Black is Black

If His Holiness tells you his shoes are red, it is okay to say they are black

'We should always be disposed to believe that that which appears white is really black, if the hierarchy of the Church so decides.' 

~ St Ignatius of Loyola

Rorate reports that during the astonishing - extraordinary - meeting between the Holy Father and the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, that His Holiness is said to have quoted St Ignatius of Loyola with the above statement and attributed it to the current occupant of the Chair of Peter. Now is, then, a good time to remind ourselves that there are very particular circumstances in which a Pope's statement is infallible and that no guarantee of infallibility was given to the founder of the Jesuits. We are perfectly entitled to believe that black is indeed black and that white is indeed white and that anyone who says any differently is deceiving you, since he can see and knows that black is black and that white is, indeed, white. So if a Pope tells you that the Resurrection of Christ was a physical, historical reality white is indeed white, but if a Pope tells you that the Resurrection of Christ was not a physical, historical reality, white is still white, not black.

Saints, no matter how holy, can say things that are regrettable when read in the light of a particular period in the Church's history.

It is also worth reminding ourselves, as far as I know, that no actual Pope in history has spoken of himself and his role in such a way as this, presumably because while those under obedience to the Pope are entitled to say outlandish things about the virtue and value of holy obedience to the hierarchy, for a Supreme Pontiff himself to say it could produce unnecessary and damaging suspicion among those under his care that he feels fit to abuse the authority placed into his mortal hands and corrupt the Office of the Papacy itself.

For a Pope to say this could give rise to opinion forming among the Faithful that the occupant of the chair of Peter is putting forward a view that is the very opposite of humility. The overwhelming majority of Popes have seen their roles in terms of safeguarding that which has been passed down to them and to teach the Faith, to strengthen the brethren and Shepherd the Faithful under their care, rather than in terms of altering reality. Apparently, according to Michael Jackson RIP, such things as black and white matter not anyway...

...but then he's not the Pope. His Holiness is also reported to have said to the Franciscans of the Immaculate that "the Pope is the guarantor of orthodoxy" but it seems odd that Pope Francis has had very few positive words to say, if any, of 'orthodoxy', until the day that he is confronted by a group of depressed, perhaps abjectly so, Franciscans dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to their seraphic father St Francis, who have been placed under strict and severe penalties that deny them the right to celebrate the Mass given legal protection in the whole Universal Church by this Pope's predecessor, Benedict XVI. In this sense, Francis has, to use the expression of St Ignatius, made what is white, black, but that does not stop making the Traditional Latin Mass dependent on permission given by the relevant authority in Rome anything else but illegal and unjust.

The Birthday of St John the Baptist

I am pleased that His Holiness has affirmed that torture is a mortal sin and I look forward to His Holiness teaching us the other sins which fall into the category of sins that bring death to the soul.

I do personally wish that Popes would cease making statements upon United Nations 'International Days' because unless some strange agreement has been made the Vatican and the UN, the UN has absolutely nothing to do with the Bride of Christ. The UN have made it very clear that they believe the Church's position on abortion and homosexuality is, in Pope Francis's words, a 'mortal sin'. Perhaps His Holiness was really talking about abortion.

Happy Feast of the Birthday of St John the Baptist. Pray for the Franciscans of the Immaculate and pray for Pope Francis that he will govern the Church with equity, justice and prudence and that His Holiness will govern the Church in a true spirit of humble service, rather than give the impression that he is in favour of governing the Church in the style of a Renaissance prince. There is nothing on this story on Rome Reports. Presumably, for the Holy Father, this is not good publicity.