What can a Catholic say but...
NO!
Right now, I would happily wake up tomorrow to a new conclave and the knowledge that a man who has done his level best to butcher the Faith of the Church has gone. That might sound terrible, disloyal or uncharitable, but as citizens of countries breathe a sigh of relief when a tyrant is removed, so would I breathe a sigh of relief if Francis was removed. Pope Francis has been a total disaster for the Catholic Church's mission in every testable area. However, my personal feelings of hurt and betrayal by Pope Francis do not merit his removal by force, threat or even 'gentle persuasion' by his Cardinals. I suppose in the Vatican, someone's got something on everyone, so I suspect that even a little blackmail could be used as 'pressure' or 'gentle persuasion'.
For those who are desperate, this may indeed be a great temptation.
But..
The law of the jungle has no place in the Catholic Church. If Cardinals (be they 'liberal' or 'conservative') are looking to evict Francis from the throne of Peter, then they should do so according to the law of the Church, however embarrassing that process may be!
In a situation in which there is not a wealth of legal precedent in terms of deposition of a Pope, it must be seen and it must in fact be that Francis is not 'pressured to resign', but that he is removed from Office under the laws which exist in the Church for reasons that justify it, which could be such issues as formal or material heresy and/or a dubious election that is deemed canonically invalid. For, if Pope Francis is indeed, as we are informed he is, a valid Successor of St Peter, rather than an anti-pope, then his removal must come about because the tribunal has found him to be incapable of holding the Office he now possesses.
The Papacy is not a gangland where thrones are simply taken by force, or, at least, it wasn't intended to be such by Christ. According to the laws which DO exist in the Church, a cabal of Cardinals 'pressuring' a valid Pope Francis to resign in order to elect an already known successor, who would have, we can safely assume, have already consented to the king-making scheme, would bring about an invalid election. It would appear that Cardinals already have a 'respectable replacement' in mind! Have they learned nothing from 2013? Clearly not!
Until recently, the Church and the world has looked to the Catholic Church's process of electing a Pope as something vaguely mysterious. It is not and cannot be compromised in this way, so that both within the Church and within the World, this man or that man takes the papacy, or is handed the papacy by his mates, because of the influence of the friends network he has built up, or because of those who influence others in this manner, as if the papacy is simply a political game that swings between right, left and centrist 'parties'.
ENOUGH OF THIS FARCE!
Do not pretend to yourselves that a 'respectable' Francis, less gaff and insult prone, less rash and unpredictable, would have made the Church look more attractive, or a slow-burning overturning of Catholicism over a longer-period would have stopped the 'schism' you apparently fear under Francis. Do not deceive yourselves. The Church is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. She can never be the Bride of both Christ and Freemasonry, or any other belief system or dogma. The Church cannot have two masters - Jesus Christ and liberalism. It does not work. It either finds unity in Jesus Christ and His Teaching or She will be ever at risk of division and disharmony.
She finds peace and concord in Him alone and laws established within the Church are established with His blessing. Chicanery and robbery, bullying and plunder have no place in the Church, far less when it comes to the Throne of St Peter. If, like Catholics who take the Church and Jesus Christ seriously, you feel that Francis is taking the Church to the brink of schism and destruction, then you must find Francis first guilty of something that impedes him from exercising universal jurisdiction over the Catholic Church, or leave him be and pray for him and render him filial obedience in everything except that which contravenes God's law. Of course, if you have a problem with Francis asking you to do something that contravenes God's law, note it down, for such information will be vital in an extraordinary Council called by Bishops and Cardinals and trial of a Supreme Pontiff!
If Francis is found to have been acting under four years in a manner that Cardinals conclude can only be described as that of an infidel, apostate or heretic, then let it be judged so. Then not only the Church, but the World, can sleep in peace, knowing that the unusual papacy of Pope Francis was indeed a truly unprecedented moment in Church history, when the Church was governed in Her highest and most esteemed Office by a man who was judged by the Church to be NOT A CATHOLIC, BUT AN APOSTATE AND TRAITOR TO THE FAITH.
Then - and only then - can the Church find peace and restored harmony under a validly elected new Supreme Pontiff who exercises universal jurisdiction with freedom and God's blessing over the entire Catholic Church in the service of his Lord and Master, Jesus Christ and for the Salvation of souls.
Until you do ascertain the truth of these matters, you cannot simply stab the Pope in the back and ask him to 'move aside' or else. This is not a matter of 'clearing up a bit of a mess'. This is not a matter of vengeance either. This is a matter of justice.
If Francis chooses to renounce the papacy, then let him do so.
If Francis chooses to renounce the papacy because he cannot bring himself to profess and believe the entirety of the Catholic Faith then let him do so.
If Francis chooses to renounce the papacy even because he fears censure in a court of ecclesiastical law, public rebuke or investigation by the competent authorities for failing to hold, profess and teach the faith, then let him do so, but, and mark these words and mark them well, let him do so, 'in full freedom' aware of 'the gravity of this act'.
Then, let a new conclave be announced and the Cardinal-electors beg Almighty God (not their mates canvassing for Parolin) to give them His light and grace to find a holy Pope who will govern the Church with prudence, wisdom and sincere love for Christ and souls. The man you should look for is the man who God has anointed to steer the Church through the tumults of this world to the harbour of the heavenly homeland. Whoever you choose, whether Francis goes or stays until death, find a man who is unwilling to throw Chinese Catholics to the dogs in China! Catholics do not want 'your man'. We want God's man, i.e, a 'man of God'!
Or have you wolves learned nothing
since the last time?
Enough of your projects!
To Hell with your plots, your fraud and schemes, your machinations, treating the Bride of Christ and the Papacy as if they are mere pawns in your power struggles!
Enough of your 'compromise' candidates and your twisted vested interests and factions!
Enough!
Enough of your projects!
To Hell with your plots, your fraud and schemes, your machinations, treating the Bride of Christ and the Papacy as if they are mere pawns in your power struggles!
Enough of your 'compromise' candidates and your twisted vested interests and factions!
Enough!
10 comments:
And should Francis go, would the cardinal electors who plotted, connived, and lobbied to have him elected be permitted to vote in the next conclave given they flouted and bragged about having subverted the mandatory laws and protocols of the last conclave?
And what of the cardinals appointed by Francis who have whole-heartedly supported his subversion of the Faith through their vigorous assent or thunderous silence? Should they be permitted to vote in any new conclave when one occurs?
OnePeterFive has an extraordinary piece that even those cardinals who facilitated Francis' election want him to step down. I wonder if the same crowd hides someone even more ferocious than Francis in the wings waiting to assume the papacy.
http://www.onepeterfive.com/pro-pope-francis-cardinals-seek-resignation-avoid-schism-reports-times-london/
The 'lefties' in the Church never wanted a Schism..they did not want a split as happened in the Protestant Reformation, they wanted to elect a Pope who would officially change Church teaching to suite their moral depravities; so any manipulation of leadership directed toward that goal is desirable to them.
I am reminded of Lady Bracknell's comment in Oscar Wilde's 'The Importance of Being Ernest':
2. ‘To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.’
Steady Bones! You need one of those pills my wife gives me to put under my tongue but not actually swallow until such time as I calm down.
My first thought when I read this was that you had been drinking. It is very over the top! Calm down and meditate on the 4 Last Things.
No not drinking, with what do you disagree?
'It is very over the top!'
I consider it quite mild, given the nature of the report which suggests that Cardinals are thinking of 'putting pressure' on Pope Francis to resign and hand the papacy over to a pre-determined prelate.
This idea is ILLEGAL in the Church.
This report is circulated in the international press and I am told to 'calm down'.
Why should I be calm about this?
"If a report is true"
We see a lot of nonsense on the internet. Things taken out of context, or just made up. Take it with a grain of salt until it is absolutely proven beyond doubt. You can waste an awful lot of time and energy on spurious 'reports' which are manufactured to get a reaction.
I am no fan of Francis, but if these clerics oust him I will stand by him. As Bones says, not because of his views and pronouncements, which I generally abhor, but because he is the validly elected pope until those qualified are able to show otherwise. To oust him in this way would be totally anarchic. Bones is right. Chloe
St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that heretics could be executed because they are such as great danger to souls. St. Robert Bellarmine wrote that a pope could be removed from office after competent authority had judged him to be an obstinate formal heretic, because by remaining in the heresy he has already deposed himself, and this situation has been discussed in Catholic media and blogs almost since the very start of Francis's papacy.
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