The whole trip to Mongolia, one of the most sparsely populated countries on Earth with almost no Catholics, was bizarre.
PopeWatch: Bingo!
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Well, FarmersBookshelf, if it wasn’t on your Bingo card, you haven’t been paying attention the last ten years. Bootlicking despots and bullies has been one of the hallmarks of this pontificate.
And Mongolia has a Cardinal while Los Angeles doesn’t.
Cover for a secret meeting with a representative of his Chinese overlords, perhaps? Not much else makes sense, but then, we are talking about PF, so “things not making sense” is normal.
Regarding “Pope Chastisement”: You have probably heard the Tom Wolfe quote “The dark night of fascism is always descending in the United States yet lands only in Europe.” Well, it seems these days as if the dark night of divine chastisement that was supposed to descend upon bad Catholics (those who promote abortion, contraception, divorce/remarriage, same-sex marriage, etc.) ended up landing on faithful, pro-life and pro-tradition Catholics who spend most or all of their lives trying to do the right thing, often at great personal cost. Yes, I know that Jesus told us to take up our cross and expect suffering and all that, and I know we have to accept it, but dagnabbit, I don’t think we’re obligated to LIKE it are we? Even St. Teresa of Avila once told God that “if this is the way you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few!”.
She said that after the coach she was in turned over in a stream dousing the future saint. Things we say when we unexpectedly become wet should not be taken seriously. It does recall Tevye’s prayer to God: I know we are your chosen people, but couldn’t You choose some other people for a while?
As you note, Christ clearly indicated that his followers were to take up their cross and follow Him, but He never said we should expect to be having a grand time while doing so. I expect that rewards and punishments are usually, although not always, reserved for the next world.
Mongolia is also more civilized than Los Angeles.
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That is a very low bar indeed.