Attention passengers: In preparation for takeoff, please secure all tray tables in the upright and locked position. Our in-flight entertainment this afternoon will be Francis the Talking Pope.
On the return flight back to Rome from Korea, Pope Francis held another casual press conference wherein he fielded questions from reporters. The Italian text is available on the website of the Holy See; an English translation is provided by Andrea Tornielli at La Stampa.
First, let’s start with the surreal.
When asked about his planned encyclical on the protection of creation, Pope Francis said:
“I asked Cardinal Turkson to collect together all the material that has been sent in. He gave me the first draft before the trip. It’s this big (he said widening his arms, Ed.); it’s one third thicker than the “Evangelii Gaudium.”
Can you imagine, longer than Evangelii Gaudium! As I’ve observed previously, the Faith of the Church, being that it is the Faith that comes to us from the Apostles and is ever the same, rarely requires volumes from a given pope to convey in an encyclical, even when it’s being applied to relatively unique circumstances.
Novelties, on the other hand, often require copious explanation as they are built on mere human constructs.
As for the upcoming encyclical? I suppose we’ll just have to set aside several days to read it before judging it on its own merits, but let’s just say with the bar already set at Evangelii Gaudium, I’m not expecting much.
With regard to the persecution of Christians in Iraq at the hands of ISIS, Pope Francis said:
After World War Two, the idea of the United Nations came about; this is where discussion needs to take place, asking: is this an unjust aggressor? It seems so, so how do we stop him? Nothing more than this.
I beg to differ with the suggestion that the terrorist group known as ISIS need only be stopped. The movement must be defeated and the diabolical perpetrators of violence must be punished justly, which to the Catholic mind means via the death penalty. Of course, a truly Catholic understanding of capital punishment is hard to find in Rome nowadays.
The Holy Father continued:
Secondly there are the minorities. Thank you for using this term. Because people talk to me about Christians, about the suffering, about martyrs. And yes, there are many martyrs. But here there are men and women, religious minorities; not all of them are Christians but all of them are equal in God’s eyes.
It is unfortunate, and frankly downright disgusting, that Pope Francis feels the need to downplay the fact that people are being killed simply because they profess a belief in Christ. Then again, this is not surprising coming from a pope who is determined to avoid giving anyone the idea that the Holy Catholic Church is in any way superior to the many false religions of the world.
Lastly, on the topic of ISIS the Holy Father offered:
Stopping the unjust aggressor is humanity’s right but it is also the aggressor’s right to be stopped so he does not cause any harm.
The aggressor has a right to be stopped from doing evil? Really? Perhaps someone smarter than I can explain this manner of thinking. In any event, it would seem that in this pope’s mind everyone has rights, other than Christ the King, of course, but more on that in a moment.
When asked about the possibility of visiting the Iraq war zone, the pope said:
I am prepared to do it! It would not the best thing to do at the moment but I am prepared to do it.
It isn’t immediately clear what good Pope Francis thinks might come from a personal visit to Iraq, so one wonders…
Would it be his intention to meet with the leaders of ISIS to personally negotiate peace? Does he plan to invite the terrorists back to the Vatican to plant a tree, you know… since the Pentecost stunt worked so very well?
Then again, perhaps he simply plans to kiss their babies and wash their filthy Muslim feet, I really can’t say, but one thing seems entirely certain barring Divine intervention; this pope isn’t going to proclaim the faith of the Holy Catholic Church in Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, come Hell or high water.
And herein lies the problem, not just with this interview, but with this entire pontificate; it is squarely focused, not on Christ, but on man.
In the Italian text provided by the Holy See, Pope Francis invoked humanity more than a dozen times in the relatively brief in-flight press conference. By contrast, he found it expedient to mention Jesus by name just once.
On those rare occasions when God was invoked in a more general way, even then he managed to do so in a way that was convoluted and confusing.
When asked to comment on the relative success of the Pentecost prayer meeting at the Vatican wherein Mahmoud Abbas, Shimon Peres and he planted a tree, and … oh yea… a Muslim cleric chanted a Qur’anic (AKA demonic) verse calling for victory over those who don’t buy into Muhammad’s perverted daydreams, Pope Francis said:
The peace prayer meeting was absolutely not a failure … Peace is a gift from God which we earn through hard work, but it is a gift.
An earned gift… Is that like credit card points? That’s a new one for me.
In any case, as for faith in Christ Jesus, the King of kings to whom all authority in Heaven and on earth belongs?
Well, apparently that’s optional.
“I asked Cardinal Turkson to collect together all the material that has been sent in.”
–
I’m confused. Is this behemoth going to be a papal encyclical? Or is it really being written by others (presumably cardinals and bishops) with the pope – or, rather, Cardinal Turkson – acting as editor in chief? Are encyclicals now being drafted in consortio? What the heck is going on over there?
–
Louie, your reasoned analysis in the 2013 article is rock solid. If the atrocities in Iraq demonstrate anything, they demonstrate that human dignity is neither possessed by all in equal measure nor that it is inalienable. We should be pounding on that particular drum like wild men at the moment, as it’s times like this which have the potential to awaken at least some of the people from their liberalism-induced moral coma.
“Secondly there are the minorities. Thank you for using this term. Because people talk to me about Christians, about the suffering, about martyrs.”
Even in the context of genocide Bergoglio implicitly berates Catholics for loving their brothers.
Nero fiddled while Rome burned!!!
Pope Francis: ‘The peace prayer meeting was absolutely not a failure … Peace is a gift from God which we earn through hard work, but it is a gift.’
–
Council of Trent, The Sixth Session:
–
‘CANON I.-If any one saith, that man may be justified before God by his own works, whether done through the teaching of human nature, or that of the law, without the grace of God through Jesus Christ; let him be anathema.’
Sorry to sideline this topic, but we should continue to pray for the Holy Father to do the Consecration, as it looks to us like the tragic side of the Fatima Prophecies continue to play out, with him “having much to suffer”
BREAKING NEWS (We have to wonder if there a connection between the Mafia Excommunication and these:) ?ACCIDENTS?
========
—-Pope Excommunicated the Italian Mafia after Drug-related murders in Italy killed a young Italian child.. (Family of Child still in prison at time)
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/usanow/2014/06/21/pope-mafia-italy-south/11206469/
========
Tony Palmer Accident 1 month later July 20th, 2014
Pope’s Relatives 2 months later –today August 19th
========
“When we arrived at the accident with a vehicle rammed into the back of the trailer, it was embedded under the trailer,” Gustavo Ponce de Leon, the fire chief who responded to the accident, told La Nación.
–The family was purportedly returning back to Buenos Aires after spending a long weekend in Cordoba.The driver of the truck, 60-year old Raúl Pombo, was unhurt in the accident. He said he was hit from behind and thrown onto the
shoulder of the road when he saw that Bergoglio’s car was on fire.
–“I felt the impact, looked in the mirror and when I was thrown on the shoulder the car was under the truck,” Pombo said. “I don’t know
what happened.”
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2014/08/19/pope-francis-deeply-pained-after-three-members-family-killed-car-crash/
In order to escape Vespers on his trip to South Korea, Francis declared that he was worried about his helicopter crashing into a mountain. Had he had faith, of course, he could have joined in prayer with the religious who had gathered to meet him and the mountain would have presented no problem at all!
Iraqi persecution–Courageous Faith, Hope and Love.
___
“People say it would be easy to become a Muslim, but my religion is everything I now have — why would I give that up?” one said. “I would die first.”
___
Their hopes now lie with the Kurdish Peshmerga, which, backed by U.S. airstrikes and working with Iraq’s national army, is fighting the Islamic State. They have won back control of several key cities and retaken the critical Mosul Dam. Christians hope the Kurdish fighters will help them regain their homes.
___
“Please, tell the world what is happening,” Aziz said. “Please tell the world we just want to go home. We just want to live,we just want to be safe.”
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/08/19/painful-exodus-mosuls-christians-recount-flight-from-historic-home-under-isis/?intcmp=latestnews
[We posted this way at the end of the last blog, but it relates to this subject too]
p.s. It is a 7+ hour drive from Cordoba to Buenos Aires so it’s possible the driver just fell asleep at the wheel. Still strange, all things considered.
Why not say a year of St Bridget of Sweden prayers for the intention of the Holy Father and the Catholic Church ??
Promises
1. I will deliver 15 souls of his lineage from Purgatory.
2. 15 souls of his lineage will be confirmed and preserved in grace.
3. 15 sinners of his lineage will be converted.
4. Whoever recites these Prayers will attain in the first degree of perfection.
5. 15 days before his death I will give him My Precious Body in order that he may escape eternal starvation; I will give him My Precious Blood to drink lest he thirst eternally.
6. 15 days before his death he will feel a deep contrition for all his sins and will have a perfect knowledge of them.
7. I will place before him the sign of My Victorious Cross for his help and defense against the attacks of his enemies.
8. Before his death I shall come with My Dearest Beloved Mother.
9. I shall graciously receive his soul, and will lead it into eternal joys.
10. And having led it there I shall give him a special draught from the fountain of My Deity, something I will not for those who have not recited My Prayers.
11. Let it be known that whoever may have been living in the state of mortal sin for 30 years, but who will recite devoutly, or have the intention to recite these Prayers, the Lord will forgive him all his sins.
12. I shall protect him from strong temptations.
13. I shall preserve and guard his 5 senses.
14. I shall preserve him from a sudden death.
15. His soul will be delivered from eternal death.
16. He will obtain all he asks for from God and the Blessed Virgin.
17. If he has lived all his life doing his own will and he is to die the next day, his life will be prolonged.
18. Every time one recites these Prayers he gains 100 days indulgence.
19. He is assured of being joined to the supreme Choir of Angels.
20. Whoever teaches these Prayers to another, will have continuous joy and merit which will endure eternally.
Dear Mr. V.-
once again, tears evoked by your pointed treatise.
—
I know.
you state: “–And herein lies the problem, not just with this interview, but with this entire pontificate; it is squarely focused, not on Christ, but on man.–”
Immanentism.
The heretical sudsy bathtub in which ecumenical Council VII floats. If I may, to add to your splendid, provocative post:
http://fssp.com/press/2011/04/immanentism-catholicism-and-religious-experience-by-d-q-mcinerny-ph-d/
—
thank you, Mr. V.
Why limit it to a year?
Dear Indignus famulus
Indeed, praying the 15 prayers of St Bridget are a great blessing, focusing on the Passion of Our Lord, that I found I prayed them for three years
Then I moved on to the 7 prayers of St Bridget, focusing on the 7 times Our Lord spilled His Precious Blood, recommended to be prayed over 12 years ( God willing ); after 10 months indeed another great blessing
Combined with ten chapters of Sacred Scripture each day, all a great help in keeping focused on Life Himself
Bergoglio is one parrot that, like parrots, is incapable of diverging from the tune – in this case the standard antichrist ‘the United Nations is better the Christ’ tune, except that Bergoglio is a human being and God has made him capable of diverging from the antichrist tune. Except that for Bergoglio he prizes his two left antichrist feet as if they were better than a right and a left foot that could fit into holy red slippers, so the only tune he will ever dance to is an antichrist’s tune – it would seem.
Dear Louie,
This interview seems to graphically demonstrate the “disorientation” Our Lady predicted at Fatima and Akita: –The Pope was asked:
-“Was the peace prayer with Abu Mazen and Peres a failure”?
Pope Francis replied: “The peace prayer MEETING was absolutely not a failure.” .. he spoke of a door they opened (claiming) “Now the smoke caused by the bombs and war, makes the door impossible to see, but the door remained open… that door remained open.. and we ask Him to help us.” “This is only short term… the door is long term..”.
=====
–for some reason that scene from the Wizard of Oz comes to mind, when Toto gives the show away, and the Wizard starts shouting:”Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”
=====
–In reality we know that, within 2 weeks of that Pentecost Sunday, door-opening: 3 Jewish boys were kidnapped and killed, a Palestinian- Israeli war broke out; 3 ongoing wars intensified- bringing Martyrdom back up to the level of Roman times; and Ebola Plague spread more rapidly across Africa as natives began panicking and fleeing to other villages, rejecting Western vaccines.
======
God opened the true door to Peace at Fatima, that the Hierarchy has kept shut for almost a century, and still another Pope is holding his foot against it while he tells the world: “Peace is a gift we earn through hard work”– (-just wait, you’ll see).
—The Prophet (Jeremiah 6) said: … “from the prophet even to the priest, …they healed the breach of the daughter of my people disgracefully,
saying: Peace, peace: and there was no peace.
—They were confounded, because they committed abomination.”….
======
[16] — ask for the old paths which is the good way, and walk ye in it: and you shall find refreshment for your souls. And they said: we will not walk. [17] And I appointed watchmen over you, saying: Hearken ye to the sound of the trumpet. And they said: We will not hearken.
======
—… [19] Hear, O earth:…: because they have not heard my words, and they have cast away my law…. I will bring destruction… a people cometh from the land of the north, they are cruel, and will have no mercy. [25] Go not out into the fields, nor walk in the highway: for the sword of the enemy, and fear is on every side. [26—] Gird thee with sackcloth, O daughter of my people, and sprinkle thee with ashes: make thee mourning as for an only son, a bitter lamentation, because the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us. .
Dear Ever mindful,
God love you. The times call for such dedication and sacrifice, as we carry out our daily duties, amidst so much confusion from the Devil. Jacinta always begged for more prayers for the Holy Father, too.
The prayers are good, but watch out for those bogus promises!
WARNING CONCERNING THE “PROMISES OF ST. BRIDGET”
Marius Crovini
Notary of the Supreme Holy Congregation of the Holy Office
——————————————————————————–
In some places, a little work has been disseminated called the “Secret of Happiness: 15 prayers revealed by the Lord to St. Bridget in the Church of St. Paul at Rome”, published at Nice and elsewhere in several languages.
Since it is asserted in this pamphlet that God made to St. Bridget certain promises, whose supernatural origin is uncertain, let local ordinaries take care not to grant permission for publishing or reprinting pamphlets or other writings which contain these promises.
Given at Rome, from the offices of the Holy Office, 28 January 1954
Marius Crovini
Notary of the Supreme Holy Congregation of the Holy Office
These promises are bogus on their face and warned against by the Holy See in 1954.
Dear Ever mindful,
Several sources confirm the warning against these promises issued by the Holy See, as stated below by “crawler” one such is
Provided Courtesy of:
Eternal Word Television Network
5817 Old Leeds Road
Irondale, AL 35210
http://www.ewtn.com
p.s. But please do not include the spread of promises declared false by the Holy See, as stated above, and warn others, whenever you can.
Dear Crawler
Thank you for feedback regarding the promises.
Although impressed by the promises when I first read them, they were soon forgotten as I launched into the 15 Prayers themselves, which allow for a deep ( and of necessity over a year prolonged ) meditation on the Passion of Our Lord.
Like virtue itself being its own reward, entering into the prayer itself and drawing closer to the events of the Passion seemed to deepen faith at every Mass, and was instrumental at getting to almost daily Mass
Perhaps first timers might consider them come Lent
Caution to readers of these posts. Please see the Holy See’s decision to forbid the dissemination of the “promises” listed below, as prohibited by the Holy See due to “uncertain origins.”
p.p.s. Excuse us, to be more accurate : declared of uncertain origin.
Dear Ever mindful,
We know what you mean. There are similar promises circulating for many prayers, such as the Rosary and those to the Sacred Heart, which we believe have Church approval, but it’s hard to keep track of those which are dubious.
The problem for some people is a tendency to turn prayer into a superstitious obligation because of them, or to take on too much, which then interferes with their daily duties, and of course, Our Lady of Fatima asked us all to pray the daily Rosary, which is often a struggle in our busy world. But for those willing to make the extra time available, these are a work of love for souls.
God Bless.
quite honestly, dear salvemur,
I knew it was all over when Francis refused to don the red shoes.
http://catholicexchange.com/red-shoes-and-the-room-of-tears
—
” Throughout Church history, the color red has been deliberately chosen to represent the blood of Catholic martyrs spilt through the centuries following in the footsteps of Christ. The red papal shoes are also linked to Christ’s own bloodied feet as he was prodded, whipped, and pushed along the Via Dolorosa on his way to his crucifixion, culminating in the piercing of his hands and feet on the cross. The red shoes also symbolize the submission of the Pope to the ultimate authority of Jesus Christ. “
de Maria, as you say, there are times when first impressions require no further qualifications. Aves for you and yours.
“The aggressor has a right to be stopped from doing evil? Really? Perhaps someone smarter than I can explain this manner of thinking. ”
## The Pope may be thinking of an idea found in Plato’s Republic – that the unjust man is supremely unhappy because he is successful in being unjust. His success is bad for him, because it is success in being unjust – and that is why this success makes him so unhappy. Put another way: evil-doers harm themselves more, by doing evil, than they harm their victims.
It is in explaining this idea in the dialogue that Socrates proceeds to describe the figure of the Crucified Just Man. Socrates insists that it is better to be the CJM, than to be a successful, respected & conscience-free evil-doer. And this is an idea Christians simce have latched onto – surely rightly.
“…But to come now to the decision1 between our two kinds of life, if we separate the most completely just and the most completely unjust man, we shall be able to decide rightly, but if not, not. How, then, is this separation to be made? Thus: we must subtract nothing of his injustice from the unjust man or of his justice from the just, but assume the perfection of each in his own mode of conduct. In the first place, the unjust man must act as clever craftsmen do: a first-rate pilot or physician, for example, feels the difference between impossibilities2 and possibilities in his art [361a] and attempts the one and lets the others go; and then, too, if he does happen to trip, he is equal to correcting his error. Similarly, the unjust man who attempts injustice rightly must be supposed to escape detection if he is to be altogether unjust, and we must regard the man who is caught as a bungler.1 For the height of injustice2 is to seem just without being so. To the perfectly unjust man, then, we must assign perfect injustice and withhold nothing of it, but we must allow him, while committing the greatest wrongs, to have secured for himself the greatest reputation for justice; [361b] and if he does happen to trip,1 we must concede to him the power to correct his mistakes by his ability to speak persuasively if any of his misdeeds come to light, and when force is needed, to employ force by reason of his manly spirit and vigor and his provision of friends and money;
[A]nd when we have set up an unjust man of this character, our theory must set the just man at his side—a simple and noble man, who, in the phrase of Aeschylus, does not wish to seem but be good. Then we must deprive him of the seeming.2 For if he is going to be thought just [361c] he will have honors and gifts because of that esteem. We cannot be sure in that case whether he is just for justice’ sake or for the sake of the gifts and the honors. So we must strip him bare of everything but justice and make his state the opposite of his imagined counterpart.1 Though doing no wrong he must have the repute of the greatest injustice, so that he may be put to the test as regards justice through not softening because of ill repute and the consequences thereof. But let him hold on his course unchangeable even unto death, [361d] seeming all his life to be unjust though being just, that so, both men attaining to the limit, the one of injustice, the other of justice, we may pass judgement which of the two is the happier.”
“Bless me, my dear Glaucon,” said I, “how strenuously you polish off each of your two men for the competition for the prize as if it were a statue.1” “To the best of my ability,” he replied, “and if such is the nature of the two, it becomes an easy matter, I fancy, to unfold the tale of the sort of life that awaits each…”
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0168%3Abook%3D2%3Asection%3D360e
to
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0168%3Abook%3D2%3Asection%3D361d
Compare also: Wisdom 2.