs..
2. MUSLIMS Across South Asia, believe 786 represents “In the Name of Allah,the Compassionate and Merciful,” Businesses display it to indicate they are Muslim-owned.
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CONFILCT: Buddhists believe there is a Muslim plot to conquer Burma in the 21st century BECAUSE 7+8+6= 21, and 969 is 786’s cosmological opposite.
and so the violence continues…
–June 2012 Burmese officials, community leaders and Buddhist monks coordinated attacks to terrorize and forcibly relocate the population. Over 200 people were killed; more than 125,000 Muslims in the region were forcibly displaced. Numerous times in Myanmar over the past two years, scores of Buddhist men on motorcycles converged on a Muslim neighborhood in Mandalay brandishing swords, yelling anti-Muslim slogans and ransacking Muslim shops, witnesses said.
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Headlines: “Rise in Bigotry Fuels Massacre Inside Myanmar” MARCH 1, 2014 “For Myanmar Muslim Minority, No Escape From Brutality” MARCH 14, 4
“Death stalks Muslims as Myanmar Cuts Off Aid” MAY 2, 2014
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Are they invited to the game?
Thanks Indignus. Points clarified. It is said evil is stupid. With our pope relying on a soccer match to promote peace without a word about Christ is stupid. He’s on a respected and protected platform and it would be seemingly so natural for him to proclaim Christ but we get great quantities of fetid, putrefying pablum.
Louie, I would encourage you to get more in touch with you emotions. Emotions are what counts.
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If you would like, I can send you, for free, a plastic bracelet, which you can wear to Increase Awareness of two things: the chafing of plastic bracelets, and irony.
Cluelessness or sophistry, as usual.
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The pagan Romans were amazed when 2nd century Christians risked their lives to minister to pagans sick with Plague. Those Christians ALSO tended to their souls, attempting to convert as many as they could – after all, the Second Death is infinitely worse than the first – something our present pontiff declares again & again he has absolutely no interest in doing.
Amen.