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 legitimacy
of the popes who have sat on the seat of Saint Peter since
Pope Pius XII —
at the latest.
Francis’s 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 ST. 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 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”.
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”.
NOTA 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/
Printable PDF Version
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)
Copyright © 2004 - 2023 Boston Catholic Journal. All rights reserved. Unless
otherwise stated, permission is granted by the
Boston Catholic Journal for the copying and
distribution of the articles and audio files
under the following conditions: No
additions, deletions, or changes are to be made
to the text or audio files in any way, and the
copies may not be sold for a profit. In the
reproduction, in any format of any image,
graphic, text, or audio file, attribution must
be given to the Boston Catholic Journal.
|
