Vatican City, May 13, 2017 / 02:32 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The following is an unofficial transcript of the in-flight press conference on the papal plane returning from Fatima to Rome on May 13, 2017.
Greg Burke: Thank you Holiness, they were 24 very intense hours, as you said, for the Lord, 24 hours for Our Lady. It’s apparent that the Portuguese felt very touched when you said, “We have a Mother,” that they feel this in a special way. 100 years ago Our Lady didn’t appear to three important journalists, she appeared to three shepherds, but we’ve seen how they with their simplicity and sanctity were able to make this message reach the entire world. The journalists make the message arrive – it is seen from the number of nations from which they come – and they’re very curious about this trip of yours. If you’d like to say something first, great…
Pope Francis: First of all, good evening. Thanks. And, I’d like to respond to the first of the possible questions, so we can do things a bit more quickly. I’m sorry when we’re at the halfway point and they come to tell me that it’s snack time… let’s do them all together. Thanks.
Greg Burke: Good, let’s begin with the Portuguese group, with Fatima Ferreira of the Portuguese TV Radio
Anna Elza Ferreira (Redevida de Televisao): I don’t know what I think about sitting in front of the Holy Father. Well, first, many thanks for this trip. Holy Father, you came to Fatima as a pilgrim, to canonize Francisco and Jacinta in the year that the apparitions mark their 100th year. From this historical point of view, what is left now for the Church, for the entire world? Also, Fatima has a message of peace. Holy Father, you are going to receive in the Vatican in the coming days, the 24th of May, the American president Donald Trump. What can the world expect and what does the Holy Father expect from this encounter? Many thanks.
Pope Francis: Thanks. Fatima certainly has a message of peace. It’s brought to humanity by three great communicators that were less than 13 years old, which is interesting. Yes, I came as a pilgrim. The canonization was something that wasn’t planned from the beginning, because the process of the miracles was in progress but the all of a sudden the export reports were all positive, and it was done – that’s how the story was told – for me was a very great joy. What can the world expect? Peace. And what am I talking about from now on with whomever? Peace.
Ferreira: And what remains now of this historic moment for the Church?
Pope Francis: A message of peace. And I’d like to say one thing … before disembarking I received scientists from all religions who were doing studies in the Vatican Observatory at Castel Gandolfo, including agnostics and atheists. And an atheist said to me, “I’m an atheist.” I won’t tell you from what ethnicity or place of origin he was – he spoke in English. And at the end, he asked me, ‘I ask you a favor: tell the Christians that they should love their message of peace more.”
Aura Miguel (Radio Renascença): Your Holiness, in Fatima you presented yourself as the “bishop dressed in white.” Up to now, this expression applied rather to the vision of the third part of the secret, St. John Paul II, the martyrs of the twentieth century. What does it mean now, your identification with this expression?
Pope Francis: The prayer, that, I did not write it… the sanctuary wrote it… but also I have tried because they said this, and there is a connection with the white. The bishop of white, Our Lady of white, the white glow of the innocence of children after Baptism and innocence… there is a connection to the color white in that prayer. I believe – because I did not write it – but I believe that literally they have tried to express with white that desire for innocence, for peace… innocence: to not hurt the other … to not create conflict, the same.
Miguel: Is it a revision of the interpretation…
Pope Francis: No, but that vision … I believe that then Cardinal Ratzinger, at that time prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith, explained everything clearly. Thank you.
Claudio Lavanga (NBC News): Thank you. Holy Father, yesterday you asked the faithful to break down all the walls, yet on May 24 you meet a head of State who is threatening to build walls. It is a bit contradictory to your word, but he also has – it seems – opinions and decisions different from you in other topics, such as the need to act to confront global warming or the welcoming of migrants … Thus, in light of this meeting: what is your opinion of the politics that President Trump has adopted so far on these topics and what do you expect from a meeting with a Head of State who seems to think and act contrary to you?
Pope Francis: The first question … I can respond to both… I never make a judgment of a person without listening to them. I believe that I should not do this. In our talk things will come out, I will say what I think, he will say what he thinks, but I never, ever, wanted to make a judgment without hearing the person. The second…
Claudio Lavanga: What do you think about the reception of migrants?
Pope Francis: But this you all know well…
Claudio Lavanga: The second instead is what you expect from a meeting with a head of state who thinks contradictory to you?
Pope Francis: Always there are doors that are not closed. Look for the doors that are at least a little bit open, enter and talk about common things and go on. Step by step. Peace is handcrafted. It is made every day. Also friendship among people, mutual knowledge, esteem, is handcrafted. It’s made every day. Respect the other, say that which one thinks, but with respect, but walk together … someone thinks of one way or the other, but say that …. Be very sincere with what everyone thinks, no?
Claudio Lavanga: Do you hope to soften his decisions after the meeting?
Pope Francis: This is a political calculation that I do not permit myself to make.
Greg Burke: Thank you Holiness, now there is a change of places, Elisabetta Piqué is coming.
Elisabetta Piqué (La Nacion): Thanks first of all for this brief and very intense trip. We wanted to ask you, today is the centenary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, but is is also the important anniversary of a fact of your life that took place 25 years ago, when the Nuncio (Archbishop) Calabresi told you that you would become the Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires, something that meant the end of your exile in Cordoba and a great change in your life. Have you every connected this fact that changed your life with Our Lady of Fatima? And in these days that you’ve prayed before her have you thought about this and what did you think about? Can you tell us about that? Thanks.
Pope Francis: Women know everything, eh! No, I didn’t think about the coincidence, only yesterday while I was praying before Our Lady I realized that one May 13th I received the phone call from the nuncio 25 years ago. I don’t know… I said, well look at that. I spoke with Our Lady a little about this. I asked her forgiveness for all of my mistakes, also of a bit of bad taste for choosing people… but yesterday I realized this.
Greg Burke: Nicolas Seneze of La Croix is coming.
Nicolas Seneze (La Croix): Thanks, Holy Father. We’re returning from Fatima for which the Fraternity of St. Pius X has a great devotion and much is said about an agreement that would give an official statute to the Fraternity in the Church. Some even imagined that there would be an announcement today… Holiness, do you think that this agreement is possible in a short timeframe? And, what are the obstacles still? And what is the sense of this reconciliation for you? And, will it be the triumphant return for faithful who have shown what it means to be truly Catholic or what?
Pope Francis: I would toss out any form of triumphalism. None. Some days ago, the Feria Quarta of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, their meeting – the call it the Feria Quarta, because it’s the fourth Wednesday – studied a document and the document still hasn’t reached me, the study of the document. This is the first. Secondly, the current relations are fraternal. Last year, I gave a license for confession to all of them, also a form of jurisdiction for marriages, but even before the problems, the cases they had, for example, had to be resolved by the Doctrine of the Faith. The Doctrine of the Faith carries them forward. For example, abuses. The cases of abuse, they brought them to us, also to the Penitentiary. Also the reduction to the lay state of a priest, they bring to us. The relations are fraternal. With Msgr. Fellay I have a good rapport. I’ve spoken many times… I don’t like to hurry things. Walk. Walk. Walk. And then we’ll see. For me, it’s not an issue of winners and losers, it’s an issue of brothers who must walk together, looking for a formula to make steps forward.
Tassilo Forcheimer (ARD): Holy Father, on the occasion of the anniversary of the Reformation, Evangelical Christians and Catholics are able to walk another stretch of road together. Will there be the possibility to participate in the same Eucharistic Mass? Some months ago, Cardinal Kasper said: A step forward could take place already this year.
Pope Francis: There have been great steps forward, eh … we think of the first statement on justification, from that moment the journey has not stopped… the trip to Sweden was very significant because it was just the beginning and also a commemoration with Sweden… also there is significance for the ecumenism of the journey… that is, to walk together, with prayer, with martyrdom, with works of charity, with works of mercy. And there, Lutheran Caritas and Catholic Caritas have made an agreement to work together. This is a great step. But steps are always awaited. You know that God is the God of surprises. But we must never stop. Always go on. To pray together, to give testimony together and to do works of mercy together, that announce the charity of Jesus Christ, to announce that Jesus Christ is Lord, is the only Savior, and that grace only comes from Him. And on this path the theologians they will continue to study, but the path must proceed. And (with) hearts opened to surprises.
Mimmo Muolo (Avvenire): Good evening Holiness. I’m asking you a question in the name of the Italian group. Yesterday and today at Fatima, we saw a great witness of popular faith together with you. The same that is found, for example, also in other Marian shrines like Medjugorje. What do you think of those apparitions, if they were apparition, and of the religious fervor they have aroused seeing that you have decided to appoint a bishop delegate for the pastoral aspects? And if I can permit myself a second question I know is very close to your heart besides that of us italians… I would like to know, the NGOs were accused of collusion with the boat traffickers of men. What do you think of this? Thanks.
Pope Francis: I’ll start with the first. I read in the papers that I peruse in the morning that there was this problem, but I still don’t know how the details are and because of this I can’t give an opinion. I know there is an issue and the investigations are moving ahead. I hope that they continue ahead and that the whole truth comes out. Medjugorje, all the apparitions, or the presumed apparitions, belong to the private sphere, they aren’t part of the public, ordinary magisterium of the Church. Medjugorje. Medjugorje. A commission was formed, headed by Cardinal Ruini. Benedict XVI made it. I, at the end of 2013 the beginning of 2014, I received the result from Cardinal Ruini. It was commission good theologians, bishops, cardinals, but good. Very good. And the commission. The Ruini report was very, very good. Then there were some doubts in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the Congregation judged it opportune to send each one of the members of this Feria quarta (Editor’s note: “Feria Quarta” is a once-a-month meeting in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith during which current cases are examined) all the documentation, even those that seemed to be against the Ruini report. I received a notification – I remember it was a Saturday evening, late evening… and it didn’t seem right. It was like putting up for auction – excuse me the word – the Ruini report which was very well done. And Sunday morning the prefect received a letter from me that said that instead of sending them to the Feria Quarta, they they would send the opinions to me personally.
These opinions were studied and all of them underscore the density of the Ruini report. Principally, three things must be distinguished: the first apparitions, that they were kids. The report more or less says that it must continue being studied. The apparitions, the presumed current apparitions: the report has its doubts. I personally am more nasty, I prefer the Madonna as Mother, our Mother, and not a woman who’s the head of a telegraphic office, who everyday sends a message at such hour. This is not the Mother of Jesus. And these presumed apparitions don’t have a lot of value. This I say as a personal opinion. But, it’s clear. Who thinks that the Madonna says, ‘come tomorrow at this time, and at such time I will say a message to that seer?’ No. The two apparitions are distinguished. The third, the core of the Ruini report, the spiritual fact, the pastoral fact. People go there and convert. People who encounter God, change their lives…but this…there is no magic wand there. And this spiritual and pastoral fact can’t be ignored. Now, to see things with all this information, with the answers that the theologians sent me, this good, good bishop was appointed because he has experience, to see the pastoral part, how it’s going. And at the end he’ll say some words.
Muolo: Holiness, thank you, also for the blessing of my fellow citizens who thank you, they saw it and are very happy…
Greg Burke: Holiness, now if I can be the nasty one, we have done all of the language groups and…
Pope Francis: Time is up already?
Greg Burke: There’s a question, they tell me.
Pope Francis: One or two more.
Joshua McElwee (National Catholic Reporter): Thank you, Holy Father. The last member of the Commission for the Protection of Minors, who was abused by a priest, resigned in March. She, Ms. Marie Collins, said that she had to resign because the officials in the Vatican did not implement the recommendations of the commission that you, the Holy Father, approved. I have two questions: who is responsible, and what are you doing, Holy Father, to ensure that the priests and bishops in the Vatican implement the recommendations suggested by your commission?
Pope Francis: Marie Collins explained the matter to me well, I spoke with her, she is a good woman, but she continues to work in the formation of priests on this point… she is a good woman who wants to work … but she made this accusation, and she has a bit of reason… why? Because there are so many late cases, then in this period of lateness, because they accumulate there, you have to make legislation for this… what should the diocesan bishops do? Today in almost all the dioceses there is the protocol to follow in these cases: it is a great improvement. This way the dossiers are done well. Then there are the accusations…this is a step. Another step: there are few people, there needs to be more people capable in this area, and the Secretary of State is looking for, even Monsignor Mueller (Editor’s Note: Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), to present new people. The other day two or three more were approved… the director of the disciplinary office changed, who was good, eh, he was very good but he was a bit tired… he returned to his home country to do the same with his episcopate. And the new one is an Irishman, Msgr. (John) Kennedy, he is a very good person, very efficient, prompt, and this helps a lot.
Then there is another thing: Sometimes the bishops send – if the protocol is okay, it goes right away to the Feria Quarta and the Feria Quarta studies and decides. If the protocol is not okay, it must go back to be redone. That’s why you think of continental help or in a continent or two … in Latin America, one in Colombia, another in Brazil, as pre-tribunals or continental tribunals… this is in the planning… but then it’s fine, they study it at feria quarta and they take away his clerical status. This goes back to the diocese, and the priest makes recourse. First, the application was studied by the same Feria Quarta that had given the sentence, and this is unfair. I created another tribunal and I put an indisputable person as the head, the Archbishop of Malta, Msgr. (Charles Jude) Scicluna, who is one of the strongest against abuses, and this second – because we must be just – the one who makes recourse is entitled to have a defender. If he (the defender) approves the first sentence, the case is over.His only option is a letter asking the Pope for pardon. I have never signed a pardon. I believe, I do not know, another question. This is how things are. We’re going forward. If Marie Collins was right on that point, we were also on the way. But there are 2000 cases piled up.
Portuguese journalist: I’m going to ask a question about the case Portugal, but I think that it can be applied to many of the Western societies. In Portugal, almost all of the Portuguese say they identify themselves as Catholics. But the way the society is organized, the decisions that we make, often are contrary to the indications of the Church. I refer to marriage between homosexuals, the legalization of abortion, now we’re going to begin discussing euthanasia. How do you see this?
Pope Francis: I think it’s a political problem. And that also the Catholic conscience isn’t a catholic one of total belonging to the Church and that behind that there isn’t a nuanced catechesis, a human catechesis. That is, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is an example of what is a serious and nuanced thing. I think that there is a lack of formation and also of culture. Because it’s curious, in some other regions, I think of the south of Italy, some in Latin America, they are very Catholic but they are anti-clerical and ‘priest-eaters’, that … there is a phenomenon that exists. It concerns me. That’s why I tell priests, you will have read it, to flee from clericalism because clericalism distances people. May they flee from clericalism and I add: it’s a plague in the Church. But here there is a work also of catechesis, of raising awareness, of dialogue, also of human values.
[…]
Did his grace light a candle before “St” judas?
I thought martin luther was dead.
The people this priest describes as breaking into tears and one passing out sound as though they have significant mental issues and need therapy . But that is not a good reason to change church teaching. It should be obvious that if such folk find catholic teaching unpalatable, there are literally thousands of super liberal churches where “anything goes”, which they can join. But such sexual excess should not be expected to be accepted by the faithful who know that such actions are in fact wrong and sinful.This is an exceedingly slippery slope, and I hope I am dead by the time there is a push for acceptance of polygamy and bestiality, or even, yes, pedophilia. Some prohibitions are pronounced by the church as wrong, period, and are NOT a matter of conscience to be decided by individuals.
Bishop Wilmer is lip syncing the false wisdom dropping from the lips of Cardinal Hollerich, and from Bishop Bats-sing (who surely has a role in parceling out the state church tax).
Why is one reminded, too, of the neighbor’s dog? Who, after having done his business on your front lawn, then does a 180 to kick grass over the droppings! Likewise, with the sexual abuse crisis in Germany–turn human sexual morality completely around so as to kick aromatic verbiage over recent history!
Similarly, also invert the Vatican reminder that schismatic Germany is betraying the universal Catholic Church. In Wilmer’s very localized mind, the “task is to serve unity…in such a mixed situation.” The barking Wilmer asspires to be the “bark” of Peter!
Neighborhood alert! Send Bishop Wilmer a doggie poop bag.
Is the Roman Catholic Church serious about following Jesus?
“Unity” means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING when it means unity with men and women who reject the commandments of Jesus, and unity with Bishops who would silently accept unity with apostates for the sake of counting heads.
It is no surprise that the Church is now under the control of apostates, as reluctantly hinted at by Fr. Robert Imbelli in his essay “No Decapitated Body.”
What is happening now, the open threat to officially promote and/or allow apostasy, is what happens when our Church started ordaining and promoting openly apostate Bishops in the 1970s, among these many openly apostate German Bishops, such as Walter Kasper, who denies the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
On what possible grounds can our Catholic Church ask to be taken seriously, when its pontiffs have promoted and ordained apostate Bishops, granting apostolic teaching authority to outlaws who deny the Gospel and the Creed?
On what grounds can the Church ask to be taken seriously?
Why would you ever believe that the Catholic Church could deny what She has always taught as if the 1960’s was the beginning of true Catholicism because this is exactly what Catholics have been deceived into believing? Since Vatican II the denial, doubt, ambiguity, and contradictions about so many of the dogmas of the faith is its modis operandi and none of this can ever be said about true Catholicism. These people are not members of the Catholic Church but members of a counterfeit church with an anti-Catholic religion as its foundation.
As I recall: The commandments of Jesus are two: Love God above all else and Love your neighbor as yourself.
Yes and warning your neighbor of sin is loving your neighbor. It’s a spiritual work of mercy…recall ‘Go and sin no more.’
Enabling sin, as the German bishops are doing, would be the opposite
Dear Kate:
On further recollection, what you alluded to is a gloss of “The Greatest Commandment,” which is recounted in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. In Matthew’s account, Jesus affirmed (in answering the lawyer) “the greatest and first commandment” is “You shall love God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength.” And Jesus said that “the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt 22) And in Mark’s account, Jesus ends by saying “There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12)
Then recalling these accounts, Jesus is saying that these are greater than all of the other commandments, and thereby reminding us that there are other commandments.
And in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew’s account (Matt 5), Jesus declared “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” And then Jesus set about to start adding even more commandments, as the law-giver who declared himself “greater than Moses.” And the commandments he gives are recognized to be very demanding, and hard to follow. For instance, Jesus declares: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matt 5: 27-28) That is a very strict commandment, and is what Jesus commands about our sexual behavior, penetrating our very thoughts.
And then Jesus adds another very demanding commandment: “You have heard it said: ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For if you love only those who love you, where is the reward in that? Do not even tax collectors…and pagans do that? Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
In recollection, Jesus doles out a lot of very stern commandments, sexual-wise, and charity-wise, etc.
As he recalls to us: “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” (in John)
And it seems, therefore, that the Bishop called “His Excellency Wilmer,” and other Bishops like him, such as “His Eminence McElroy” and “His Eminence Hollerich,” etc etc etc, are “apart from Jesus.”
The evil one’s greatest victory is within reach.
A fitting end for a church that stood by while more than a billion children were being butchered over the past fifty years.
Jesus, forgive us for our fecklessness and our hypocrisy.
Are you personally involved in any of this “fecklessness and hypocrisy”? Then what would you need Jesus to forgive you for? Isn’t it the responsibility of those who are involved in this fecklessness and hypocrisy to admit it, repent, and vow to sin no more so that then they may ask for Jesus’ forgiveness?
We’re all involved in one way or another. If we lie to ourselves to pretend we’re not, then that is one way in which we are involved.
Bishop Wilmer pens a letter full of apostasy and error. Instead of being warned about his beliefs and told to take time off to reconsider his thoughts he will probably be promoted. Meanwhile, Catholics who hold to the truths of the faith which are pronounced unequivocally in the ancient mass are demonised and persecuted because the church hierarchy no longer holds to its theology. This is the chastisement Our Lady warned us about at Fatima, its only going to get worse. There will be a springtime in the Church, but it will come from the hands of Our Lady, not some council.
Well, this guy certainly has Cardinal McElroy’s vote.
Since the root cause of the Church sex abuse disaster was unquestionably gay priests preying on male adolescents, how can the German synodal embrace of gay relationships seriously be considered a response to or correction of that catastrophe?
If all this leads to schism, so be it. I believe, In all humility, schism must be chosen over infidelity and apostasy.
Simply following the “spirit of Vatican II” and of all of the leaders since then.
There is no “spirit of Vatican II”. The documents are clear, you should read the documents, they do not include any of what is being promoted by this pontificate. The interpretations have been the issue and do not in anyway support Wilhmer.
From direction of Catholic doctrine to indirection began with Francis’ unexplained dismissal of then CDF prefect Card Gerhard Müller’s three indispensable priest assistants, to revision of Curia order of primacy Propaganda Fide replacing the CDF.
If Pope Francis had a rationale for the abrupt, unexplained firing of Müller’s priests, it can be reasonably explained in the prospective appointment of charlatan Bishop Heiner Wilmer. A Charlatan is The Pardoner in The Canterbury Tales who tricks sinners into buying fake religious relics. In this instance Pardoner Wilmer tricks sinners into buying fake legitimacy.
Well said as always Father. My discontent in reading Mr. Weigel columns these days stems from his failure to take on Francis directly. He knows full well of his many outrages and never says anything. I read all his books prior to his fantasies about “the next pope,” which seemed to have been written as though a return to stable orthodoxy is a near certainty. Criticisms around the edges do not suffice during the most ominous time in Church history.
“Criticisms around the edges do not suffice during the most ominous time in Church history.”
A most appropriate comment.
So either a confused stupid God, “still in the process of learning how to be God,” spread confusion and misery among His creation for thousands of years by instilling in them a natural sense of a coherent family unit upon which a greater society would be built but this Supreme Being was ultimately mistaken, or a mean sadistic God, interested in torturing His creation with endless moral confusion just for His own amusement, who led His creation to where it is impossible to understand right from wrong with the proper ordering of their biological nature, we now have, thankfully, theological minds, superior to God, willing to sort through God’s shortcomings.
Martin Luther redux.
Germany is a pagan country not least due to most Catholic bishops there having apostacized.
‘Conservatives’ – You’re Rad Trads!
Traditional Catholics – okay, but we told ya!
It was within weeks that Bishop McElroy was elevated before he spoke the quiet part out loud regarding the synod on synodality, confessing it “gives the liberals in the church the opportunity to complete the revolution they began at Vatican 2”. I can’t help but ponder the message given by Our Lord to Sister Marie de St. Pierre that due to offenses against the Holy Name of God and the command to keep the Sabbath holy, the world would suffer the “chastisement of revolutionary men”. One year later, on the anniversary of this message, Karl Marx published his Communist Manifesto. The world has suffered revolutionary men ever since. God help us and the church, “where else are we to go, Lord, only You have the words of eternal life”.
Someone recently commented on CWR whether Papa should be asked if he is a homosexual! Perhaps we don’t need to ask. Papa’s silence is thundering on this heretical matter?
This seems to me to be the same old … same old…pharisees vs Christ: Any new approach based on further knowledge frightens the bejesus out of the old school. As the RC church moves forward some will stay behind. Don’t old fashioned Jews still go to the Wailing Wall, hats, curls and all? The Tree of Life needs the unchanging trunk but that trunk would die too in the absence of new leaves bringing fresh sunshine, chemicals etc from leaf to root so that growth can continue.
So human beings never delude themselves and call it “new knowledge”. How are value judgments a question a “knowledge” in the first place? And how can God change His mind about truth? And when did Jesus ever contradict received moral truth? Don’t confuse morality with ritual now.
Come right out with what you are saying. No need for coded speech and vague allusions.
Speaking of new leaves…
Genesis,,,And God created man to his own image: to the image of God he created him: male and female he created them. And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply…
Matthew…Who answering, said to them: Have ye not read, that he who made man from the beginning, Made them male and female? And he said: For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be in one flesh.
Therefore now they are not two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.
Kate Grace, I didn’t have time the other day for a longer answer, but your understanding of the conflict of visions between Our Lord and the Pharisees is a reversal of Christian reality. Yours is a secular belief in inevitable progress based on a faith and trust in elitist superiority, the very thing the Pharisees, who were essentially more like secular progressives in their day than people of authentic faith, condemned Our Lord for undermining their dominant capricious rituals by His preaching the eternal, unchanging nature of truth. Progressives have always sought to reimage Jesus as one of them, as a revolutionary, when He is the exact opposite, the perfect reactionary, a non-elitist because He reminded us what is placed in every heart to know, that truth, all truth, is immutable because it comes exclusively from God, not from phony elitists. Our Lord’s preaching is a rebuke to the human vanity that needs to treat truth as fungible for those seeking the prestige of innovation or for those seeking to avoid impeachment from moral truths that never change.
Bravo George! A devastating laying out of what is at sake here. If this man is indeed made head of what we used to call the CDF then all the cards, as you say, will truly be face up. There can be no hiding behind any of the usual fig leaves this time.
Come on, Dr. Chapp! “If this man” is elevated then the cards are face up? Are you kidding me? The cards are already face up, and they have been for 10 years. Only fools have either refused to see them or have pretended they are still face down. I agree with the comment above – Weigel and others go to great lengths not to address the real issue explixitly. And that issue is PF.
The cards have been face up for longer than 10 years, but who is counting.
Maybe the Protestants aren’t so crazy after all. In the face of all this craziness the only thing we can really trust is the Bible. Popes can dismiss previous magisterial teaching and reform the Catechism, but God’s Word is forever and unchangeable.
Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Our Saviour and Counsellor.
Hardly “unchangeable”. Besides all the hundreds of opportunistic translations that were made during and after the protestant “reformation”, a number of books of the Bible were dropped by the protestants. Why? They didn’t think they were “inspired”, since they disagreed with their content. For “unchanging scriptures” you go to the Vulgate, or even better, the oldest extant copies in Hebrew and Greek.
Ok. Even if that simplistic apologetical trope was true, what option do we have then? Where can one go for firm guidance? Surely not the liquid magisterium of the present pontificate. Sure I can quote past Church documents, but no one (including this Pope) cares. Have you ever listened to some apologists endlessly arguing Church documents (watch an old Gerry Matatics debate)? It’s mind numbing and soul crushing because at the end of the day one can simply say…the present Pope doesn’t believe or teach that, and there you are left standing there with a Church document that has been robbed of its authority by the supreme authority in the Church. It’s much harder to do that with the Bible. In these times, I’d rather stick with the Bible which we know is inspired by the third Person of the Holy Trinity. Notice when anyone wants to refute the German Bishops or Francis or question Biden’s reception of Communion they usually go straight to Scripture? Why? Because we implicitly know there is something very special about it and that its authority is unparalleled. So…when in doubt go to the Bible and in that perhaps the Protestants are on to something.
Yet protestants changed/change God’s Word. Indeed, Martin Luther wanted to remove God’s Word. Protestantism goes back to John 6 when disciples no longer walked with Jesus. The German bishops are doing the same thing.
Let me put it to you this way:
Pope says X
Bible says Y
Who do you listen to? How you answer the question will determine what is the greater authority in your spiritual life…also notice that in this we know the Bible will never command anything that goes against God. Why? Because it is inspired by Him.
Nope the choice is….do I listen to God’s Word, which comes to us through Scripture, Tradition and the teaching Authority of the Catholic Church? Or….do I listen to a protestant’s unbiblical word of sola scriptura? I think I’m gonna go with God on this, thanks.
OK. But then we have the Pope himself saying that divorced and remarried Catholics can receive Communion in some cases, in clear contradiction of Jesus’ own words in the Gospel of Matthew and St. Paul’s admonition against receiving Communion unworthily. Even the plain language of Scripture is no impediment to those bent on fomenting revolution.
But notice that you went to Scripture to disprove Francis’ ideas. In other words, Scripture takes precedent.
Scripture alone is not the answer, to begin with, which bible do you look too? The Protestant bible was deliberately amended to fit Luthers heresy, and is continually misinterpreted by Protestants to fit their own ideas, which is why there are thousands of Protestant sects. Stick to catholic bible, tradition.
That’s been done before too. The first Pope denied Christ three times! I’m certainly not defending this Pope but looking to protestants is not the answer.
If the Magisterium collapses, we won’t even be able to trust the Bible. It’s true meaning will be obscured. It will be interpreted in accordance with the spirit of the age and in a manner that fits with one’s preferences and prejudices, viz. it will mean whatever one wants it to mean.
This seems to me to be the same old … same old…pharisees vs Christ
Exactly! The Pharisees went wrong by placing man-made doctrines ahead of God’s revelation — just like the ‘Synodal Way’ crowd.
“If the appointment of Bishop Wilmer to the position once held by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is made, it would not only be a mortal insult to the memory and legacy of Pope Benedict XVI.”
Correction – ANOTHER mortal insult.
Let’s call a spade a spade. These are *heretics* in conversation with the devil. They are not to be listened to. The good news is that eventually, the bishops of the world will grow a spine, like the Spanish bishops. The heresy will be called out, and proper responses made.