Friday 30 March 2018

Pope Francis is an Incredibly Stupid Fool: Offended? Read on...

"Okay, let this disappearing thing commence!!"


“They’re not punished. Those who repent obtain forgiveness and enter the ranks of those who contemplate him, but those who don’t repent and can’t be forgiven disappear. A Hell doesn’t exist, what exists is the disappearance of sinning souls.”

Well, obviously (cough), there's no way (Hosea!) the Pope said this. Indeed, given that Eugene Scalfari is so 'creative' with the truth and apparently just makes up his own mind what the Pope has said from memory having interviewed him, why should we even believe that this interview even took place. If Scalfari isn't a trustworthy reporter of people's quotations, should we even believe the story that this interview happened?

The comings and goings of Vatican communications and denials whenever the Pope gives a controversial interview to Scalfari aside, and putting aside also whether the Pope said it (personally, I don't take anything Francis says seriously now, anyway) its worth examining what he 'probably / possibly' didn't say just in case he said it. Why? Because its so stupid. And here is why.

Our Lord Jesus Christ (important religious figure - founded something called the Catholic Church) taught on the doctrine of Hell, more than any of His precursers and those who foreshadowed Him, more than any of the prophets or patriarchs. St John the Baptist taught on this doctrine to the brood of vipers he encountered. He told people to repent in order to avoid it. Presumably, he had some choice words for Herod on this subject. The Apostles taught this doctrine. The Popes taught this doctrine. The Fathers of the Church did also. Though private revelation, visionaries and mystics have seen this place of 'encounter'. Our Lady of Fatima came to show the Fatima children Hell and the fate of the damned. There is not a canonised Saint in Heaven who has not believed it.

So...what source would or could a Pope or a simple parish priest cite for this idea that Hell, as taught by Christ, did or does not exist? That is the first question. Oh dear. There isn't any notable figure who has ever taught that. Maybe some Jesuit, somewhere. Maybe the head of the Jesuits, somewhere. He can't even cite Martin Luther for this one. So, this idea is one that he has, shall we say, invented, made up (if he said it)?

Now, here is the bit where it gets very silly indeed. If ever the Faithful were asked to consider the possibility that Hell doesn't exist (don't worry mortal sinners, mafia bosses, genocidal maniacs, cannibalists, pederasts, serial rapists and God-haters), in flat contradiction of 2,000 years of Catholic teaching, then all readers of the above quotation might want to consider why if Jesus Christ (Who according to the Church's Faith, is God Incarnate) cannot or should not be believed, why on earth should a mere man who lays no claim to divinity be believed?

For example, if we're going to suggest that Hell doesn't really exist (poor old Satan, rendered homeless by the Pope with not even the smallest cavernous fiery pit to inhabit) that's an interesting proposition and would make for an interesting new teaching. But then if Hell doesn't really exist, why should anyone (including the Holy Father) believe:

(a) the souls of those who die without repentance 'disappear' (pfft / pop /boing)
(b) those who die without repentance cannot be forgiven
(c) those who repent obtain forgiveness
(d) the souls who repent and obtain forgiveness enter the ranks of those who contemplate him

The idea that the souls of those who die without repentance go 'pfft' / 'pop' / 'boing' (a) is a novel one. Were it to be said by a Pope he alone could claim the citation of it. It's entirely new. But as for statements (b) and (c) and (d) these can be reconciled with Catholic thought and the words of Jesus. So why would any Pope, bishop, or priest, since we've all been to that parish where the priest walks desperately around the edge of the Inferno with a sign saying 'Don't worry, be happy' suddenly wake up one day and maintain that certain parts of the Church's teachings on the afterlife are true but not that part. How do we decide which parts of Christ's teachings we shall keep and which we shall discard? Oh, sorry! That's what Popes are for! To decide which of the Lord's commandments are worthwhile keeping and which are too medieval for us.



If we're going to alter what we Catholics commonly call 'The Truth As Revealed By God' revealed through His Church, the faithful witness, we are going to make things very difficult for ourselves in explaining to the great mass of humanity both inside and outside the Church why we are retaining some parts of 'The Truth As Revealed By God' but shedding other parts of 'The Truth As Revealed By God'. That makes the Church look less than credible.

In fact, it makes Catholics look like incredibly stupid fools, who wake up one morning believing in both Heaven and Hell but the next just inventing some new concept of damnation which is not damnation but disappearance. To where or for how long is not known. What is the nature of this 'non-beingness'. I could do with a nice long lie-in. Is it a bit like that? If the Church is going to alter 'The Truth As Revealed By God' once, twice, three times an apostate, then there is no point believing anything the Church teaches about anything. If the Church is from God and of God and is Holy and Divine then its ALL TRUE. If it is not ALL TRUE then there's not much reason to believe any of it.

98 % of what I write about Pope's interview is not 'fake news'. But you'll have to check with the Vatican Communications Team to be absolutely sure.

Of course, we're all hoping (at least, some of you are) that Eugene Scalfari made up this quote because he is a deaf / incompetent / evil / combination of the three journalist. Even were he to say such a foolish and stupid thing there is no reason for the foolish and stupid Jorge Bergoglio to believe it because he has just made it up. There would be no Catholic who could believe it if the Pope just made it up, because we don't believe in a made up man-made DIY assembled Faith but Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

Unless, of course, Jorge Bergoglio is going to say one day: 'Well, God (whatever that is) was wrong and I am right because I am God's Representative on Earth, so there, and God, Whose Teachings I disagree with vehemently, told me to tell you this because being I am a living Saint Pope who has a hotline to Him and George Soros and He wants you to believe that I am the new revelation of His mercy, which you don't really need because there is no Hell, so it would be better to die repentant because Heaven (whatever that is) is nicer than disappearing (whatever that is), but all the same, don't try to convert others because Heaven isn't that great and Hell isn't bad at all.'

Were this seed of Bergoglian (sorry, Scalfarian!) thought to bear fruit in the Church why would anyone want to join that New Religion? The answer is, of course, they wouldn't. They'd go to their local Church of Satan or Humanist Group or Masonic Lodge or Quakers / Unitarians. Or maybe they'd join the Jehovah's Witnesses, because apparently this is precisely what they believe about the afterlife.

Of course, you'll notice that I have dared to call Pope Francis, the Successor of St Peter, the Vicar of Christ, the Visible Head of the Church an incredibly stupid fool. You're going to tell me that this is very, very uncharitable. You're also going to tell me that a very important religious figure whose Death and Resurrection we commemorate and devoutly recall at this time said that it was a very bad thing to call your brother 'a fool', aren't you? You're going to tell me that this very important religious figure, Jesus Christ, said that such a person would be in danger of something, aren't you? You're going to tell me that Jesus Christ said that anyone who calls his brother 'fool' was in danger of the judgement and of Gehanna, which means Hell, and that this is a place of fiery torment and everlasting agony aren't you? Good. As well as the above, you're also going to tell me all of that plus that a man may not do evil that good may result. Good.

I want Pope Francis to tell me that too.

That would clear this latest mess up good and proper. My phone is on and I am waiting for your call, Your Holiness. Please call me urgently and tell me to repent and explain why.
Let's do this on Skype, you rabid old lunatic Jesuit, you!

I will record the conversation and publish it on this blog and then this scandal will be put to bed to the glory of God.

Until the next Scalfari interview.


Of course, I am only jesting. That's a good excuse, isn't it? You should try that one, Your Holiness. You'll have to ask my communications team to double-check, mind. Despite his best efforts, do not let Pope Francis or his erstwhile aged atheist friend and purveyor of 'possibly fake news' spoil the Sacred Triduum and your participation in the central saving mysteries of our glorious and most holy Faith. The latest interview is a clear episode of psychological warfare, timed, as it is for the most sacred time of the Church's year. At Easter, party like its 2012. Or really any year before. It won't be 2013 forever. One day this pontificate will simply 'disappear'.

Boing! Pfft! Pop! Wheeee!

Jesus Christ did not offer His Body, torn and lacerated, nor pour out His Precious Blood upon the Altar of the Cross to save us from 'disappearing'.

Image result for crucifixion of christ


He did not rise victor from the tomb to vanquish 'non-beingness' but Death and all of Hell. 

Image result for resurrection of christ

This is the Church's Faith.

This is not.

I can't tell you what Pope Francis's faith is or who it is in.

All I can tell you is that, according to his vague commentary on the afterlife, both before and after this 'interview' you apparently have nothing to fear from excommunication.
There's no Hell, apparently, so its just a political tool, after all.

Boing! Pfft! Pop! Wheeee!

May the Lord Jesus by His most sorrowful sufferings, by His unfathomable Death and His most glorious Resurrection, save us from the man sitting at the summit of His Church on Earth and in His mercy save Pope Francis and the flock entrusted to him, from error, Hell and everlasting death.

23 comments:

James said...

God save us from Pope Francis. May this horrible pontificate terminate soon.

Melanie said...

I can’t understand why you call this man Pope Francis when he isn’t even a Catholic. It doesn’t seem like a good thing to repeat such a ludicrous lie. Jorge Bergoglio doesn’t believe in Hell, so he’s not a Christian. Maybe he’ll convert someday but in the meantime, he is causing scandal and us Catholics sit here with no Pope. I’m angry that nobody with any power is doing a thing about this and that all these so called Priests of the Catholic Church participate in this lie instead of standing up for our Lord Jesus Christ and the Church He established. Even the SSPX Priests are actively participating in this fiction. Even Catholic bloggers, excepting a very few, join this evil man in his deception, telling us what a bad bad Pope we have, poor us. Shame on all of you.

Mary Kay said...

Thank you, Laurence! I wish you and your loved ones a very blessed and happy Easter.

Annie said...

This isn't the first time that Scalfari has printed such comments by Pope Francis. In October, 2017, while reviewing a book written by Archbishop Paglia, Scalfari said: "Pope Francis, I repeat, has abolished the places of eternal dwelling in the afterlife of souls. The thesis held by him is that the souls dominated by evil and not repentant cease to exist while those who are redeemed from evil will be assumed into beatitude, contemplating God. This is the thesis of Paglia and also of Francis."

Farther back, in a March, 2105 interview, Scalfari has Francis denying hell: "What happens to that lost soul? Will it be punished? And how? The response of Francis is distinct and clear: there is no punishment, but the annihilation of that soul. All the others will participate in the beatitude of living in the presence of the Father. The souls that are annihilated will not take part in that banquet; with the death of the body their journey is finished."

Pope Francis has never disavowed these comments. AND - please note - he keeps going back to Scalfari; keeps giving interviews to Scalfari. If you give an interview to a reporter and he lies about what you said, you don't keep giving interviews to him. You just don't. Francis does. The two-step: PF speaks - Vatican says it's taken out of context, rinse, repeat -has finally tripped them up because Bergoglio - with true revolutionary fervor- said it during Holy Week, thinking to blow up in our faces the meaning of Christ's crucifixion. I mean, if there's no hell, then Jesus died for nothing and was the biggest fool of all. It didn't work this time but don't worry, he'll be back and maybe next time, or the time after that, people will start to think maybe it's true and maybe Christ was a fool and each of us is our own god.

Francis told Scalfari, "Our absolute truth, shared by us all, is different from person to person". One can only conclude from this remarkable statement that if we are true to our individual absolute truths we will be saved. Damnation - sorry, disappearance - comes from our not being true to whatever each of us thinks is right and wrong. It echoes Satan's remark that we can be our own gods, knowing for ourselves what's right and wrong.

Liam Ronan said...

"Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?" Matthew 23:17 (KJV)

"Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?" Matthew 23:19 (KJV)

"Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?" Luke 11:40 (KJV)

"But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" Luke 12:20 (KJV)

Liam Ronan said...

Blood Sweat and Tears (1968) "And When I Die" ..."but I pray there ain't no hell..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gxwutvlTw8

Liam Ronan said...

The 'rope-a-dope' Pope and his confreres:

"Jesuit superior general: ‘We have formed symbolic figures such as the devil to express evil’" - June 2017

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2017/06/01/jesuit-superior-general-we-have-formed-symbolic-figures-such-as-the-devil-to-express-evil/

Mere days later:

"Spokesman for Jesuit chief: Devil remarks must be read in context."

http://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2017/06/08/spokesman-for-jesuit-chief-devil-remarks-must-be-read-in-context/

Our Lady of Good Success-pray for us. said...

You guys, as long as you believe that the Vicar of Christ can lead folks to hell, you are Protestant. The spirit of Henry and Elizabeth reign over England and much else of the what was once the Christian west.

Sixupman said...

Good Friday a.m. Begoglio laid Catholic Church open to 60 minutes of ridicule. Presenter identified and praised Bergoglio as an "Humanist".

Anonymous said...

(personally, I don't take anything Francis says seriously now, anyway) .... that is the best way to take it - you are soooooooo right!
E.Habib

Anonymous said...

Jorge Mario Bergoglio doesn't believe in Christ and in the Catholic faith, that's the truth. Happy Easter to Mr. Bones and the bloggers too.

john haggerty said...

Please watch Michael Voris (YouTube) - The Vortex: Fr. Barron and Planned Parenthood.

He takes Bishop Barron to task for suggesting that 'We have a reasonable hope that all men will be saved.'
Be warned. This is a disturbing vlog. Michael reminds us just how far American society has fallen.
As Annie says, pagans think they can be their own little gods - that is the spiritual condition of men and women in the post-Christian West.
They do not recognize the reality of sin, and so they think they have no need of a Saviour.

Viterbo is wrong in saying that those who disagree with Francis are not Catholic.
James, Melanie, Mary Kay, Annie and Liam are indeed Catholic.
Because they are being faithful to Jesus Christ, the Bible, the Creeds, the early and later Church fathers, the saints, and the teaching of the Church councils down through the ages.

Bertrand Russell said he thought Jesus had 'one moral flaw' - in that Jesus taught the eternal nature of hell in the story of Dives and Lazarus.
The agnostic Russell was at least honest. Unlike liberal theologians he did not dodge the issue.
'Even the demons believe and tremble.'

Here is the tragedy.
Francis is telling sinners what they want to hear.
Francis is telling the world that we are all children of God.
The New Testament says that unless we repent and turn to Jesus Christ, we are 'children of wrath'.

No sinner who hears Francis preaching will tremble or shudder at the thought of the retribution that lies ahead after death.
Sinners do not want to hear that 'the wages of sin is death, eternal separation from God.'
But hear it they must.

In the words of the old hymn:

'Rock of ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee!
Let the water and the blood
From Thy riven side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Cleanse me from its guilt and power.'

August Toplady wrote those words while sheltering in a narrow cave in Devon during a rainstorm.
All he had with him was his notebook, his pencil and his Bible.





Pelerin said...

Much food for thought there Laurence. It is as if we are being cast adrift with certainties once held now seeming to evaporate into thin air. I do remember many years ago hearing a sermon where the priest told us that Hell did indeed exist but that there was no proof that anyone was in there. Surely the events in Fatima disprove this?

Anyway all this controversy has not stopped me from attending the beautiful ceremonies of the Triduum. (Hope the rain keeps away tonight and Happy Easter to you both)

john haggerty said...

Addendum. The disturbing vlog I referred to is 'The Vortex - Fr. Barron and Planned Parenthood' (YouTube).
This and the other vlog, 'Fr. Barron is Wrong' both touch on the Modernist heresy of universal salvation to which Bishop Barron (as he now is) holds.

The late Francis Schaeffer wept at a Bible conference when he thought of the souls who would go to hell.
Unless we recover the anguish for lost souls that a Protestant like Francis Schaeffer felt in the depths of his being, how are we going to work with the Holy Spirit in bringing sinners to Jesus Christ?
We will be like those liberal churchmen who have nothing to offer except tea and platitudes.
An outgoing moderator of the Church of Scotland said that the church's mission was to build a more equal and just society.
Every third-rate politician speaks like that.
The moderator said nothing about bringing lost souls to Christ.
Such men have nothing in common with Saint Columba and Saint Mungo who brought the Gospel to pagan Scotland.
These liberal churchmen are like the Pharisees, the blind leading the blind.

It is not enough to passively believe in Christ.
Our faith must be a saving faith as Arthur W Pink preached.
We rest completely on Christ's finished work on Calvary.
Regeneration and sanctification flow from this great salvation.

'Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures and to save us from the wrath to come.'



umblepie said...

N.B. Not for publication unless you wish to publish.

I'm sorry Bones, but I feel it wrong to publish a post of this length and nature based on unconfirmed and hearsay comments allegedly made by Pope Francis to an aged, atheistic academic. I do not like our current Pontiff and have been shocked by some of his actions and his words, and I understand the probable spiritual scandal and great harm caused, but in this instance we only have the word of an acquaintance who might or might not be accurate in what he says the Pope told him, and I don't think this is sufficiently reliable evidence. There is a real danger that we assume the Pope is guilty of allegations made against him, regardless of whether or not we have the evidence. If real evidence exists that is one thing, but if not, by creating a 'story', we could be guilty of 'detraction' towards the Pope and 'scandal' towards the Church, serious sins against charity. You probably have much greater knowledge, than I do, of the facts in this case, which persuaded you to publish this post, however on reflection you may consider reviewing, restructuring, or even removing it. I feel bad about this comment in that I know that you care passionately about Jesus Christ and His Church, and that you speak from your heart, but perhaps sometimes it is better to say little or even nothing, if the facts of the matter in question are uncertain or doubtful. Regards, Brian Crowe.

The Bones said...

Umblepie

Having left himself utterly to private interpretation of his comments, any commentary thereafter is legit, both yours and mine.

Happy Easter! Christ is risen, no Pope can stop the Resurrection (even if he wanted to).

Allelulia! Allelulia! Allelulia!

Laurence

Liam Ronan said...

If Francis subscribes to the belief that it's only heaven or annihilation awaiting us, then what of all those stipends paid to priests for offering Masses for the (formerly known as) Poor Souls in Purgatory? Must priest now cease and desist from offering such Masses and from accepting stipends since there is no such thing as Purgatory now?

Nicolas Bellord said...

Umblepie: If the Pope did not say the words attributed to him by Scalfari then why does he not deny the story? His failure to do so is the real scandal.

By the way if there is no proof that there is anybody in hell is there any proof that there is anyone in heaven? I suppose a few canonised saints but is there anyone else we can be sure about?

john haggerty said...

Please visit Toronto Catholic Witness (March 31 2018) to see a video of Archbishop Fulton Sheen:
'Either the merciful face of Christ or the horrible face of Satan.'

Archbishop Sheen can also be seen on YouTube. He told Malcolm Muggeridge: 'Christendom is over but Christ is not over.'

Christ Jesus is risen indeed, and intercedes for us without ceasing through our fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

John Vasc said...

The idea of being 'disappeared' seems straight out of 1960s/70s South American civil war politics - while the idea of making one's political opponent an Orwellian 'Unperson', somebody whose trace is obliterated as if that person never existed, has parallels in the methods of annihilation used by 20c totalitarian dictators. They cannot even be allowed a parallel fate of eternal punishment - for then they would in a way still exist: far better to be able to have them instantaneously snuffed out. I would suggest this is the fantasy of a troubled and even paranoid mind.

john haggerty said...

To Laurence and everyone else. Please watch on YouTube:

'Pray for our priests and bishops, lest they be damned.'

I pray it will 'go viral' (as the kids say).

john haggerty said...

See some old vlogs of Michael Voris on The Vortex:

Hell makes a comeback.
Hell is real and souls go there.
Will many be saved?
Obama has no fear of hell.
A Bishop in hell.
Why is hell so unpopular?

Francis belongs to a school that sees hellfire preaching as crippling.
One of the school's key texts is the hellfire sermon in Joyce's 'Portrait Of An Artist As A Young Man'.
In the story Stephen believes he is damned after making a dishonest confession and then receiving the Eucharist.
He doesn't seem to see that he can make a second confession and receive absolution.
Samuel Beckett, an Irish Protestant and Joyce's secretary in Paris, said that the teaching of hell's endless nature, must be the most terrifying idea the human mind has ever conceived.
Karen Armstrong said something similar.
Strangely enough I have known hardened atheists to become very frightened at the thought of the hell they claim not to believe in.
A few years ago I saw a young lady become very angry with a street preacher in Glasgow who was preaching on judgment and hell, though the man's preaching was in no way extreme.
A WPC who intervened said (I was standing next to her) 'You CAN'T preach hell, Sir.'

The British Evangelical Association published a document on hell, with contributions from a number of Evangelical theologians. The text of the paperback stated very clearly that the reality of hell was taught by the Lord Jesus Christ and the early church.
John Stott seems to have changed his mind on the subject, suggesting that damned souls will be put out of their misery.
Tom Wright does not shirk from the awful nature of hell, but suggests it is eternal death.
John Piper said that nobody in hell will be saying 'I shouldn't be here' because they will recognize that God's judgment is just.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones says on an audio CD ('Messenger of Grace', Banner of Truth): 'Never be ashamed of coming to Christ because you are afraid of death and judgment - that is why most of us become Christians.'

My sister, who is not a Christian, asked me if she would go to hell.
I said: 'If you die without Christ you will realize you have made a terrible mistake.'
She refused to take the Lloyd-Jones CD when I offered to give her it; my sister is what you would call 'a good person'.

How terrible that we spend more time thinking about relationships, holidays, food, wine, clothes, music, theatre, concerts, movies, the latest Booker Prize novel, the chatter of TV personalities, than we do about the Prince of Glory who died, forsaken, to save us from hell.
An elderly Marist sister told me many years ago: 'Even the longest life is short, but eternity is forever.'

When we die we take our whole biography with us into eternity, all our thoughts and deeds and words. What we have done and what we have failed to do.
Imagine seeing the truth about ourselves in the actual presence of Jesus Christ and His angels!

john haggerty said...

We must beg the Holy Spirit to lead us to those poor souls who do not know the grave danger they are in, so that we can tell them about 'the unsearchable riches of Christ'.
Nor must we neglect our brethren who sin, but remind them that for every sin they commit, there is a consequence.
See YouTube:

Daily Mass for the Dead. Purgatory is real.
St Mary Magdalene of Pazzi Visits Purgatory.
How Long the Soul Remains in Purgatory.
Reflections on Purgatory.
Levels of Purgatory.
Purgatory Why and How Long?
Purgatory Pay Now or Pay Later.

Protestants often talk to me about their 'unconfessed sins' even as they reject the Catholic sacrament of confession to a priest.
C.S. Lewis, not a Catholic, said of Purgatory: 'Our souls demand it.'

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