Is Pope Francis angry?

                                  Or, is he just incensed?

Picture: Clerical Comparisons

Bernard on Francis

H/T to The Jarrow Scriptorium for this item of news.

The head of the Society of St Piux X, Bishop Fellay, has given his views on Pope Francis.

To hear criticism of a pope and to even contemplate, criticising him oneself, is something of a novelty.

But, in the last few weeks, there has been a whirlwind of posts and articles on the subject.

Now, Bishop Fellay has added his own thoughts.

What follows is verbatim as it was received but I have no reason to doubt its integrity; if anything, I am surprised that it has taken Bishop Fellay so long to speak out.....

Bishop Fellay on Pope Francis - “What we have before us is a genuine Modernist!”

Extracts from an article by John Vennari
Catholic Family News
Bishop Bernard Fellay warned on October 12, “The situation of the Church is a real disaster, and the present Pope is making it 10,000 times worse.”

He said this in an address at the Angelus Press Conference, the weekend of Oct 11-13 in Kansas City.

Bishop Fellay, Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X, gave an extensive lecture on Saturday afternoon that focused on the Third Secret of Fatima, and its apparent prediction of both a material chastisement and a great crisis in the Church.
This report will highlight some of the more dramatic aspects of the Bishop’s Saturday conference and his Sunday sermon.
Bishop Fellay quoted in detail Sister Lucy, those who have read the Third Secret, and those who have knowledge of the Secret. He noted Sister Lucia said that if we want to know the contents of the Third Secret, read chapters 8 through 13 of the Apocalpse.” (details of the Third Secret will be contained in the upcoming November edition of Catholic Family News)
Sister Lucia’s reference to Chapters 8 through 13 of the Apocalypse is particularly chilling, since the end of Chapter 13 speaks of the coming of Antichrist.
Bishop Fellay noted that Pope St. Pius X said at the beginning of his pontificate the ‘son of perdition’ may already be on the earth. He also noted the original prayer to Saint Michael of Pope Leo XIII mentions that Satan aims to establish his seat in Rome.
The bishop quoted Cardinal Luigi Ciapi, the Papal Theologian of all the Popes from Pius XII to John Paul II who said, “In the Third Secret we read among other things that the great apostasy in the Church begins at the top.”
He also spent a good bit of time on the famous and dramatic 1957 interview of Father Fuentes with Sister Lucia, in which she reiterated that “various nations will disappear from the face of the earth,” and that “the devil will do all in his power to overcome souls consecrated to God.”
Since the ministers of God are struck with this confusion and disorder, the faithful are left to fend for themselves for their own salvation. The help that should be provided by Churchmen is not there. This is “the greatest tragedy you can ever imagine for the Church.”
The times are very serious. We have to be serious about our salvation, “and to do this we are deprived of a very important element, which is the support of the [Church] authorities. What a tragedy.”
He spoke of Sister Lucia’s comforting words that God has given two last remedies for us: The Holy Rosary and Devotion to the Immaculate Heart.
Rome/SSPX

Bishop Fellay alluded to the SSPX/Vatican drama of 2012: “When we see what is happening now [under Pope Francis] we thank God, we thank God, we have been preserved from any kind of Agreement from last year. And we may say that one of the fruits of the [Rosary] Crusade we did is that we have been preserved from such a misfortune. Thank God. It is not that we don’t want to be Catholics, of course we want to be Catholics and we are Catholics, and we have a right to be recognized as Catholics. But we are not going to jeopardize our treasures for that. Of course not.”
He continued, “To imagine that some people continue to pretend we are decided [still] to get an Agreement with Rome. Poor people. I really challenge them to prove they mean. They pretend that I think something else from what I do. They are not in my head.”
As for the discussions with Rome: “Any kind of direction for recognition ended when they gave me the document to sign on June 13, 2012. That very day I told them, ‘this document I cannot accept.’ I told them from the start in September the previous year that we cannot accept this ‘hermeneutic of continuity’ because it is not true, it is not real. It is against the reality. So we do not accept it. The Council is not in continuity with Tradition. It’s not. So when Pope Benedict requested that we accept that the Second Vatican Council is an integral part of Tradition, we say, ‘sorry, that’s not the reality, so we’re not going to sign it. We’re not going to recognize that’.”
“The same for the Mass. The want us to recognize not only that the [New] Mass is valid provided it is celebrated correctly, etc., but that it is licit. I told them: we don’t use that word. It’s a bit messy, our faithful have enough [confusion] regarding the validity, so we tell them, ‘The New Mass is bad, it is evil’ and they understand that. Period!’” Of course the Roman authorities “were not very happy with that.”
He continues, “It has never been our intention to pretend either that the Council would be considered as good, or the New Mass would be ‘legitimate’”.
“The [April 15, 2012] text we presented to Rome was a very, shall we say, delicate text that was supposed to be understood correctly; it was supposed to be read with a big principle which was leading the whole thing. This big principle was no novelty in the Church: ‘The Holy Ghost has not been promised to Saint Peter and his Successor in such a way that through a new revelation the Pope would teach something new, but under his help, the pope would the Pope would saintly conserve and faithfully transmit the deposit of the Faith.’ It belongs to the definition of infallibility [from Vatican I]. That was the principle, the base of the whole document, which excludes from the start any kind of novelty.
“And so take any kind of sentences from the text without this principle is just to take sentences that have never been our thinking and our life. These phrases in themselves are ambiguous, so to take away the ambiguity we wanted to put [in] this principle [from Vatican I]. Unfortunately, maybe that was too subtle and that’s why we withdrew that text, because it was not clear enough as it was written.
“So it is very clear our principle is always the same to stay faithful! We have received a treasure. This treasure does not ‘belong’ to us. We have received this treasure and we have to hand it to the next generation. And what is requested from us is faithfulness, fidelity. We do not have the right to jeopardize these treasures. These are the treasures we have in our hands and we are not going to jeopardize them.
Pope Francis

Bishop Fellay returned to Sister Lucia’s 1957 statement that the Rosary and Devotion to the Immaculate Heart are the two last remedies God has given to mankind.
He said there is “definitely a ‘material’ chastisement of the world in sight. There is something big in front of us. How? When? I have no idea. But if you put everything together, it is clear that God has had enough of the sins of man.”
He then spoke of those sins that cry to Heaven for vengeance, such as abortion, and the sins against nature, which was an illusion to the unnatural ‘re-definition’ of marriage and related sins. He also spoke of what appears to be a coming persecution of Christians.
“What do we do? Don’t panic, because panic is of no use at all. What you need to do is your job – your daily duty. That is the best way to prepare.”
He continued that we are in “very scary times” but we are not helpless. He noted the “the situation of the Church is a real disaster. And the present Pope is making it 10,000 times worse.”
“In the beginning of the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, I said, ‘the crisis in the Church will continue, but the Pope is trying to put on the brakes.’ It’s as if to say, the Church will continue to fall, but with a parachute. And with the beginning of this [Pope Francis] pontificate, I say, ‘he cuts the strings, and he put a [downward] rocket’.”
“If the present pope continues in the way he started, he is going to divide the Church. He’s exploding everything. So people will say: it is impossible that’s he’s the Pope, we refuse him. Others will say [and this is presently Bishop Fellay’s position]: “Wait, consider him as Pope, but don’t follow him. He’s provoking anger. Many people will be discouraged by what people in the Church do” and will be tempted to “throw it all away.”
But, he reminded, God is “much, much bigger than we are. God is able to have the Church continue” and even can work through these imperfect ministers. “But once again”, he repeats, “don’t follow them. Follow them when they say the truth, but when they tell you rubbish, you don’t” follow them on those points. “Any obedience to be true must be related to God. When I say I obey to a person” he should be a “a mirror of God.” But “when mirror tells me contrary of God, it is no longer a mirror, then I don’t follow him.”
Bishop Fellay noted that we cannot simply obey the present Popes without question, because then we would destroy ourselves, we would endanger our Faith.
Sunday Sermon

Bishop Fellay returned to these themes at his Sunday sermon at the Pontifical High Mass offered at St. Vincent de Paul’s Church in Kansas city.
He amplified a few points regarding Fatima, the Secret, the 2012 drama with Rome, and then spoke of some of the many grave problems with Pope Francis.
“From the start,” he said, “we have the impression that we have something wrong with this Pope. From the start, he wanted to distinguish himself to be different from anybody else.”
A small example of this is Francis’ insistence on wearing black shoes instead of the red papal shoes, but this is minor compared to greater issues. We must look, said the bishop, at what is his vision of the Church, his vision of the council, and what is his plan.
It was around the time of World Youth Day, late July of this year, that Francis began an avalanche of talks, interviews, phone calls, etc. “We may not have the entire picture at this point, we have enough to be scared to death.”
As is typical of the Modernist, as Pius X warned in Pascendi, the Modernist will sometimes speak in a heretical fashion, and then speak in an orthodox manner. Bishop Fellay gave the example of one of these contradictions:
He spoke of interview in early October that Pope Francis conducted with the atheist journalist Eugenio Scalfari in Rome’s La Repubblica wherein Francis appears to promote a dangerous relativism:
Scalfari: “Your Holiness, is there is a single vision of the Good? And who decides what it is?”

Pope Francis: “Each of us has a vision of good and of evil. We have to encourage people to move towards what they think is Good.”
Scalfari: “Your Holiness, you wrote that in your letter to me. The conscience is autonomous, you said, and everyone must obey his conscience. I think that's one of the most courageous steps taken by a Pope.”

Pope Francis: “And I repeat it here. Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place."
With a good deal of emotion, Bishop Fellay said of the Pope’s response: “That’s really not Catholic! Because whatever I think has absolutely no value if it does not fit with reality. We have a conscience, but it will only lead us to Heaven if our conscience is a mirror of God.” The conscience must be formed according to God’s law. “So to pretend that anyone can full his own idea is just rubbish,” said Fellay, “It has nothing to do with Catholic teaching. It is absolute relativism.”
About a week after this, however, Pope Francis spoke of the necessity of fighting the devil, the final battle with the devil, that nobody can fight the devil half way, and that we must fight relativism. Francis said the opposite what he said to La Repubblica. “There is the contraction with him”.
Francis: A Man of the Council

Next: what is the vision of Pope Francis on Vatican II? This is found in his much-publicized recent, lengthy interview with the Jesuits, published in various publications throughout the world, and in the Jesuit’s America magazine in the United States
Bishop Fellay says that Pope Francis “takes it for granted that the Council was bright success. What was the main theme of the Council?” To re-read the Faith in light of modern culture. You could say, “to incarnate the Gospel in the modern world.” Francis “is very happy with this…” and believes “The Council brought forth many good fruits. The first example he gives is liturgy – the reformed liturgy. That is the beautiful fruit of the Council. That’s what he says. And he’s very happy with it.”
Francis tells us “this re-reading of the Gospel within the modern culture is irreversible, so we will not go back. We are in front of a major fight.”
Of the Old Mass, Francis speaks of “Vetus Ordo” (Old Order). Francis believes that Pope Benedict probably helped restore the Old Mass as a prudential act for those who still hold to it. “But don’t expect Francis to come back to the Old Mass. Maybe he will ‘indulge’ it [let us celebrate it unmolested]. God knows.”
But Francis “sees there is a problem with this Old Mass. Because there are people who ideologize this Mass. Guess to whom he is aiming? I don’t need to say much. So what is going to happen with us? What I see: there is quite an obsession in him about those people who look to the past. Listen to the Pope’s words:
Pope Francis: “What is worrying, though, is the risk of the ideologization of the Vetus Ordo, its exploitation. … If the Christian is a restorationist, a legalist, if he wants everything clear and safe, then he will find nothing. Tradition and memory of the past must help us to have the courage to open up new areas to God. Those who today always look for disciplinarian solutions, those who long for an exaggerated doctrinal ‘security,’ those who stubbornly try to recover a past that no longer exists­—they have a static and inward-directed view of things. In this way, faith becomes an ideology among other ideologies. I have a dogmatic certainty: God is in every person’s life.”
Bishop Fellay continues, “The impression we have in the present Pope is that he has a zeal for the ‘more or less’, for the ‘about’; and he wants at all cost to escape what is too clear and too certain. But the Faith is like that because God is like that. Well, that’s not what he thinks.”
Another troubling quote from Pope Francis:
“If a person says that he met God with total certainty and is not touched by a margin of uncertainty, then this is not good. For me, this is an important key. If one has the answers to all the questions—that is the proof that God is not with him. It means that he is a false prophet using religion for himself. The great leaders of the people of God, like Moses, have always left room for doubt.”
Bishop Fellay exclaims in response: “What Gospel does he have? Which Bible does he have to say such things. It’s horrible. What has this to do with the Gospel? With the Catholic Faith. That’s pure Modernism, my dear brethen. We have in front of us a genuine Modernist.”
"How much time will be needed for people in the Church to stand up ‘by no means!’ [will we accept this new teaching]. I hope and pray this will happen. But that means an enormous division in the Church.”
He speaks of the Pope Making a mess, and reminds us that this is what the Pope urged at world Youth Day: he urged the young people to “make a mess”. Bishop Fellay responds, ”Incredible. We have never heard of this [a Pope speaking like this]. But that’s what he wants.

Francis also tells us he is a greater admirer of the ultra liberal Jesuit Cardinal Martini (now deceased). Martini wrote a book calling for a total revolution in the Church. “And that is what Francis wants. And he told us the eight cardinal he chose to help him ‘reform’ the Church think like him.
We could go on and on.
The final example: Ecumenism.
' Bishop Fellay says, that Pope Francis claims that “very little has been done in this direction.” This is astounding, the bishop notes, because ecumenism has launched untold disaster to the Church, to Catholic nations. “Yet the present Pope says, “very little, almost nothing done in this direction.”
Bishop Fellay says as part of his summing up: “The mystery of the shadow on the Church has never been so great. We are in front of very hard times. Don’t have any illusions. And it is clear the only solution is to stick to what we have; to keep it, to not let it go by any means.
“Pope St. Pius X said that it was the essence of any Catholic to stick to the past. The present Pope says exactly the contrary: forget about the past; throw yourself into the uncertainty of the future
“Definitely we need the Immaculate Heart of Mary. What are experiencing is the Secret of Fatima. We know what we have to do: pray, pray, pray, and penance, penance, penance. To pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the means given to us precisely in these hard times; and to pray the Rosary.
“Be certain,” says Bishop Fellay, “The next [Rosary] Crusade is not far off. Go to the Rosary. Pray it every day. We live in very dangerous time for the Faith, and we need this Heavenly protection.”
- More on this topic will be will be contained in the upcoming November edition of Catholic Family News

A better Church?

"Well, if you knows of a better Church, go to it!"

(With apologies to Bruce Bairnsfather)

Ite Missa est?

                                            Would you follow this Man?

I am indulging myself here in a little bit of gazing into the future (not necessarily a good thing but sometimes it is useful to prepare a strategy to cope with the peaks and troughs that our Faith throws at us).

What would happen if Rome announced the end of the Latin Mass?

Well, apart from the liberal lobby throwing their hats in the air, I suspect that, on the surface, life would carry on as much as usual.

Some priests would buckle down and revert to OF mode only; maybe the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate would elect to part company with Rome pro tem.

And the traditional orders......the FSSP, ICKSP and Transalpine Redemptorists.......would probably be setting out on the path to Econe.

Congregation numbers at SSPX Masses would swell to unimaginable proportions and some might even find their way, tragically, into the sedevacantist camp.

Assuming that the ban on the Latin Mass was not made by the Holy Father speaking infallibly, those traditional Catholics who did not wish to attend the Novus Ordo would be left facing the dilemma - the Pope or conscience.

As several people have pointed out of late, it is not necessarily a sin to disagree with the Pope.

It might be a sin to disobey him but, if the HF speaks (informally) then presumably, with the benefit of spiritual guidance and an informed conscience, it would be in order to go one's own path to salvation.

There have been several cases of precedence for such actions, most famous, of course, being the stand taken by St Athanasius.

And St Catherine of Sienna was not backward in coming forward to tell the Pope where he was going wrong.

I am not, of course, advocating a course of action, I just find it helpful to have a Plan B to hand.

Because, if such a ban did at some stage in the future, come into being, we can be certain of one thing.

That is, that our more liberal Bishops, will jump to obey in a fashion somewhat akin to the speed of greased weasel ****.
Sorry to be coarse, I just could not find a more suitable phrase for such a situation.

I hate to imagine the excesses that their Lordships will indulge in, not least of which will be their actions of retribution against those priests and teachers and other members of the laity who have been the grit in their jar of Vaseline for so long.

The question for my conscience is going to be: If stuck between St Peter and a hard place, what should I do?

Answer: Pray hard and follow the Mystical Body of Christ as He intended us to follow.

How do you like your Martini?

Shaken?..................Stirred?.......


I like mine forgotten....

From his last interview:-

"Our culture has aged, our churches are big and empty and the church bureaucracy rises up, our rituals and our cassocks are pompous," the Cardinal said. "The Church must admit its mistakes and begin a radical change, starting from the Pope and the bishops. The paedophilia scandals oblige us to take a journey of transformation.

See The Catholic Herald for the full story

How do you 'discipline' an order?

Hair shirt? Been there, done that

Now, if I was in the higher echelons of the clergy in Rome (thank heavens that I am not) and was given the task of disciplining an Order - just how would I set about it?

That question is, of course, purely hypothetical as we do not know what indiscretions the Order is supposed to have committed.

But, I think I would start at the penitential end; I might consider asking those in the Order to undertake some form of penance such as dedicating one day each week to mortification and prayer.

Or, possibly, abstaining from meat for three months, or wearing hair shirts - but, perhaps the good Friars already do those sort of things.

These days, punishments are supposed to be given in a positive manner. Thus, if the sixth form at school had corporately committed some offence, they might be required to give up their free periods or time to works of good mercy, maybe even praying for a specific period before a crucifix.

If you applied this to the Friars, you could impose on them the duty to increase the number of EF Masses they attend daily....to beneficially open up the potential for an increase in God's grace and a greater spiritual depth to those in the Order.

It was just a thought.

Lords of the Dance

By now, most will have seen that awful film clip showing the hierarchy of South America being led into ridiculous caperings and posturings that will, if anything, alienate any Catholic youth with any ounce of intelligence.

I have run dry on possible adjectives to use to describe this shambles but, my greatest concern is that it reflects what poor leaders we have.

Even allowing for cultural differences between Latin America and the rest of the world it was an appalling pantomime, matched only by the equally banal and blasphemous Stations of the Cross (Via Dolorosa comes to Copacabana).

I fully comprehend the fact that we have to address Catholic youth in a more enlightened manner than just shoving a catechism under their nose but to indulge them in farce is not the way; it is patronising and insulting.

Many years ago a group of Catholics used to produce what became known as 'The Pimlico Passion Play' not quite up to Oberammergau standards but very professional, nonetheless.

It ran each year and it told the story on stage and in mime (most effective) of the Passion of Christ according to St Matthew.

It did not require dancers, or special effects, or panto 'Christs' or inappropriate music; the story of the Way of the Cross, if viewed critically in dramatic terms, is the most poignant piece of theatre possible.

But, returning to our Bishops.

If they possess such a lack of judgement, if they are so easily led (by the cheerleader) and if they believe that capering is a sensible means of relating to Catholic youth, then they are in the wrong job.

And, if the Holy Father, having observed all that took place on Copacabana Beach, takes no action, then he is in the wrong job also.

And back to the 'Stations', here is a clip showing Jim Caviezel speaking of how he portrayed Jesus Christ in the film, The Passion of the Christ.

This is how we should reveal the truth to the young...

If Michael Voris is right......

Why doesn't Pope Francis act at once?

My admittedly limited philosophical knowledge tells me that, either Michael Voris is right.....or, he is wrong.

If he is wrong, then, that may well account for the silence from Rome on this matter (and, why not?).

But, if he is right, (and the Holy Father, himself has admitted as much), why doesn't Pope Francis squash those who hold hard to the principle of catamites and all that such beliefs entail?

It's not hard, for goodness sake!

Our Lord booted out those in the Temple who were offering second rate doves and lambs etc., for sacrifice (and re-cycling them around the back to double or triple their profits).

Why does the Holy Father state that he needs to wait for a commission to sit and cogitate on this matter?

Leadership is all about stepping up to the mark and taking control.

Humility is easily assimilated into that; it is not a question of turning the other cheek; morality is the key issue here.

Prevarication is not good; in fact, it is bad.

Just do it, please, Holy Father.

However so humble.......

...there's no place like Rome

How to stay positive and keep the Faith

Look, life as we know it could end tomorrow if North Korea kicks off or Iran, Israel, Russia, India, Pakistan and so on.

Our Catholic life is also uncertain;the new Holy Father is in the process of taking over the reins and, judging from yesterday's Mass at St Paul's Without the Walls in Rome, things are a bit muddled at present.

Note the mix up over reception of Holy Communion.

Some priests indicated only by mouth while others happily placed the Host in the hand. There can only be one right way so let's have some clarity please HF. Let's have leadership as well as humility, please.

As always, I turn to Archbishop Fulton Sheen at times of trial and tribulation.

He has an excellent series on world crisis, and personal suffering; physical and mental.

We can look forward to our tears being wiped from our eyes....nothing can harm us.....God is our Father.

SPAKTF!

Turkeys to vote for Christmas

Pope to attend 500 years anniversary celebration of the Reformation?

 

 

I don't think so.

"Just one Mozzetta"

                             

Just one Mozzetta,

wear it for me,

beautiful symbol of Popery, (?)

Gold, red, white or cream

wear one Mozzetta

You'll look a dream.

Apologies to Wall's Ice Cream (and Giovanni Capurro) and, for some interesting news, read An Honour and a Responsibility's take on things.

Calm down dear, it's not even a crisis

There is so much misinformation floating around at present it is beginning to play on my nerves causing me to make simple typo eeorrers.

Pope Francis has barely got his knees under the desk and already we have a barrage of conflicting information about his past.

I don't know which direction he will lead the Church in but, for heaven's sake, let's cut him some slack and allow him to get on with the job.

After the news of Pope Benedict's resignation the Catholic world got a touch of the willies clean forgetting that, whilst Christ might be sleeping, He is still present and in charge of the ship.

Now, we have rumour and counter rumour as to the future.

It brings a childhood hymn  to mind -

That says it all really.

The Holy Father pays his bill

One might think that Pope Francis would send an aide to pay his hotel bill.

But, no, he did it in person - my thanks to JJ and CM for the picture: