Tuesday, March 19, AD 2024 5:48am

Worst Pope Since Alexander VI

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Pope Yammers Full Paragraphs About Immigration, Dialogue with Cuba, and Global Warming; Mentions Protecting the Unborn in a Single Sentence

For some time, I’ve heard conservative Catholics defend the Pope by saying that the left amplifies and celebrates the Pope’s left-leaning cant, but ignores the things that appeal to traditionalists.

The problem with that is that while he does occasionally say things that appeal to traditionalists, he rarely says them, as if he’s obligated to say such things as the cost of getting to talk about what he really wants to talk about, which is Income Inequality and Global Warming.

Today’s performance is further evidence of that.

Yes, he made an allusion to abortion, not daring to speak it by name, and similarly made the vaguest allusion to gay marriage (not actually even taking a stance on it).

Then he yammered for long stretches about Nancy Pelosi’s agenda.

I’ve tried to not speak much about the Pope due to 1, respect for my Catholic readers, 2, my complete lack of knowledge of the sorts of things Popes typically say, and 3, generally not caring, but it seems impossible at this point to continue to indulge the optimistic wishcasting of right-leaning Catholics that Francis is merely “complex” and sometimes “misunderstood.”

I think we understand him just fine.

The left media is not just hallucinating this, or presenting a biased version of the Pope as they wish he were. He is in fact on the left on every single position he’s liturgically permitted to be on the left on.

Posted by: Ace at 02:18 PM

Go here to read the comments.  One of the more bleakly amusing aspects of the current Pontificate is seeing conservative Catholics bend themselves into pretzels in order to deny the obvious:  that except for a handful of issues Pope Francis is a man of the left, and that he is hell-bent in putting the prestige of the Church in service to left wing causes.  Conservative Catholics are used to viewing the popes as champions and it is painful for many of them to openly oppose the Pope.  I was never in their number, but I long hoped that Pope Francis was not as bad as I feared.   He is not as bad as I feared, he is worse.  He is an ignorant man who embraces ideologies and causes that would succeed only in spreading poverty, misery and the triumph of a nihilistic left, followed swiftly by the triumph of Islam.  He is prostituting the office of Peter to join in alliance with people who have nothing but contempt for the Catholic Church.  He is the worst pope the Church has seen since Alexander VI.  I pray that God will grant him either new wisdom or a short papacy.  As for me, I vow to oppose him and to join with other Catholics who share my belief that his election as Pope has been an unmitigated disaster for the Church.

 

 

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Tom
Tom
Thursday, September 24, AD 2015 5:24pm

Yes, a disgrace really. Black day for Catholicism and the papacy when the Pope does not address directly and forcefully the gravest moral evils we face, abortion and ascendant homosexual agenda; but directly and forcefully attacks the perfectly legitimate and just penalty of death for the worst offenders committing the worst crimes.

The best Catholics he could think of to represent America were Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton, both characters who for good cause came under a cloud with their bishop/religious superior?

Also, and even worse, with the country watching and a golden opportunity to address a nation of wavering faith, no mention of the necessity of God, Christ, the Church. Even my protestant acquaintances were waiting for some actual *religious* message. Crickets.

Truly sad.

Penguin Fan
Penguin Fan
Thursday, September 24, AD 2015 5:26pm

I stand with you. We stand with Cardinal Burke. We WILL survive this.
My faith is in Christ, not Jorge Bergoglio.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Thursday, September 24, AD 2015 6:13pm

The header is rather premature. Perhaps in perspective it will look not as dismaying as it does today. A traditionalist priest of my acquaintance told me in 2004 that the Church was facing it’s worst crisis since the 4th century, which seemed awfully florid at the time. Now you’re seeing articles like this:

http://www.crisismagazine.com/2015/can-pope-heretic

Philip
Philip
Thursday, September 24, AD 2015 6:16pm

I’ve been steady in prayerful consideration for this pontificate, and will continue to pray for him. That said, it is disconcerting that he claims no liberal bent, yet his own words are contrary to his “not a liberal..” identity.

I want to hold him in best light, but contemptible are his neglects to out the sin that is Planned Parenthood and the trafficking of body parts. He has difficulty with Mercy.
What I mean is, he refuses to admonish the sinner in his public address’s, but has no mercy for standing up for the Innocent’s.

I’m heart broken at his blatant disregard for the culture of death that fog’s the sight of other (non-liberial) Catholics, and the wake of his silence in abortion matters may have just cost the lives of another twenty or thirty million unborn… I don’t know! I just can’t help to think that many will become more Pelosi Catholics after hearing from our spiritual Leader. It’s OK to be pro-death and Catholic…

Felix M
Felix M
Thursday, September 24, AD 2015 6:43pm

The Pope’s job is to enunciate the teachings of Jesus Christ and God’s moral law. As found in the Holy Bible and the teachings of past Popes, bishops, and Councils.

In his talk to Congress, Francis made no reference to Jesus Christ. He did not once advert to the Bible (apart from a content-free comment about Moses) or to Church teachings.

I said to a friend that the speech could virtually have been written by the head Mason. Her comment, “Maybe it was!”

bill bannon
bill bannon
Thursday, September 24, AD 2015 6:59pm

This was Patricia’s point. There are nearly 800,000 US abortions this year but 35 executions of murderers and Francis spent more time on the 35 than on the 800,000.
I can’t understand unless he has a high functional emotional disorder. Could he be fleeing psychologically the greater horror into an obsession with a small one. I’m obsessed because two friends were murdered near my house in different years when I was young ( tough neighborhood yes ) and one served five years in N.J. and bragged after he got out. But Popes are not to be obsessed like me even if in reverse. They should put greater problems first and lesser problems far behind…unless it’s Church pr to cover up Inquisition history through the new position on the dp.
Excepting China, world executions are always few in number. Or is it a papal memo passed on since St. JPII that seeks to undo the memory of the Inquisition with lapsed Europeans who chide the Church on it’s past killings. Is this why the death penalty trumped abortion today? Is it pr? t cover up Inquisition hangover. If so, it’s foolish.

Charlie
Charlie
Thursday, September 24, AD 2015 7:26pm

Does the Holy Father realize that the world speaks well of him and that Jesus said to beware of that? Even if Pope Francis is not be a very good leader of the Church Militant, there is no reason why I cannot be a good soldier in Her army. I have not been a courageous defender of Holy Mother Church and the time has long past that I must start being so.

Penguin Fan
Penguin Fan
Thursday, September 24, AD 2015 7:34pm

Bill Bannon,
The Spanish Inquisition is 99 percent English Protestant propaganda. Queen Bess and her crazy adulterer father killed far more than the Inquisition did and it was the BBC that proved it.

bill bannon
bill bannon
Thursday, September 24, AD 2015 8:24pm

Penquin Fan,
Not interested in comparisons. When you go to confession, the priest doesn’t let you off because the whole neighborhood was doing the same thing. The Church is not impeccable in prudential decisions. Most scholars say 5000 dead for which St. JPII apologized. In the first mellenium, most saints were against killing heretics. 1253 and Innocent IV’s decision to compel princes to kill heretics was then pivotal and not traditional with the early saints. It was an innovation like the new anti dp campaign which will get more murder victims killed just in the Phillipines in a decade than 5000 through non deterrence. The Phillipines has 8 times the rate of murder than China while China has many poor also. If Phillipines contracted out to China’s police their roughly 8000 a year murders, China would half that victim number in a hurry. I know. My wife is from Beijing then Taiwan. Tougher than leather underneath the long lashes and doll eyes. Heretic evangelicals now vote better than Catholics against abortion candidates. Heretic Amish have 1/25 th of our divorce rate. Defending all Catholic history is a mistaken road. If a heretic also was an insurrectionist, that’s different. But to kill just for error…means we should kill 27% of Catholic Mass goers who affirm abortion according to Pew.

Ken
Ken
Thursday, September 24, AD 2015 8:40pm

Tuned into Relevant radio today and it stayed on the dial for about 45 seconds. They just can’t accept that this man is a horrible leader. What is with Catholic media treating this man as immpecable?

Marc
Marc
Thursday, September 24, AD 2015 8:53pm

An interesting comparison, inquisition not withstanding, is our current Pope with John Paul 2. John Paul 2 : a strong hand in the liberation of Poland and end of the communist block, emphasis on the person and responsibility, outspoken about the terrible sin of abortion, a strong presence and communicator. Pope Francis, well..kind of the opposite. A nice, well-intentioned man but he seems weak and I wonder, capable of being manipulated? Man, it’s like watching those apocalyptic Catholic novels beginning to come true.(Michael O’Brien) Maybe this is the begining of a long slow decline into One World Religion.

bill bannon
bill bannon
Thursday, September 24, AD 2015 9:11pm

Ken,
Catholic salaries are sometimes tied by demographics to the paradigm of each Pope being peachy. Follow the money trail.

Hmmmmm
Hmmmmm
Thursday, September 24, AD 2015 9:21pm

Charlie, they don’t speak well of him; they speak patronizingly of him and make themselves look like fools.

Franco
Franco
Thursday, September 24, AD 2015 10:01pm

When Francis states he is not on the left, he actually is
redefining his far left ideological opinions as true
Catholic teaching. This is a common tactic used by the
left to mislead. Also Francis is a vain and arrogant
ideologue, who enjoys making flamboyant gestures
to bring attention to his leftist opinions as valid
Catholic teaching, while denigrating the rigid
self-absorbed Pharisee Catholics. The Fiat people
must be delighted with Francis.

Penguin Fan
Penguin Fan
Friday, September 25, AD 2015 3:33am

NBill, you are the one who brought up the Inquisition, as if it just happened. I see it as having no bearing on current events and an old Protestant attack on the Church is to drag up the Inqisition.

bill bannon
bill bannon
Friday, September 25, AD 2015 3:49am

Penquin Fan,
I think the Inquisition is the reason three recent Popes talk endlessly about the death penalty which involves a tiny number of deaths….1093 in 2014 worldwide…whereas 800,000 to date just in the US have been killed by abortion. The death penalty campaign is public relations by three Popes that hope to psycholgically make the Inquisition vanish from the History station…lol. Watch what Patricia is driving at in this paragraph by Francis….10% abortion…90% death penalty:

” The Golden Rule also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development. This conviction has led me, from the beginning of my ministry, to advocate at different levels for the global abolition of the death penalty. I am convinced that this way is the best, since every life is sacred, every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity, and society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes. Recently my brother bishops here in the United States renewed their call for the abolition of the death penalty. Not only do I support them, but I also offer encouragement to all those who are convinced that a just and necessary punishment must never exclude the dimension of hope and the goal of rehabilitation.”

90% is about 1093 executed worldwide…10% is about millions worldwide. That is non real. It’s public relations with a memo to each Pope after JPII to harp on the executions as though they are widespread so that we cover up the Inquisition years which the History station brings up periodically.

Philip
Philip
Friday, September 25, AD 2015 4:05am

@Charlie.

FYI. Please check out The Holy League.
Cardinal Burke started the Call in LaCrosse WI.. It is men only fellowship, focused on becoming better Catholics and prepared to defend Truth in a culture that despises Truth.
http://www.holyleague.com
A local chapter might be minutes from your home.

Paul W Primavera
Friday, September 25, AD 2015 4:15am

I agree with Donald’s post.

Michael Dowd
Michael Dowd
Friday, September 25, AD 2015 4:24am

Thanks Donald. It is good to take time to form a judgement. As St. Thomas says, “be slow to speak and even slower to judge”. But when the evidence keeps piling up, such as it has against Pope Francis, we must speak up as failure to do so would make us complicit in his bad behavior.

Note that our friend Ann Barnhardt has some alarming news on Pope Francis and his co-conspirators. Breaking Blockbuster: Prima Facie Evidence that Francis is, in fact, Antipope
http://www.barnhardt.biz/2015/09/24/breaking-blockbuster-prima-facie-evidence-that-francis-is-in-fact-antipope/

I like the fact that all of this is getting a good airing. After all our responsibility is to Christ and his Church not the person who happens to be the Pope.

Ken
Ken
Friday, September 25, AD 2015 5:46am

“I am convinced that this way is the best, since every life is sacred, every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity, and society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes. Recently my brother bishops here in the United States renewed their call for the abolition of the death penalty. Not only do I support them, but I also offer encouragement to all those who are convinced that a just and necessary punishment must never exclude the dimension of hope and the goal of rehabilitation.”

What rubbish. These are the same leaders who supposed those who committed grave sins against children could be rehabilitated. Who would go to work each day knowing the individual in the next cubicle is a convicted murderer?

Father of seven
Father of seven
Friday, September 25, AD 2015 6:21am

In regards to Ken’s point about Catholic media. I listened to the Catholic channel yesterday and the hosts asked for callers to discuss whether they were pleased or not with the pope’s speech. I called in to say how disappointed I was. I made Donald’s points above. I defended the death penalty and made the point there is no comparison with abortion and that pf missed an historic opportunity to address a modern day holocaust. I said his one ambiguous line in defense of life was lost on at least half of that room. In response, the one host was silent and the other actually said that abortion was a political topic and pf probably didn’t want to be too political. It was all about encountering people with dialogue. The quislings in Catholic media are simply company men and women. I’m sure they’ve held out for more than just 30 pieces.

ioannes
ioannes
Friday, September 25, AD 2015 7:27am

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own insight Proverbs 3:5. I think the Holy Spirit knows better than you Sir. Alexander VI was needed in some way that we do not know this side of heaven in his time, I as an orthodox Catholic will not fall into the temptation of cafeteria Catholic that you just did. Were you always cognizant of the truth? Did you not arrive at the Truth on bridges that were less than perfect that brought you to the fullness of the truth. Is not Pontifex that bridge par excellance that could bring many people to then discover the riches of the truth? What a disservice you do falling into conservative and liberal insight for Jesus is neither. From now on I unsucribe from this unnecessarily venomous blog.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Friday, September 25, AD 2015 7:45am

The quislings in Catholic media are simply company men and women. I’m sure they’ve held out for more than just 30 pieces.

I’ll take exception to that. We’ve all be faced with something to which we are not in the habit of responding. The Matt family faced this problem in 1968 and came to a parting of the ways over the question of explicit criticism of the Holy See, with one brother continuing to publish The Wanderer and the other founding The Remnant. The Latin traditionalists were much less disarranged during the scandals in 2002 because they were already emotionally detached from the hierarchy and the Eastern-rite votaries could just ignore it as a mess on the other side of the wall. Christopher Ferrara has been publishing criticisms of sitting popes for at least a dozen years if not longer. What is new for them and everyone else is the kamikaze character of the current pope. Ferrara in 2002 remarked on the odd ambiguity and ambivalence of John Paul’s portfolio of actions. No ambiguity here. Francis is taking deadly aim at an antique teaching of the Church. Just as a layman, I can see two or three outcomes over the next several weeks, and none of them are pleasing.

The Catholic media have an audience on which they are dependent, some of whom would be mortified at taking a critical or antagonistic stance toward a sitting pope. They have to talk to these people as well as to you, and the broadcasters themselves may not know what to make of all this. I’d cut them some slack as long as they’re not behaving like Mark Shea.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Friday, September 25, AD 2015 7:47am

Father of Seven, I’d read Ioannes comment to get an idea of what EWTN and other Catholic media confront.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Friday, September 25, AD 2015 8:04am

These are the same leaders who supposed those who committed grave sins against children could be rehabilitated.
==
They aren’t really. The bishops who ran the treat-and-transfer regime were those occupying sees from about 1981 to about 1993, and such policies were not universal even in that time period. In the two provinces in which I have lived, there are 28 bishops. Three of them were auxilliary bishops in various loci during that era, the rest not. Of the remaining 25, one once worked in the Boston chancery (there are disputes about what he did do and did not do in that job, as there was another cleric in the chancery with an identical name), and one has been taken to task (by Catholic World Report) for stunningly bad judgment during his sojourn as Bishop of Bridgeport during a later era. Not sure any of the remainder are implicated.

Steve Phoenix
Steve Phoenix
Friday, September 25, AD 2015 8:10am

I continue to be appalled that this pope kept his blathering mouth absolutely zipped up about capital punishment when he met face-to-face with the Greatest Living Murderer and his Regime in Havana last week—a man easily responsible for the execution-style murder, since 1959, of hundreds of thousands, as well as the wrecking of lives and the seizure of people’s assets, for which the Castro regime continues to profit and enjoy the fruits of their diabolical scheme—and yet excoriates, once again, the red-white-and-blue punching bag.

All in a speech which Jesus Christ could not be mentioned by the very Vicar of Christ.
Horse puppies!

Michael Dowd
Michael Dowd
Friday, September 25, AD 2015 8:10am

Waking up joannes. Please listen to Pope Felix III.

“Not to oppose error is to approve it; and not to defend truth is to suppress it; and indeed to neglect to confound evil men, when we can do it, is no less a sin than to encourage them.”

Michael Dowd
Michael Dowd
Friday, September 25, AD 2015 8:54am

Donald McClarey. Thanks for sticking to your guns and stating what you believe. Too many other sites, print and TV have a tendency to pull their punches. This is one reason no one trusts them any more. Political correctness is not for truth seekers. Be a truth teller and all who seek the truth will find you.

CAM
CAM
Friday, September 25, AD 2015 9:36am

The pope just finished addressing the UN. I did hear him say that man is responsible for climate change though I really need to read the text of it. The bits and pieces I heard were pretty generic and inoffensive unlike JPII’s. The commentary on his speech was interrupted with the news that House Leader Boehner is stepping down next month.
Back to the pope’s address to both houses yesterday: what a missed opportunity by this charismatic pontiff to defend the unborn, the elderly, and the disabled. Especially when votes on late term abortions, medical assistance to living aborted babies, and suspension of federal money to Planned Parenthood because of the ghastly sale of baby parts, were and will be before Congress and the Senate. Pope Francis might have influenced some votes if he had been specific. In the session were senators and representatives from states where assisted suicide has been been legalized or where the vote is upcoming in state legislatures. He is guilty of sins of omission in my judgemental opinion. I shall continue praying for him, the man and as the successor to Peter, but not for his damaging political intentions. Maybe he is akin to the Cowardly Lion and needs a dose of courage.

Magalene
Magalene
Friday, September 25, AD 2015 10:15am

Ultramontanism is a religious belief found within the Catholic Church that places strong emphasis on the prerogatives and powers of the Pope. ….to the almost worship of him.

The pope said he is not an anti-pope but I have to wonder just what an anti-pope would do or say differently. Lets see, he would be loved by the world and lauded. He would not want to offed the power that be or speak much of the Name of Jesus. He would cause division and confusion and would not be a rock that the faithful could depend upon to uphold the age old teachings of the Church. He would surround himself with heretical people. He would criticize the most faithful and demote, ridicule, and exile them….

Draw your own conclusions. Right of the environment???

William P. Walsh
William P. Walsh
Friday, September 25, AD 2015 7:58pm

Now, I am not a credentialed scientist in the field of climatology, nor am I an historian but I have for most of a rather long life, had an interest in such subjects. And, I just cannot sincerely concur with an alarmist position on global warming. Could I be wrong in my understanding of history and basic science? Perhaps. After all, I am no more than a dilettante in such subjects. Nonetheless, is abundantly obvious that there is presently no substitute for fossil fuel that will maintain the survivability of the current world population, unless we exponentially augment the development of nuclear power. The Left opposes this and we wonder why. As Cardinal Pell asserts, CO2 is plant food. Flora flourishes when it abounds. “Then the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being.” Breath! Aloha! Oxygen in, Carbon Dioxide out, and the Garden of Eden grows, and we are fed.

Piedmont
Piedmont
Friday, September 25, AD 2015 9:38pm

Worst Pope? We have a lot to choose from. I believe our faith is receiving much positive attention. Just my humble opinion.

Ernst Schreiber
Ernst Schreiber
Friday, September 25, AD 2015 11:34pm

I dunno. Personally, I think Julius II was worse than Francis I. Maybe I’ll change my mind after the synod.

Greg Mockeridge
Greg Mockeridge
Saturday, September 26, AD 2015 3:22am

“The Catholic media have an audience on which they are dependent,..”

The secular mainstream media have an audience upon which they are dependent as well. So, I guess we should them the same amount of slack when they run interference for the secular left as well, huh?

“…some of whom would be mortified at taking a critical or antagonistic stance toward a sitting pope.”

So, in the interest of keeping an audience they should keep pretending things are clearly what they are not? So much for bearing witness to the truth.

“I’d cut them some slack as long as they’re not behaving like Mark Shea.”

The Catholic Media Complex have only been protecting Shea and others like him for about a decade now. When Mark made his big “apology” Fr. Dwight Longenecker had the nerve to say the Mark had nothing to apologize for. The National Catholic Register still employs Shea as a blogger and gives him free reign to spew his bilge. He also gets some of his trash published by Ignatius Press’s Catholic World Report.

Father of seven
Father of seven
Saturday, September 26, AD 2015 5:03am

Art, thanks for your thoughts, but I stand by my comments. For me, the PP videos are a line in the sand. I’ve always thought abortion was a modern day holocaust. Seeing those videos crystallized this thinking such that I will be more outspoken. I can never unsee the barbarism displayed there. Given the history of the last 30 years, I fairly conclude the hierarchy is not actually pro-life. I don’t for a moment believe pf is. When facing a holocaust, you don’t stand in front of an audience that can actually do something to end the barbarism and give one ambiguous line about it, but then prattle on about some personal pet causes. No, quite clearly, it would be the centerpiece of the speech. Ask yourself, if the US was still practicing slavery, would you have any doubt pf would confront it head on. As for so much Catholic media, knowing who butters your bread is no excuse to not speak the truth. As Mother Angelica said about EWTN at its founding, “Bringing You The Splendor of Truth.” God bless her.

Elaine Krewer
Admin
Saturday, September 26, AD 2015 6:24am

I’ve followed this blog since 2009, posted occasionally and enjoyed many of Don’s posts. So it genuinely hurts me to say that with this post, TAC has, in my opinion, jumped the shark.

It’s one thing to say that a pope has been disappointing, that he is a poor administrator or evangelizer, or that he is deficient in his knowledge of economics, politics, science, or other temporal aspects of his job. A pope can be virtuous, even saintly, and still mess up very badly at diplomacy, evangelization, appointing bishops, implementing changes in liturgy or catechesis, etc. I have no problem with criticizing those aspects of the papacy. (I’d be willing to say that Francis is or could be the “worst” pope since Paul VI in that regard.)

But it’s another thing to place Francis – however confusing, frustrating, misguided, or naive he may be – in the same league with a notorious Borgia pope who is known primarily for living in mortal sin and exploiting his office for his own benefit and that of his illegitimate children, other relatives, and cronies. I do not think this comparison is appropriate based on what we know of Francis. Nor do I believe it it’s appropriate to imply that he no longer deserves the respect of the faithful, or that his ideas are no longer worthy of a serious consideration.

I’m not going to go so far as to say I won’t post here ever again or that I will stop reading this blog, but I may have to think long and hard about whether I really want to be associated with it in the future if this current tenor of posts and comments keeps up. I respect you all and understand your concerns but I think you all need to step back and think and pray about the message you are sending.

Mary De Voe
Saturday, September 26, AD 2015 8:20am

“climate change caused by people” . Thou shalt not bear false witness.
“one world religion”. atheism? Religion is a free man’s relationship with God in thought, word and peaceable assembly. Peaceable assembly requires good will and peace on earth to men of good will. Being subjugated to the slavery of atheism is not religion but a miscarriage of Justice, equal Justice, and a violation of a person’s sovereignty.

Elaine Krewer
Admin
Saturday, September 26, AD 2015 8:31am

Don, I respect your conclusions although I don’t completely agree with them. Yes, Pope Francis is a leftist on many issues. Yes, he overemphasizes relatively minor issues such as climate change and capital punishment and under emphasizes greater threats such as the Culture of Death and the rise of militant Islam. But does that in and of itself prove that he is evil or corrupt on the same level as Alexander VI or other “bad popes” ? I dunno. I can’t read his mind or his soul but at this point, I still presume he is sincerely attempting to do what he honestly believes God called him to do, though he may be “sincerely wrong” about a number of issues, and his perception of Catholic conservatism/traditionalism clouded by his experiences in Argentina.

What does his crusade against global warming have to do with Catholicism? Well, if you believe that protecting the natural environment is a good thing AND you also believe (albeit mistakenly) that global warming is an imminent and serious threat to the good of mankind and especially to the poor and vulnerable, then logically you are going to speak out against it. The principle that it’s good to protect the environment, I presume we can agree on; the disagreement is with regard to what it needs to be protected from and how best to do it. Just as many sincere and faithful Catholics disagree about how best to help the poor (government assistance vs private/family assistance, etc.) but still agree that the poor need to be helped and not simply ignored or cast aside.

By the way, I read a transcript of the Pope’s address to Congress and I did’nt see the term “global warming” or “climate change” mentioned in it – just the term “environmental deterioration,” which could cover a lot of things. I didn’t see the speech live, so maybe he actually said something else. But it seems to me that he could be just as readily accused by leftists of not being forceful enough on THAT topic, as he could be of not being forceful enough about abortion, in that speech.

Steve Phoenix
Steve Phoenix
Saturday, September 26, AD 2015 8:45am

Great post on Julius II, DMcC.
..

At the very least, in his mortal and flawed understanding, Julius II fought for the Church, as you point out, in a very necessary battle to break the stranglehold of secular powers on its throat.
..

And this pope? Would he dare to do so? We have the unadulterated answer in his address to Congress and his sychophantic behavior with The Great Dictator (Obama, in this case, as opposed to Castro, the Greatest Living Murderer). (For those who have trouble reading this, the answer is “NO!”)
..
And he, the Vicar of Christ, could not bring himself to mention Christ in his address. Appalling.

D Black
D Black
Saturday, September 26, AD 2015 9:17am

http://www.aim.org/aim-column/pope-lays-out-global-marxist-agenda/

“Phyllis Bennis of the Marxist Institute for Policy Studies was right: “Pope Francis’ address to Congress was almost certainly not what John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, and other congressional leaders had in mind when they invited the pope to speak.” Speaking for many on the left, including the pro-abortion lobby, she said, “His clear call to end the death penalty was the only example he gave of protecting the sanctity of life: Even amid a raging congressional debate over Planned Parenthood, he never mentioned abortion.”

The list of left-wing causes in the pope’s address was extensive. Bennis noted “his calls to protect the rights of immigrants and refugees, end the death penalty, preserve the planet from the ravages of climate change, and defend the poor and dispossessed.” And then there was the attack on the policies of peace through strength, which keep us free. “Being at the service of dialogue and peace also means being truly determined to minimize and, in the long term, to end the many armed conflicts throughout our world,” the pope said. He then asked, “Why are deadly weapons being sold to those who plan to inflict untold suffering on individuals and society?”

He should ask that of Vladimir Putin.

William P. Walsh
William P. Walsh
Saturday, September 26, AD 2015 9:36am

Far be it from me to consider an opinion on climatology to be a matter of faith or morals, any more than was an opinion on astronomy four hundred years ago. One could make a claim that there is no God because celestial bodies are organized one way or another, or deliberately harm the environment, and thereby transgress in matters of faith and morals. In any sincere exercise of prudential judgment, errors can nonetheless be made but there is no point in belaboring the obvious so I’ll move on. I am a practicing Catholic only due to the amazing grace that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found and so will I judge no one but myself. I do believe Christ’s promise to be with the Church to the end of time and that the gates of hell shall not prevail against her. Being retired, my wife and I are able to follow the papal visit more closely than those of you still behind the plow. The most frequent thought occurring throughout is the unique attention given to a visit by a Pope. In spite of reformation, revolution and all the vicissitudes of history, the world still knows this is the Church Christ founded and the Pope is the Vicar of Christ on earth.

Ezabelle
Ezabelle
Sunday, September 27, AD 2015 6:58am

The idea that Christ meets us whatever we are in our Faith, is a very powerful thing. Therefore, is it not more effective for the Pope to have touched upon issues without being too highly theological in order to better “meet” the members of government when he addressed them? Perhaps an address that “skimmed” the issues, may have struck a chord or two with those in the audience. Rather than condemning them or excommunicating them, a softer approach lends one to open their ears. A hard approach meets hostility.

I guess you could compare it to talking to a child. Sometimes you need to get down to someone’s level, and lower your expectations. And Pope Francis is doing this, to try and gain the trust of those fair-weather “Catholics” who have lost their way. And open the hearts of non-Catholics. Even if it is a little bit at a time.

Unfortunately in the meantime, the well-formed Catholics who have been unshakeably in their Faith, need to sit back and watch patiently, till the other mob “get it”. Yeah, it’s frustrating.

Just a thought.

I believe with my whole heart, that Pope Francis is doing his best. And he is not as bad as he is being portrayed. Some of us, for good reason, have very very high standards. There has never, nor will there ever be a perfect Pope.

The frustration you feel Donald is shared. However, try looking more at the positives of this pontificate, ofcourse without losing the criticism.

We don’t know how God works. But we trust it will be ok. We must, otherwise we loose hope.

Michael Dowd
Michael Dowd
Sunday, September 27, AD 2015 8:25am

Ezabelle. One of the problems with Pope Francis is that is changing the definition of what it means to be a Catholic. Sexual sinfulness is diminished while a new category of so called “social sins” is introduced. Sinners are celebrated while faithful Catholics are disregarded or even abused. Secular ideas are embraced while Catholic doctrine is ignored or downplayed. Worldly programs are promoted while spiritual development and eternal life are hardly mentioned. Need more be said?

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