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PopeWatch: Papal Cheerleading Squad

VATICAN-POPE-AUDIENCE

 

 

In regard to Pope Francis it is helpful to look at views from abroad.  Rorate Caeli has a translation of a recent article by Italian journalist Matteo Carnieletto:

Matteo Carnieletto

Il Giornale
January 3, 2015

 

Let’s be honest: the most progressive fringe of the Church likes Francis. This is the fringe that during the pontificate of Benedict XVI kept attacking the Pope, and now they are dressed up as papal cheerleaders who are always at hand to defend the Pope—the Pope, please note, who is Francis, not the papacy as an institution. Right from the time of the publication of Non è Francesco by Antonio Socci, the new defenders of the “Church that is poor and for the poor” have not hesitated to come to the defense of the Pope by harshly attacking that Siena journalist. The same thing happened at the publication of the article by Vittorio Messori this past December 24. In fact, Paolo Farinella, a priest and writer for Il Fatto Quotidiano, who defined the pontificate of Benedict XVI as “a disaster for the Church”, launched an appeal to stop the attacks on Pope Francis. Has Farinella undergone a conversion to orthodox Catholicism? Not at all. He has simply found in Francis an ideal mouthpiece.

 

Among those who signed the appeal is the group “We Are Church”, who with great gusto expressed their appreciation for Benedict’s act of resignation: “the most innovative act of his pontificate”; Alex Zanotelli, the pacifist missionary who has said that he came to understand who Christ was thanks to Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Don Milani and Don Mazzolari; the Christian Base Communities, who, on their website, posted a review of a book called The Queer God, or rather “the poof God, the faggot God”, published by Claudiana, the Waldensian publishing house. And finally (but the list could go on and on) among the signatures is that of don Aldo Antonelli, “a troublesome and red priest” who, with candor, wrote on November 1, 2007: “Dear Pope Benedict, I do not understand you.” And after a long series of recommendations that were not asked for, he concluded: “In my theological studies I learned that we priests are supposed to be talking to poor beggars of this earth like Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). But I have the impression that you prefer to have conversations with men like Dives,” that is, with the rich and powerful.
 
In this way the parties are reversed. The apologists like Messori and Socci who have always defended the Church, now find themselves in the role of “adversaries”, who are attacked by those who, casting away the clothes of the street priest, are now wearing the pontifical livery.

 

Go here to read the rest.  Not too different from what we see in the cheerleading squad for Pope Francis in this country:
1.  Born again ultramontanists of the Catholic Left.
2.  People who think that Catholicism consists solely of saying “Yes, Your Holiness!” to whatever the Pope of the moment says.
3.  Professional lay Catholics who derive their income from the Church.
4.  Careerists among the clergy.  The higher up the ranks, the larger the percentage of careerists.
5.  Catholics who wish to be forgiven, and yet also wish to be free to continue to sin sexually.
6.  Spirit of Vatican II leftovers from the Sixties.
7.  Ordinary Catholics who aren’t paying attention.
8. Ordinary Catholics who assume the Pope is being misinterpreted by the liberal media.
9.  Much of the Chattering Classes who think the Pope is neutering the Church, and love him for this political windfall.
10.  People who truly despise self-absorbed promethean neo-pelagians.

 

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Philip
Philip
Wednesday, January 7, AD 2015 7:59am

#11. Atheist! They might see this pontiff as bridge to unbelief. If his left swaying ways weaken the foundations of quasi-catholics, then complete indifference to God and organized religion could be the next step. A fallout of sorts.

trackback
Thursday, January 8, AD 2015 12:01am

[…] – Maureen Mullarkey, First Things Fearing the Silence – Michael Lane, Catholic Stand The Papal Cheerleading Squad – Donald R. McClarey JD, TACatholic Book Giveaway: The Kingdom of Patria – Shaun McAfee, […]

Mary De Voe
Thursday, January 8, AD 2015 10:17am

“Among those who signed the appeal is the group “We Are Church”, “We Are Church” are the Church Triumphant, the Church Militant and the Church Suffering, no exceptions. The rest is heretical.
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My neighbor came all glad and happy about Pope Francis and asked me what I thought about Pope Francis and I exclaimed in a very loud and determined voice: “Communist”. That ended our conversation.

Judith
Judith
Thursday, January 8, AD 2015 1:20pm

12. People who were giving him a chance, trying not to leap to conclusions.

(But, speaking for myself, who have now given up.)

Sydney O. Fernandes
Sydney O. Fernandes
Thursday, January 8, AD 2015 6:39pm

Bolting from the elaborate (and authoritative) chair of Peter to occupy a bar-stool (metaphorical) is the reason why whatever P. Francis does and says has to be picked up and inspected as to how they are congruent with Faith and Tradition. What a tiresome and boring task, and how bad a speed bump on the road to Heaven!

Mary De Voe
Thursday, January 8, AD 2015 6:51pm

Sydney O. Fernandes:”…how bad a speed bump on the road to Heaven!” I wish I could have written that. “Make straight the way of the Lord.”

Patricia
Patricia
Thursday, January 8, AD 2015 8:57pm

The Cafeteria patrons will be wondering why the menu gets confusing when traveling to the various empowered dioceses/offices around the world, if changes enhance conflicting developments. The ‘church’ of the poor is becoming the ‘church’ of the spiritually impoverished who are behaving like audiences with cheap tickets to a show.
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… authority at the service of Sacred Tradition …
… devoutly guard … the deposit of Faith handed down through the Apostles …
… a stopper against innovation …
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“- Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger wrote: “After the Second Vatican Council, the impression arose that the pope really could do anything … especially if he were acting on the mandate of an ecumenical council … In fact, the First Vatican Council had in no way defined the pope as an absolute monarch. On the contrary, it presented him as the guarantor of obedience to the revealed Word. The pope’s authority is bound to the Tradition of faith … The authority of the pope is not unlimited; it is at the service of Sacred Tradition.”
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And this is what Vatican I had defined: “The Holy Spirit was not promised to Peter’s successors so that by its revelation they might disclose new doctrine, but, so that, by its assistance, they might devoutly guard and faithfully set forth the revelation handed down through the Apostles, i.e. the deposit of Faith”.
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B John Henry Newman, Patron of our Ordinariate, brilliantly characterised the charisma, the genius, of the Roman Church as its capacity to act as a remora, a breakwater, a hindrance, a stopper against innovation. That’s what the Pope’s job is. -”
(from a post by Fr. John Hunwicke on 1/5/15 about tradition and the pope)

eddie too
eddie too
Monday, January 12, AD 2015 1:05pm

those who demean, insult, falsely portray and attempt to diminish the pope are not friends of Jesus.

what level of arrogance does it take for someone with no responsibility for teaching the faith to publicly proclaim pope francis to be a “communist”? how much damage does such speech and writing do to the souls of those who are influenced by this rejection of francis, not to mention the souls of those who so eagerly line up to oppose francis?

not once have any of these self-righteous malcontents provided even a shred of language from francis that could be considered false, much less heretical.

just because you do not like francis “style” is not justification for slander, calumny and worse.

what impudence and gall it takes to act as though, you (and I do not mean Donald mcclarey here, I am using you generically), some blogger, know more and are a better teacher of the faith than francis and the magisterium. if you are not aware, let me inform you, I have never read anything of serious value in any posts that demean and insult francis.

shame, shame, shame!!!

Mary De Voe
Tuesday, January 13, AD 2015 12:07am

eddie too: “those who demean, insult, falsely portray and attempt to diminish the pope are not friends of Jesus.
what level of arrogance does it take for someone with no responsibility for teaching the faith to publicly proclaim pope francis to be a “communist”? how much damage does such speech and writing do to the souls of those who are influenced by this rejection of francis, not to mention the souls of those who so eagerly line up to oppose francis?”
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You have proved my point. Pope Francis cares not a twit for peoples’ souls, or individual human beings, Christ’s bothers. Both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed the dignity of the human person, individuals’ souls. Not one word from Pope Francis. The sovereign person’s conscience be damned. (this would include yours, eddie too)

Sydney O. Fernandes
Sydney O. Fernandes
Tuesday, January 13, AD 2015 4:12pm

eddie too: What is good for the goose is good for the gander: to whit, the flip side of the coin of “just because you do not like francis ‘style’ is not justification…” is “just because you like francis ‘style’ ” does not mean he has to be on a pedestal, or he cannot be challenged/critiqued for nonsensical or less than weighty utterances that have nothing to do with faith or dogma.

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