PopeWatch: Time

On the surface, it looks dire. However, there is a small light…

Here is a partial transcript from +Fellay’s recent conference (I transcribed) from the video that Rorate Caeli had posted. It is worth reading, for context purposes, what +Fellay related from the SSPX’s dealings with Rome:

“At the time, I was not very happy about these things (call them “Romes negotiating tactics”) but with the time, with reflecting, yes they (CDF) are facing enormous problems and suddenly what appeared to be the problem that is us, maybe it looks like a solution. And here you have to understand something, which is very, very interesting. The excesses of the present pope have caused a startled reaction. It’s open now. It’s no longer hidden, or let’s say for people like were hiding themselves, no you have cardinals, you have bishops who have openly contradicted these new tendency, this new tendency of hitting the morals and even the doctrine. We have counted that there are between 26 and 30 cardinals who have openly attacked these modern positions. And numerous bishops. They say that to the point that we (the SSPX) have lost the monopoly on the contestation of the protest, til just a few years ago we were the only ones to state publicly these (to be) wrong. Now as they say, we have lost the monopoly of these attacks. You have various, they’re not uniform, so you have some which are more forceful, stronger, you have some that are a little weaker, some are broader but you have these… and it is very interesting because it is new, you didn’t have that. It’s a catastrophe for the Church, but it’s good, it’s good that finally there is a reaction. It’s high time. And this reaction is growing. And now you have to reflect. How can someone oppose the pope? We know, we have given the explanation. It’s not now. It’s (been) years that we explained why we have the right to do so. But these bishops and cardinals what their doing now must also reflect and have the right answer, how in in which name do they have the right to oppose the pope. The Holy Father. The one who’s under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. These are all the arguments that they gave to us, to say you must obey. So under which name now they say: disobey. Well, there is only one answer. It’s because the Church in the past has already spoken about these things. And given the answer. And that’s what we call Tradition. Precisely that. In other words, the only reason to oppose is the attitude we have. And these people are intelligent they realize that in fact what we do is just the right thing. We’ve been told that at the last meeting of the Congregation of the Faith, where they all meet together, all the cardinals and bishops which are members, we call that a plenaria, this is the full meeting, there was only one cardinal who said, ‘no, no. no, the Society must absolutely accept the whole council’. And other voices who said ‘these people do only one thing, (that is) to repeat what the Church has always taught’. So you see, there is something on the move…”

“The reason of course is that Pope Francis is not a threat at all to their wealth and power, and that what he demands in the economic realm, greater governmental control and international regulation”
Nothing new there.
In Populorum Progressio, Bl Paul VI taught, “Individual initiative alone and the interplay of competition will not ensure satisfactory development. We cannot proceed to increase the wealth and power of the rich while we entrench the needy in their poverty and add to the woes of the oppressed. Organized programs are necessary for “directing, stimulating, coordinating, supplying and integrating” the work of individuals and intermediary organizations. It is for the public authorities to establish and lay down the desired goals, the plans to be followed, and the methods to be used in fulfilling them; and it is also their task to stimulate the efforts of those involved in this common activity.”
Also, “Such international collaboration among the nations of the world certainly calls for institutions that will promote, coordinate and direct it, until a new juridical order is firmly established and fully ratified. We give willing and wholehearted support to those public organizations that have already joined in promoting the development of nations, and We ardently hope that they will enjoy ever growing authority. As We told the United Nations General Assembly in New York: “Your vocation is to bring not just some peoples but all peoples together as brothers. . . Who can fail to see the need and importance of thus gradually coming to the establishment of a world authority capable of taking effective action on the juridical and political planes?””

Think of it this way. If banks should not be too big to fail neither should governments. Bigness removes competition. The whole point of big business is to remove competition. Competition is thought to be bad for profits and corporate stability. Accordingly, our Federal Government needs to be radically reduced in size with powers transferred to the various States. Bigness creates a moral hazard, i.e, lack of incentive to guard against risk where one is protected from its consequences. The prefect example of this is our Federal Government which has been able increase debt without consequence and thus assure that the powers that be stay in power and that the rich get richer.

Nominally Catholic… Luxembourg 60% divorce rate; Spain 61%; Portugal 68% divorce rate.. Two largest Catholic countries..
—
It’s worse than that. In recent years, the number of 1st marriages contracted among Spanish women has bounced around a set point of 136,000. Female birth cohorts ca. 1986 were just north of 200,000. About 1/3 of Spanish women are not marrying at all. The ratio of divorces to marriages contracted actually has been 0.61 in recent years. IOW, about 1/4 of each Spanish cohort is making a go of conventional domestic life. The total fertility rate in Spain has been chronically depressed for a generation and stands at about 1.3 births per woman per lifetime. The median unemployment rate in that country over the last half-generation has been about 12% (a level not reached in this country even during the 1982 recession).

To me, more a false prophet than the Antichrist: The Apocalyptic Beasts

“what he demands in the economic realm, greater governmental control and international regulation” — The pope who said he wanted to de-centralize things ? Yeah, he seems to consolidate stuff in the Vatican, too.