Vatican City, May 13, 2017 / 02:32 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The following is an unofficial transcript of the in-flight press conference on the papal plane returning from Fatima to Rome on May 13, 2017.
Greg Burke: Thank you Holiness, they were 24 very intense hours, as you said, for the Lord, 24 hours for Our Lady. It’s apparent that the Portuguese felt very touched when you said, “We have a Mother,” that they feel this in a special way. 100 years ago Our Lady didn’t appear to three important journalists, she appeared to three shepherds, but we’ve seen how they with their simplicity and sanctity were able to make this message reach the entire world. The journalists make the message arrive – it is seen from the number of nations from which they come – and they’re very curious about this trip of yours. If you’d like to say something first, great…
Pope Francis: First of all, good evening. Thanks. And, I’d like to respond to the first of the possible questions, so we can do things a bit more quickly. I’m sorry when we’re at the halfway point and they come to tell me that it’s snack time… let’s do them all together. Thanks.
Greg Burke: Good, let’s begin with the Portuguese group, with Fatima Ferreira of the Portuguese TV Radio
Anna Elza Ferreira (Redevida de Televisao): I don’t know what I think about sitting in front of the Holy Father. Well, first, many thanks for this trip. Holy Father, you came to Fatima as a pilgrim, to canonize Francisco and Jacinta in the year that the apparitions mark their 100th year. From this historical point of view, what is left now for the Church, for the entire world? Also, Fatima has a message of peace. Holy Father, you are going to receive in the Vatican in the coming days, the 24th of May, the American president Donald Trump. What can the world expect and what does the Holy Father expect from this encounter? Many thanks.
Pope Francis: Thanks. Fatima certainly has a message of peace. It’s brought to humanity by three great communicators that were less than 13 years old, which is interesting. Yes, I came as a pilgrim. The canonization was something that wasn’t planned from the beginning, because the process of the miracles was in progress but the all of a sudden the export reports were all positive, and it was done – that’s how the story was told – for me was a very great joy. What can the world expect? Peace. And what am I talking about from now on with whomever? Peace.
Ferreira: And what remains now of this historic moment for the Church?
Pope Francis: A message of peace. And I’d like to say one thing … before disembarking I received scientists from all religions who were doing studies in the Vatican Observatory at Castel Gandolfo, including agnostics and atheists. And an atheist said to me, “I’m an atheist.” I won’t tell you from what ethnicity or place of origin he was – he spoke in English. And at the end, he asked me, ‘I ask you a favor: tell the Christians that they should love their message of peace more.”
Aura Miguel (Radio Renascença): Your Holiness, in Fatima you presented yourself as the “bishop dressed in white.” Up to now, this expression applied rather to the vision of the third part of the secret, St. John Paul II, the martyrs of the twentieth century. What does it mean now, your identification with this expression?
Pope Francis: The prayer, that, I did not write it… the sanctuary wrote it… but also I have tried because they said this, and there is a connection with the white. The bishop of white, Our Lady of white, the white glow of the innocence of children after Baptism and innocence… there is a connection to the color white in that prayer. I believe – because I did not write it – but I believe that literally they have tried to express with white that desire for innocence, for peace… innocence: to not hurt the other … to not create conflict, the same.
Miguel: Is it a revision of the interpretation…
Pope Francis: No, but that vision … I believe that then Cardinal Ratzinger, at that time prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith, explained everything clearly. Thank you.
Claudio Lavanga (NBC News): Thank you. Holy Father, yesterday you asked the faithful to break down all the walls, yet on May 24 you meet a head of State who is threatening to build walls. It is a bit contradictory to your word, but he also has – it seems – opinions and decisions different from you in other topics, such as the need to act to confront global warming or the welcoming of migrants … Thus, in light of this meeting: what is your opinion of the politics that President Trump has adopted so far on these topics and what do you expect from a meeting with a Head of State who seems to think and act contrary to you?
Pope Francis: The first question … I can respond to both… I never make a judgment of a person without listening to them. I believe that I should not do this. In our talk things will come out, I will say what I think, he will say what he thinks, but I never, ever, wanted to make a judgment without hearing the person. The second…
Claudio Lavanga: What do you think about the reception of migrants?
Pope Francis: But this you all know well…
Claudio Lavanga: The second instead is what you expect from a meeting with a head of state who thinks contradictory to you?
Pope Francis: Always there are doors that are not closed. Look for the doors that are at least a little bit open, enter and talk about common things and go on. Step by step. Peace is handcrafted. It is made every day. Also friendship among people, mutual knowledge, esteem, is handcrafted. It’s made every day. Respect the other, say that which one thinks, but with respect, but walk together … someone thinks of one way or the other, but say that …. Be very sincere with what everyone thinks, no?
Claudio Lavanga: Do you hope to soften his decisions after the meeting?
Pope Francis: This is a political calculation that I do not permit myself to make.
Greg Burke: Thank you Holiness, now there is a change of places, Elisabetta Piqué is coming.
Elisabetta Piqué (La Nacion): Thanks first of all for this brief and very intense trip. We wanted to ask you, today is the centenary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, but is is also the important anniversary of a fact of your life that took place 25 years ago, when the Nuncio (Archbishop) Calabresi told you that you would become the Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires, something that meant the end of your exile in Cordoba and a great change in your life. Have you every connected this fact that changed your life with Our Lady of Fatima? And in these days that you’ve prayed before her have you thought about this and what did you think about? Can you tell us about that? Thanks.
Pope Francis: Women know everything, eh! No, I didn’t think about the coincidence, only yesterday while I was praying before Our Lady I realized that one May 13th I received the phone call from the nuncio 25 years ago. I don’t know… I said, well look at that. I spoke with Our Lady a little about this. I asked her forgiveness for all of my mistakes, also of a bit of bad taste for choosing people… but yesterday I realized this.
Greg Burke: Nicolas Seneze of La Croix is coming.
Nicolas Seneze (La Croix): Thanks, Holy Father. We’re returning from Fatima for which the Fraternity of St. Pius X has a great devotion and much is said about an agreement that would give an official statute to the Fraternity in the Church. Some even imagined that there would be an announcement today… Holiness, do you think that this agreement is possible in a short timeframe? And, what are the obstacles still? And what is the sense of this reconciliation for you? And, will it be the triumphant return for faithful who have shown what it means to be truly Catholic or what?
Pope Francis: I would toss out any form of triumphalism. None. Some days ago, the Feria Quarta of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, their meeting – the call it the Feria Quarta, because it’s the fourth Wednesday – studied a document and the document still hasn’t reached me, the study of the document. This is the first. Secondly, the current relations are fraternal. Last year, I gave a license for confession to all of them, also a form of jurisdiction for marriages, but even before the problems, the cases they had, for example, had to be resolved by the Doctrine of the Faith. The Doctrine of the Faith carries them forward. For example, abuses. The cases of abuse, they brought them to us, also to the Penitentiary. Also the reduction to the lay state of a priest, they bring to us. The relations are fraternal. With Msgr. Fellay I have a good rapport. I’ve spoken many times… I don’t like to hurry things. Walk. Walk. Walk. And then we’ll see. For me, it’s not an issue of winners and losers, it’s an issue of brothers who must walk together, looking for a formula to make steps forward.
Tassilo Forcheimer (ARD): Holy Father, on the occasion of the anniversary of the Reformation, Evangelical Christians and Catholics are able to walk another stretch of road together. Will there be the possibility to participate in the same Eucharistic Mass? Some months ago, Cardinal Kasper said: A step forward could take place already this year.
Pope Francis: There have been great steps forward, eh … we think of the first statement on justification, from that moment the journey has not stopped… the trip to Sweden was very significant because it was just the beginning and also a commemoration with Sweden… also there is significance for the ecumenism of the journey… that is, to walk together, with prayer, with martyrdom, with works of charity, with works of mercy. And there, Lutheran Caritas and Catholic Caritas have made an agreement to work together. This is a great step. But steps are always awaited. You know that God is the God of surprises. But we must never stop. Always go on. To pray together, to give testimony together and to do works of mercy together, that announce the charity of Jesus Christ, to announce that Jesus Christ is Lord, is the only Savior, and that grace only comes from Him. And on this path the theologians they will continue to study, but the path must proceed. And (with) hearts opened to surprises.
Mimmo Muolo (Avvenire): Good evening Holiness. I’m asking you a question in the name of the Italian group. Yesterday and today at Fatima, we saw a great witness of popular faith together with you. The same that is found, for example, also in other Marian shrines like Medjugorje. What do you think of those apparitions, if they were apparition, and of the religious fervor they have aroused seeing that you have decided to appoint a bishop delegate for the pastoral aspects? And if I can permit myself a second question I know is very close to your heart besides that of us italians… I would like to know, the NGOs were accused of collusion with the boat traffickers of men. What do you think of this? Thanks.
Pope Francis: I’ll start with the first. I read in the papers that I peruse in the morning that there was this problem, but I still don’t know how the details are and because of this I can’t give an opinion. I know there is an issue and the investigations are moving ahead. I hope that they continue ahead and that the whole truth comes out. Medjugorje, all the apparitions, or the presumed apparitions, belong to the private sphere, they aren’t part of the public, ordinary magisterium of the Church. Medjugorje. Medjugorje. A commission was formed, headed by Cardinal Ruini. Benedict XVI made it. I, at the end of 2013 the beginning of 2014, I received the result from Cardinal Ruini. It was commission good theologians, bishops, cardinals, but good. Very good. And the commission. The Ruini report was very, very good. Then there were some doubts in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the Congregation judged it opportune to send each one of the members of this Feria quarta (Editor’s note: “Feria Quarta” is a once-a-month meeting in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith during which current cases are examined) all the documentation, even those that seemed to be against the Ruini report. I received a notification – I remember it was a Saturday evening, late evening… and it didn’t seem right. It was like putting up for auction – excuse me the word – the Ruini report which was very well done. And Sunday morning the prefect received a letter from me that said that instead of sending them to the Feria Quarta, they they would send the opinions to me personally.
These opinions were studied and all of them underscore the density of the Ruini report. Principally, three things must be distinguished: the first apparitions, that they were kids. The report more or less says that it must continue being studied. The apparitions, the presumed current apparitions: the report has its doubts. I personally am more nasty, I prefer the Madonna as Mother, our Mother, and not a woman who’s the head of a telegraphic office, who everyday sends a message at such hour. This is not the Mother of Jesus. And these presumed apparitions don’t have a lot of value. This I say as a personal opinion. But, it’s clear. Who thinks that the Madonna says, ‘come tomorrow at this time, and at such time I will say a message to that seer?’ No. The two apparitions are distinguished. The third, the core of the Ruini report, the spiritual fact, the pastoral fact. People go there and convert. People who encounter God, change their lives…but this…there is no magic wand there. And this spiritual and pastoral fact can’t be ignored. Now, to see things with all this information, with the answers that the theologians sent me, this good, good bishop was appointed because he has experience, to see the pastoral part, how it’s going. And at the end he’ll say some words.
Muolo: Holiness, thank you, also for the blessing of my fellow citizens who thank you, they saw it and are very happy…
Greg Burke: Holiness, now if I can be the nasty one, we have done all of the language groups and…
Pope Francis: Time is up already?
Greg Burke: There’s a question, they tell me.
Pope Francis: One or two more.
Joshua McElwee (National Catholic Reporter): Thank you, Holy Father. The last member of the Commission for the Protection of Minors, who was abused by a priest, resigned in March. She, Ms. Marie Collins, said that she had to resign because the officials in the Vatican did not implement the recommendations of the commission that you, the Holy Father, approved. I have two questions: who is responsible, and what are you doing, Holy Father, to ensure that the priests and bishops in the Vatican implement the recommendations suggested by your commission?
Pope Francis: Marie Collins explained the matter to me well, I spoke with her, she is a good woman, but she continues to work in the formation of priests on this point… she is a good woman who wants to work … but she made this accusation, and she has a bit of reason… why? Because there are so many late cases, then in this period of lateness, because they accumulate there, you have to make legislation for this… what should the diocesan bishops do? Today in almost all the dioceses there is the protocol to follow in these cases: it is a great improvement. This way the dossiers are done well. Then there are the accusations…this is a step. Another step: there are few people, there needs to be more people capable in this area, and the Secretary of State is looking for, even Monsignor Mueller (Editor’s Note: Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), to present new people. The other day two or three more were approved… the director of the disciplinary office changed, who was good, eh, he was very good but he was a bit tired… he returned to his home country to do the same with his episcopate. And the new one is an Irishman, Msgr. (John) Kennedy, he is a very good person, very efficient, prompt, and this helps a lot.
Then there is another thing: Sometimes the bishops send – if the protocol is okay, it goes right away to the Feria Quarta and the Feria Quarta studies and decides. If the protocol is not okay, it must go back to be redone. That’s why you think of continental help or in a continent or two … in Latin America, one in Colombia, another in Brazil, as pre-tribunals or continental tribunals… this is in the planning… but then it’s fine, they study it at feria quarta and they take away his clerical status. This goes back to the diocese, and the priest makes recourse. First, the application was studied by the same Feria Quarta that had given the sentence, and this is unfair. I created another tribunal and I put an indisputable person as the head, the Archbishop of Malta, Msgr. (Charles Jude) Scicluna, who is one of the strongest against abuses, and this second – because we must be just – the one who makes recourse is entitled to have a defender. If he (the defender) approves the first sentence, the case is over.His only option is a letter asking the Pope for pardon. I have never signed a pardon. I believe, I do not know, another question. This is how things are. We’re going forward. If Marie Collins was right on that point, we were also on the way. But there are 2000 cases piled up.
Portuguese journalist: I’m going to ask a question about the case Portugal, but I think that it can be applied to many of the Western societies. In Portugal, almost all of the Portuguese say they identify themselves as Catholics. But the way the society is organized, the decisions that we make, often are contrary to the indications of the Church. I refer to marriage between homosexuals, the legalization of abortion, now we’re going to begin discussing euthanasia. How do you see this?
Pope Francis: I think it’s a political problem. And that also the Catholic conscience isn’t a catholic one of total belonging to the Church and that behind that there isn’t a nuanced catechesis, a human catechesis. That is, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is an example of what is a serious and nuanced thing. I think that there is a lack of formation and also of culture. Because it’s curious, in some other regions, I think of the south of Italy, some in Latin America, they are very Catholic but they are anti-clerical and ‘priest-eaters’, that … there is a phenomenon that exists. It concerns me. That’s why I tell priests, you will have read it, to flee from clericalism because clericalism distances people. May they flee from clericalism and I add: it’s a plague in the Church. But here there is a work also of catechesis, of raising awareness, of dialogue, also of human values.
[…]
As soon as this Pontificate ends, the ongoing corruption of the Church Curia, under the profane priorities of the Secretariat of State, first launched by the Paul VI, and now super-charged by the Pontiff Francis, should be torn down and entirely abrogated.
From there, the Congregation of the Faith dhould be restored as the primary Congregation, and taken out of the hands of the Pontiff, to assure its integrity over time, and reassert the rule of God’s Law over the whimsy of mere mortals, who get over-inflated egos when assuming office.
We read quoted in the new release that “The document confirms changes to the former Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith [CDF] unveiled by Pope Francis in February. The pope reorganized the internal structure of the Vatican’s doctrine office into two sections: a doctrinal section and a disciplinary section.”
Does this bifurcation set in place the past trend of affirming dogmatic morality while at the same time enabling such truths to be not denied, but suspended, as in enabling cohabitation (as merely “irregular”) or the homosexual lifestyle—without formally denying anything? Not mitigation of subjective accountability, but a new category of exemption?
Of moral teaching, the CDF doctrinal section is still blessed with Veritatis Splendor, for example this (from n. 115): “This is the first time, in fact, that the Magisterium of the Church has set forth in detail the fundamental elements of this teaching, and presented the principles for the pastoral discernment necessary in practical and cultural situations which are complex and even crucial” [and!] “Each of us can see the seriousness of what is involved, not only for individuals but also for the whole of society, with the REAFFIRMATION OF THE UNIVERSALITY AND IMMUTABILITY OF THE MORAL COMMANDMENTS [italics], particularly those which prohibit always and without exception INTRINSICALLY EVIL ACTS [italics].”
The announcement holds that “Church leaders” (“leaders,” including such as the mongrelized German “synodal way”?) “in the exercise of their mission as authentic teachers and teachers of the faith, for which they are bound to safeguard and promote the integrity of that faith.”
Meaning, surely (!), the integrity of the integral faith and morals…
“Does this bifurcation set in place the past trend of affirming dogmatic morality while at the same time enabling such truths to be not denied, but suspended” (Beaulieu).
This was my earlier take when announced, that the separation would facilitate a differential, multiple possibilities one the analogy of a differential axle in which the drive shaft [doctrinal] section’s steady output of controversy is slowly, in due time inappreciably implemented in the doctrinal section.
Clever these Radlibs.
Correction. I meant to say, inappreciably implemented in the disciplinary section. Yet who knows, that what’s initially addressed with appropriate ambiguity [as is the Vatican’s wont] in the doctrinal section will be considered doctrine in due time by that section in the manner of the old Soviet school of indoctrination by endless repetition.
Related, an essayist in TCT theorizes Francis may, in his tamping down emphasis on abortion, homosexuality, may intend to develop an entree into the world, as it is, with focus on poverty and just wage. Eventually integrating the former mentioned moral issues. A kind idea that has no virtue in succeeding since the general acceptance of Catholic doctrine on abortion and homosexuality requires a true internal conversion to the truth, which has zero possibility by any attempt at slight of hand.
“Church leaders”?…
The Council affirmed that “the task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether in its written form or in that of Tradition, has been entrusted only to those charged with the Church’s living Magisterium, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ” (Dei Verbum, n. 10, cited in Veritatis Splendor, VS, n. 27, all in ITALICS).
As for Parolin’s “anthropological-cultural change” and a “paradigm shift”, this instead: “[the moral catechesis of the Apostles…] made under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, of the Lord’s precepts as they are to be lived in different cultural circumstances (cf. Rom 12-15, 1 Cor 11-14; Gal 5-6; Eph 4-6, Col 3-4, 1 Pt and Jas)” (VS, n. 26). And, “No damage must be done to the HARMONY BETWEEN FAITH AND LIFE [italics]: the unity of the Church is damaged not only by Christians who reject or distort truths of faith but also by those who disregard the moral obligations to which they are called by the Gospel (cf. 1 Cor 5:9-13)” (VS, n. 26).
Beware the generic (?) “gospel of Jesus” displacing the actual Christ of the Gospel, or words displacing the Word.
I suspect that some Catholics see the firmament of serious sin as wider than sexual misbehavior. Some commentators prefer to ignore it, but the cover-up of scandal and the persistent lies of bishops in the 1978-2013 era are a far more contrary witness to the Gospel than any cohabiting couple still going to Mass.
When a priest or other leader has harmed a person in a lesser relationship, there are ethical standards a bishop must apply. Defending the appearances of the institution are far, far, far down the list. The DDF and its organization appear to reinforce the importance of delivering correction to church leaders who struggle with ethics.
We should all be fine with this reorganization, and many discouraged Catholics will be watching to see if the promised curial reform takes root. Their purpose is to serve the Church. Not to preserve themselves as an institution.
Mr. Flowerday:
It might be persuasive to simply state that you are in support of this “re-organization,” and give your reasons for judging worthy of your support.
After 50 years of the supreme corruption of the Secretariat of State “reform model,” there are no apparent reasons for Catholic observers to cast any votes aside from “no confidence.”
A “reorganization” that magnifies the ambit of the decadent Secretariat of State is a continuation of pontifical and episcopal theater.
And an appeal that “we should all be fine with this reorganization” rings of the worn-out,
auto-mated submission to what one wag has dubbed “the clericalist caste system.”
Deeper, yes…but wider…unfortunately not.
But then again…, no matter how deep and wide…Dante had them all in deep…in the Inferno.
But as one well known Church personality has stated, there is no Hell…as that idea is “counter to the Gospel.” Even the endowments of Our Lord Jesus are refined by the oracles of the “wandering shepherd.”
A wandering palate of ideas in a discussion often means the main topic is exhausted. I observe the curia contained some of the deepest resistance to Vatican II. Power is hard to surrender, even when one wraps oneself in the mantle of Jesus who demonstrated kenosis to a godly degree.
Let’s keep in mind that it was the popes of 1978-2013 who gave us some of the most scandal-tainted bishops of the era, prelates I’ve seen vilified on the internet in a range of websites so wide this location is actually bedfellows with the NCRep.
Now, to be sure, PF has his blindspots. He’s only a man. Like his two predecessors. Where he lacks the spots of his predecessors, there may be hope of reform. We might know by the 2030s. This is still the RC Church, after all.
So, I plan to continue to poke here and there at Francis-critics, especially when their opinions seem … wonky, to use a theological term.
This reorganization to elevate evangelization, discipleship, and mission should have happened in the 1970s. That it didn’t means we’ve planted ourselves into deep post-Christian soil. Sad, perhaps that two generations have been lost. But it’s the challenge in front of us. If the curia resets to help bishops and their dioceses rather than being an entity unto itself–this is a good thing. If Rome is providing a sort of super-chancery, I sure hope it can get working well. And if not, there are always good dioceses and parishes here and there. At least there won’t be any ideological rabbit holes generated in Vatican offices anymore. I hope.
Peter:
I am not certain you were intending to reply to me, but assuming so, I can only say that I agree that the Church hierarchs are “mongrelizing” Church teaching.
For my part I have no doubt that this is a deliberate apostasy at the very summit of the Church (though I admit that as regards behavior we have been here before with prior “pornocracies” of the 10th and 16th centuries).
I seethe contemporary collapse as the culmination of a 50-year project beginning with Paul VI in his “reorganization” of the Roman Curia, demoting the Sacred Congregation for the Faith (for centuries the primary Congregation in the Church) to 2nd rank, and promoting the Secretariat of State as the senior-most Congregation. This was and remains an ominous gesture, the subordination of the sacred faith to the profane priorities of the Vatican City-State. The recent “re-organizations” by the Pontiff Francis have only served to super-charge the immense power of the Secretariat of State, and demote the Faith deep down into the thoroughly dysfunctional and disoriented Vatican bureaucracy.
This signals that ulterior purpose of “the new evangelization” is an outright fraud.
No organization can deny that its primary concerns are reflected in its primary organizing principles. Organizations “organize” themselves around what matters to them most. Since 1970, the Catholic Church hierarchs have re-organized the Roman Curia around the profane, and subordinated the faith to those concerns. The fruit of these priorities is now evident in a single lifetime: the complete collapse of the Church in Europe, with North and South America following in rapid succession just one generation behind.
The abomination of desolation was the Pontiff Francis’ orchestration and sponsorship of idolatry in 2019.
In 2020 Father Robert Imbelli wrote an essay “No De-Capitated Body,” wherein he updates his prior assessment of the state of the Church (first made in 2000), stating that twenty years later “there is abroad [in the Church] a … quite intentional apostasy.” (The ellipses indicating the deletion of the qualifying words “measure of innocent and sometimes,” which he included in 2000).
https://stpaulcenter.com/02-nv-18-3-imbelli/
His essay can be read at the link above, with the quoted assessment on the 6th page of the essay (numbered 762 in the Journal).
My comment was meant as a supportive footnote elaboration of your comment. Thank you for the Imbelli link at the St. Paul Center.
The newly and even more centralized position for the Secretariat of State contrasts with the stated (!) and countervailing intent to decentralize the governance of the Church in some global way. The worst-case scenario would be diverging continental synods (e.g., Europe captured by Germany) combined with strategic silences and political accommodations by the Secretariat of State at the curial level (if the curia still are a “level” reminiscent of some kind of hierarchy).
Following one earlier lay recommendation, the next papacy must consist of (a) a doctrinally unambiguous pope of the highest order, combined with (b) a strong second-in-command truly capable of governing in a most demanding, modern and centrifugal situation (in the seat now carved out for the Secretariat of State?). It was also recommended that, in his first days, (c) the new pope should clean house—-deferred for now?
Such overall irony of pouring vintage wine in a new wine skin would have to be the nothing less than the mysteriously chaotic work of the Holy Spirit.
Seeing so many people from all over the world involved in this restructure I am sure that it will work out fine. Pope Francis, who has overseen this exercise, has no doubt prayerfully sought guidance from the Holy Spirit to ensure success of this endeavor.
Thank you Pope Francis for the time and energy you spend to make the human elements of our Church run more smoothly. I will say a prayer for its success.
Your pietistic blather only serves to highlight that this is a continuation of the unceasing “catastrophe” and “disaster” that a recent memorandum circulated among the cardinals of the Church describes as the hallmarks of the 10-year reign of terror of this presumed papacy.
Your description of the reign of the papacy – not presumed, as you erroneously call it – is fake news of the MSM kind.
Fake news is your Pollyanna-like sycophancy of the “disaster” and “catastrophe” of this papacy that is as hollow and thin as your pietistic blather.
The Catholic church is constantly changing, but Gods’ word never changes….you should all read it someday.
As for the Church “constantly changing,” St. John Henry Cardinal Newman is often MISQUOTED on this point: “[regarding] philosophy or belief ….] the old principles reappear under new forms. It [belief] changes with them in order to remain the same [!]. In a higher world it is otherwise, but here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed [?] often.”
With the LEVELING of all curial offices into equivalent dicasteries, then, some discern (a) a new and co-responsible papal cabinet, but others dread the (b) the equality of a Procrustean Bed, or simply recall (c) the equally aligned chairs on the deck of the Titanic. Understated in the article is the superior role of the Secretariat of State (apostle of the “paradigm shift”)—-surely (!) not at the expense of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).
Apart from the leveled curial office cubicles…which way is the WIND actually blowing?
Perhaps an even more blurred accommodation with the secular world as with the China “provisional agreement;” now soon to also include a truce with the stowaway lavender mafia (?); or (even more inclusive!) bunk room for the entire and mutinous German “synodal way”?
The anchoring HOPE for all is that “Church leaders are bound to safeguard and promote the integrity of that faith.” Such leaders as Batzing? Marx? and Hollerich? And, with all the other successors of the apostles as synodal and non-leadership “facilitators”?
Surely, the stage has been set for a safeguarding response to the DUBIA! But, when asked, this staged and windy triumvirate has already signaled the future.
Hopefully a good development, moving forward after the backtracking of the 1978-2013 era which was marked by rampant sycophants, cover-up scandals involving abuse, money, and even sex. One aging pope was overrun by his curia. And another resigned because of it.
Evangelization is the primary mission of the Church. If someone gets the first seat at the dicastery table, it need not be the DDF. Good for Pope Francis. A long time coming on this, but hopefully well thought out and discerned.
Mr. Flowerday:
When you protest about sycophants in the Catholic Church prior to 2013, you’d best not be standing outside under a cloudy sky, as you might conduct some electricity.
Many candid observers are noting that while sycophants are nothing new, the malady seems not to have ended with the election of Pontiff Francis, and are finding instead that the 2013-22 sycophants behave as if the are vying to be the champion sycophants of all time.
The bishop from Malta, His Excellency Scicluna, comes to mind, doesn’t he?
He doesn’t. The Church always and on all levels has people who want an in with the leadership. Wise pastors see this coming.
I think Pope Francis has his eyes more open, and appears even more open to correction than his predecessors were. JP2 and B16 were bitterly betrayed by advisers and hangers-on. Clearly the curia wasn’t functional in the last years of Pope Benedict XVI, and the expectation has been that Francis was going to insist on change. Which he has done. So good on him, and down with sycophants. All good, yes?
More entries in the 2013-22 Sycophant Championship Series:
Rev. Tom Rosica: “[Pontiff Francis] “breaks Catholic traditions whenever he wants because he is ‘free from disordered attachments.’ Our Church has indeed entered a new phase: with the advent of this first Jesuit pope, it is openly ruled by an individual rather than by the authority of Scripture alone or even its own dictates of tradition plus Scripture.”
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/41576/rosica-resigns-from-salt-and-light-after-plagiarism-scandal
Theodore McCarrick: “There were rumors here in Washington that the new U.S. government had submitted a request for an agrement for a new U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See… One of the names that was mentioned was … one of the biographers of St. John Paul II. He is very much a leader of the ultra-conservative wing of the Catholic Church in the United States and has been publicly critical of Your Holiness in the past….Many of us American bishops would have great concerns about his being named to such a position in which he would have an official voice, in opposition to your teaching….”
https://eppc.org/publication/uncle-ted-and-me/
You bring to mind the report of Archbishop Forte regarding the Pope and “Amoris Laetitia” …
“Archbishop Forte has in fact revealed a “behind the scenes” [moment] from the Synod: “If we speak explicitly about communion for the divorced and remarried,” said Archbishop Forte, reporting a joke of Pope Francis, “you do not know what a terrible mess we will make. So we won’t speak plainly, do it in a way that the premises are there, then I will draw out the conclusions.”
“Typical of a Jesuit,” Abp Forte joked…
Archbishop Forte wasn’t laughing long after that indiscretion went viral.
Well, we had JP2, and his Congregation of Bishops gave us opponents of both women’s ordination and mature sexual conduct. B16 resigned in the face of betrayal in the College of Cardinals. The jury’s out on PF, and not just among his knee-jerk opponents. But he’s the guy in charge at the moment. And I have a lot more hope than when JP2 was schmoozing with Maciel and his millions, and when B16 went bishop-hunting in the Australian outback while Ted McCarrick and his proteges were plying their trade.
Face it: Pope Benedict knew he had failed after Cd O’Brien was outed. It was the culmination of a sad era of betrayals and ecclesiological false flags. It is curious that some of the same voices so critical of the betrayal of the faith are opposed to the very reforms intended to expose and root out future misbehavior. Go figure.
Undoubtedly this will serve well the purpose of the nefarious. Chilling.
When in accordance with Christ’s teachings, excellent! Le all be submissive to the Lord.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses.
Romans 8:7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
1 Peter 3:2 When they see your respectful and pure conduct.
1 Corinthians 15:28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
Let us be in prayer for our leaders.
Thanks, Tod, what you say is absolutely true. That is exactly the situation as many Catholics see it. There are some hardened Pope Francis haters who will criticize whatever this good and faithful Catholic – our Pope – says or does.
I wonder how this unneeded internal corporate re-organization will help the REAL church? By REAL, I mean the faithful who have long abandoned the church? Some disaffected by the loss of the Latin Mass, now, thanks to the Pope, in real danger of going extinct. Some who simply no longer see the church and her teachings as relevant to their lives ( this image re-enforced by priests and Bishops who refuse to preach clear church teaching for fear of a loss of income). Some just disgusted with the church sex abuse scandal, who left, vowing not to return. This sort of internal shuffling of power will do NOTHING to induce these people to return. It is not the focus of this pontiff. I lector, and my church appears to be filled with people who are aged 70 and above–those who faithfully hobble into Mass most Sundays. After that a handful of the middle aged. Almost nobody under the age of 35.Soon, the church will be forced to shutter its doors.At least, that will happen in the western industrialized nations who have thus far provided the funds to keep the global church running. Maybe the Pope should start paying attention to this reality. And NOT by providing more protestantized church buildings. NOT by restricting the Latin Mass. Not by allowing services not recognizable as Catholic in a bid to be “modern” and attract” younger folks”. . Keep the dances and rock songs out of it. This Pope has plenty of solutions in search of a problem. Yet nary a word about the German schismatic synod.
By REAL, I mean the faithful who have abandoned the Church.
What? The faithful, by the hundreds of millions, are still in the Church. They have not, and will not, abandon the Church. That is akin to abandoning our souls.
Really? Did you read the rest of my post? My church seats 700. WE would be lucky to get that on Easter or Christmas. Frankly, many of those still attending will not be with us 10 years from now. I see almost no faces in the crowd younger than my own.As parishes continue to close schools, and consolidate parishes, and it takes decades to recover ( if at all) from the sex abuse crisis, what is the future of the church looking like? To pretend there is no problem here is to delude oneself.
I haven’t gotten around to reading this article but I find the comments disheartening. Think I’ll rely on Robert Royal and The Catholic Thing for a fuller understanding.
what groups in the curia, exactly, are behind the changes? Pope Francis himself, as a person, is not able. Nothing in the changes address the need to change the heart.
The actual change the Curia needs is for corrupt Deep Church bureaucrats to be fired and, where necessary, sent to prison for corruption. But sadly there is no hope of that happening under the current Scandal engulfed Pontificate.