If nothing else, Pope Francis is consistent.
His Christmas address to the Roman Curia was rife with such staples of his pontificate as name-calling and insult hurling, imparting to God who is the same yesterday, today and forever a penchant for “innovation” (thus the “God of surprises”), and of course a little gasoline for stoking the flames of class warfare.
On the latter point, he also managed to toss in yet another mainstay of his papacy; the twisting of salvation history as set forth in Sacred Scripture:
And ‘the appointment with God who is born in the poverty of the cave of Bethlehem to teach us the power of humility. In fact, Christmas is also the festival of light that is not welcomed by the people “elected” but by the poor and simple people who waited for the salvation of the Lord.
Can it be that Pope Francis has never heard of Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimithea, or the Magi, or does he deliberately choose to overlook certain parts of the Faith when doing so seems expedient?
Surely he could have made a case for the “poor in spirit” otherwise.
In any event, this pope’s appetite for pitting the wealthy and powerful against the poor and meager appears to know no bounds; in fact, it is downright Obamaesque.
When I first encountered this composite photo, I thought I entered a Stephen King horror flick! The Pres. loves Francis!
Nuff said!
“…God who is born in the poverty of the cave of Bethlehem ”
There is no indication in Scripture that the Holy Family was impoverished. Scripture states there was no room at the inn, which was why Jesus was placed in the manger. How do we know Joseph wasn’t just a procrastinator and left for Bethlehem late? People read what they want to read into Scripture while ignoring the actual text. How do we know the Holy Family was poor? We don’t. There is no evidence. My speculation, and that’s all it is, goes the opposite way. Joseph probably had all the work he could handle and it looks to me as if Jesus had lots of spare time to study growing up, something a poor person would not probably have a lot of time for.
Divine revelation: Sacred Scripture plus Sacred Tradition, guided by magisterial teaching…not just Scripture
These weird, New Agey, subjective “sins” complement the New Agey “virtues” as set forth earlier in the year in Pope Francis’s “Ten Rules for Happiness”.
Below is the prayer of the Empress St. Helena, posted in Fr. Z’s page sometime ago: [Hope it helps all of us.}
Saint HELENA’s PRAYER to the HOLY MAGI
“Like me, you were late in coming. The shepherds were here long before, even the cattle. They had joined the chorus of angels before you were on your way.
How laboriously you came, taking sights and calculating, where the shepherds had run barefoot! How odd you looked on the road, attended by what outlandish liveries, laden with such preposterous gifts!
You finally came to the last stage of your pilgrimage and the great star stood still above you. What did you do? You stopped to call on King Herod. Deadly exchange of compliments in which began that unended war of mobs and magistrates against the innocent!
Yet you came and were not turned away. You too found room before the manger. Your gifts were not needed, but they were accepted and put carefully by, for they were brought with love. In that new order of charity that had just come to life, there was room for you, too. You were not lower in the eyes of the holy family than the ox or the ass.
You are my especial patrons, and patrons of all late-comers, of all who have a tedious journey to make to the truth, of all who are confused with knowledge and speculation, of all who through politeness make themselves partners in guilt, of all who stand in danger by reason of their talents.
Dear cousins, pray for me, and for my poor overloaded son. May he, too, before the end find kneeling space in the straw. Pray for the great, lest they perish utterly.
For His sake who did not reject your curious gifts, pray always for the learned, the oblique, the delicate. Let them not be quite forgotten at the Throne of God when the simple come into their kingdom.
Amen.”
The reason I brought this up is that Mr V mentioned in his article “the twisting of salvation history as set forth in Sacred Scripture:
The current Catechism states: 525 Jesus was born in a humble stable, into a poor family.202 Note #202 refers us to Lk 2:61 sic (probably Luke 2:16) which says: “And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. ” So here we see the writer of the Catechism just assumes the Holy family was poor, with no basis in the Scripture that he uses as a “proof text.” This is a twisting of the Scripture to claim it says what it does not. The general effect of things like this is to divert the Church’s mission away from “go and make disciples…” to “take care of all mankind’s material needs” A disciple is to take care of his brethren, his Christian brethren immediately around him first. This is not the primary mission of the Church though. Another effect is to create the false impression that Jesus loved the poor more than the rich. We are now at the point in the Church where cardinals and bishops are advocating the Robin Hood method of wealth re-distribution, in effect, forcing people to be charitable. What I see in the statements and actions of the leadership is the creation of a false idol, the divinization of the poor.
All this talk about the poor, and the rich! Alinsky lives. It’s horrible when we are side-tracked like this! The devil knows just how to take our minds off what is really important: keeping ourselves in the state of grace and doing God’s Holy Will.
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There is nothing else. If we can attempt the above every day, everything falls into place. The poor are fed, the rich use their wealth for God’s Glory.
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Why does this Pope keep saying these things? In another post I posited that he was evil, but I must amend that. It’s too harsh. Pope Francis is just a dupe. He’s just one of the many, many tools of the Evil One.
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Be afraid, my friends. The Evil One has never been more active. And more cunning. Remember he is a liar and has been a liar from the beginning. Pope Francis mouth moves but the Devil’s voice is heard.
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I can’t urge all of us enough: go to confession often, pray the Rosary, go to Mass as much as possible, tell the truth, love God more than anything else, fast and pray, and give alms. We are called to be saints and we must become saints – it’s the only way to defeat this Devil, and to save souls endangered by poor dupes like Pope Francis.
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As for Obama – I feel very sorry for him as he seems to be beyond even prayers – only God’s infinite mercy can save him.
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And by the way, Jesus and Mary and Joseph were poor, but they were not destitute. There is nothing sacred about being poor, and nothing especially damming about being rich. When the poor envy the rich and are unhappy in their state they can go to Hell. When the rich revel in their riches and hang onto them like grim death, they too can go to Hell. But either condition is perfectly capable of helping anyone to Heaven. Jesus came as a poor man to show us there are more valuable things in Heaven than there can be here on earth – but He didn’t mean we all should strive to be poor. He wants us to use what we have to do His will – that’s it.
“[Jorge Bergoglio’s] appetite for pitting the wealthy and powerful against the poor”
Jorge Bergoglio lives in handsome accommodation in one of Europe ‘s most expensive capital cities possessing a stunning architectural heritage. He has the power to hire and fire his own personal security detachment. He flies all over the world. He was taken by helicopter to see the President of Brazil. He eats meals fit for the absolute monarch that he is.
Many traditionalist (aka Catholic) families make daily sacrifices in order to support themselves. Providing for basic needs such as clothing, feeding, education – even getting to the Mass – are a constant struggle. They bear it all in a Christian spirit without grumbling.
These poor do indeed get the feeling that the powerful Jorge Bergoglio, with his ever-expanding Book of Insults, is pitted against them.
Pope Francis and President Obama have much in common. Both are divisive.
Both promote the poor (whoever they are) and demote the rich. Both are leading their organizations to destruction. Both are modernists. Both are politicians. And lastly one has to wonder if either of them are Christian.
Barbara, your simple, heartfelt, dutiful exhortation to fellow Catholics is just what we need to hear from Pope Francis. Maybe you could fill in for him for a while?!!
Dear Louie (and all)
This Halloweenish-nightmare will be over some day- hopefully before Our Lord comes in Glory to judge and rule the world- which is certain to end all such atrocities.
– While we continue waiting in Faith, we’ve been thinking about the first Christmas, and how much the Blessed Mother had to rely on her up-bringing and Faith, while the world still lay in sin and darkness all around her. Her solid commitment- that “God’s will be done”- created conditions that would shortly leave Joseph, her “holy and just” betrothed, both bewildered, and “pondering sending her quietly away”.
– She could not have been oblivious that serious difficulties like those might soon result; but she went in Faith to offer her help to another in need, and was rewarded by Elizabeth’s inspired return- greeting, acknowledging words that the Angel had said to Mary. Such a visible manifestation of the unseen actions of God, can bring us the same kind of elation it brought to the soul of this Faithful, Holy Maiden, Our Mother, which she expressed in her own inspired words:
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“My soul doth magnify the Lord.
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.
Because He hath regarded the lowliness of His servant.
For behold henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
Because He that is mighty hath done great things to me; and Holy is His name.
His mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear Him.
He hath shewed might in His arm: He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble.
He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He hath sent empty away.
He hath received Israel His servant, being mindful of His mercy:
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed for ever.”
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Glory be the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forever and ever, Amen.
Merry Christmas to you and yours Louie, and to all who will ever know, love, and serve The Lord. 🙂 🙂
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Thank you, Indignus Famulus, for your edifying and consoling advices. God protect and fortify you in the coming year.
Same to you, dear Lynda. 🙂 🙂