It is possible that a recurring theme is emerging, or has been in play for some time. Whereby Pope Francis says or does something which is heretical that is then followed up with something that clarifies the Churches position traditionally. If I am correct, this is what your post alludes to. Like Fiducis Supplicans, something like a couple weeks after, PF clarified that homosexuality cannot be blessed. However the initial heretic action gets a lot of publicity, whereas the clarification does not. What this does is generate confusion among the laity as it tests their faith. It also motivates "progressives" in the church, while generating a kind of censorship among those who hold to tradition and scripture. As well, outside the Catholic church it also generates confusion and attacks upon her. I believe the desired result from all of this is to disturb the laity and encourage the world's population in general to sin. It also solidifies PF position as Pope, because those who come to attack him on the basis of heresy cannot do so because of his clarification afterwards.
Fr Amaroth who was the Churches Chief Exorcist and whose cause for sainthood is going ahead in Rome told a story about Padre Pio which I think was true. He was talking to Padre Pio about the Third Secret of Fatima and the Chastisement and Tribulation which we have entered. Father Amaroth spoke about all the physical things like wars, bad weather, economic break down and so on. But Padre Pio said none of these things concerned him. What really concerned him was Apostasy in the Church. Padre Pio revealed that he had been shown by God a future bad Pope and when he saw this guy in a vision he fainted stone cold on the spot it was so awful.
Physical chastisement are horrible yes, but the spiritual chastisement is infinitely more terrible. Poor souls in the Church and in the world lost in darkness. I don't pray enough. Long enough often enough hard enough. May God forgive me! I start once more today trying to do better. Fr Dan Reehill on Grace Force last week: " Busy is an acronym for Bound Under Satan's Yoke"
I’m not quite ready to say that Francis isn’t the Pope. I feel like it’s a heavy accusation and I’m frightened that I’ll make the wrong statement. Pray for me.
Don't go down that path. Just pray for him, stay in union with him and at the same time hold fast to the Catholic Faith in all of its manifestations.
I do pray for him. Don’t worry, I’ll never leave the Church. I don’t think he isn’t the Pope, especially because I think we would have been warned by a Marian apparition and because I don’t think God would leave His Church “unstaffed” in this time of spiritual darkness.
If you're driving along a dark road at night and encounter a dark , dangerous object you don't have to know exactly what it is to know to avoid it.
I pray and sacrifice every day for his conversion and repentance and defense of and promotion of orthodoxy and orthopraxis. And that if he will not convert, he would be confounded along with all those cooperating in his global nefarious plan. Whether he is THE pope at present, only the Church can decide, once the histories are written. Barring his conversion I am consoled by the thought that he is likely a usurper, not a valid pope. That is the only way I can keep my spiritual sanity and square the promises of Christ regarding the Chair of Peter with the reality of Bergoglio. The past century of liberal churchmen called it having a “mental reservation.” My mental reservation about him is that he is a usurper and therefore simply not my pope.
Also, it is NOT schismatic nor disobedient to question the legitimacy of a papacy, nor does it place one outside the Church to do so: Cardinal Cajetan on Schism Cardinal Cajetan: “If someone, for a reasonable motive, holds the person of the pope in suspicion and refuses his presence and even his jurisdiction, he does not commit the delict of schism, nor any other whatsoever.”
Perhaps most people can follow Pope Francis without question and remain spiritually at peace. However, there are others who have had concerns over the years. Knowing that it's valid to use critical reasoning to question whether a person like Francis is validly pope truly gives them peace as well. It doesn't destroy their faith; it helps fortify it.
When the Arcangel Gabriel appeared to Mary at the Annunciation she asked a question, 'How will this be?'. She did not give the nod right away. Later at the Presentation we read that , She stored these things at her heart. She went away and thought and prayed about things. At the Wedding Feast of Cana despite the fact that Jesus told her His time had not yet come she told the servants to do as He told her. Mary did in her life what all we Catholics should do she sought knowledge, necessary knowledge in order to understand and act. Being a Catholic is not about being a mindless robot. If something or someone, can ncluding a Pope does not compute we ask questions and speak or act accordingly, just as Mary did. Being silent and obedient in the face of evil is not Catholic. More, it is not Marian, we do not follow in the footsteps of Mary by doing so. Mary was no one's door mat. It is one of the Churches great jewels and Traditions that Catholics have always been encouraged to seek knowledge, to use their brains and educate themselves and to ask questions. This is something that I thiink very much, to our credit sets us apart fro m, say the Orthodox or Mormonsor Islam We can be very,very proud of this. Asking questions, including about goings on in the Vatican should be very much part of our Catholic DNA. It's not something to be afraid of. Seeking answers , seeking the truth is not ever something that we should be ashamed off or back down from.
Ezechiel 34:16 I will seek that which was lost: and that which was driven away, I will bring again: and I will bind up that which was broken, and I will strengthen that which was weak, and that which was fat and strong I will preserve, and I will feed them in judgment. Matt 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you. 7:8 For every one that asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
