Go here to read the story. The sedevacantists may be finally right. The Chair of Saint Peter may be currently vacant except for a shell.
PopeWatch: Pope Biden
- 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.
This is a problem. St JP2 was very ill towards the end of his pontificate but still had his wits about him. And he was not surrounded by vultures. He had equal freedom and support during his illness. And he was protected because of his holiness.
Pope Francis does not have the mental strength of St JP2. The Faithful do not want faceless men controlling the seat of Peter. Pope Francis resigning could be the greatest gift he could give to the Church at this point. Sometimes a leader needs to do what’s best for the organisation and step down.
These modernist churchmen think that good intention covers everything.
They’re wrong.
I’ve had the feeling that the auto pen has been working for the last 3 years anyway.
Psalm 13.
TBO has the prize-winning comment, in my opinion. And this “good intentions make everything legal” argument is not new. Indeed it goes back to Paul VI (forgive me if I can’t bring myself to call him Saint Paul VI–another example of “wish it and it’s true” thinking). All the canon law necessary for him to promulgate his new liturgy (not just the Mass) was never in place. It was always simply ignored. The same happened under John Paul II and Benedict XVI (remember “Extraordinary Form,” etc.?)
Quite a few churchmen saw through this subterfuge, among others, Cardinal Siri of Genoa. He never gave up a single prerogative even after Paul VI “suppressed” them. Why? Because he knew that in law, such prerogatives had to be suppressed by name of the individual–something that never happened. Cardinal Meyer, O.S.B., and Dom (later Cardinal) Bartolucci also paid little heed to all the directives and orders emanating from the Vatican in regards to the sacred liturgy–they both knew that it was largely done in contradiction to the canon law and was consequently without effect.
“St JP2 was very ill towards the end of his pontificate but still had his wits about him. And he was not surrounded by vultures. He had equal freedom and support during his illness. And he was protected because of his holiness.”
St. John Paul II had vultures around him too. Can anyone say Cardinal Angelo Sodano? It was Angelo Sodano who protected the worst known clerical sexual predator in the history of the Church, Fr. Marcial Maciel, founder of that cult masquerading as a religious order, the Legionaries of Christ. St. JPII’s holiness didn’t protect him from unwittingly enabling Maciel’s evil.
“St. JPII’s holiness didn’t protect him from unwittingly enabling Maciel’s evil.”
I don’t view St JP2 that way. Because St JP2 did not “enable” abuse by predatory priests or the behaviour of anyone acting against the Church and doctrine. I give him the benefit of the doubt that it is unlikely as Pope he knew of abuse by priests in local communities and their extent as it was the responsibility, as you say, of the bishop of the diocese or in Maciel case, Sodano, who knew of the extent of the abuse. When StJP2 became fully aware that the Church had a major problem in early 2000’s he put then Cardinal Ratzinger in charge of reforming Church law and laicizing priests who were guilty of abuse. StJP2 was clear about Church Doctrine, even throughout his illness. So yes, his fidelity and holiness did protect him from anyone undermining his role as Pope and defender of the Faith. He defended the Faith until the end.
In contrast, Pope Francis has enabled the vultures to take control because he set a precedent from the beginning as Pope. Although he has defrocked McCarrick (who preyed on Seminarians) he has allowed him sanctuary in a monastery. He has allowed Rupnik (who raped nuns) to live amongst a community of nuns. McElroy is blatantly heretical with no consequences, Martin is equally allowed to verbalise his pro-homosexual stances. Fernandez wrote a book called “Heal Me with Your Mouth. The Art of Kissing” and gets promoted to Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. I see in my own community, a watering down of the Faith so that is an indicator that the rot has spread. Pope Francis has been ambiguous about Church Doctrine throughout his pontificate. He has not lived up to the role as Pope and defender of the Faith. And it is clear he can’t currently communicate well. So nobody knows who is making decisions or defending the Faith.
Nevertheless, we pray for him during his suffering and that the Church is in the correct hands at this ambiguous time.
Ezabelle, I didn’t say or imply JP2 knowingly enabled Maciel. I said unwittingly. Despite the fact there had been Vatican investigations into Maciel’s sexual abuse of boys and drug abuse since the 1940s, he was able to get that close to St JP2. That raised a lot of uncomfortable questions that merit answers. By the way, McCarrick, as evil as he is, is a saint compared to Maciel. And JP2 was warned about McCarrick, but brushed off those warnings. He was also warned about Bergoglio.
For all his sanctity, St. JP2’s handing of the sex abuse crisis was bad. It was tone deaf.
Ok. If StJP2 is declared a Saint by the Church, then he is in Heaven. And God has judged his life, including how he managed the abuse within the Church. We have to accept that at some stage.
PF has been unable to ignore the rot because of social media and the nature of the media in general during his pontificate. He has consciously not condemned the bad behaviour. And ontop of that, he diverted attention from Vatican corruption by condemning an innocent man, George Pell, of sexual abuse. That is abhorrent. And as we speak, we don’t know who is running the Church.
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Ezabelle, my only dissent from your posts on this topic is the acceptance of the purported infallibility of canonizations. The process has been dumbed down, unfortunately something JP2 started, to the point where it is relatively easy to push someone through without serious question. This is a tragedy, IMO. We should be able to rely on these determinations without hesitation, and that is no longer possible.
I’ll disagree with you on infallibility of canonizations. That’s a slippery slope. If declared, you cannot undeclared. It’s already gone through the scrutiny process.
But I’m biased. I love StJP2. He interceded for my in my illness and is someone both my husband and I love. And I saw him as a young person. I’m biased.