Go here to read the rest. Orthodox Catholics get only words, empty words.
PopeWatch: Cakeism?
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 41 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
In the future, people will look back and say “what was that guy doin’ anyway?”
His dwindling cadre of orthodox supporters are culpable in whatever fraudulent spin they attempt to engage in at this point. His track record is crystal clear. His appointments are uniformly heterodox or worse and his ambiguity always and only opens doors for the same.
Papal apologetics are grifting, but the payment is just dopamine from self-righteousness and the occasional head pat from the likes of Beans or Wormtongue Ivereigh.
At least the Bulwark crew get checks that cash for their comparable efforts.
To, be fair, I suppose profound brain injuries could explain continued good faith support….
Dale, as you point out, Francis’ appointments are indeed uniformly heterodox or worse. And personnel is policy.
In this particular case, the former Primate of Belgium, Archbishop Andre Joseph Leonard, had for years been known as a thoroughly orthodox man. He was sidelined by Francis, and never received the red hat usual for an Archbishop of Brussels. Upon his 75th birthday, the mandatory letter of resignation the Archbishop submitted to Rome was accepted immediately— usually Rome takes years to do that.
Once Archbishop Leonard was dispatched, Francis appointed Josef de Kesel to be the new Archbishop of Brussels.
De Kesel was known to be quite liberal— and what is more, a protégé of the disgraced and disgraceful Cardinal Danneels, who was Archbishop Leonard’s predecessor. Francis quickly gave a red hat to the new Archbishop de Kesel, giving the man his stamp of approval.
Personnel is policy. Francis says a lot of things, mostly to give his audience what it wants to hear. To truly understand what Francis thinks and wants, one must turn down the volume on his blather and look at both what he does and with whom he surrounds himself.
De Kesel was made Cardinal Archbishop and Primate of Belgium because Francis knew he’d be another LGBT-friendly, orthodoxy-optional prelate like his mentor Danneels. This nonsense out of Belgium gives Francis what he wants, without him having to have his fingerprints on it.