Are the Sedevacantists
Right ... after all?
Is the Chair of Saint Peter Empty?
Francis
is the culmination of quite nearly every argument brought against
the popes who have sat on the seat of Saint Peter since Pope
Pius XII — at the latest.
His
utterances, positions and propositions — to say nothing of his
actions — have at the very least given credence to, and vigorously
supported claims that he is not the pope ... after all.
Given the overwhelming
support of the heresy of Modernism that now infects virtually
every aspect of the Church — and which Francis appears to champion
at every opportunity — the question is quite suddenly no longer
academic. Nor can we appeal to the New Code of Canon
Law improvised during Vatican II to settle the question, since
the Code itself is infected.
Francis sits in
the Chair of Saint Peter, and exercises all the prerogatives
of a pope — but quite possibly is not the pope. His ascending
to the Throne of Saint Peter was scandalously preceded by
canonically illicit and incredibly open lobbying (the infamous
Sangt Gallen Group, a.k.a the
“Vatican
Mafia”
as they enjoyed calling themselves) who were subsequently given
seats of the highest honor following his election. He has celebrated
the Protestant Reformation and ordered Vatican postal stamps
be issued with Martin Luther piously presented. He has equated
all religions as paths of sanctification — and ultimately salvation:
in a word, he appears, by word and deed, to be a Pantheist under
the guise of Ecumenism. His love for the ascription of
“humility”
to him is painfully obvious given his carefully orchestrated
and widely publicized
“humble
gestures”.
On the other hand, in the real world, to those who disagree
with him, he is a petulant, angry and often vulgar autocrat
who tolerates no dissension from his Weltanschaung and
who ruthlessly punishes critics of his signature platforms.
“An
atmosphere of fear permeates the Vatican”
2 it is often
written and quoted. Of what? Of not going along to
get along; fear of not supporting his most ambitious
“reforms”
lest punishment follow. It rather sounds more like the reign
of Caligula than a pope.
Deception and Distortion
Francis has distorted, defied, or denied Sacred Scripture —
which is to say what Jesus Christ Himself teaches us — even
as he is portrayed on nearly every Catholic web site kneeling
and praying ... even by some of those who openly challenge what
he is doing to the Church. Think of it: when a tragedy occurs,
Catholic websites claim as “news”
that “Pope Francis laments” or “condemns” such and such.
That is supposed to be newsworthy? Atheists do the same
but do not get the copy. It is the incessant indoctrination
of the mantra
“Francis the humble”
that the worldly press encourages because they know he is dismantling
2000 years of Catholicism that opposed all or most of their
anti-Catholic views on abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism,
ecology, Mother Earth, and even politics ... all of which, received
more of Francis’s “humble” “mercy” either explicitly or
implicitly in that New Age Encyclical he called Amoris Laetitia.
Now we are told, by one of Francis’s staunchest supporters (and
benefactor of Francis) that “We must let go of “cherished
beliefs” (Cardinal Cupich)
“re-imagine
the Church”
(that was never imaginary to begin with)
and begin a
“revolution”
that will wean Catholics away from what he described, verbatim,
as “an adolescent spirituality into an adult spirituality.”
1
May God forgive him his overweening pride and insolence. Presumably,
given Francis’s
penchant for Lutheranism this must mean Protestant and
not historically Catholic spirituality— but which one of thousands
of Protestant sects, we wonder, does he see as the paradigm
for “grown-up
spirituality”? Lutheranism
appears to be on the fast track. Or perhaps it may be Islam?
Judaism? Taoism? Hinduism? All?
Francis’s smug arrogance toward those who presented questions
in the form of legitimate Dubia (which a year later remain
contemptuously unanswered) for clarification by Francis has
been nothing less than scandalous — because what he stated in
Amoris Laetitia and elsewhere leaves not only simple
Catholics confused, but cardinals, bishops, and philosophers
as well (all of whom he penalized for their support
of clarification of important Scriptural and Church
doctrine which he has compromised and cannot answer without
revising his agenda for the
“Church of Surprise and Encounter” that he, Cardinal
Cupich, and his coterie of disaffected Catholics at the Vatican
are endeavoring to build — and that has little or
no resemblance to the Catholic Church of the 2000
years preceding Vatican II.
The Church
we Recognize no Longer
The fact
is, I do not recognize the Church I once knew. Nor
its Mass.
Nor its increasingly secular teachings that appear to conform
to the world and not Christ — and at the expense of Christ
... and that now quaint and childish notion of
“the salvation
of immortal souls”.
This is not to say that I no longer recognize the legitimate
authority of the Church or of the papacy — it is simply alien
to all that I knew understood, recognized, and loved in the
Church. It appears to have become other: a pale, protestantized,
indifferent, indecisive, colorless, bloodless, mannequin that
somehow grotesquely resembles something of the Church I once
knew and loved.
Yes, Francis is
genuinely a
“legitimate”
pope, and his reign will be — unquestionably — the most destructive
in Church history.
But then again, face it: we deserve this pope. He is definitely
attuned to this generation! He is — and he appears to be acutely
aware of it — and what the world wants. Of course what
the world
wants and what Christ wants are quite different
... in fact, diametrically opposed. (Saint John 15.19)
Although, if we
are asked,
“is
Francis really pope?”
We may be inclined to infamously retort:
“Who
are we to judge?”
But the fact of the matter is that he is legitimately — however
much regrettably — our pope. He is an affliction upon
us and deservedly so. His penchant for putative “environment
issues”, Mother Earth, politics and redistributive economies
— all of which are very popular secular issues that redound
to his popularity (and he knows it) — largely reflect our own.
Even many Catholics. All those transcendent and supernatural
things with which the Church occupied Herself prior to Vatican
II and especially the pontificate of Pope Francis, interest
most Catholics as much as they apparently interest Francis —
which is to say, little. Oh, yes we make the superficial gestures
and utter perfunctory formulas at Mass ... if we even go anymore
... and some declare themselves “Pro-Abotion Catholics”!
Eternal Life — just as with Eternal Death (the
“Second
Death”
in Holy Scripture) — are non-issues for us any longer: they
belong in that reliquary we call Pre-Spirit-of-Vatican-II
— you know, Offending God, Death, Heaven, Hell, Mortal Sin,
satan and demons, Exorcisms, Penance, the Real Presence (of
Jesus Christ in the Eucharist), modesty, purity, innocence,
chastity — in a word everything we have given up to
be acceptable to the world ... however much we offend God
and lose our immortal souls.
“All
that comes later, anyway”
— right?
It appears to
be fairly easy to be
“more Catholic
than the pope”
these days.
Why don’t we try
it? It may even lead us to that other long-neglected concept
called
“holiness”.
Note bene: Bear
in mind — for it is of the greatest importance — that
the Holy Catholic Church does not cease to exist when there
is no pope on the Seat of Peter. The longest papal election
lasted nearly three years and occurred in the 13th century
when the cardinals convened to choose a successor to Clement
IV on Mar 11, 1271. The Church endured this interregnum. It
will surely outlast Francis and friends.
Geoffrey K. Mondello
Editor
Boston Catholic Journal
________________________________________
1
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/cardinal-cupich-amoris-laetitia-is-a-call-for-an-adult-spirituality-where-w
2
https://catholiccitizens.org/news/69393/pope-orders-cardinal-muller-dismiss-three-cdf-priests/
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Comments? Write us:
editor@boston-catholic-journal.com
A note about the graphic: No,
it is not the backdrop of a horror film superimposed on the
cardinals present. It is the Paul VI Audience Hall. See
“Why
does the Paul VI Audience Hall look so demonic?”
https://www.quora.com/Why-does-the-Paul-VI-Audience-Hall-look-so-demonic
Totally Faithful to the
Sacred Deposit of Faith entrusted to
the Holy See in Rome
“Scio
opera tua ... quia modicum habes virtutem, et servasti
verbum Meum, nec non negasti Nomen Meum”
“I
know your works ... that you have but little power,
and yet you have kept My word, and have not denied
My Name.”
(Apocalypse 3.8)
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