This homily by Pope Francis yesterday is attracting attention:
“A shepherd must be ready to step down completely from his church, rather than leave in a partial manner” said the Pope.
His words were drawn from the first reading at Mass, where St Paul addressed the church leaders in Ephesus. The Pope said that this reading could easily be called “A bishop’s leave taking” because Paul has left the Church of Ephesus in order to go to Jerusalem, where the Holy Spirit called him to go.
“All shepherds have to step down. There comes a moment where the Lord says ‘go to another place, come here, go there, come to me.’ And it’s one of the steps that a shepherd must take; be prepared to step down in the correct way, not still hanging on to his position. The shepherd who doesn’t learn how to do this because he still has some links with his sheep that are not good, links that are not purified by the Cross of Jesus” said Pope Francis.
Go here to read the rest. Is this a signal? Is Pope Francis signaling his own retirement? Is he signaling dissatisfaction with the Pope Emeritus? Is it not a signal but merely an exegesis from the reading? How say you?
“…links that are not purified by the Cross of Jesus.”
Going to read the rest now, but this morsel is interesting.
My take is that there are no retirement plans for our Francis. He is not broadcasting his future. Gut feelings only.
However I would not be surprised to see major changes with appointments within the Vatican and outside as well. I wonder if he IS broadcasting change?
I do not think that this is an expression of his intent but of his frustration that so many conservative bishops hang on until mandatory retirement. It is not unlike a President’s frustration with Justicies hanging on to avoid his nomination of ideological opponents.
Hopefully he is speaking about himself, but given his personality he is most likely slamming Benedict XVI.
I think David Spaulding is correct.
With regard to the bishops of the west, the term “conservative bishop” is the Mother of all Oxymorons!
The most natural read is a swipe at Benedict, probably related to the former Pope’s fulsome praise of Robert Sarah, which cannot have been received favorably by the liturgical Bolsheviks the current pontiff has installed at Divine Worship.
That, and there’s zero chance the current pontiff resigns early, occasional rhetorical feints to the contrary notwithstanding. He has far too much demolition left to do.
I think Michael Brendan Dougherty has it nailed on his Twitter feed (the Bergoglian personality cult reacts predictably).
https://twitter.com/michaelbd/status/869743291486613504
If retired Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz is not a conservative the term is devoid of meaning.
Bruskewitz is a notable exception. But his successor is a different story.
And as you noted, Donald, Bruskewitz is retired. And speaking of Bruskewitz, he was a constant thorn in the side of the leftist powerbase of the USCCB.
Speaking of the USCCB, how do we get around to the laity and some clergy to challenge their “group think” decisions and teachings? I’m convinced their teaching on Mt 25, 31-46 is completely wrong, and it is creating a crisis situation with illegal aliens. And the “fruit” of the “consistent ethic of life” is non existent, the consequence being over 40,000,000 murdered unborn babies without a word from them demanding a constitutional right to life amendment. And their demanding government do something to eliminate poverty. And if the end of prayer in public schools, and the end of God’s two greatest gifts – the gift of life and the sanctity of marriage is not enough, now we are being told that God didn’t know what He was doing when He created all of life based on carbon dioxide and oxygen – which in essence the pope and the bishops are saying in their belief so-called “climate change” is real.
Who knows what Pope Francis is saying or thinking. Chances are he doesn’t know himself. Perhaps he has a death wish—-maybe become a martyr or something?
I cannot see this as anything other than a snide reference to Benedict XVI, and it is another indication of Francis’ increasing insecurity