I must remember to pray for poor Pope Benedict. He would have been better going back home to Bavaria to retire. Bavaria is drop dead gorgeous and very,very Catholic.
Padraig, I agree. I also can't help but think of where McCarrick will be residing and the freedom that he appears to have in comparison to the lack of freedom which PE Benedict appears to have. It's very sad and we do need to include PE Benedict in our daily prayers, you are absolutely correct!
Yes, watch that and then start reading about the Economy of Francesco event being held this March in Asissi. https://francescoeconomy.org/
A picture is worth a thousand words. https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/12373/remove-benedict-as-co-author-demands-g-nswein
. “The invitation to participate comes directly from the Holy Father “. I wish I had the time to google who the other participants are. Mr Sachs I know. I would imagine a pope would invite young people to hear the liberating Words of Our Lord. But I suppose those days are long gone. Ever wonder why our evangelical brothers go to the Amazon, bible in hand, and convert people by the thousands? Well this is one of the reasons. Amazing.
Yes. Although as far as Mr McCarrick goes, perhaps God is writing straight in crooked lines in all this? When we look at the fact that the church is bankrolling this old paedophile and attempting to keep him in the great comfort puts a burr under us. We see it as a Sign of contradiction it forces us out of our Catholic comfort zone to dare to ask searching questions. nice comfort zone. Michael Voris is like this. I have been following him for years. Initially he was very,very gentle at first. Asking gentle probing questions. But lately he reminds me of one of the thundering Old Testament Prophets . He still makes me uncomfortable; but I think in a good way. He forces me out of my nice Church going Catholic comfort zone to ask questions myself. No bad thing. So when we see this serial child abuser Mc Carrick getting lifted and laid by the Church; we dare to ask why?
I think it very likely that changing the rules on priestly celibacy will be introduced by stealth in the post-Synodal Exhortation, much the same way as Communion for anyone who shows up was introduced in Amoris Laetitia. I expect that they won't bother hiding the change in the Amazon Exhortation because there will be great fanfare about the Catholic Church instructing its members that climate change scepticism is on a par with promoting abortion and same sex marriage. That's what will get the media attention and anyone who complains about the attack on priestly celibacy contained in the document will be labeled as an earth destroying, fascist Pope Francis hater. That the same people were right about the footnote in Amoris Laetitia will be denied by the usual apologists who care more about being on good terms with their Bishop and getting speaking engagements from him than with the great apostasy being incorporated into pastoral practice via vague language in official Church documents. Pope Benedict and Cardinal Sarah probably realised that and were hoping that Pope Francis or some of the Bishops would listen to them. Pope Benedict knew that the people in power in the Vatican would sit on any document he sent them, just as they sat on the document he wrote for the sexual abuse summit. He had to resort to publishing that himself after the summit when he sent it to a German newspaper. This time he made sure his document was published before Pope Francis does his worst. I fear it is too little, too late. The Vatican has already sent a letter to all Bishops telling them to be prepared to get the maximum publicity possible for the document which, according to them, is the work of the Holy Spirit. Has any Pope in the history of the Church likened himself so often to the Holy Spirit? Has any Pope in the history of the Church used so many references to his own documents to support his own changes, mostly because he can't find sufficient material from his predecessors to support what he is doing? I don't think so. This Exhortation will quote Laudato Si which we will be told is the work of the Holy Spirit, yet Laudato Si was based on a document prepared by Jeffrey Sachs. Ubiquitous though he seems to be, Jeffrey Sachs is not the Holy Spirit and I don't care how many Popes or Bishops would have me believe otherwise. People with no supernatural faith use politics or the cause of the day to prop up their egos and the Catholic church has an infrastructure politicians could only dream of. Imagine all our seminaries filled with eco warriors joining the priesthood to save the whale after the Bishop gives them the wink and nod that they can hook up with a partner of whatever gender because rigid fundamentalists will soon have to accept that celibacy is an affront to the dignity of the human person. What can follow but a democratic Church with Bishops elected by anyone calling himself Catholic. The eco warriors have plenty of experience at running campaigns, and our influential clerics have plenty of experience kow-towing to them. And don't expect anyone to listen if we voice our concerns because we'll be told that the voting system will be very fair with every Catholic having an equal say via the ballot box, just as we were told that giving Communion to adulterers was none of our business unless we were remarried divorcees. Really, what's the use finding out about this disgraceful misuse of Apostolic authority? We can do nothing about it. It will cause decades of damage to the Church. Most likely I will be dead and gone before Pope Francis is denounced for the charlatan he appears to be. I feel sorry for parents who will have to guide their children through this maze of apostasy posing as Church doctrine and pastoral practice. Nevertheless, for the sake of my own soul, I think that I will resort to my own Benedict option by frequenting churches where Mass is offered with reverence and homilies are not an indoctrination exercise in the spirit of the pachamama or integral ecology or whatever buzz words they use to dress up the apostasy. God won't leave us orphans. There will be faithful priests although it may be difficult to find them. Let the apostates at it. It's God's Church so let God fix it. I'm beyond caring what they do.
We have to loose the guilt of speaking out against evil in the Church. By becoming silent we become partakers in the evil. We have to shout and cry out as did the Prophets and saints from of old. We have a duty to raise our voices and move out from our nice safe comfort zones .
I don't even think poor Cardinal Sarah and Pope Benedict have a clue who and what they are dealing with. I just think that like many, many Catholics ; in fact most Catholics they haven't a clue of the total and absolute evil of who and what they are dealing with.
And I offer the question, how to further look forward to a Papal Audience when leading a pilgrimage in light of these concerns? He is still the Vicar of Christ on Earth, truly in the Seat of Peter.
I don’t think it has anything to do with guilt over speaking out , but everything to do about avoiding calumny and detraction. A fine line to walk. We need facts. We need people in authority to take action. We all know something is very rotten. And we all know God is not mocked.
The Devil walks the corridors of the Vatican as though he owns the place. Which in fact he does. People need to be aware of this. The Vatican has a new owner. It is not to be a Bad Catholic to state this openly. It is rather to be a Bad Catholic not to do so. The Truth is out there staring us all in the face.
The Tablet has a reputation for cafeteria Catholicism since the owner/editor took an editorial stance against Humane Vitae on the issue of artificial birth control. Austin Ivereigh was deputy editor of the Tablet. Another of its deputy editors was married to a lady who couriered correspondence to then-Cardinal Bergoglio when he was in Rome for a papal conclave. I would put the Tablet in the same bracket as the National Catholic Reporter and America magazine. It's unlikely that any of their readers are what our Pope so charmingly refers to as bead counters and I doubt any of them will ever request the Church to officially honour Our Lady as Co-Redemptrix.
When we were there last July it felt very dark, very empty. Like a museum, instead of feeling like the seat of our Faith. Frankly, I couldn't wait to leave.
Yes yes I wanted to draw people’s attention to the picture. I only mentioned the Tablet because it was the source.
Yes, it would also make me feel better if PEB was away from the Vatican. True, none of us know what really is going on behind the scenes, but I do think we can safely assume that PEB's living situation is not ideal. My parents are up there in age, and I cannot imagine either of them flourishing in such an intense environment. He looks so weary. I just read the January 16, 2020 letter by Abp. Vigano posted over on Church Militant. His accusations that Abp. Ganswein abusively controls PEB are pretty disturbing. Why would Abp. Vigano continue to stick his neck out of it wasn't true. I don't have any answers, but I think our concerns are justified. Sacred Heart of Jesus I place my trust in Thee. https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/marco-tosatti-an-intervention-of-archbishop-vigano
This (above). Just to remind you philosopher Ed Burke's quotes: 1.The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. 2.When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle. 3.The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.
