Vatican City, Mar 13, 2017 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- She begged and scrounged for food in the forest; she drank water from a stream with dead bodies in it; she wrapped grass on her feet in order to walk long distances in the hot sun in order to survive, facing starvation and malnourishment, all before the age of six.
Now, Mirreille Twayigira is a licensed medical doctor hoping not just to save lives, but to inspire young women worldwide – particularly those in her same situation – by showing them there’s hope, and that life is more than the tragedies they face.
While some might label her life “a tragic story” due to the suffering and loss she faced as a young child, Twayigira said others might choose to call it “a story of courage and perseverance.”
However, “I choose to call it a story of hope, a story of God…from ashes to beauty, (like) a beautiful stained glass window.”
Twayigira was among several speakers at the March 8 Voices of Faith women’s gathering in the Vatican, marking International Women’s Day.
First held in 2014, the VoF conference was established in response to Pope Francis’ call to “broaden the space within the Church for a more incisive feminine presence.”
Gathering women from around the world, this year’s VoF took place at the Vatican’s Casina Pio IV, headquarters of the Pontifical Academy for Sciences, and featured testimonies of women from around the world, including Syria and Burundi, who shared their stories of perseverance, highlighting the importance of building peace in a world filled with conflict.
In her testimony, Twayigira noted that when war broke out between Tutsis and members of the Hutu majority the government, leading to mass killings of the Tutsi tribe, she was just three years-old.
Although she doesn’t remember much about the war itself when it started, she remembers the day she got the news that her father had been killed.
“I remember being told that my father had been killed, his body being brought home wrapped in this blue tent,” she said, noting that she was too young to fully understand what was happening on the day of his burial.
Before the war, “we were a big, happy family. Our house was next to our grandparent’s house, so my sister and I used to spend our days with uncles and aunts…so it was a beautiful and happy childhood,” she said.
After her father’s death, however, this changed dramatically.
“My family knew that it was no longer safe for us, so they had to pack and leave,” she said, explaining that at first, they fled to another district of Rwanda, thinking they would be safe.
However, after just a short time her younger sister, who was just one-year-old at the time, got sick and, because her family didn’t have access to medicine or proper nourishment due to the war, she passed away.
After her sister’s death – which marked the second time she had lost a sibling, since an older sister had died before Twayigira was born – the family fled through Burundi to a refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“In the camp I was a very happy kid,” she said, “but this all ended when I encountered more loss.”
While in the camp, her mother fell ill and “one night she was gone.” However, Twayigira said that despite the tragic death of her mother, “life had to go move on,” so she and her grandparents continued to move forward.
But just two years later, in 1996, they had to leave because of war in the DRC, which is when “I began to experience a life that is unimaginable,” she said, recalling how she had her grandparents fled the camp with bullets flying over their heads, and took refuge in the forest.
“We only survived by begging for food,” she said. Her grandparents begged from locals in nearby villages, and at times were given moldy bread to eat. When begging wasn’t enough, “we even had to eat roots from the forest.”
“I remember sometimes we had to drink water from rivers with dead bodies floating in it,” she said, noting that their situation had become one of the “survival of the fittest.”
They had long distances to walk going from village to village and in search of another camp, many times walking on rough terrain. When the weather was too hot for their bare feet, they bunched up grass and tied it to their feet in order to be able to walk.
“We escaped death from so many things: from hunger, bullets, drowning, wild animals, you name it. No child should go through what I went through. In fact, nobody should go through what I went through,” she said.
Eventually the family made their way to another refugee camp, “but life would not be better there,” she said. While there were some soldiers protecting them, they would take young boys and train them to fight, and would take girls either as companions for the night or, at times, as wives.
Most of the boys leave refugee camps “with some sort of trauma,” she said, noting that when it came to the girls, some got pregnant, and others were made to be servants.
“The only reason I survived this is because I was very little,” Twayigira said. Due to the ongoing war, she and her grandparents traveled to nearby Angola before eventually ending up back in the DRC for a period of time.
However, with no improvement to the situation and no end to the war in sight, they again made their way to Angola for the second time. But when they arrived, “my grandma was very tired, and as for me, I was very malnourished.”
“You can imagine a big tummy and thin brown hair, and swollen cheeks and feet,” she said, describing herself as a young girl.
Twayigira recalled that her grandmother died shortly before they reached the refugee camp in Angola, and that had they not arrived when they did, “I was also almost gone.”
With just the two of them left, Twayigira explained that her grandfather eventually decided to travel to a different refugee camp in Zambia, because he heard they had a better school.
Despite such a long journey and so much loss, her grandfather moved again for no other reason “than to give his granddaughter a better education,” Twayigira said. She recalled that her grandfather “really believed in me so much. He never once said, ‘she’s just a girl, let me not waste my time on her.’”
After spending a few years in Zambia, the pair decided to make yet one more move, this time heading to a camp in Malawi that had better living conditions and even better schools. They arrived in September 2000.
Twayigira immediately enrolled in school once she arrived, making several new friends and, for the first time since they had left, was happy to have adequate food and shelter.
Being able to do well in her classes “would give me joy. Because at least I got to make some people proud, and I was very happy,” she said. Twayigira was eventually selected to join a Jesuit-run school, with all fees paid for by the Jesuit Refugee Service.
When she finished school in 2007, Twayigira’s grandfather fell ill, passing away just a few days after.
“I cried uncontrollably, badly, but life had to go on, and although I was in so much pain with the loss of my loved ones, it did not stop me from working hard,” she said, “because I knew that my future, it was not certain, I did not know what my future had, but I knew that my hard work would pay off.”
In 2009 she studied for the national final exam in Malawi, and finished among the top 6 students in the country. At the awards ceremony, the Chinese embassy offered a number of full-ride scholarships to study in China for the top students.
Twayigira was one of the students selected and, despite being a refugee with no citizenship status or passport, was able to get her paperwork in order with the help of the Jesuits at her school, a Catholic radio station and even the Malawian parliament.
She then moved to China and studied the language for a year before officially beginning classes in Chinese. She has since graduated and is currently working as a medical intern in Malawi.
While there were many times she wanted to give up along the way, Twayigira said she persisted, because at a certain point she realized that “God spared my life” not to keep it for herself, but because “there are people that I was meant to serve.”
“Before I went to China, I used to think I was just this girl with a tragic past…but when I got to China I realized that I’ve got a story to tell; a story of God and his love, a story that can change somebody’s life.”
As a doctor, Twayigira said she feels she can give even more. But in addition to her medical duties, she also looks for opportunities to speak in schools to try and “raise hope among the youth, especially refugee youth.”
She said that in the future, she hopes to work more directly with refugees, “because I believe I have a lot to share, having gone through what they’ve gone through.”
“Now this is my story…but unfortunately for many, theirs is just in the tragedy part,” she said, explaining that many refugee children don’t even have access to adequate housing let alone higher education.
Even those who do get a good education don’t necessarily have the same opportunities, Twayigira said, so “their hopes are just crushed.”
In order to change the situation, she said war itself has to end: “why not end all this violence, and I’m not talking about people from other countries coming in to invade our own countries, I mean why wait for an outsider to come to stop hurting, and killing?”
“Is the money or power at the expense of their blood really worth it? I don’t think so,” she said, adding that the only way to really resolve conflict is with “forgiveness, mercy and love.”
“Is there such humanity in us, or have we become robots?” she asked. “What is happening to innocent kids is completely unfair, and it needs to stop and I believe it starts from within us: from love, forgiveness and mercy.”
People in situations similar to hers need to know “that they are loved by God and people around them. They need to know that they matter, that there is hope for them, that they have a purpose in life,” she said, noting that this stems not only from having the basic needs met, but above all from education.
In an interview with CNA after her talk, Twayigira stressed the importance of education, saying it’s “really the key to everything, because if not educated, many girls don’t even know their value.”
However, with a good education women learn that “okay, I’m not worthless and someone can’t just come and step on my foot. I am somebody,” she said, adding that a proper education helps women to step into decision making positions where they can change things.
“I believe that once a girl is educated, that means you’re actually educating the whole family. Because a woman, you raise your children, they’re with you all the time, you know that whatever they get is what you teach them,” she said.
“So if a woman is educated that means the whole family will get quality advice from their mothers. So educating a girl is actually educating the whole country.”
Twayigira said she was happy to be able to speak at the Vatican, since the event was streamed live. She voiced her hope that people can hear her story “and not just feel sorry for me, but also see ways they can help other people like me to get a better education or a safe place, or open their homes to refugees like me.”
She said she also hopes other young women and girls from around the world will be able to see and hear her story, and to know that “it’s all possible…I believe that I’m a pillar of hope for them.”
She said one of her hopes coming out of the conference is not only to encourage young women in her situation to have hope, but also that the people who have the power and resources to change things will see that they “can actually do something under-privileged people like I was.”
“Their actions can change somebody’s life for the better, never to be the same,” she said.
[…]
As I’ve written before, everyone is waiting for the next conclave and the end of this thoroughly wretched pontificate. Its passing will be mourned solely by court queens and malcontents.
We are beyond another conclave to fix the mess. We await God’s intervention and purification of the Church.
I agree with you John.
The Pope and those catholics that want to change God’s Statues he gave in the book Leviticus. He is the “LORD GOD our GOD” They need to read them carefully.
The Pope and Archbishops it’s their responsiblity to remove thoses wolves in sheep clothing not moving them to different parishes. All catholics know our “LORD JESUS CHRIST” does not want these wolves continuing preying on children.
Disagree wholeheartedly with this opinion Holy Father Francis has brought much needed mercy and compassion to the fore during his pontificate long may he remain in office
Yet no mercy for those Catholics who love the Latin Mass, right John?
Amen to that! I stand with you on this. The Holy Father is Peter! And his mercy and compassion are being heard by all but the naysayers, Pharisees of the modern world.
When progressives claim “naysayers” they really mean “cisgendered moral heterosexuals with too many children”.
No mercy for the TLM, because the TLM encourages large productive families, and Laudato Si made us the religion of birth control, abortion, and protecting the planet instead.
Agreed!
Mercy towards whom? Sodomites, perverts, and those who cover for them? But the Faithful must be crushed.
Mercy & compassion to whom, exactly? Mercy & compassion require justice, which includes admonishing the sinner & instructing the ignorant (as the term was originally defined – those who do not know the truth, not as the slur it has become today). Bergoglio does neither. He surrounds himself with those who do not adhere to the tenets of the church, he “cancels” good & faithful clerics, while promoting those who push sinful lifestyles. He has introduced actual idol worship in the form of the pachamama “earth mother”, while apologizing for those faithful men who threw the offending idol into the Tiber. He mandates those who visit the Vatican to take the abortion-tainted poison that is misnamed a “vaccine”. He allowed churches to be shut down during the China flu “crisis”, while saying nothing about abortion mills & alcohol distributors remaining open. He wants to eliminate the 1000 year old Latin Masses. He does not shepherd the sheep, but is, in effect, leading us right into the den of wolves. He is a disaster. Please explain how these actions show “mercy & compassion”.
So sad. I cling to the promise that Jesus gave St. Peter: “I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16: 18).
God will intervene. Don’t know when or how, but He will preserve His True Church.
As long as one small monk in a hermitage keeps the faith, Catholicism will survive the racist pharisees of the Progressive South Americans.
Remember, when a liberal accuses you of something, it’s because they are guilty of it themselves.
Expressing “sadness” is a sort of “public affairs” approach to expressing one’s feelings of concern in the Catholic Church today.
Messaging one’s “sadness” is designed, it seems primarily, to express one’s feelings inside, while avoiding hurting other people’s feelings.
Unfortunately, this manner of communicating doesn’t really seem equal in magnitude to the Church’s purported self-identity as “The Body of Christ.”
It’s not that “being sad” doesn’t matter. On the other hand, in the contemporary Church, the growing impression being made is that “being sad” (or “being happy”) is “the biggest thing that matters.”
It’s a way of avoiding stronger words of concern.
Such as, the Church isn’t “serious.” That critique appears to in this essay at First Things:
https://www.firstthings.com/article/2023/04/who-killed-the-catholic-university
In that essay the author, Mr. Keating, talks about the death of the Catholic faith in “Catholic universities,” and the take-over by administrators and faculty hostile to the Catholic belief in the harmony of faith and reason, as expressed in, among other documents, Veritatis Splendor.
And by “death,” what Mr. Keating is alluding to is that some 90% if the 200-odd “supposedly” Catholic universities have the malignant cancer of hostility to the Catholic faith.
It’s the recap of the malignant manifesto “The Land of Lakes Statement” (1968?), penned by dissident “priest-President-warlords” of the Catholic University establishment, including the infamous head of Notre Dame, Reverend Hesburg, a herd of like-minded Jesuits, and the man we now recognize to be the diabolical sex abuser, co-engineer of the “Secret-Vatican-Accord-with-the-Chinese-Communist-Party,” and the “USCCB’s designated-liar-on-Canon-Law-and-the-Eucharist,” Theodore McCarrick.
If the Church is really intent on “following” Christ, instead of merely “giving people that impression,” one might expect that instead of communicating our “sadness,” we might opt to communicate our “grief.”
But perhaps even at this late hour, “grief” may yet be overstating the case.
For grief indicates an acknowledgment of death.
But, we are now free to admit ourselves to the army once led by the late Cardinal Pell, who was, as Sandro Magidter revealed, the suthor of the “Demos” letter, and who, on January 11, 2023, published in his own name, that the Church right now (via this rotten Synod stunt) is a “toxic nightmare,” and we must work to “free ourselves from this toxic nightmare.”
Those words communicate something a lot more compelling than “sadness.” They recognize reality, and are a call-to-arms, and in their magnitude, are worthy of the Author of The Great Commission, the Head of the Body of Christ, to whom is given “All Authority in Heaven and Earth.”
It’s time for combat, not sadness.
As Mr. Keating correctly observes, the overwhelming majority of “supposedly-Catholic” universities are dead, that is, “dead-to-the-Catholic-faith.”
Surely, Mr. Keating is right to use the word “grief” for the former “supposedly Catholic” universities.
Is the Catholic Church itself now cancerous? I conclude: “Yes.”
Is the cancer malignant? I don’t know, but it is wide-spread, with tumors showing in the Bishop of Rome.
So perhaps the word to use here is not “sadness” about the state of the Church, but “alarm” about its “grievous condition.”
A few weeks ago, Cardinal Pell was reported to be the used the word “
Thank you, Chris, for reporting on the state of Rome and the Truth it doesn’t know.
Thank you Meiron.
Truth matters, especially hard truths, because Jesus went through a tough life, and a brutal execution, out of love gor us, that despite ourselves, we might know the truth, and be free…free of the chains forged by our own lying, sinful selves.
Well said Chris,
Aquinas examined the relationship between the passions (emotions), virtue and gifts (of the Holy Spirit). One could argue, with Aquinas’ foundation, that the Holy Spirit dwells not where sadness continues to reign.
The ebb and flow of godliness! When the church wanes, men and women who love the Lord and value the church rise up to hold the banner of God eternal truth. Bad times cause those of faith to coalesce into a unified body honouring Christ.
The church will prevail, it will do its God given duty despite the wolves in the church and the jackals outside. Alas, too many consider Papa part of the dilemma rather than a problem solver?
God tells us of His plans in Holy Scripture. He provides insight into what is to come and gives peace and assurance to those who love Him.
Thank you for honouring God, it is a blessing.
Many in the string blame Francis for the state of the church today. In truth it was John Paul and Benedict who allowed the spread of pederasty and child abuse which has infected the church to such a degree that the faithful are falling by the wayside and the church is collapsing.Benedict saw the mess he created and resigned to escape implication and scandal. Frances has removed the enablers and we should pray for his success in saving what’s left. The Synodal Way is a deep forensic dive into the dysfunctions brought on by gay Cardinals partying in their palaces with call boys. That is what we should be sad about.
“Frances has removed the enablers …”
Good one.
Very good post, Chris in Maryland. But I think we should be beyond grief and into outrage. I would like to see some outrage from Bishops give the pushing of LGBT on school children, extreme state pro abortion laws, instead of statements such as “We find this very problematic.”
Agree 100% Crusader.
Hence my words: “It’s time for combat, not sadness.”
I am of course outraged by the patently obvious injustice and immorality on display by the cohort of “Team Francis,” and whatever former names they called themselves, including “the St. Galen’s Mafia.”
Such deserve to be fought and defeated, for the sake of the heart of Jesus.
Yes the kow towing to the CCP is indeed nauseating and confusing. Combine this with the Pope throwing his weight behind the covid vaccination programme and what we have is a disaster of mega proportions. People had genuine moral concerns regarding the vax and they also had grave objections to being told what to do with their bodies. Since Christian time began we have been taught that missing Sunday Mass was a grave sin and yet the church closed its doors and often pursued priests who tried to attend to their flock. Please do not underestimate the gravity of these rulings. They showed the church up as hypocritical and many believe rightly or wrongly that church doors only opened up because the coffers were running low. The situation on the ground is more fraught than many in the establishment appear to realise and as far as I can see it will take divine intervention to interrupt the fiddle playing in Rome.
Well written. I am deeply concerned about what this Pope has done to all of us. I have no idea how we will recover. I can only pray for us, the Church, and us, humanity.
This article dated 2023 is years late and more than a dollar short. What is the point of reporting now about horses that left the barn 6, 7, 8, and 9 years ago. The writer with all his supposed connections in the Vatican should have written this years ago.
IF Pope Francis actually counseled Spanish seminarians to always give absolution (even absent penitence and conversion)–perhaps the recent CWR posting was in error and pulled?–THEN this would be yet another cause for grief.
Compare with the sound legacy from St. John Paul II and his “Reconciliation and Penance (Reconcillatio et Paenitentia, n. 16, Dec. 2, 1984) which includes this:
“…every soul that rises above itself, raises up the world” (citing Elizabeth Leseur).
Well, clearly, there’s no need today for raising up either the soul or the world!
https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_02121984_reconciliatio-et-paenitentia.html
Here’s the self-proclaimed official biographer of John Paul II in his sunset moment who has no longer access to the inner papal court looking from the outside being clueless but deceptively pretending that he still looks from the inside. The authoritative papal biographer of Francis is Austen Ivereigh.
A funny comment, for the wrong reasons. But the term “clueless but deceptively pretending” and the name “Austen Ivereigh” do belong together.
🤣
Good one, Carl!
Now that is what I call a smart and sassy comment. Love it.
Touché
I smell professional envy of one writer towards another. Or is it abomination towards the writer’s subject matter?
Your olfactory receptors are malfunctioning. I’m not envious of ideological hacks.
Touché again
Now I see, it’s your uncatholic abomination and abhorrence towards Pope Francis.
No, you see nothing. If you really could see, you’d recognize that rightly identifying Austin Ivereigh as an “ideological hack” is not an abomination in the least. It’s quite obvious to those who know how to read, think, and otherwise navigate facts. Nor does it indicate abhorrence towards Pope Francis. You are simply slandering me here, perhaps because you cannot operate on the level of reality.
I have never claimed to be the “official” biographer of John Paul II and indeed have spent two decades correcting people who say that when introducing me. As for being “inside,” I am quite inside enough to know exactly what I’m talking about in this column — and to know that the votaries of this pontificate are trafficking in fantasy on this tenth anniversary.
He is your religious leader and you are biting at his heels like a pack of dogs? You should be ashamed of yourselves. As a theologian, I am ashamed of this site.
When the Pope is not following the guidelines that he is suppose to, we must speak up. That’s our job.
Christ is our leader, the Head of the Church; Francis is merely his Vicar. And to the degree that Francis guards the faith and guides the flock in following Christ, we follow. When the shepherd (any shepherd at any level) loses his way, we must distance ourselves, and double back to the true path. He has our prayers, but why would we slavishly follow him over a cliff?
Yes, of course we may be dogs, and yes, of course we travel in a pack, nipping or biting as necessary when wolves attack. God is our leader and teacher. He who is against Him is against us.
Dear Karen:
Though I respect what you say, what should be done to correct one who departs from the faith and church tradition on too many counts? Should the faithful stand idly by and not mummer a word? As a theologian you know there is a procedure to deal with wrong-mindedness.
Allow me to say that CWR is a goad for positive change and a field to let off steam.
God bless you in your role. May you encourage many souls to follow Christ,
Brian
1 Timothy 5:20 As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.
2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
Cardinal John Henry Newman–the “Father of the Second Vatican Council and, by Pope Francis, named a saint in 2019–had this to say about this and that…
“. . . I know well . . . . that, in some states of society [or even the Church], such as our own, it is the worst charity, and the most provoking, irritating rule of action, and the most unhappy policy, not to speak out, not to suffer to be spoken out, all that there is to say. Such speaking out is under such circumstances the triumph of religion, whereas concealment, accommodation, and evasion is to co-operate with the spirit of error–but not always so” (Preface to the Third Edition, “Via Media,” London, 1895, Vol. 1).
Yes, Newman is addressing the voice of the Church toward society, and does add that at some times “it is wiser and kinder to let well alone than to attempt what is better.”. . . “Let well enough alone?”
Surely the central counsel against obsequious silence applies within the Church as well, and even to the clericalist and dark pattern of ambiguity found today in signaling, omissions, corrupt appointments, and accommodation–none of which is exempt from simply having the lights turned on. . . even by the a well-informed peasantry free from transfer, or being passed over, or being fired (as you would phrase it, a “pack of dogs”).
If you were truly a theologian, truly, you would understand exactly why people feel the way they do about this bankrupt papacy. Maybe the shame is on you for supporting it?
Don’t hide your common sense under a basket.
Karen,
Could you provide us with a link to some of your published work in theology? If not, a CV that lists your theological publications will do. Thanks.
As the editor, I’m tolerant of your comment. As a theologian, I’m amused by your comment.
Touché again again
The Holy Spirit guides each good Christian on a daily basis but also directs human history in ways that are unfathomable by man. The complete collapse of the Byzantine Empire in 1475 happened at the same day as the Castilian consolidation of Catholics against the Moors in Spain. The virtual end of the Confederacy happened on July 4th 1863 with victories on the same day at Gettysburg in the East and Vicksburg in the West. And on the same day that the first Jews were murdered at Auschwitz with Zyklon-B the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor forcing the U.S. to enter WW2. All good Christians have faith – Mark 4: 35-41.
Cool. Thank you.
1453.
Sorry. Couldn’t let that one pass. I’m married to a Byzantinist. 🙂
As we Catholics worldwide celebrate the 10th anniversary of the papacy of Pope Francis, I believe it also should not be forgotten how in the past ten years some Catholic American media outlets, CWR included, have evolved and grown in their opposition to and loathing of Pope Francis. Or at least his teachings, words, and actions. At best, they might accept him to the extent that he agrees with them. But this is abundantly clear: Pope Francis isn’t their teacher or shepherd, to them he’s a political figure (or in some cases nothing more than a reality show contestant) that they feel free to critique, analyze, judge, jeer, and explain away. This is not how Catholics should see the Pope.
“loathing…”
Does language not mean a damn thing anymore?
Dear Pedro:
All followers of Christ have a duty to speak the truth in love. Love is being forthright and rebuking what is wrong! Actions worthy of praise will reap accordingly.
God Bless you,
Brian
Luke 17:3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,
Matthew 18:15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
James 5:20 Let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
To Brian Young:
As I am indeed a follower of Jesus Christ, I now speak the truth out of love by reminding you that you are disobeying Christ Himself by obstinately rejecting His command and proudly remaining outside the One True Church of Christ in whatever form of heretical Protestantism you are practicing and preaching.
Bonus gift for you: The legitimate interpretation of 2 Timothy 3:16-17 comes from the Catholic Church, and contrary to heretical beliefs and bogus interpretations, the Catholic Church correctly teaches that the cited passage regarding the profitability of Scripture does not in any way, shape, or form support the irrational, obtuse, and destructive teaching of sola scriptura preached by Protestants.
Book Recommendation For You and Others Interested in the Topic of Sola Scriptura:
Speaking of the malevolent sola scriptura doctrine, a recent short book by former Protestant Donald J. Johnson provides many fine insights into the destructive nature of sola scriptura and the damage this doctrine has wreaked on the entire world. The book is “Twisted Unto Destruction: How ‘Bible Alone’ Theology Made the World a Worst Place.”
If a Pope is skating on thin ice when it comes to leading the Church, then it is a sin against charity to remain silent in the face of it.
We are called to be sheep of the Good Shepherd, not cattle for false shepherds.
I have never claimed to be the “official” biographer of John Paul II and indeed have spent two decades correcting people who say that when introducing me. As for being “inside,” I am quite inside enough to know exactly what I’m talking about in this column — and to know that the votaries of this pontificate are trafficking in fantasy on this tenth anniversary.
Dear Sir:
Sincerity and frankness serve us well.
Aficionados of the incumbent maybe thinking of the office of Pope when giving inordinate accolades to the current occupant of the See of Rome!
To shed light on his ministry seems to paint a bleak picture in the minds of many the faithful.
God bless you,
Brian Young
To Brian Young:
In sincerity and frankness, be sure to remind people of this Catholic website that you are indeed Christian (a good start, but much more needs to be done to faithfully run the good race), but you are proudly not part of the Catholic faithful by your own choice, and that you reject many Catholic teachings and claims of the Catholic Church that this website has set forth as part of its mission to defend.
Of course, frankness also requires actually stating which branch of the omni-branched Protestantism one follows, but you have already made Hillary Clinton-type “what difference does it make” lame excuses for not exercising such frankness.
So what is it, then? Frankness for others but not for you?
Do better.
We Catholics have a proverb about one’s breadth of study and knowledge of the Bible and where that leads them: “Weak Catholics become Protestants/Evangelicals; Strong Protestants/Evangelicals become Catholics.”
A basic question ought to be, ‘Why has Almighty God caused or permitted this embarrassment to develop?’ May I suggest that we should look closely at the age of the present incumbent of the papacy when he was elected. Common experience shows that while some people remain unaffected by increasing age, this is not always the case. Cognitive ability and judgement can be affected, even to the extent of being marred by obsessions, and unfortunate personal qualities can develop that would have seemed odious to the younger person. The present incumbent’s predecessor had already brought to our attention the possibility of retirement. Are we now being more urgently asked to consider whether the papacy should ordinarily be for life? Or perhaps whether modern life expectancy, together with human frailty, might require election at a younger age, and compulsory retirement at the same age as that which now applies to all bishops except the bishop of Rome?
Proclivities of old age are first formed in youth. Some timeless truisms attest to this: Habits die hard. The child is father of the man. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Indeed, Francis today was discernible ten years ago. If we believe so-called surreptitious reports, he was no different 30-40 years ago.
Thank you, George, for an instructive article, depressingly accurate and honest as it is.
What can I do? Anything realistic?
I’ve read the article and the comments. satan is having a field day here. There is nothing more that would please satan than having Church division. Well done everyone.
Mark 3:24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
Unity can only exist in Truth. A false unity is a tool of the devil.
Pope Francis is the right Pope in the right place declare people of goodwill in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Australasia, and those living and journeying on the peripheries of the Global North. Day by day the Church is becoming a vibrant movement of forward journeying pilgrims. As always in every forward moving phenomena, there may be a few reluctant ones who refuse to move fearing insecurity and the loss of certain comforts of old.
Yours is a comforting bromide: “As always in every forward moving phenomena, there may be a few reluctant ones who refuse to move fearing insecurity and the loss of certain comforts of old.”
This Enlightenment/secularist notion even pretends validation in the Teilhardian line in Gaudium et Spes: “The Church further recognizes that worthy elements are found in today’s social movements, especially an evolution toward unity [!], a process of wholesome socialization [meaning solidarity, not Socialism] and of association in civic and economic realms” (n. 42).
BUT, then, are the “reluctant ones” actually less self-deceived than this, noting how the Enlightenment mindset not long ago fell on its face in the trenches of World War I? And, noting the non-convergence, irreducible incompleteness, and impurities of the various natural religions compared to the self-disclosure by the Triune One–in the Incarnation and Resurrection? (Impurities? Buddhist self-annihilation, Hindu transmigration, Zoroastrian and modern-day dualism, Islamic residual paganism in rejecting the Trinity as a polytheistic triad, etc.)
WHAT IF, instead of inevitable/fatalistic/Monist (?) “unity,” we still have the natural religions of “searching” as compared to actually “being found” by a supernatural act of divine self-revelation? Not a backward-looking nostalgia for “certain comforts of old” as you and others fantasize; not “forward moving phenomena” as all heavy-breathing progressives too assume, but rather a start-over Apostolic Age because the bottom has fallen out of the post-Christian chronology of world history–C.S. Lewis’s “chronological snobbery”?
Maybe it’s time to question our own predispositions—even including (inclusivity!) those “certain comforts” of a very self-assured progressive stripe?
‘My Adorable Jesus , may our feet journey together , may our hands gather in unity, our hearts beat in unison , our souls in harmony, our thoughts as one…’ – Unity prayer, highly recommended by Rev.Fr.Jim Blount
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9d8IpXDzro – recent talk in Seattle , how he could see a coiled serpent over the city , because of the new age and satanic practices , how we are in a time of even a fiercer battle …
Joy as an aspect of the deep trust in the Love of God – our Lord and The Mother , not deprived of that joy- in acceptance of the Divine Will with love and trust, in the midst of unimaginable sufferings , on the Way of The Cross – the above image of the Holy Father too can be seen as a mini icon of same …
The painful aspect of many in The Church rejecting the blessings , such as of the above devotions, ? even the Divine Mercy Feast- ? adding to the trials ..
https://www.catholicexorcism.org/post/exorcist-diary-231-demons-of-shame
The above recent blog post by Msgr .Rossetti , on the ‘demons of shame’- relevant to the issues , by countering same in claiming The Truth , that each of us is willed and infinitley loved by God -a truth that might be blocked in the depth of hearts in many , thus the need for renouncing and casting out the demons , to make forgiveness easier too .
Would it be that the Holy Father has taken the heroic step of being even caluminated ,to be a witness to hope, in willing to have persons around who can witness to being set free from the demons ,even if still in the process and not there yet …
Would it be too that the ‘shame’/ error of feeling unappreciated enough by those around – for own holiness and worth is the true reason for the ‘malaise’ amidst those who seems intent on opposing and fearful disdain to the call of the Holy Father to trust and expect the Holy Spirit to bless The Church and the world in surprising ways , a call that need to be heard in many hearts in these times …
Yet , there are many persons who do appreciate the good given us by our Lord in the Holy Father, even when we might be seeing only a tiny glimpse of same this side of heaven –
https://wherepeteris.com/pope-franciss-first-10-years-key-accomplishments/
As The Church gets ready to celebrate two powerful Father figures – Sts Patrick and St.Joseph , hope we too get to look at the Holy Father with the smile of heaven – St.Joseph and The Mother , dearly loved and celebrated by the Holy Father too , as a need of our times .
Glory be !
The most appropriate comment here is “If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say it at all.”
However, in order for this comment to be approved I will replace “good” with “nice.” There is a related famous (and false) movie quote which is: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.”
My understanding is that “nice” is defined as socially acceptable. And in certain forums the whole truth isn’t acceptable.
I will say that tyranny – but not discipline – and the papacy are like oil and water. If there is tyranny, then one can reasonably suspect some malfeasance. Whether it is doctrinal or “pastoral” is for discerning – and faithfully reasonable – persons to discover and embrace.
Glad to see we’re up on our movie quotes, specifically the Walt Disney flicks and the little rabbit Thumper in “Bambi” (1942)–the “famous” editorial censor who said: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”
I don’t think that my comment was very clear. There are things I don’t say because it is highly doubtful that they would be approved. But we are obliged to speak truth even, perhaps in many cases especially, if it upsets someone.
I think that I can get by with identifying myself as a “rad rad trad” Catholic. More accurate terms would be true/orthodox Catholic. Combined with my previous comment that likely makes things clearer.
Using GOOGLE Translate on the PERFIL report, you can get some English out of it but it’s not too clear. For his 10th anniversary Pope Francis seems to reaffirm things said and done already. I found it at LIFESITE.
Opus Dei is founded on the particular inspiration of the founder Escriva and the Canon Law develops from there. This was already settled and was the occasion for momentous acclamation. Placing it “among the clergy” is a dis-assembling.
Pope Francis holds once more to the idea that time is greater than space. This is a dialectic that is originally Lenin’s scheme of how revolution spreads.
In terms of human virtue it cancels prudence. By suspending the moral foundations and other underpinnings there are no moorings and reason has no true guide.
Placing “space” as the “other determinant in the equation” is pointless; and therefore subordinating space to time arrives at nothing.
You then can’t say that moral law is rigid but obligingly replacing it with factors like reality/ideas, unity/conflict, whole/part …. “is not rigidity”. By the way these other factors also are sourced from Marxism-Leninism!
The issues are faith and reason: A’s rigidity is not the cause of B’s denials in faith or morality or sound reason, etc.; and even non-rigidity by A may contribute to evil or delay helping the good and abet B or mislead B.
https://www.perfil.com/noticias/periodismopuro/papa-francisco-se-puede-dialogar-muy-bien-con-la-economia-no-se-puede-dialogar-con-las-finanzas-por-jorge-fontevecchia.phtml
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pope-francis-denies-that-hell-is-a-place-says-it-is-a-posture-towards-life/?utm_source=top_news&utm_campaign=usa
The Church is in complete free fall, thanks to this horrendous pontificate. You dont want mercy, you want the approval and affirmation of sin, specifically the sexual ones. The floor of Hell is paved with Skulls of Bishops
Our Lord is using this Pope to separate the wheat from the chaff. As painful as it is, we must suffer it well. And be sure we’re standing on the side of Christ. Pax.
I recall that Christ himself warned of the wolves in sheep’s clothing – the false prophets. The BVM at Fatima warned that the papacy itself might be infiltrated by forces of dubious intent. Perhaps the “synodal spirit” is a different spirit from the one that truly guides Christ’s Church on Earth. Or is the true spirit trying to tell us that Marxism is the way to go?