To pray the impossible prayer
To plead as if Francis is pope
To bear such despicable witness
To lead the naïve to despair
On December 5th, One Peter Five published an article, the title of which announced a 9 Day Novena for the Conversion of Pope Francis. Yes, you read that correctly, and yes, the editors of this website should be embarrassed.
I’m not talking about the redundancy in the headline (a “9 Day Novena” being akin to a “3 Day Triduum”), but rather the utterly preposterous notion that a Holy Roman Pontiff may stand in need of conversion. I intended to write about this at the time, but other things got in the way.
I was reminded of this foolishness, however, thanks to a statement made by Bishop Athanasius Schneider following his recent audience with the Holy Faker. We’ll come back to that in a moment.
About the novena for Bergoglio’s conversion, one might ask: Conversion to what?
I actually did ask that question of Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, whose Facebook post initially called my attention to the novena.
“Here’s a good initiative,” Peter wrote as he introduced the effort to his readers. “It never, ever hurts to pray for someone’s conversion.”
I disagree. In this case, it does hurt. Why? Because it implies the impossible and misleads the naïve. More on that later.
In response to Peter’s post, I commented:
Conversion to what? Perhaps you mean to pray for an increase in sanctity for him. If so, you may want to clarify. The notion that the Holy Roman Pontiff is in need of conversion (again, to what exactly) is supremely Protestant. The truth is, Peter, you have it right in praying for his conversion insofar as the man isn’t Catholic. It would seem that you realize as much, which invites the question: Why in God’s name do you insist on calling him the pope?
To Peter’s great credit, he’s willing to dialogue with those of us who wear the Scarlett S, something I genuinely appreciate about him. He replied:
I do not presume to know or explain what is going on inside the pope’s soul, nor do I presume to understand completely the current crisis in the Church. What is clear to me is that something is wrong in both the pope and the Church on earth, and therefore I pray for them (and for myself, a sinner).
I’m fairly certain that regular readers would have responded just as I did, namely, by pointing out that membership in the Church is not an occult reality known only to the God who alone looks deep within one’s soul. Rather, it is externally manifest, visible, and knowable.
The frustrating thing about men like Peter, who by all appearances is entirely sincere, is that he most certainly knows what Holy Mother Church teaches about the requirements associated with membership in the Church. Moreover, he’s obviously well aware of the fact that Jorge Bergoglio does not even come close to meeting them (otherwise, no reason to pray for his conversion). And yet, like so many others, he insists on calling the man “pope,” which makes about as much sense as addressing Bruce Jenner as ma’am.
As for the novena prayer itself, it contains a number of intercessory appeals that a faithful, well-formed Catholic simply cannot pray.
For one: “O Lord, grant Pope Francis the grace that he may make the Holy See shine once more as the cathedra of truth for the whole world.”
These words cannot pass Catholic lips for the simple reason that the See of Rome is, and always will be, the unshakable “cathedra of truth.” Asking the Almighty to make it so “once more” is like asking Him to restore the Blessed Virgin to purity, i.e., one must first accept the impossible: Our Lady is no longer pure, the See of Rome is no longer Holy, the pope isn’t actually Catholic…
Now, one might very well ask the Lord to obliterate the conciliar counterfeit church over which Bergoglio reigns, that the one true Church of Christ may emerge from its shadow, but the novena doesn’t do that. Rather, its plea rests upon a heresy, namely, the notion that the Church has defected.
The Catholic Encyclopedia’s treatment of the indefectibility of the Church reads:
The gift of indefectibility plainly does not guarantee each several part of the Church against heresy or apostasy … Only to One particular Church is indefectibility assured, viz. to the See of Rome. To Peter, and in him to all his successors in the chief pastorate, Christ committed the task of confirming his brethren in the Faith (Luke 22:32); and thus, to the Roman Church, as Cyprian says, “faithlessness cannot gain access.”
In order to pray the insipid novena for the conversion of Francis, one must first accept that faithlessness has somehow gained access to the Holy See. Impossible!
The novena gets worse as it asks of the Lord: “… grant Pope Francis the grace that he may be converted and strengthen his brethren in the faith, as you promised to the Apostle Peter…”
A well-formed Catholic cannot pray such faithless words, even beyond the idiotic notion that the pope stands in need of conversion to the true faith.
Why?
Because the gifts bestowed upon Peter by Our Lord extend to his successors as well. In other words, if Francis were a true pope, he would already be the beneficiary the promises, and the gifts, bestowed upon Peter by Christ. As taught in the document Pastor Aeternus of Vatican I:
This gift of truth and never-failing faith was therefore divinely conferred on Peter and his successors in this See so that they might discharge their exalted office for the salvation of all, and so that the whole flock of Christ might be kept away by them from the poisonous food of error and be nourished with the sustenance of heavenly doctrine.
This brings us to Bishop Athanasius Schneider, who following his self-requested audience with Francis on January 20, said something very similar to what is stated in the novena.
As reported on X by Diane Montagna, Bishop Schneider issued the following statement:
The Pope showed great cordiality towards me & we spoke about some important themes on the life of the Church. Let us pray for Pope Francis that he might confirm the Church in the Faith.
… that he might confirm the Church in the Faith.
Bishop Schneider is suggesting that, maybe just maybe, if we pray fervently enough, Francis just might defend the true faith. As for the increasingly laughable notion that Bergoglio is pope, Bishop Schneider seems to imagine that Pastor Aeternus of Vatican I (cited above) invoked the word might in that very same sense, as if to say:
Maybe the Successors of Peter will discharge their office for the salvation of all, and maybe they will protect the faithful from error, but then again, maybe they won’t. They might even be the source of the poisonous food of error!
Not even one pre-conciliar theologian of note with whom I am familiar (correct me if I am missing one) ever interpreted Pastor Aeternus to suggest such a thing. The only properly Catholic way to understand “might” in this case is that the gift of truth and never failing faith enables the Successors of Peter to protect the faithful and to teach the true faith unto salvation.
It should go without say that the phrase never failing faith describes exactly what it states, namely, a faith that never fails! Even if one should overlook this, however, what follows in the very next sentence of Pastor Aeternus makes its true meaning entirely obvious. For clarity, I will provide the entire article for context:
This gift of truth and never-failing faith was therefore divinely conferred on Peter and his successors in this See so that they might discharge their exalted office for the salvation of all, and so that the whole flock of Christ might be kept away by them from the poisonous food of error and be nourished with the sustenance of heavenly doctrine. Thus the tendency to schism is removed and the whole Church is preserved in unity, and, resting on its foundation, can stand firm against the gates of Hell. [Emphasis added]
Pay close attention to the beginning of that final sentence: Thus… In other words, in light of what was just stated, therefore, this.
NB: The reason we can be absolutely certain that the true Successors of Peter will never fail to protect the faithful from error and will always nourish them on the true doctrine is because they are the Church’s foundation (“on this Rock I will build my Church”) and Our Lord promised that “the gates of Hell will not prevail” against her.
Stated another way, in order to make good on His promise that the gates of Hell will not prevail, Christ endowed the popes with the gift of truth and never-failing faith, something Jorge Bergoglio simply does not possess.
I’m pleased to assume that Bishop Schneider, as well as the masterminds behind the novena for Bergoglio’s conversion, mean well. That said, their refusal to accept the plain reality that is staring them squarely in the eyes is such that one cannot even pray as they pray without abandoning the Faith!
The harm being done by these people in misleading the naïve is inestimable.
Think about it: What is an innocent person in search of the truth to think when they see influential Catholic personalities, like Peter Kwasniewski and Bishop Athanasius Schneider, insisting with unflappable confidence that Francis is the pope, the Vicar of Christ, the visible head of the Holy Roman Catholic Church on earth, the rule of faith, the proximate source of Catholic unity, etc.?
Could anyone blame such a person for concluding that being Catholic must, at the very least, be compatible with believing as Francis believes, and behaving as Francis behaves?
God forbid anyone should draw such a despicable conclusion!
