Pope Francis sits quietly during a meeting with students at the Portuguese Catholic University in Lisbon, Portugal, on Aug. 3, 2023. / Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Aug 4, 2023 / 12:15 pm (CNA).
In a newly published interview, Pope Francis described the ongoing Synod on Synodality as fulfilling “the dream of Paul VI” and underscored that the process is about recovering a lost form of ecclesial participation, not changing doctrine.
The Holy Father also confirmed rumors that Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Vatican’s special envoy for peace in Ukraine, will soon be visiting China. The pope described Zuppi’s “scheduled stopover” in Beijing as part of the Vatican’s “peace offensive,” which has already included visits to Kyiv, Moscow, and Washington, D.C. The pope said he is considering appointing a permanent representative to serve as a bridge between Russia and Ukraine.
Pope Francis also shared his concerns over what he called “ideological” youth groups and “rigid” priests and seminarians.
“We need normal seminarians, with their problems, who play soccer, who don’t go to the neighborhoods to dogmatize,” said the pope in the wide-ranging interview published by Vida Nueva, a Catholic newspaper based in Spain.
The published interview was the product of a multi-hour discussion between the pope and Nueva Vida staff that was held at Domus Santa Maria, the pope’s Vatican residence. Pope Francis has made it a hallmark of his papacy to give similar wide-ranging interviews to select publications, often making some of his most provocative statements in such contexts.
Synod concerns misplaced?
Regarding the synod, the pope said that he was beginning with what St. Paul VI started when the latter recognized at the end of Vatican II that “the Church in the West had lost the synodal dimension” and created the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops “to start working on it.”
The pope also shared an experience of speaking to a religious sister who expressed concern to him that the Synod on Synodality, which holds its first universal assembly this October in Rome, would change the Church’s doctrine.
“Tell me, dear, who put that into your head?” the pope said he responded. The synod, he said, “is about moving forward to recover the synodal dimension that the Eastern Church has and we lost.”
The pope also suggested that Synods of Bishops held before his pontificate were too tightly controlled by organizers, and he suggested that controversial topics that have emerged during his own synods, such as the issue of communion for the divorced and remarried at the 2015 Synod on the Family or the possibility of more widespread married priests at the 2019 Pan-Amazonian Synod, were “imposed on us” from the outside.
Responding to a question about a third Vatican Council, the pope said that “things are not ripe” because Vatican II had yet to be fully realized. He said that was because it has been held back by those who call themselves “depositories” of the true faith.
The pope also emphasized that the Church must dialogue with all comers, saying the power of the Gospel is for “everyone,” a mantra that has emerged as a key theme during Pope Francis’ ongoing visit to World Youth Day in Portugal.
Continued warnings about ‘rigidity’
The pope also spoke at length, in multiple responses, about the status of young clergy, seminarians, and pastoral formation for young people.
The pope told Vida Nueva that “rigidity” among young priests, who are good people who want to serve the Lord, comes from fearfulness at “a time of insecurity that we are experiencing.”
“That fear does not let them walk. We must remove this fear and help them,” said the pope, noting how more experienced pastors can “soften” young ideological clerics.
But the pope also said that rigidity is like a shell that “hides a lot of rot.” He said that in multiple dioceses, traditionalism has acted as a façade for “serious moral problems and vices, double lives,” which persist when bishops, in need of priests, accept those who have already been thrown out of other seminaries for “being immoral.”
“I don’t like rigidity because it is a bad symptom of the inner life,” Pope Francis said. The pope also warned about people “who live trapped in a theology manual, unable to get into trouble and make theology move forward.” He said that both movements of “the left and right” create corruption when they stagnate.
Regarding seminaries, the pope spoke of the need for a “humanistic formation.” He cautioned that seminaries cannot be “ideological kitchens,” as they “are to train pastors, not ideologues.”
The pope also said he is “afraid of intellectual youth groups,” without specifying any by name, only adding that groups “linked in some way to right-wing ideologies are perhaps the most dangerous.”
Pope Francis also said that outreach to the youth needs to focus on catching their attention and slowly bringing them closer to Jesus and the Gospel. Focusing exclusively on moral issues, such as chastity, “scares them all away.”
“If it is an ideological pastoral care of the left or the right or the center, that is useless, it is already sick from the beginning and it hurts the young.”
‘Imperialism’ threats
The pope also spoke about the threat of imperialism, which he says has particularly victimized the people of Latin America.
“I speak badly of any empire, whatever the trend. For this reason, I know that I am a stone in the shoe” for multiple interests, the pope said.
But the pope also addressed a form of imperialism within Europe, namely, the imposition of secular values upon countries through the European Union’s headquarters in Brussels. The pope said that when he speaks to leaders from countries resisting these efforts, he tells them, “Please, stay free,” encouraging them to maintain their own unique culture, art, and lifestyle, united with the rest of Europe, “but in diversity.”
Regarding additional papal visits, the pope said that a trip to Kosovo is being worked on, though not defined, and he reiterated that he will not visit major European nations until he finishes “with the small ones.” The pope also confirmed that a return trip to his native country Argentina is “on the program.”
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Andrea Mia Ghez, recognized for her groundbreaking research on black holes, is one of only four women to have been awarded the Nobel Prize in physics. / Credit: Elena Zhukova/University of California
Vatican City, Apr 16, 2020 / 03:12 am (CNA).- Joy is a grace and a gift of the Holy Spirit, not just positive emotions or feeling cheerful, Pope Francis said at Mass at the Vatican Thursday.
Joy “is not the consequence of emotions that burst for… […]
Pope Francis at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square, Oct. 5, 2016. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA
CNA Staff, Mar 13, 2024 / 12:00 pm (CNA).
March 13 marks the anniversary of the election of Pope Francis as the 266th successor of St. Peter. Here is a timeline of key events during his papacy:
2013
March 13 — About two weeks after Pope Benedict XVI steps down from the papacy, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio is elected pope. He takes the papal name Francis in honor of St. Francis of Assisi and proclaims from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica: “Let us begin this journey, the bishop and people, this journey of the Church of Rome, which presides in charity over all the Churches, a journey of brotherhood in love, of mutual trust. Let us always pray for one another.”
March 14 — The day after he begins his pontificate, Pope Francis returns to his hotel to personally pay his hotel bill and collect his luggage.
July 8 — Pope Francis visits Italy’s island of Lampedusa and meets with a group of 50 migrants, most of whom are young men from Somalia and Eritrea. The island, which is about 200 miles off the coast of Tunisia, is a common entry point for migrants who flee parts of Africa and the Middle East to enter Europe. This is the pope’s first pastoral visit outside of Rome and sets the stage for making reaching out to the peripheries a significant focus.
Pope Francis gives the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 2, 2013. Elise Harris/CNA.
July 23-28 — Pope Francis visits Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to participate in World Youth Day 2013. More than 3 million people from around the world attend the event.
July 29 — On the return flight from Brazil, Pope Francis gives his first papal news conference and sparks controversy by saying “if a person is gay and seeks God and has goodwill, who am I to judge?” The phrase is prompted by a reporter asking the pope a question about priests who have homosexual attraction.
Nov. 24 — Pope Francis publishes his first apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel). The document illustrates the pope’s vision for how to approach evangelization in the modern world.
2014
Feb. 22 — Pope Francis holds his first papal consistory to appoint 19 new cardinals, including ones from countries in the developing world that have never previously been represented in the College of Cardinals, such as Haiti.
March 22 — Pope Francis creates the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. The commission works to protect the dignity of minors and vulnerable adults, such as the victims of sexual abuse.
Pope Francis greets pilgrims during his general audience on Nov. 29, 2014. Bohumil Petrik/CNA.
Oct. 5 — The Synod on the Family begins. The bishops discuss a variety of concerns, including single-parent homes, cohabitation, homosexual adoption of children, and interreligious marriages.
Dec. 6 — After facing some pushback for his efforts to reform the Roman Curia, Pope Francis discusses his opinion in an interview with La Nacion, an Argentine news outlet: “Resistance is now evident. And that is a good sign for me, getting the resistance out into the open, no stealthy mumbling when there is disagreement. It’s healthy to get things out into the open, it’s very healthy.”
2015
Jan. 18 — To conclude a trip to Asia, Pope Francis celebrates Mass in Manila, Philippines. Approximately 6 million to 7 million people attend the record-setting Mass, despite heavy rain.
March 23 — Pope Francis visits Naples, Italy, to show the Church’s commitment to helping the fight against corruption and organized crime in the city.
May 24 — To emphasize the Church’s mission to combat global warming and care for the environment, Pope Francis publishes the encyclical Laudato Si’, which urges people to take care of the environment and encourages political action to address climate problems.
Pope Francis at a Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on June 17, 2015. Bohumil Petrik.
Sept. 19-22 — Pope Francis visits Cuba and meets with Fidel Castro in the first papal visit to the country since Pope John Paul II in 1998. During his homily, Francis discusses the dignity of the human person: “Being a Christian entails promoting the dignity of our brothers and sisters, fighting for it, living for it.”
Sept. 22-27 — After departing from Cuba, Pope Francis makes his first papal visit to the United States. In Washington, D.C., he speaks to a joint session of Congress, in which he urges lawmakers to work toward promoting the common good, and canonizes the Franciscan missionary St. Junípero Serra. He also attends the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, which focuses on celebrating the gift of the family.
Pope Francis speaks to the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 24, 2015. . L’Osservatore Romano.
Oct. 4 — Pope Francis begins the second Synod on the Family to address issues within the modern family, such as single-parent homes, cohabitation, poverty, and abuse.
Oct. 18 — The pope canonizes St. Louis Martin and St. Marie-Azélie “Zelie” Guérin. The married couple were parents to five nuns, including St. Therese of Lisieux. They are the first married couple to be canonized together.
Dec. 8 — Pope Francis’ Jubilee Year of Mercy begins. The year focuses on God’s mercy and forgiveness and people’s redemption from sin. The pope delegates certain priests in each diocese to be Missionaries of Mercy who have the authority to forgive sins that are usually reserved for the Holy See.
2016
March 19 — Pope Francis publishes the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, which discusses a wide variety of issues facing the modern family based on discussions from the two synods on the family. The pope garners significant controversy from within the Church for comments he makes in Chapter 8 about Communion for the divorced and remarried.
April 16 — After visiting refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos, Pope Francis allows three Muslim refugee families to join him on his flight back to Rome. He says the move was not a political statement.
Pope Francis at the General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, Feb. 24, 2016. Daniel Ibanez/CNA.
July 26-31 — Pope Francis visits Krakow, Poland, as part of the World Youth Day festivities. About 3 million young Catholic pilgrims from around the world attend.
Sept. 4 — The pope canonizes St. Teresa of Calcutta, who is also known as Mother Teresa. The saint, a nun from Albania, dedicated her life to missionary and charity work, primarily in India.
Sept. 30-Oct. 2 — Pope Francis visits Georgia and Azerbaijan on his 16th trip outside of Rome since the start of his papacy. His trip focuses on Catholic relations with Orthodox Christians and Muslims.
Oct. 4 — Pope Francis makes a surprise visit to Amatrice, Italy, to pray for the victims of an earthquake in central Italy that killed nearly 300 people.
2017
May 12-13 — In another papal trip, Francis travels to Fatima, Portugal, to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima. May 13 marks the 100th anniversary of the first Marian apparition to three children in the city.
July 11 — Pope Francis adds another category of Christian life suitable for the consideration of sainthood: “offering of life.” The category is distinct from martyrdom, which only applies to someone who is killed for his or her faith. The new category applies to those who died prematurely through an offering of their life to God and neighbor.
Pope Francis greets a participant in the World Day of the Poor in Rome, Nov. 16, 2017. L’Osservatore Romano.
Nov. 19 — On the first-ever World Day of the Poor, Pope Francis eats lunch with 4,000 poor and people in need in Rome.
Nov. 27-Dec. 2 — In another trip to Asia, Pope Francis travels to Myanmar and Bangladesh. He visits landmarks and meets with government officials, Catholic clergy, and Buddhist monks. He also preaches the Gospel and promotes peace in the region.
2018
Jan. 15-21 — The pope takes another trip to Latin America, this time visiting Chile and Peru. The pontiff meets with government officials and members of the clergy while urging the faithful to remain close to the clergy and reject secularism. The Chilean visit leads to controversy over Chilean clergy sex abuse scandals.
Aug. 2 — The Vatican formally revises No. 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which concerns the death penalty. The previous text suggested the death penalty could be permissible in certain circumstances, but the revision states that the death penalty is “inadmissible.”
Aug. 25 — Archbishop Carlo Viganò, former papal nuncio to the United States, publishes an 11-page letter calling for the resignation of Pope Francis and accusing him and other Vatican officials of covering up sexual abuse including allegations against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. The pope initially does not directly respond to the letter, but nine months after its publication he denies having prior knowledge about McCarrick’s conduct.
Aug. 25-26 — Pope Francis visits Dublin, Ireland, to attend the World Meeting of Families. The theme is “the Gospel of family, joy for the world.”
Pope Francis at the 2018 World Meeting of Families in Ireland. Daniel Ibanez/CNA.
Oct. 3-28 — The Synod on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment takes place. The synod focuses on best practices to teach the faith to young people and to help them discern God’s will.
2019
Jan. 22-27 — The third World Youth Day during Pope Francis’ pontificate takes place during these six days in Panama City, Panama. Young Catholics from around the world gather for the event, with approximately 3 million people in attendance.
Feb. 4 — Pope Francis signs a joint document in with Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, titled the “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together.” The document focuses on people of different faiths uniting together to live peacefully and advance a culture of mutual respect.
Pope Francis and Ahmed el-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar, signed a joint declaration on human fraternity during an interreligious meeting in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Feb. 4, 2019. Vatican Media.
Feb. 21-24 — The Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church, which is labeled the Vatican Sexual Abuse Summit, takes place. The meeting focuses on sexual abuse scandals in the Church and emphasizes responsibility, accountability, and transparency.
Oct. 6-27 — The Church holds the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region, which is also known as the Amazon Synod. The synod is meant to present ways in which the Church can better evangelize the Amazon region but leads to controversy when carved images of a pregnant Amazonian woman, referred to by the pope as Pachamama, are used in several events and displayed in a basilica near the Vatican.
Oct. 13 — St. John Henry Newman, an Anglican convert to Catholicism and a cardinal, is canonized by Pope Francis. Newman’s writings inspired Catholic student associations at nonreligious colleges and universities in the United States and other countries.
2020
March 15 — Pope Francis takes a walking pilgrimage in Rome to the chapel of the crucifix and prays for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. The crucifix was carried through Rome during the plague of 1522.
March 27 — Pope Francis gives an extraordinary “urbi et orbi” blessing in an empty and rain-covered St. Peter’s Square, praying for the world during the coronavirus pandemic.
Pope Francis venerates the miraculous crucifix of San Marcello al Corso in St. Peter’s Square during his Urbi et Orbi blessing, March 27, 2020. Vatican Media.
2021
March 5-8 — In his first papal trip since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis becomes the first pope to visit Iraq. On his trip, he signs a joint statement with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani condemning extremism and promoting peace.
July 3 — Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, who was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope Francis, is indicted in a Vatican court for embezzlement, money laundering, and other crimes. The pope gives approval for the indictment.
July 4 — Pope Francis undergoes colon surgery for diverticulitis, a common condition in older people. The Vatican releases a statement that assures the pope “reacted well” to the surgery. Francis is released from the hospital after 10 days.
July 16 — Pope Francis issues a motu proprio titled Traditionis Custodes. The document imposes heavy restrictions on the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass.
Dec. 2-6 — The pope travels to Cyprus and Greece. The trip includes another visit to the Greek island of Lesbos to meet with migrants.
Pope Francis greets His Beatitude Ieronymos II in Athens, Greece on Dec. 5, 2021. Vatican Media
2022
Jan. 11 — Pope Francis makes a surprise visit to a record store in Rome called StereoSound. The pope, who has an affinity for classical music, blesses the newly renovated store.
March 19 — The pope promulgates Praedicate Evangelium, which reforms the Roman Curia. The reforms emphasize evangelization and establish more opportunities for the laity to be in leadership positions.
May 5 — Pope Francis is seen in a wheelchair for the first time in public and begins to use one more frequently. The pope has been suffering from knee problems for months.
Pope Francis greeted the crowd in a wheelchair at the end of his general audience on Aug. 3, 2022. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
July 24-30 — In his first papal visit to Canada, Pope Francis apologizes for the harsh treatment of the indigenous Canadians, saying many Christians and members of the Catholic Church were complicit.
2023
Jan. 31-Feb. 5 — Pope Francis travels to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. During his visit, the pope condemns political violence in the countries and promotes peace. He also participates in an ecumenical prayer service with Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Moderator of the Church of Scotland Iain Greenshields.
Pope Francis greets a young boy a Mass in Juba, South Sudan on Feb. 5, 2023. Vatican Media
March 29-April 1 — Pope Francis is hospitalized for a respiratory infection. During his stay at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, he visits the pediatric cancer ward and baptizes a newborn baby.
April 5 — The pope appears in the Disney documentary “The Pope: Answers,” which is in Spanish, answering six “hot-button” issues from members of Gen Z from various backgrounds. The group discusses immigration, depression, abortion, clergy sexual and psychological abuse, transgenderism, pornography, and loss of faith.
April 28-30 — Pope Francis visits Hungary to meet with government officials, civil society members, bishops, priests, seminarians, Jesuits, consecrated men and women, and pastoral workers. He celebrates Mass on the final day of the trip in Kossuth Lajos Square.
Pope Francis stands on an altar erected outside the Parliament Building in Budapest’s Kossuth Lajos’ Square during a public outdoor Mass on April 30, 2023. Vatican Media
June 7 — The Vatican announces that Pope Francis will undergo abdominal surgery that afternoon under general anesthesia due to a hernia that is causing painful, recurring, and worsening symptoms. In his general audience that morning before the surgery, Francis says he intends to publish an apostolic letter on St. Thérèse of Lisieux, “patroness of the missions,” to mark the 150th anniversary of her birth.
June 15 — After successful surgery and a week of recovery, Pope Francis is released from Gemelli Hospital.
Aug. 2-6 — Pope Francis travels to Lisbon, Portugal, for World Youth Day 2023, taking place from Aug. 1-6. He meets with Church and civil leaders ahead of presiding at the welcoming Mass and Stations of the Cross. He also hears the confessions of several pilgrims. On Aug. 5, he visits the Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima, where he prays the rosary with young people with disabilities. That evening he presides over the vigil and on Sunday, Aug. 6, he celebrates the closing Mass, where he urges the 1.5 million young people present to “be not afraid,” echoing the words of the founder of World Youth Days, St. John Paul II.
Pope Francis waves at the crowd of 1.5 million people who attended the closing Mass of World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal on Aug. 6, 2023. Vatican Media.
Aug. 31-Sept. 4 — Pope Francis travels to Mongolia, the world’s most sparsely populated sovereign country. The trip makes Francis the first pope to visit the Asian country that shares a 2,880-mile border with China, its most significant economic partner. Mongolia has a population of about 1,300 Catholics in a country of more than 3 million people.
Pope Francis meets with local priests and religious of Mongolia, which includes only 25 priests (19 religious and six diocesan), 33 women religious, and one bishop — Cardinal Giorgio Marengo — in Ulaanbaatar’s Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul on Sept. 2, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media
Sept. 22-23 — On a two-day trip to Marseille, France, Pope Francis meets with local civil and religious leaders and participates in the Mediterranean Encounter, a gathering of some 120 young people of various creeds with bishops from 30 countries.
Pope Francis asks for a moment of silence at a memorial dedicated to sailors and migrants lost at sea on the first of a two-day visit to Marseille, France, Sept. 22, 2023. A Camargue cross, which comes from the Camargue area of France, represents the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. The three tridents represent faith, the anchor represents hope, and the heart represents charity. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Oct. 4-29 — The Vatican hosts the first of two monthlong global assemblies of the Synod on Synodality, initiated by Pope Francis in 2021 to enhance the communion, participation, and mission of the Church. Pope Francis celebrates the closing Mass of the synod at St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 29. The second and final global assembly will take place at the Vatican in October 2024.
Pope Francis at the Synod on Synodality’s closing Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 29, 2023. Vatican Media
Nov. 25 — Pope Francis visits the hospital briefly for precautionary testing after coming down with the flu earlier in the day. Although he still participates in scheduled activities, other officials read his prepared remarks. The Vatican on Nov. 28 cancels the pope’s planned Dec. 1–3 trip to Dubai for the COP28 climate conference, where he was scheduled to deliver a speech, due to his illness.
Dec. 18 — The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issues the declaration Fiducia Supplicans, which authorizes nonliturgical blessings for same-sex couples and couples in “irregular situations.” Various bishops from around the world voice both support for and criticism of the document.
2024
Jan. 4 — Amid widespread backlash to Fiducia Supplicans, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, publishes a five-page press release that refers to Fiducia Supplicans as “perennial doctrine” and underlines that pastoral blessings of couples in irregular situations should not be “an endorsement of the life led by those who request them.”
Jan. 14 — Pope Francis for the first time responds publicly to questions about Fiducia Supplicans in an interview on an Italian television show. The pope underlines that “the Lord blesses everyone” and that a blessing is an invitation to enter into a conversation “to see what the road is that the Lord proposes to them.”
Feb. 11 — In a ceremony attended by Argentine president Javier Milei, Pope Francis canonizes María Antonia of St. Joseph — known affectionately in the pope’s home country as “Mama Antula” — in a Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. The president and the former archbishop of Buenos Aires embrace after the ceremony. Pope Francis, who has not returned to his homeland since becoming pope in 2013, has said he wants to visit Argentina in the second half of this year.
Pope Francis meets with Argentina President Javier Milei in a private audience on Feb. 12, 2024, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
Feb. 28 — After canceling audiences the previous Saturday and having an aide read his prepared remarks at his Wednesday audience due to a “mild flu,” Pope Francis visits the hospital for diagnostic tests but returns to the Vatican afterward.
March 2 — Despite having an aide read his speech “because of bronchitis,” the pope presides over the inauguration of the 95th Judicial Year of the Vatican City State and maintains a full schedule.
March 13 — Pope Francis celebrates 11 years as Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.
Look, when a Synod of BISHOPS is no longer BISHOPS, but is stacked with every weird and creepy left wing nonsense group, when the pope appoints only crackpots and anti Catholic goofs to go there, then it is not a Catholic Synod. This is a pope who grew up under Peronism, where the leader tells enormous lies and falsehoods, and changes his message every day. Pope Francis does the same thing. Pope Francis’s great insight is that all he has to do is IGNORE doctrine. All he has to do is develop a competing doctrine that gets enforced. Then just ignores the old doctrine. Hence his demand that Kissyboy only look at the “recent magisterium”.
Francis is a train wreck. The church will be lucky if it survives him.
“The pope also shared an experience of speaking to a religious sister who expressed concern to him that the Synod on Synodality…would change the Church’s doctrine. “Tell me, dear, who put that into your head?”
Tell me, dear, maybe a monkey put that in her head?
Or perhaps, dear, she thought as a Bride of Christ that doctrine had something to do with living God’s law?
Note that the Pope didn’t answer her concern. Why start now?
Allow me, dear, as a judgmental rigorist to point out this exchange as reeking of dismissive, mysogynistic clericalism. Oh veh!
Yes I made a similar comment on the article about the kissy cardinal. Those who claim to be anti misogyny are generally the standard bearers for it, let me tell you my dear.
“Focusing exclusively on moral issues, such as chastity, “scares them all away.”
No, it does NOT! Chastity has ALWAYS attracted young people with high ideals that are difficult to corrupt.
Since the 1960s, Communist-indoctrinated Infiltrates – like those from Argentina – have been chasing such Good Men OUT of the seminaries, to ensure the Pee-dough Sodomite Rot of the Infiltrates developed and festered and exploded into Full Blown Post-Conciliar Apostasy.
What Scares Young People Away? The lowest WYD turnout in history proves: the openly visible “Unchaste Wolves of Sankt Gallen” in Rainbow Kit trapped in a 1960s ideological Perversion who have been attacking the Youth in Vatican II purpose designed “Hands On Post-Conciliar Reconciliation Chambers” since the Freemasonic Coupe d’état of 1958.
What scares young people the most?
Jorge Mario Bergoglio!
The value of the Petrine ministry it seems to me is to be a force for unity in the Church. This Pope has done nothing but foster division in the Body of Christ. He will be judged accordingly.
“…he suggested that controversial topics that have emerged during his own synods, such as the issue of communion for the divorced and remarried at the 2015 Synod on the Family or the possibility of more widespread married priests at the 2019 Pan-Amazonian Synod, were ‘imposed on us’ from the outside.”
Imposed from the outside? As in, Eve made me do it, and then as in the serpent made her do it (Genesis 3:12-13)?
After recently “walking together,” yours truly gave a stranded 22-year-old and likeable young man a ride to the home of his parents where he still lived. And, who in recent months had had not one, but two cell phones stolen, his wallet lost or stolen, and at 120 mph on the freeway (the not-so-narrow gate?), he had totaled the Lexus given to him by his father. (Now flat-bedded to a lot and asking $1,000 from any buyer.)
“I go to the wrong part of town, and hang with the wrong people,” he confided, “they’re not really my friends…”
Francis made a “mess” (something he exhorts all Catholics to do) of the Church in China and now we have to hear in one of his tiresome news conferences of how he’s sending an envoy to the Communist government in China.
I’ll stick with St. Vincent of Lerins [ on apostates and novelty ].
He’s a pretty rigorous Patristic defender of the “Faith of our Fathers”,
of Christ, and of CHRIST’S Church, Francis the humanist and merciful
notwithstanding.
Yes, to 5th-century Vincent of Lerins, and to the 19th-century St. John Henry Cardinal Newman and his identical and yet more unpacked–but not mutantly evolutionary–“The Development of Christian Doctrine;” and yes even to the Second Vatican Council (Dei Verbum, Lumen Genitum, and specifically that part of Gaudium et Spes upholding the natural law and “permanently binding” moral absolutes, as slipped into n. 79)…
Above, we read a gratuitous slap at those steadfast in upholding the gifted “deposit of faith” who are said to fancy themselves (!) as the possessive “‘depositories’ of the true faith.” Butt, now “walking together” under cover of a deformed and betrayed synodality, will we not find that the shoe is on the other foot?
The knee-jerk rejection of things chronologically past, which have been given and received, in favor of a possibly clericalist/populist and mutant new gnosis….of such a substitution, the layman G.K. Chesterton (and his “democracy of the dead”) says it best:
“Because we may possibly grow wings they cut off their legs.”
Of young people, we read: “Focusing exclusively on moral issues, such as chastity, ‘scares them all away.’”
Exclusively, or more accurately—to not be excluded? In any event, does this sound a bit like saying earlier that we have to rotate compromised priests to other parishes, otherwise we lose the needed numbers?
Still, a good interpretation of synodality is to see that if Catholics cannot congregate within the Church, then at our precarious moment in history, they will be left in the hands of politicians, globalist social engineers, and even Marxist malcontents.
But, if morality is non-inclusively put on hold by even the Church, then what’s the difference? Is it really enough to presuppose that all of the premised “People of God” have responded to the “universal call to holiness”? The Fundamental Option cross dressed in synodal garb?
He thinks young clerics are too “ideological rigid”?? And “The pope also said he is “afraid of intellectual youth groups,” without specifying any by name, only adding that groups “linked in some way to right-wing ideologies are perhaps the most dangerous.” AND he has issues with an emphasis on chastity???This Pope has taken the church down a unhelpful path. The damage will take decades, if not generations, to un-do. He seems oblivious to the reality that the less that is demanded of the faithful, the fewer are showing up to church at all. Aiming for the lowest bar is not attractive to many people.
I am sad that Pope Francis doesn’t seem to be leading our youth with the powerful vigor needed to shake them out of the grip of secularism and all its fake, empty promises. Chastity is not abstinence. Don’t have sex out of marriage is not a message that attracts the youth because it doesn’t provide the critical information of why that is so very important. Chastity goes further and explains that it is based on living your infinite worth that God has given you. The youth need desperately to learn their God given identity as sons and daughters of the Most High God, heirs to His glory. When you live with that truthful identity, you demand and give the respect/love/chastity from others and from yourself that God intends for you. Chris Stefanick’s book, I AM… is a great tool to discover and internalize one’s true God given identity. It changed my life and allowed me to move forward as a royal daughter of the Most High God. Praise Jesus!
Look, when a Synod of BISHOPS is no longer BISHOPS, but is stacked with every weird and creepy left wing nonsense group, when the pope appoints only crackpots and anti Catholic goofs to go there, then it is not a Catholic Synod. This is a pope who grew up under Peronism, where the leader tells enormous lies and falsehoods, and changes his message every day. Pope Francis does the same thing. Pope Francis’s great insight is that all he has to do is IGNORE doctrine. All he has to do is develop a competing doctrine that gets enforced. Then just ignores the old doctrine. Hence his demand that Kissyboy only look at the “recent magisterium”.
Francis is a train wreck. The church will be lucky if it survives him.
“The pope also shared an experience of speaking to a religious sister who expressed concern to him that the Synod on Synodality…would change the Church’s doctrine. “Tell me, dear, who put that into your head?”
Tell me, dear, maybe a monkey put that in her head?
Or perhaps, dear, she thought as a Bride of Christ that doctrine had something to do with living God’s law?
Note that the Pope didn’t answer her concern. Why start now?
Allow me, dear, as a judgmental rigorist to point out this exchange as reeking of dismissive, mysogynistic clericalism. Oh veh!
Yes I made a similar comment on the article about the kissy cardinal. Those who claim to be anti misogyny are generally the standard bearers for it, let me tell you my dear.
“Focusing exclusively on moral issues, such as chastity, “scares them all away.”
No, it does NOT! Chastity has ALWAYS attracted young people with high ideals that are difficult to corrupt.
Since the 1960s, Communist-indoctrinated Infiltrates – like those from Argentina – have been chasing such Good Men OUT of the seminaries, to ensure the Pee-dough Sodomite Rot of the Infiltrates developed and festered and exploded into Full Blown Post-Conciliar Apostasy.
What Scares Young People Away? The lowest WYD turnout in history proves: the openly visible “Unchaste Wolves of Sankt Gallen” in Rainbow Kit trapped in a 1960s ideological Perversion who have been attacking the Youth in Vatican II purpose designed “Hands On Post-Conciliar Reconciliation Chambers” since the Freemasonic Coupe d’état of 1958.
What scares young people the most?
Jorge Mario Bergoglio!
The value of the Petrine ministry it seems to me is to be a force for unity in the Church. This Pope has done nothing but foster division in the Body of Christ. He will be judged accordingly.
Deacon Edward
You are right.
By his “fruits” ( pun intended…) we know Francis.
“…he suggested that controversial topics that have emerged during his own synods, such as the issue of communion for the divorced and remarried at the 2015 Synod on the Family or the possibility of more widespread married priests at the 2019 Pan-Amazonian Synod, were ‘imposed on us’ from the outside.”
Imposed from the outside? As in, Eve made me do it, and then as in the serpent made her do it (Genesis 3:12-13)?
After recently “walking together,” yours truly gave a stranded 22-year-old and likeable young man a ride to the home of his parents where he still lived. And, who in recent months had had not one, but two cell phones stolen, his wallet lost or stolen, and at 120 mph on the freeway (the not-so-narrow gate?), he had totaled the Lexus given to him by his father. (Now flat-bedded to a lot and asking $1,000 from any buyer.)
“I go to the wrong part of town, and hang with the wrong people,” he confided, “they’re not really my friends…”
Francis made a “mess” (something he exhorts all Catholics to do) of the Church in China and now we have to hear in one of his tiresome news conferences of how he’s sending an envoy to the Communist government in China.
I’ll stick with St. Vincent of Lerins [ on apostates and novelty ].
He’s a pretty rigorous Patristic defender of the “Faith of our Fathers”,
of Christ, and of CHRIST’S Church, Francis the humanist and merciful
notwithstanding.
Yes, to 5th-century Vincent of Lerins, and to the 19th-century St. John Henry Cardinal Newman and his identical and yet more unpacked–but not mutantly evolutionary–“The Development of Christian Doctrine;” and yes even to the Second Vatican Council (Dei Verbum, Lumen Genitum, and specifically that part of Gaudium et Spes upholding the natural law and “permanently binding” moral absolutes, as slipped into n. 79)…
Above, we read a gratuitous slap at those steadfast in upholding the gifted “deposit of faith” who are said to fancy themselves (!) as the possessive “‘depositories’ of the true faith.” Butt, now “walking together” under cover of a deformed and betrayed synodality, will we not find that the shoe is on the other foot?
The knee-jerk rejection of things chronologically past, which have been given and received, in favor of a possibly clericalist/populist and mutant new gnosis….of such a substitution, the layman G.K. Chesterton (and his “democracy of the dead”) says it best:
“Because we may possibly grow wings they cut off their legs.”
The Pope has taken a very Biblical position with his disdain for “rigidity.” He is embracing Genisis 3:1.
is this what they call “word salad?” – not sure I understand the ultimate intent
morals has/have always been a focus of the Gospel and teaching/upbringing of our youth, correct?
Of young people, we read: “Focusing exclusively on moral issues, such as chastity, ‘scares them all away.’”
Exclusively, or more accurately—to not be excluded? In any event, does this sound a bit like saying earlier that we have to rotate compromised priests to other parishes, otherwise we lose the needed numbers?
Still, a good interpretation of synodality is to see that if Catholics cannot congregate within the Church, then at our precarious moment in history, they will be left in the hands of politicians, globalist social engineers, and even Marxist malcontents.
But, if morality is non-inclusively put on hold by even the Church, then what’s the difference? Is it really enough to presuppose that all of the premised “People of God” have responded to the “universal call to holiness”? The Fundamental Option cross dressed in synodal garb?
He thinks young clerics are too “ideological rigid”?? And “The pope also said he is “afraid of intellectual youth groups,” without specifying any by name, only adding that groups “linked in some way to right-wing ideologies are perhaps the most dangerous.” AND he has issues with an emphasis on chastity???This Pope has taken the church down a unhelpful path. The damage will take decades, if not generations, to un-do. He seems oblivious to the reality that the less that is demanded of the faithful, the fewer are showing up to church at all. Aiming for the lowest bar is not attractive to many people.
The CRUX article has a link to the full interview broken down in parts.
Pope Francis reiterated his positions on his slate of issues concerning “spirituality” and other affairs.
“Rigidity” continues to be a case-closed theme and it generally reads as if his other concerns are fully informed and decided.
Not being party to them means comments are conditioned accordingly.
https://cruxnow.com/pope-in-portugal-2023-live-coverage/2023/08/in-new-interview-pope-says-hes-a-stone-in-the-shoe-for-his-critics
Like all leftists, Bergoglio decries most what he himself is:
“Rigid,” “ideological,” “dogmatic,” “imperialistic.”
Also, like all leftists, he is extravagantly un-self-aware.
I am sad that Pope Francis doesn’t seem to be leading our youth with the powerful vigor needed to shake them out of the grip of secularism and all its fake, empty promises. Chastity is not abstinence. Don’t have sex out of marriage is not a message that attracts the youth because it doesn’t provide the critical information of why that is so very important. Chastity goes further and explains that it is based on living your infinite worth that God has given you. The youth need desperately to learn their God given identity as sons and daughters of the Most High God, heirs to His glory. When you live with that truthful identity, you demand and give the respect/love/chastity from others and from yourself that God intends for you. Chris Stefanick’s book, I AM… is a great tool to discover and internalize one’s true God given identity. It changed my life and allowed me to move forward as a royal daughter of the Most High God. Praise Jesus!