Pope Francis gives his annual Christmas address to the cardinals who work in Vatican offices on Dec. 21, 2023, in the gilded Hall of Benediction at the Vatican. (Credit: Vatican Media)
Rome Newsroom, Dec 21, 2023 / 11:13 am (CNA).
Pope Francis warned the Roman Curia on Thursday that “rigid ideological positions” can be an obstacle to “moving forward.”
In his annual Christmas address to the cardinals who work in Vatican offices on Dec. 21, the pope underlined that it is important to “keep faring forward, to keep searching and growing in our understanding of the truth, overcoming the temptation to stand still.”
“Let us remain vigilant against rigid ideological positions that often, under the guise of good intentions, separate us from reality and prevent us from moving forward,” Pope Francis said.
Pope Francis gives his annual Christmas address to the cardinals who work in Vatican offices on Dec. 21, 2023, in the gilded Hall of Benediction at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis’ speech briefly touched on what he sees as the current division in the Catholic Church, rejecting the usual dichotomy of so-called “progressives” and “conservatives.”
“Sixty years after the Second Vatican Council, we are still debating the division between ‘progressives’ and ‘conservatives,’ but that is not the difference,” Francis said.
Pope Francis gives his annual Christmas address to the cardinals who work in Vatican offices on Dec. 21, 2023, in the gilded Hall of Benediction at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
“The real, central difference is between lovers and those who have lost that initial passion. That is the difference. Only those who love can fare forward.”
The pope, who turned 87 on Sunday, added that a zealous priest once told him that “it is not easy to rekindle the embers under the ashes of the Church,” noting that this advice “can also help us in our work in the Curia.”
Pope Francis has often used his annual December address, held in the Vatican’s gilded Hall of Benediction, to offer his frank perspective on the state of the Roman Curia.
Pope Francis meets with the cardinals who work in Vatican offices on Dec. 21, 2023, in the gilded Hall of Benediction at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
In 2014, he famously diagnosed 15 spiritual “diseases” afflicting the Curia, including careerism and idolizing superiors. In 2020, the pope used the word “crisis” 44 times in his speech and called the Church to renewal.
In his 2023 Christmas greetings, Pope Francis did not speak of corruption or even allude to the historic Vatican trial that concluded on Saturday, which found a cardinal guilty of embezzlement of Vatican funds and sentenced him and other former Vatican employees to years in prison.
Pope Francis’ message instead focused on the importance of listening, discernment, and moving forward.
Discernment “can strip us of the illusion of omniscience, from the danger of thinking that it is enough simply to apply rules,” he said. “And from the temptation to carry on, even in the life of the Curia, by simply repeating what we have always done.”
The pope quoted the late Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, a Jesuit theologian and archbishop of Milan from 1980 to 2004.
“As Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini once wrote: ‘Discernment is quite different from the meticulous exactitude of those who live in legalistic conformity or with pretensions to perfectionism. It is a burst of love that distinguishes between good and better, between what is helpful in itself and what is helpful here and now, between what may be good in general and what needs to be done now,’” he said.
“‘Failure to strive to discern what is best often makes pastoral life monotonous and repetitive: religious acts are multiplied, traditional gestures are repeated, without clearly seeing their meaning,’” Francis added, quoting Martini’s 2008 book “The Gospel of Mary.”
Following his custom, Pope Francis gave Vatican officials books as a Christmas gift during his meeting with cardinals of the Roman Curia on Dec. 21, 2023, in the gilded Hall of Benediction at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
Following his custom, Pope Francis gave Vatican officials books as a Christmas gift. This year the pope gave them a book of his Christmas homilies and a copy of a book that he wrote titled “Santi, non mondani: La grazia di Dio ci salva dalla corruzione interiore” (“Holy, Not Worldly: God’s Grace Saves Us from Interior Corruption”).
The book on interior corruption is the same book he gave each of the Synod on Synodality delegates during the first week of the October assembly at the Vatican. It is a compilation of a text published by Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires in 2005 called “Corruption and Sin” and a strongly-worded letter that Pope Francis wrote to all priests in the Diocese of Rome on Aug. 5.
Pope Francis meets with the cardinals who work in Vatican offices on Dec. 21, 2023, in the gilded Hall of Benediction at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
“The mystery of Christmas fills our hearts with awe … at an unexpected message: God has come, God is here in our midst, and his light has forever pierced the darkness of the world,” Pope Francis told the Curia.
“We need to hear and accept this message anew, especially in these days tragically marked by the violence of war, by the momentous risks posed by climate change, and by poverty, suffering, hunger … and all the grave problems of the present time. It is comforting to discover that even in those painful situations, and all the other problems of our frail human family, God makes himself present in this crib, the manger where today he chooses to be born and to bring the Father’s love to all.”
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Pope Francis spoke about apostolic zeal and the example of Korean martyr St. Andrew Kim Taegon at the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on May 24, 2023. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, May 24, 2023 / 05:26 am (CNA).
St. Andrew Kim Taegon and the other Korean martyrs teach us to have courage when sharing the Gospel, even in the face of difficult situations, Pope Francis said on Wednesday.
At his weekly public audience May 24, the pope spoke about the first Korean-born Catholic priest, who was tortured and beheaded near Seoul, South Korea in 1846 at the age of 25.
St. Andrew Kim Taegon was canonized in 1984 with 102 other Korean martyrs.
Pope Francis pointed out that around 200 years ago in Korea, Christianity was severely persecuted.
“At that time, believing in Jesus Christ in Korea meant being ready to bear witness even unto death,” he said.
“No matter how difficult the situation may be — and indeed, at times it may seem to leave no room for the Gospel message — we must not give up and we must not forsake pursuing what is essential in our Christian life, namely evangelization,” the pope said.
He recalled an event from St. Andrew Kim’s life that illustrates the quality of never giving up.
When the Korean Catholic was a seminarian, he needed to find a way to secretly welcome foreign missionary priests to Korea, since foreigners were forbidden from entering the country.
“One time,” Francis said, the saint “walked as the snow was falling, without eating, for so long that he fell to the ground exhausted, risking unconsciousness and freezing.”
“At that point, he suddenly heard a voice, ‘Get up, walk!’ Hearing that voice, Andrew came to his senses, catching a glimpse of something like a shadow of someone guiding him.”
Pope Francis said “this experience of the great Korean witness makes us understand a very important aspect of apostolic zeal; namely, the courage to get back up when one falls.”
The pope shared another example of St. Andrew’s courage in evangelization.
Given the situation at the time, to confirm the Christian identity of others, they would agree ahead of time upon a sign of recognition.
“Then the saint would surreptitiously ask the question, but all quietly: ‘Are you a disciple of Jesus?’” Francis explained. “Since other people were watching the conversation, the saint had to speak in a low voice, saying only a few words, the most essential ones. So, for Andrew Kim, the expression that summed up the whole identity of the Christian was ‘disciple of Christ.’”
As the example of St. Andrew Kim Taegon shows, the pope said, being a disciple of the Lord “means to follow him, to follow his way, and this involves giving one’s life for the Gospel.”
“The Christian is by nature a missionary and a witness, just as Jesus was a missionary and witness to the Father. Every Christian community receives this identity from the Holy Spirit, and so does the whole Church, since the day of Pentecost,” he said.
Pope Francis said seeing the example of these great saints, we might wonder to ourselves how we can evangelize in our own lives.
We can do this in our own, small way, he said, “evangelizing family, evangelizing friends, talking about Jesus, but talking about Jesus and evangelizing with a heart full of joy, full of strength.”
“Let us prepare ourselves,” he added, “to receive the Holy Spirit in the coming Pentecost and ask him for that grace, the grace of apostolic courage, the grace to evangelize, to always carry on the message of Jesus.”
The pope’s catechesis on St. Andrew Kim Taegon was part of a series on apostolic zeal.
Pope Francis at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square, Oct. 5, 2016. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA.
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 13, 2023 / 13:15 pm (CNA).
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the election of Pope Francis as the 265th 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.
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.
After a decade of verbal and emotional abuse spewing garbage like the heretical innovations of the late Cardinal Martini, I bet most of the Curia subjected to this humorless hammering went straight out afterward to get a martini.
Alas, about being “rigid,” PROGRESSIVISM IS THE DEEPEST RUT OF ALL.
About which, Ratzinger offered this about the ideological theologians:
“Monocracy, the sole rule of one person, is always dangerous. Even when the person in question acts out of great ethical responsibility, he can stray into unilateral positions and become RIGID [!] [….] Theology is interpretation […]When it no longer interprets but, so to speak, lays hands on the substance of the faith and alters it [!] by inventing a new text for itself [!], it ceases to be theology” (The Nature and Mission of Theology, Ignatius, 1995).
What we have with the blessing of gay couples (rather than individual persons) is nothing less than a GALILEO MOMENT! How different history might have been (!), and now again seems doomed to become in the future!
Consider this remark from a still-inquisitive astronomer of Galileo’s day, Fr. Grienberger, SJ:
“If Galileo had only known how to retain the favor of the Jesuits [!], he would have stood in renown before the world, he would have been spared all his misfortunes, and he could have written what he pleased about everything, even about the motion of the earth” (in Giorgio de Santillana, “The Crime of Galileo,” [1955], “The Problem of the False Injunction”; p. 290 with footnote: a confidential admission documented in one of Galileo’s letters).
So much for today’s hybrid “Jesuit spirituality.”) How simple, instead, to just bless persons as individuals rather than now as couplings.
But, good company…Galileo “walking together” WITH Strickland, Burke, Muller, the bishops of Malawi, Zambia and Kazakhstan, and others who are at least cautious as in the United States, and the peasant laity just as in the troubled days following Nicaea, when some 80 percent of the bishops woke to find themselves Arians.
This poor man is a fount of confusion. I don’t think Bergoglio knows the definition of ideology or the reality of sin. There is no “forward” – there is only Christ crucified and resurrected and he will return again on day.
Bilbo setting out on the road that goes ever on. At the Gilded Hall of Blessings His Holiness appears an effigy. “Let us remain vigilant against rigid ideological positions that often, under the guise of good intentions, separate us from reality and prevent us from moving forward. We are called instead to set out and journey following the light that always desires to lead us on, at times along unexplored paths and new roads”. Heartened by Tucho the Wizard. The game is up. A surprise only that it occurs so soon. No more hedging or double talk now. Saruman [played by the late Card Carlo Maria Martini of St Gallen fame wizardry] will suffer no laggards.
Humor if only to lighten the tragedy of what may be the beginning of the end at a time when we celebrate the end and the beginning, “the end of this year of grace and the beginning of the next, setting us once again on the path that will make present Christ in all of the mysteries of His Redemption” (Sisters of Carmel). Ye faint-hearted, take courage and fear not. Behold, our God will come and save us (Communion verse, 3rd Sunday of Advent).
All rigidities are equal, but some rigidities are more equal than others.
Judging from a long career of watching gamesmanship among secular politicians, part of me senses that for this name-calling ecclesial game (with love eclipsing truth), the wheels are starting to come off. Maybe overreach from Fernandez is an ironic gift from the chaotic workings of the real Holy Spirit.
I’ve concluded he’s rigidly committed to two things. Achieving recognition in the Guinness Book of Records for the number of times in a row he can create aphorisms for “moving forward”, wherever the magical land of forward happens to be, while continuously insulting those who do not “move forward”, and his second commitment is to continue as a low-faith, if any, narcissistic ideologue while calling faithful non-ideological Catholics faithless narcissistic ideologues without any awareness of irony and never be called out for it to his face. Actually, there is evidence in this latest disaster, in paragraph 25, that he considers God to be a narcissistic ideologue as well, given that Catholics believe, that is, as Catholics know, the moral order comes from our creator and is not a contrivance of narcissistic and authoritarian elitism as this document insists.
The Bergoglian Papacy will go down in history as known, not for its love of Christ and the salvation of souls, but for its Weaponized Ambiguity. For this, Christ Himself told us, He will spit them out of His mouth.
As far as I’m concerned, Bergoglio has forfeited any and all moral authority to exercise the Petrine ministry
Accurate Roman Catholic theology is the product of prayerful reflection upon Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the perennial Magisterium. It is nothing less than a support for freedom for the individual and entirely liberating.
Fiducia Supplicans is a clear exhibition of rigidity. Its citations are primarily Bergoglian — 65% of the 31 provided in the document. Divine Revelation ceased with the death of St. John the Evangelist. There are no biblical references provided. From whence does this new teaching emerge?
Rigid ideological perspective is the product of a mind unconformed to the Truth.
The poetic dissonance employed as a defense of this document and its erroneous content is simply disturbing.
We read here the Pope’s attempt to establish a defense for Fiducia Supplicans: “The real, central difference [between “progressives” and conservatives] is between lovers and those who have lost that initial passion. That is the difference. Only those who love can fare forward….” emerges from the Chair of St. Peter?
We reason as Catholics, not as adolescents.
Franklin Graham provided a rebuke today to the Vatican. It is a moment in the history of Catholicism that will not soon be forgotten.
With this document Pope Francis undermines not only Divine Revelation and moral theology, but the entire spectrum of Roman Catholic reasoning. Is this what he intends? Whether or not, it he and his righthand man have accomplished it – at least in the short term.
James, Yes, but try as he may, no way does Francis undermine “Divine Revelation and the entire spectrum of Roman Catholic reasoning.”
Francis has ATTEMPTED to undermine Roman Catholic reasoning and Divine Revelation. Francis’ actions in fact demonstrate only that has has major deficits of intellect, faith and reason. He has acted unjustly toward Christ and toward those who love Christ. Francis’ actions manifest a great, progressively increasing rigidity and inability to Love the Savior.
Meanwhile, the Savior/Judge awaits Francis. As pope, Francis has openly, brazenly, yet inconspicuously(?) revealed himself as small-minded, uncharitable, unjust. Francis has, progressively and with great rigidity, failed in the job The Word Made Flesh graciously allows him to hold for a few more days, weeks, months or years [God forbid.]: “Feed my sheep, feed my lambs. Strengthen thy brothers.”
The present incumbent of The Chair of St Peter has * directional confusion! *
His ministry is to help Catholics: “Move upwards!”, to be more spiritual & less worldly; not to “Move forward” with the world, in defiance of The Holy Spirit.
Rigid ideological positions
Rigid ideological positions
Rigid ideological positions
Rigid ideological positions
Rigid ideological positions
….Ten years later…
Rigid ideological positions
After a decade, I am starting to think that the Pope wants us to not have
Rigid ideological positions
Umm…
Taking one step forward and two steps backward cannot be our way of proceeding. Rigidity in thought, word, and action prevents ongoingness and togetherness. Life is a dynamic movement forward.
Since I can’t ask Francis, I’ll ask you. Where is the magical land of forward? Does forwardist thinking mean doing more things that used to be thought of as evil, as per God’s endowed truth, will now become good? I know Francis believes morality can change. Do You as well? Does
God need to shape up, change His mind, and follow along? This is something else Francis believes, do you as well? Could Hitler and Stalin, or perhaps Charles Manson have been right after all? Will being a murderer or a rapist become a new form of prophesy in some distant future after some “rethinking” about morality? Tell us. Backwardists need to know. Have mercy on poor backwardists who believe such things that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
“Life is a dynamic movement forward.” Quo vadis?
“Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink.” – Shunryu Suzuki
This pontificate has long since sailed out and sunk.
Rather than a dichotomy between conservatives and progressives, he seems to be setting up a dichotomy between those whose reason is ruled by their passion, and those whose passion is ruled by their reason.
“Pope Francis’ Christmas gift to the church was finally confirming that he is a heretic and quite likely an antipope,” wrote X user Nathaniel Eliason, whose bio describes him as Catholic. “He must be opposed completely now, and any bishop who doesn’t is complicit.”
This is SO typical – he comes up with crazy ideas like blessing same-sex couples and when people object, he immediately characterizes them as having “rigid ideological positions” or some such nonsensical accusation, thereby putting those who disagree with him – and there are MANY of us – in a bad light.
After the sex abuse crisis in which the John Jay study reported that 80% of the reported abuse cases were homosexual acts between priests and post-pubescent boys (ephebophilia), we now have come to this, blessing for gays. Jesus came to find and gather the lost sheep of Israel. Francis is hell-bent on perniciously dividing and scattering his flock. I’ll keep my eyes on Jesus, rigidly so.
The inattentive reader will miss the clever evasiveness of the recent Declaration—sidestepping the rigorous infallibility requirements, and much like the faithy sola Scriptura Martin Luther who edited the Letter of James to omit the word “works,” and this only after he relented to include James in his version of Scripture.
About the narrow requirements, the Catholic convert (!) John Newman shined a more damning light that Brother Brian when he (Newman) looked further back than very recent history:
“What have excommunication and interdict to do with infallibility? Was St. Peter infallible on that occasion at Antioch when St. Paul withstood him? Was St. Victor infallible when he separated from his communion the Asiatic Churches? Or Liberius when in like manner he excommunicated Athanasius? And, to come to later times, was Gregory XIII, when he had a medal struck in honour of the Bartholomew massacre? Or Paul IV in his conduct towards Elizabeth? Or Sixtus V when he blessed the Armada? Or Urban VIII when he persecuted Galileo? No Catholic ever pretends that these Popes were infallible in these acts” (from a Letter to the Duke of Norfolk [1876], in Vincent Blehl (ed.), The Essential Newman [New York: Mentor Omega, 1963]. 269).
But, thank you brother Brian for yet another predictable tutorial.
But also worthy of pause…It’s almost as if Luther’s false dualism between faith and works is being aped today in the false dualism between love and truth (or “backwardists”). Makes me wonder about Hinduism and whether James Martin is the reincarnation of namesake Martin Luther?
“The real, central difference is between lovers and those who have lost that initial passion. That is the difference. Only those who love can fare forward.”
Pace this man’s warped understanding of love, the difference is between those who live by the truth and those who live by lies.
Few among the faithful pay him much mind anymore, except to roll their eyes and wave him off in disgust. When will the cardinals, who have pledged to defend the faith with their own blood, have the spine to rise up? No, they all sit there panting like a bunch of lapdogs waiting to be petted. They won’t even risk their careers, let alone their blood and lives for the faith. All decked out in red, these cowards should be draped in yellow.
Moving forward is a relative term. Forward toward where? The language does not reflect Biblical language or teaching. Christ’s messages are clear – He doesn’t speak vaguely. “Moving forward” is something one puts on a bumper sticker in election year.
With humility, dare one say that the Pope is so rigid to as not being able acknowledge his own rigidity? There should be a concentration on what allows the flourishing of Christ’s love amidst humanity. Tall order, I know. Sin gets in the way. Good old selfish and arrogant sin.
Roughly 130 years from Galileo’s death to the suppression of the Jesuits. Perhaps it was better for him the way it actually went, he stayed to the Will of God.
If I worked in the Curia I’d avoid the annual papal Christmas meeting with Francis like the plague. I’d even schedule a root canal without anesthesia to avoid his annual gripe session with the people he’s chosen who are supposed to be his collaborators. This “rigidity” shtick got old fast long ago: the only “rigid” person around Rome seems to be Francis and his syncophants who demand the rigidity of Gumby (exc. when it comes to their “pastoral developments”).
Pope Francis wants to canonize Martini who was -is- a Modernist.
After a decade of verbal and emotional abuse spewing garbage like the heretical innovations of the late Cardinal Martini, I bet most of the Curia subjected to this humorless hammering went straight out afterward to get a martini.
Alas, about being “rigid,” PROGRESSIVISM IS THE DEEPEST RUT OF ALL.
About which, Ratzinger offered this about the ideological theologians:
“Monocracy, the sole rule of one person, is always dangerous. Even when the person in question acts out of great ethical responsibility, he can stray into unilateral positions and become RIGID [!] [….] Theology is interpretation […]When it no longer interprets but, so to speak, lays hands on the substance of the faith and alters it [!] by inventing a new text for itself [!], it ceases to be theology” (The Nature and Mission of Theology, Ignatius, 1995).
What we have with the blessing of gay couples (rather than individual persons) is nothing less than a GALILEO MOMENT! How different history might have been (!), and now again seems doomed to become in the future!
Consider this remark from a still-inquisitive astronomer of Galileo’s day, Fr. Grienberger, SJ:
“If Galileo had only known how to retain the favor of the Jesuits [!], he would have stood in renown before the world, he would have been spared all his misfortunes, and he could have written what he pleased about everything, even about the motion of the earth” (in Giorgio de Santillana, “The Crime of Galileo,” [1955], “The Problem of the False Injunction”; p. 290 with footnote: a confidential admission documented in one of Galileo’s letters).
So much for today’s hybrid “Jesuit spirituality.”) How simple, instead, to just bless persons as individuals rather than now as couplings.
But, good company…Galileo “walking together” WITH Strickland, Burke, Muller, the bishops of Malawi, Zambia and Kazakhstan, and others who are at least cautious as in the United States, and the peasant laity just as in the troubled days following Nicaea, when some 80 percent of the bishops woke to find themselves Arians.
This poor man is a fount of confusion. I don’t think Bergoglio knows the definition of ideology or the reality of sin. There is no “forward” – there is only Christ crucified and resurrected and he will return again on day.
Bilbo setting out on the road that goes ever on. At the Gilded Hall of Blessings His Holiness appears an effigy. “Let us remain vigilant against rigid ideological positions that often, under the guise of good intentions, separate us from reality and prevent us from moving forward. We are called instead to set out and journey following the light that always desires to lead us on, at times along unexplored paths and new roads”. Heartened by Tucho the Wizard. The game is up. A surprise only that it occurs so soon. No more hedging or double talk now. Saruman [played by the late Card Carlo Maria Martini of St Gallen fame wizardry] will suffer no laggards.
Humor if only to lighten the tragedy of what may be the beginning of the end at a time when we celebrate the end and the beginning, “the end of this year of grace and the beginning of the next, setting us once again on the path that will make present Christ in all of the mysteries of His Redemption” (Sisters of Carmel). Ye faint-hearted, take courage and fear not. Behold, our God will come and save us (Communion verse, 3rd Sunday of Advent).
All rigidities are equal, but some rigidities are more equal than others.
Judging from a long career of watching gamesmanship among secular politicians, part of me senses that for this name-calling ecclesial game (with love eclipsing truth), the wheels are starting to come off. Maybe overreach from Fernandez is an ironic gift from the chaotic workings of the real Holy Spirit.
I’ve concluded he’s rigidly committed to two things. Achieving recognition in the Guinness Book of Records for the number of times in a row he can create aphorisms for “moving forward”, wherever the magical land of forward happens to be, while continuously insulting those who do not “move forward”, and his second commitment is to continue as a low-faith, if any, narcissistic ideologue while calling faithful non-ideological Catholics faithless narcissistic ideologues without any awareness of irony and never be called out for it to his face. Actually, there is evidence in this latest disaster, in paragraph 25, that he considers God to be a narcissistic ideologue as well, given that Catholics believe, that is, as Catholics know, the moral order comes from our creator and is not a contrivance of narcissistic and authoritarian elitism as this document insists.
The Bergoglian Papacy will go down in history as known, not for its love of Christ and the salvation of souls, but for its Weaponized Ambiguity. For this, Christ Himself told us, He will spit them out of His mouth.
As far as I’m concerned, Bergoglio has forfeited any and all moral authority to exercise the Petrine ministry
Frankly, I’m getting tired of Pope Francis’ rigidity.
Accurate Roman Catholic theology is the product of prayerful reflection upon Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the perennial Magisterium. It is nothing less than a support for freedom for the individual and entirely liberating.
Fiducia Supplicans is a clear exhibition of rigidity. Its citations are primarily Bergoglian — 65% of the 31 provided in the document. Divine Revelation ceased with the death of St. John the Evangelist. There are no biblical references provided. From whence does this new teaching emerge?
Rigid ideological perspective is the product of a mind unconformed to the Truth.
The poetic dissonance employed as a defense of this document and its erroneous content is simply disturbing.
We read here the Pope’s attempt to establish a defense for Fiducia Supplicans: “The real, central difference [between “progressives” and conservatives] is between lovers and those who have lost that initial passion. That is the difference. Only those who love can fare forward….” emerges from the Chair of St. Peter?
We reason as Catholics, not as adolescents.
Franklin Graham provided a rebuke today to the Vatican. It is a moment in the history of Catholicism that will not soon be forgotten.
With this document Pope Francis undermines not only Divine Revelation and moral theology, but the entire spectrum of Roman Catholic reasoning. Is this what he intends? Whether or not, it he and his righthand man have accomplished it – at least in the short term.
James, Yes, but try as he may, no way does Francis undermine “Divine Revelation and the entire spectrum of Roman Catholic reasoning.”
Francis has ATTEMPTED to undermine Roman Catholic reasoning and Divine Revelation. Francis’ actions in fact demonstrate only that has has major deficits of intellect, faith and reason. He has acted unjustly toward Christ and toward those who love Christ. Francis’ actions manifest a great, progressively increasing rigidity and inability to Love the Savior.
Meanwhile, the Savior/Judge awaits Francis. As pope, Francis has openly, brazenly, yet inconspicuously(?) revealed himself as small-minded, uncharitable, unjust. Francis has, progressively and with great rigidity, failed in the job The Word Made Flesh graciously allows him to hold for a few more days, weeks, months or years [God forbid.]: “Feed my sheep, feed my lambs. Strengthen thy brothers.”
Pope Francis warned the Roman Curia on Thursday that “rigid ideological positions” can be an obstacle to “moving forward.”
True, Francis, but morally bankrupt progressive ideologies do that also, in case you weren’t clear about that.
Right on, dear ‘Athanasius’.
The present incumbent of The Chair of St Peter has * directional confusion! *
His ministry is to help Catholics: “Move upwards!”, to be more spiritual & less worldly; not to “Move forward” with the world, in defiance of The Holy Spirit.
Rigid ideological positions
Rigid ideological positions
Rigid ideological positions
Rigid ideological positions
Rigid ideological positions
….Ten years later…
Rigid ideological positions
After a decade, I am starting to think that the Pope wants us to not have
Rigid ideological positions
Umm…
Pope Clichémeister is creatively uncreative.
Taking one step forward and two steps backward cannot be our way of proceeding. Rigidity in thought, word, and action prevents ongoingness and togetherness. Life is a dynamic movement forward.
What gobbledygook!
Since I can’t ask Francis, I’ll ask you. Where is the magical land of forward? Does forwardist thinking mean doing more things that used to be thought of as evil, as per God’s endowed truth, will now become good? I know Francis believes morality can change. Do You as well? Does
God need to shape up, change His mind, and follow along? This is something else Francis believes, do you as well? Could Hitler and Stalin, or perhaps Charles Manson have been right after all? Will being a murderer or a rapist become a new form of prophesy in some distant future after some “rethinking” about morality? Tell us. Backwardists need to know. Have mercy on poor backwardists who believe such things that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
“Life is a dynamic movement forward.” Quo vadis?
“Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink.” – Shunryu Suzuki
This pontificate has long since sailed out and sunk.
Rather than a dichotomy between conservatives and progressives, he seems to be setting up a dichotomy between those whose reason is ruled by their passion, and those whose passion is ruled by their reason.
Vacuous poetics worthy only of the Bergoglian school.
Bergoglio’s refusal to perceive his own “rigid ideology” is a terrifying sign of spiritual blindness.
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/pope-francis-same-sex-couples-catholic/2023/12/20/id/1146680/
“Pope Francis’ Christmas gift to the church was finally confirming that he is a heretic and quite likely an antipope,” wrote X user Nathaniel Eliason, whose bio describes him as Catholic. “He must be opposed completely now, and any bishop who doesn’t is complicit.”
Does rigid ideological positions include Peronism? Just asking!
More gobbledygook mumbo-jumbo socialist
leftist nonsense from the not-the pope…
This is SO typical – he comes up with crazy ideas like blessing same-sex couples and when people object, he immediately characterizes them as having “rigid ideological positions” or some such nonsensical accusation, thereby putting those who disagree with him – and there are MANY of us – in a bad light.
Plus ca change, plus la meme.
After the sex abuse crisis in which the John Jay study reported that 80% of the reported abuse cases were homosexual acts between priests and post-pubescent boys (ephebophilia), we now have come to this, blessing for gays. Jesus came to find and gather the lost sheep of Israel. Francis is hell-bent on perniciously dividing and scattering his flock. I’ll keep my eyes on Jesus, rigidly so.
I have completely had it with Pope Francis.
All popes are infallible…..until they aren’t.
Said Brother Brian, infallibly…
The inattentive reader will miss the clever evasiveness of the recent Declaration—sidestepping the rigorous infallibility requirements, and much like the faithy sola Scriptura Martin Luther who edited the Letter of James to omit the word “works,” and this only after he relented to include James in his version of Scripture.
About the narrow requirements, the Catholic convert (!) John Newman shined a more damning light that Brother Brian when he (Newman) looked further back than very recent history:
“What have excommunication and interdict to do with infallibility? Was St. Peter infallible on that occasion at Antioch when St. Paul withstood him? Was St. Victor infallible when he separated from his communion the Asiatic Churches? Or Liberius when in like manner he excommunicated Athanasius? And, to come to later times, was Gregory XIII, when he had a medal struck in honour of the Bartholomew massacre? Or Paul IV in his conduct towards Elizabeth? Or Sixtus V when he blessed the Armada? Or Urban VIII when he persecuted Galileo? No Catholic ever pretends that these Popes were infallible in these acts” (from a Letter to the Duke of Norfolk [1876], in Vincent Blehl (ed.), The Essential Newman [New York: Mentor Omega, 1963]. 269).
But, thank you brother Brian for yet another predictable tutorial.
But also worthy of pause…It’s almost as if Luther’s false dualism between faith and works is being aped today in the false dualism between love and truth (or “backwardists”). Makes me wonder about Hinduism and whether James Martin is the reincarnation of namesake Martin Luther?
You have no idea what you are talking about. Get a brain.
Olson’s sieve must have developed a tear or gone missing. How else would you have gotten in??
Fundamentalist Brian chiming in again, directing his Oedipal rage at the pope. Nothing new here folks 🙄
“The real, central difference is between lovers and those who have lost that initial passion. That is the difference. Only those who love can fare forward.”
Pace this man’s warped understanding of love, the difference is between those who live by the truth and those who live by lies.
Right? Caritas in Veritate wasn’t that long ago. Only those who believe the truth know which way forward is.
Few among the faithful pay him much mind anymore, except to roll their eyes and wave him off in disgust. When will the cardinals, who have pledged to defend the faith with their own blood, have the spine to rise up? No, they all sit there panting like a bunch of lapdogs waiting to be petted. They won’t even risk their careers, let alone their blood and lives for the faith. All decked out in red, these cowards should be draped in yellow.
Brilliantly put, jpfhays!
Moving forward is a relative term. Forward toward where? The language does not reflect Biblical language or teaching. Christ’s messages are clear – He doesn’t speak vaguely. “Moving forward” is something one puts on a bumper sticker in election year.
With humility, dare one say that the Pope is so rigid to as not being able acknowledge his own rigidity? There should be a concentration on what allows the flourishing of Christ’s love amidst humanity. Tall order, I know. Sin gets in the way. Good old selfish and arrogant sin.
Roughly 130 years from Galileo’s death to the suppression of the Jesuits. Perhaps it was better for him the way it actually went, he stayed to the Will of God.
If I worked in the Curia I’d avoid the annual papal Christmas meeting with Francis like the plague. I’d even schedule a root canal without anesthesia to avoid his annual gripe session with the people he’s chosen who are supposed to be his collaborators. This “rigidity” shtick got old fast long ago: the only “rigid” person around Rome seems to be Francis and his syncophants who demand the rigidity of Gumby (exc. when it comes to their “pastoral developments”).