The only pope I've seen hit a woman said this today
"How much violence is directed toward women. Enough! To hurt a woman is to insult God." #PopeFrancis pic.twitter.com/9HIvx3II9s
— Nick Donnelly (@ProtecttheFaith) January 1, 2022
Not as I do. Actually I can understand why the Pope was perturbed in that incident and he did later apologize. His face as he turned away was priceless, and much more revelatory of the bad tempered man within than all the balderdash of the smiling Pope. His cant about violence directed against women being an assault on God stands in direct contrast to his celebration of some abortion advocates during his misbegotten pontificate, when we recall that slightly over half the abortion death count consists of females. The Pope is symbolic of our times in which words uttered and rationality are often not on speaking terms.
That woman was too much.
Her grip looked to be quite a challenge for PF.
I hope this prayer from Presentation Miniseries remains with you throughout the year ahead.
A great gift to Our Jesus;
Prayer: Father, may I be wise enough to give Your Son the gift of my life.
As for Pope Francis.
Peace. Peace in his heart and reconciliation for the rigidity he holds towards traditional Catholics.
May he be guided by the Holy Spirit and do what the Holy Spirit encourages him to do.
May we all put into action the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
That in itself is a glorious gift to our newborn King.
This pope, don’t even try to make sense. God is allowing this, but God did not choose this pope.
DAVID WS.
“..but God did not choose this pope.”
Strange. He allowed it even if He didn’t choose it. Chastisement? Realignment process where we witness what NOT to do for the future Church. (?) The future Pope. (?)
[Set the example, don’t become an example.]
If God allowed it He must have good reason. He vantage point is so much higher than ours.
Maybe it’s part of a deep cleansing process to come. The young clerics will witness a scouring brought on by disobedience, false prophets and dubious agendas..[?]
I wish I knew.
(His..not He.)
Typo city
This papacy is a paradox to me. It has, on the one hand, disabused me entirely of participating in the ultramontanism which has been prominent, possibly even dominant, among self-described conservative Catholics for some time now. The other side of that coin is the disturbing implications to the doctrine of infallibility raised by many of PF’s actions, speeches, and writings. While I remain, at least for now, convinced that Vatican I was not in error on that point, not least because of the sneaky, ambiguous manner in which the current regime has attempted to change previously defined doctrine without openly admitting it, I confess being shaken to some extent by the docility of so many bishops in the face of it all. They seem clearly to be more concerned with preserving their cushy positions than with fighting for truth and the salvation of souls, which I thought were their only jobs. The symbolism of the shepherd’s crook and the blood-colored headgear seems entirely lost on most of them.
I am by no means a subscriber to the “Benedict didn’t really resign” argument put forth by some Catholic bloggers, even though in other matters I have great respect for many of their views. The reality is that PF and his cohort “have the churches” now, and can and will do great temporal harm to anyone who gets in their way. There remains a duty of obedience, up to a point, and that point is often hard to define, especially when we get no help from the bishops. Of course, the bigger issue is the eternal harm done to the souls of those who are misled by the “magisterium” of this papacy. I may not see a resolution in my remaining time on this earth, but it is the constant harping on worldly matters to the nearly total exclusion of attention to eternal salvation that makes me believe in my heart that this pope cannot have been canonically elected, and is thus, technically at least, an antipope. I have no idea what the short term or long term implications of that may be, if it is actually true. All I can do is that which Philip and others, here and elsewhere, wisely advise: keep my faith, live it out as best I can, and do my best to remain in the state of grace, all the while trusting in God. He never said it would be easy. And it’s not. But that which is easily gained is rarely worthwhile in the long run, is it?
Astonishingly graceless and an indication that he has contempt for people outside his political circles, even admirers.
Wouldn’t it be interesting if a Cardinal Zen admirer just decided to shake it up a moment. A small, HEY..What are you doing to strengthen our faith in China? There isn’t anything to back up this high-fiction but it sure would get PF’s attention, especially if she was addressing him with the concerns of unground Catholics who won’t cave into the CCP katholic church.
https://religionunplugged.com/news/2020/11/6/cardinal-zen-declares-chinese-church-objectively-a-schismatic-church-says-parolin-telling-lies-shamelessly-china-agreement-communism-catholic-christianity
Speaking of a “smiling Pope”…
“Pope Francis to beatify ‘smiling pope’ John Paul I in September 2022”
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/249976/pope-francis-to-beatify-smiling-pope-john-paul-i-in-september-2022
“Pope John Paul I will be the 6th Pontiff of the 20th century to be beatified. That number includes all of the deceased Popes since the opening of Vatican II.”
https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=53317
Philip,
There have been times in my life when I have experienced a kind of private revelation as correction to something I thought or said. Once teaching CCD I expressed to the class that “God chooses the Pope” and I caught myself saying “No that’s not correct, the Cardinals (hopefully) under the direction of the Holy Spirit choose the Pope.. ”
And I followed up with:
“Surprise is not a word in the Divine Vocabulary.”
“God the Father is not Surprised by who the new Pope is… God is never Surprised”.
“God will use everything we do, the good and even our sins, to bring about the consummation of the world.”
And so it is.
It is a Mystery.
(yet we do have free will and God Is Almighty and I suppose that both would have to be true, for either to be true.)