Mario said, ..."the somewhat unconventional pontificate of Pope Francis has exposed the Judases who, until now, have been fairly unknown. And like the rest of the world, their exposure pivots on issues surrounding human sexuality and the family. Yes, the open rebellion of the above Judases has truly startled me, for they appear so strident and unafraid! For really, we do not know who are the “Judases” and who are the “Peters” who, though they may deny Christ now, may also repent and accept Him later precisely because of the witness of our love and forgiveness. The highlighted portion above has not stopped me from honest and pained criticism, but has held me back from judgment. Lord have mercy". For the longest time, I stated on MOG early on that I felt Pope Francis was "playing" the dissenters within the clergy to expose them for what they are and then discipline them. I gave him the benefit of the doubt for nearly 3.5 years of his pontificate, but no longer. Once the dubia came out and for over a year now he has refused to calm the confusion that AL brought to the Church, it became utterly clear he was supporting dissent and not drawing it out. No pope would intentionally go this far into watching dissent from scripture and magisterial teachings and foment schism within the ranks fulfilling the approved Akita prophecy of "cardinals against cardinals and bishops against bishops" if he was simply being shrewd in exposing dissension. I feel Pope Francis will repent, but it will be late and the Vatican will be destroyed by evil men.
I appreciated Cardinal Muller's recent and clear articulation of truth, but such needs to come from Pope Francis to stem the tide. So I pray, and pray, and pray some more. As I sadly stated above: The open rebellion of the above Judases has truly startled me, for they appear so strident and unafraid! This is why I am grieved! What JoeJerk wants me to believe is that my prayers are for naught! But I will not cease because... Ps 62:7 On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. 8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. 9 Men of low estate are but a breath, men of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath. Safe in the Refuge of the Immaculate Heart!
Cardinal Muller has reaffirmed that the traditional moral and dogmatic truths of the Church have not been changed in AL. I trust in God this is a safe statement for me to believe the Church is as steady as ever at the bottom of it all. I don't worry about everything I hear Holy Father has said off the cuff. As for the Cardinals or Bishops, I remember statements from some of them as far back as the 1970's which were not in conformity to the Popes at the time, and we survived by keeping to the traditions handed down to us. But it occurred to me. Are we not like the Jews in the dessert who complained at what they left behind in Egypt when they followed Moses in search of the promised land. How many wanted to go back to the slavery in Egypt. They complained about the lack of water, and God sent water miraculously. They got bored with the Mana in the desert, and complained about it. God was not impressed and sent a plague of snakes, which He then obliged them by sending a means to be healed if they got bitten. We don't want to end up walking around in circles as the Jews did in the dessert for 40 years or more because of our stubbornness, instead of Praying, Hoping and not Worrying which is the fastest way to get past this time of confusion. The thing is, are we not behaving like the Jews in the dessert. Are we putting God to the test if we can't trust Him to bring us through these turbulent times. We have the Law and the Prophets. We have the Sacred Traditions and the faith of our fathers to cling to. Why can't we count our blessings and trust in God to save us while we petition Him to have Mercy on those who have strayed either by indifference or Apostasy, or Heresy. By the way the Divine Mercy Chaplet started on Good Friday, when we have the chance to petition God to have Mercy on all those who are in need of His Mercy, and be saved. Just my thoughts about this at the moment.
Lack of true leadership is what is ravaging the flock of Christ. The sheep are scattered and the wolves are in the sheep pen. There are too many competing and divided interests - the Church has become a political football and ravaged by apostasy and unbelief. We are in the fourth great crisis of the Church perhaps the worst of them all.
Mark is starting to get things in order. But frankly a couple of years behind what has been continually discussed here on this forum.And still in denial. Mark writes ..'.Of course, I know some of my readers are asking why Pope Francis himself has not clarified certain matters of teaching, or in some cases, has put these apparent Judases in positions of power? I don’t have the answer'. So dont look to Mark for the answer.He tells us he does not have it. The answer is in the message of Fatima.
I'm betting that 2017 is the year to start thinking "Outside de Box". I'm guessing the "answer" is real simple!: "Jesus I Trust in You". The same message he told St Faustina to propagate was the same simple message He gave us during His three years on Earth. In usual Human fashion, these past 1985 years, we have complicated (probably distorted) The Word and confused The Flock to the point where it's necessary for Divine Intervention ..... just 7 1/2 months to go to find out if 2017 is that year of ........ GOD SAVE ALL HERE!! ..... & HAPPY EASTER
If a General had an army whose officers and soldiers raped, murdered and plundered we would blame the army of course for its terrible behaviour. But the man we would blame most of all would be the General for not controlling his troops. It is the same in any hierarchical organisation , the higher up on is the more one is to blame for any wrong doing. I cannot understand why some people find it hard or impossible to apply the same criteria to the Church.
Since Judas was Jewish I wonder if Judas was expecting Jesus to be the strong militant messiah that the Jewish faith have waited for even to this day. Then Jesus instead laid down his life for us and did not incite a revolution of the kind we see so often but one of the Holy Spirit and Gospel. If he expected our Lord to eventually become crowned King of this earth he was dismayed (like all the Apostles I would think were after his death on the cross and before his Resurrection). None of them understood it. Now, we have the Holy Spirit and the Gospel to direct us. We must trust in Christ, pray and continue to be the light each day. Not held under a basket I do not understand why Pope Francis has become so rigid in opposition to clarifying his teachings but I share Fatima's opinion that it will be and even now is too late. I pray for Pope Francis. Much has been entrusted to him.
I can honestly answer your question highlighted and underlined. My reason for not applying the same criteria to the Church as one would to an army is because the Holy Roman Catholic Church is the Mystical Body of Christ on earth. The reasoning of man made institutions don't require trust in the Lord, Jesus has already done the job of Redeeming us without any help from any of us. All we are asked to do is choose who's side we are on, that being Heaven or hell.
'The crozier, or officially the pastoral staff (baculus pastoralis), symbolizes the role of bishop as the Good Shepherd. In the Gospel of St. John (10:1-21), our Lord identified Himself as the Good Shepherd. The word translated as Agood" in the original Greek text is kalos, which also means "model." Our Lord is the model shepherd for the apostles and their successors, the bishops, who are appointed as shepherds. The bishop, like a good shepherd, must lead his faithful flock along the path of salvation, disciplining and protecting them as needed. The shepherd's staff is therefore a most appropriate symbol for the office of bishop. St. Isidore explained that a newly consecrated bishop received the crozier "that he may govern and correct those below him or to offer support to the weakest of the weak." Since the time of Pope Paul VI, the Holy Father's crozier has a curved cross at the top, which symbolizes his special office as not only bishop of Rome, but also the Vicar of Christ who is entrusted with the leadership of the universal Church.' http://www.catholiceducation.org/en...ibutions/symbols-of-the-office-of-bishop.html John 10:11 Jesus the Good Shepherd …10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness. 11I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock.…
http://www.catholicbible101.com/thechurchmilitant.htm The Church Militant We here on earth are known as “The Church Militant.” The Church Militant is 1/3 of the entire Catholic Church known as the Mystical Body of Christ. The Church Militant is so named because we, its members on earth, struggle daily against the devil, the world, and our flesh. The other 2/3 of the Mystical Body of Christ are the Church Suffering (the poor souls in purgatory), and the Church Triumphant (those purified souls in heaven). The unity of these three groups comprise the entire church, and the cooperation between these 3 entities is also known as the “communion of saints.” Of course, saints on earth that Paul referred to in several places in the bible are not perfect, like the ones in heaven are, but he is referring to the fact that certain people on earth are leading exemplary lives for Christ, and are winning the battle against satan, the flesh, and the world. So what exactly is the role of us, the Church Militant? Well, like in all wars, the militant take action against the enemy at the gate. Judas Maccabees is a prime example in the Old Testament which we can use for a biblical “type” of what we should be. In 1 Maccabees 1, the Syrian king Antiochus defiles the temple and forces the Jews to accept Greek customs or die. This King Antiochus is a biblical type, or foreshadowing, of the antichrist to come. Judas Maccabees formed an army of like-minded militant Jews, and defeated the mighty King Antiochus with the help of God, and the re-dedication of the Temple then took place. Many Jews were given a chance to accept the rule of King Antiochus and his abomination if they would renounce God and worship him. The story of the Mother and her seven sons being tortured and killed one by one as they refused to renounce God in 2 Maccabees 7 is very sad in itself, but it highlights what the Church Militant of the Old Testament was willing to do for God (Jesus Himself attended the Festival of the Dedication of the Temple in John 10). A miracle took place there, according to the Talmud, when the oil did not run out of the lamps for 8 days. This miracle is still celebrated today among Jews, and is known as Hannukah. So now here we are in the 21st Century, when the Holy Catholic Church is not only under attack from within with child molesting priests, but also under attack by the government, by atheists, by the media, by Hollywood, by satanists who destroy Communion Hosts and statues, and by Communism as well. Everyone is pretty familiar with the priest scandal. In the US, about 2% of priests over 50 years have been found guilty of abusing children, 80% of those being homosexual attacks on altar boys. That’s 2% too many, of course, but around 98% of priests therefore are clean. However, the mainstream media never give out this figure, and so many ignorant people assume the vast majority of Catholic priests are guilty of this crime, when it is the exact opposite. Many protestants say – “Well, if they could just get married, this wouldn’t happen.” This is strange, since Paul, John the Baptist, and Jesus were celibate, and the 144,000 in Revelation 14 are celibate as well. And if this strange assertion is correct, then all homosexual men can become straight just by getting married to a woman (which the homosexuals say is impossible). And now the Obama Administration in Washington is DEMANDING that Catholic Hospitals and Universities provide free abortifacients and birth control pills for all of its employees, a CLEAR violation of the separation of church and state. And this is only their first attack on the Mystical Body of Christ. Expect abortions to be mandated at Catholic Hospitals next. In some countries like Canada and Ireland, Catholic priests who preach the Catholic doctrine against homosexual sin are being accused of “hate speech,” and are being investigated by the government (sure sounds like what happened in Nazi Germany when priests spoke out against the Reich). And in Africa, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines, Catholics are being murdered by Hindus and Muslims, and hardly anyone says a word. The atheists are also attacking the Church, with their horrid books that equate Muslim fanatics with St. Francis. Recently, when Pope Benedict XVI went to England, the militant atheists wanted him arrested for the priest scandals. The irony is that no man in the entire Catholic Church has done more to stop this horrid affair than the Holy Father. And then there is all of the atheist evangelizing going on, with their suggestive billboards, one even with a church BURNING! And the “Occupy” movement has been guilty of desecrating statues and Communion hosts as well. Sure sounds like a resurgence of Communism. The mainstream media where most people get their news is constantly lying about the Church and what it stands for. They do this because they HATE the Church’s stance on abortion, birth control, and homosexuality. Some of the worst offenders in this regard are liberal Catholic newscasters, who say they are Catholic, but then lecture bishops and priests about why the Church’s teachings on birth control and women priests are outdated and must capitulate to Democrat Party dogma. How dumb is that? VERY! Never get your news about the Church from the mainstream media. Always go to a Catholic source. Hollywood is one of the worst offenders against the Mystical Body. The DaVinci Code and its sequels have everyone believing the Catholic Church is some kind of secret society with murdering monks. The Church is an open Church, and is not like the Freemasons and the Skull and Bones, which ARE secret societies. One wonders if they weren’t behind the movies, the pot calling the kettle black, so to speak. And how many vile late night comedians have told Communion jokes, anti-priest jokes, anti-Pope jokes, etc.? And people actually laugh at these abominations. When you make fun of the Church, you are making fun of Jesus, its head. How funny is that? Not very. And the Satanists are working overtime to destroy the Church as well. Many parishes have to put their tabernacle under lock and key to keep consecrated hosts from being stolen for the satanists’ black masses. Communion in the hand is one way that these evil people steal hosts, as some of them never put it in their mouths before going back to the pew, in order to save it for their rite. And how many times have we read about statues being desecrated at Catholic Churches…Way too many. In 1962, the Communists created a play called "The Deputy," where they accused Pope Pius XII of being Hitler's Pope and not doing enough to save the Jews. One has to wonder just how much the Communists themselves did to save the Jews. After all, they were the one with a huge army. Pope Pius XII was lauded by such Jews as Albert Einstein and Golda Meier after the war for being about the ONLY European leader that saved Jews, with about 800,000 in all being hidden in the Vatican and other monasteries and convents around Rome. Sadly, many ignorant people prefer today to believe the Communists than Einstein and Meier. So now that the evil one’s game plan is out in the open, where evils like pornography, abortion, homosexuality, artificial birth control, and embryonic stem cell research are being called “GOOD” (Isaiah 5:20), what are we, the Church Militant going to do about it? Are we going to just go with the flow of society, and say nothing? Or are we going to fast more, pray more, speak out more, write our Congressmen and Congresswomen more, & vote more intelligently than just voting for the young sophist with the big smile who promises us generic “hope and change”? Hopefully, the Church Militant will choose the latter. Start saying rosaries every day for the intention of fighting satan and his dupes here on earth. Go to Eucharistic Adoration more, and ask God to put a stop to all of this. Fast once or twice a week for the poor souls in purgatory. Pray for your enemies, and forgive them. Speak out boldly whenever the Church is attacked (because that means Jesus, its head, has been attacked!). And vote pro-life EVERY TIME. After all, if a candidate believes that it’s all right to kill an innocent baby, do you really care about his/her position on health care or the economy? Hopefully NOT!
An example of where the authority of the Pope should be used to stop abuse and is not being used, there are of course many, many , many others others. http://www.onepeterfive.com/german-bishops-allow-holy-communion-remarried-now/ German Bishops Allow Holy Communion for the “Remarried” Now After a somewhat more extended period for its preparation, the long-awaited pastoral and doctrinal document (“Word of the Bishops”) of the German Bishops’ Conference concerning the application of Amoris Laetitia has finally come out. As the German Bishops’ website, Katholisch.de, reports today: “The Remarried May Receive Communion in Individual Cases.” This piece of news, unsurprisingly, is already being reported internationally. As the new document – published today, 1 February 2017 – says, “not everybody whose marriage is broken and who is remarried” may go to the Sacraments, to include the Sacrament of Penance. The bishops propose a process of discernment in order to decide whether such a “remarried” couple, or individual persons, may receive the Sacraments. The German Bishops’ document – which is dated 1 February, but which was already adopted by the bishops’ council itself on 23 January 2017 – also says that Amoris Laetitia (AL 300) does not “categorically exclude” the “remarried” divorcees from the Sacrament, since in some cases, there is not to be found “serious guilt [sic].” The text, as expected, also refers to the controversial paragraph – paragraph 305 with its footnote 351 – and claims that not everybody who is in an “objectively irregular situation” is in the state of sin, or at least “not completely so”. Moreover, even though not every couple per se may be admitted to the Sacraments, the German bishops say that, for some couples, indeed, “Amoris Laetitia opens up the possibility of receiving the Sacraments of Penance and of the Eucharist.” [my emphasis] However, this should also be done, according to the bishops, with the help and accompaniment of a “pastoral caretaker.” It is in this context and situation of discernment that the German bishops – with explicit reference to Amoris Laetitia (37) – stress the importance and weight of the individual consciences, as such, which may not then come to be effectively “replaced by the Church herself.” The document thus says: The individual decision – under the individual circumstances – not to be yet able to receive the Sacraments deserves respect and esteem. But, one also has to respect a [individual] decision in favor of the reception of the Sacraments. [my emphasis] The German bishops do stress the formation of conscience, which has to take place, as well. But, while they reject both extremes of “laxity” or “rigorism,” they still subtly give much scope to the individual couples who now may decisively discern themselves – with the help of an accompanying and discerning priest (or another pastoral caretaker) – whether or not they should receive the Sacraments yet. The Church, according to the German bishops, would then have to respect their own decision, as the last quote also implies. Image © Raimond Spekking / CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons) Thus it seems that even the German bishops do not yet go as far as the Maltese bishops with their own new guidelines – who have stressed even more explicitly the weight of the individual conscience – but the Germans come quite close to it. This, of course, should not be astonishing, since the German bishops – among them Cardinal Walter Kasper himself – have been recurrently pushing for the indulgent laxening of the Church’s morality concerning the “remarried” divorcees, and for a long time. This is how it sounded, already back in 1993, when Kasper, together with two other bishops, first proposed to implement in southern Germany the “Kasper proposal” (as it is now called) – now almost 25 years ago: The priest [in discerning with the couple their individual case] will respect the judgment of the individual’s conscience, which that person has reached after examining his own conscience and becoming convinced his approaching the Holy Eucharist can be justified before God. [my emphasis] Back then, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stopped this initiative. It is helpful in this context, moreover, to know that Cardinal Gerhard Müller as the Prefect of that same Congregation has just unequivocally said that there cannot be a contradiction between doctrine and the individual conscience, and he then added: For example, it cannot be said that there are circumstances according to which an act of adultery does not constitute a mortal sin. For Catholic doctrine, it is impossible for mortal sin to coexist with sanctifying grace. [my emphasis] Cardinal Müller also insisted – with reference to Familiaris Consortio 84 – that “remarried” divorcees have to live in sincere and enduring continence if they wish to receive the Sacraments. That topic, however, is not even at all being discussed by the German bishops’ own new statement. This very troubling new document from the German bishops comes at a time where one of the German bishops – Archbishop Heiner Koch, of Berlin – has now even declined to make a moral judgment upon the sinfulness of homosexual unions. For example, on 30 January, 2017, the German progressive newspaper taz published an interview with the German archbishop of Berlin which mainly deals with the question of homosexuality. While Koch insists that the word “marriage” means a union between a man and a woman, because it is open to life; he then makes the stunning remark that “I have respect about how they [homosexual couples] are living out their own sexuality – since I assume that they are doing it responsibly.” [my emphasis] When the journalist asked him why the Church is so sure that a homosexual is living in the state of sin, even though Jesus Christ Himself has not made such an explicit statement on the matter, Koch answers: “You wish that I make a general judgment about an individual person. That I will not do.” [my emphasis] He thus refuses to proclaim the Church’s own moral teaching on homosexuality and its acts. As can be seen here, the dissolution of Catholic Doctrine continues to grow in Germany. Update, 2 February: According to a Katholisch.de article of today, the “remarried” divorcees may not necessarily need to contact a priest for the discernment of their individual situation with regard to the Sacraments. I myself had understood the German word “Seelsorger” as meaning a priest; however, I might have been mistaken. I will try to follow up on this matter with the German Bishops’ Conference itself. Update, 5 February: According to our new findings, I replaced in this article now the word “pastor” with “pastoral caretaker” which is broader and which indeed includes laymen, as well.
If anyone were in any doubt about the intended interpretation of AL, here is the answer. The Maltese bishops have not only made a liberal interpretation (as if there were any other), they have also insisted that priests implement the novelty in teaching. Pope thanks Maltese bishops for AL Guidelines Edward Pentin, NC Register Friday, April 7, 2017 On behalf of Pope Francis, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri has reportedly sent a letter to Malta’s bishops to thank them for their guidelines on applying the controversial Chapter 8 of the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love). The bishops’ document drew strong criticism from some theologians, canon lawyers, and some Vatican officials who argued that it appeared to assert the primacy of conscience over the objective moral truth.
It doesn't surprise me Pope Francis thinks exactly the same as the Maltese Bishops . I will write no more, in case I write something very,very uncharitable indeed about the guy
All these little Country Churches with large pictures of the Pope in their halls, trusting him, not realising how he is stabbing them in the back
One thing life has taught me is that when trouble heads up the road that you wind up with a terrible lot of folks with no answers on what to do or say
I expect that at the World Meeting of Families in Ireland next year there will be nothing but praise and adulation for Amoris, if the brochure is anything to go by. All the nice people who want to have a happy positive attitude will have their heads firmly stuck in the sand and will there be any experts on St. John Paul II's teaching or real Catholic groups like The Voice of the Family or Human Life International?
