Friday, March 29, AD 2024 5:17am

PopeWatch: Blank Faces

VATICAN-POPE-AUDIENCE

Popewatch has long admired the pro-lifers who pray and protest outside of abortion clinics.  They routinely suffer ridicule, abuse, threats of violence and occasional violence from pro-aborts.  In the face of that the overwhelming majority of them keep calm and continue on protesting and praying, and helping women seeking abortions to realize what is about to happen to their baby and that there is a better path.  Apparently now these heroines and heroes of the pro-life movement will have one more obstacle:  ridicule and condescension from at least one Catholic bishop, handpicked for a very important position by Pope Francis.  Father Z gives us the details:

 

There was a puzzling piece at the Italian site Formiche, with comments by Bp. Nunzio Galantino, whom Pope Francis appointed as General Secretary to the Italian Bishops Conference.

Let’s see a few quotes from His Excellency:

I hope that the Italian Church can talk about any topic at all, about married priests, the Eucharist for the divorced, homosexuality, without taboos.

“Without taboos”.   Were this from someone other than a Catholic bishop, I would suspect the use of code language.  ”Without taboos” sounds like code language for adapting doctrine to worldly trends.  Also, Pope Francis signed off on the excommunication of the Australian heretic, the former-Father Greg Reynolds.  He is still excommunicated.

“In the past we were exclusively focused on ‘no’ to abortion and euthanasia.  It can’t be like this, in the middle of this there is existence which develops.

I think this means that, because we live in 2014, we have to focus on other things because, “in the middle of this there is existence which develops… in mezzo c’è l’esistenza che si sviluppa”.  Hey, life goes on!  We evolve.  Right?  We move beyond the past.  It is unthinkable that he is saying that we have to “develop” to a point where we say “yes” to abortion, instead of “no”.

I spent a lot of time in Italy.  I am unaware that bishops and priests there were exclusively focused on abortion or euthanasia.  As a matter of fact, you would hear about those horrors from the pulpit so rarely that you would have thought the Church to be indifferent to them.  On the other hand, there were great groups of lay people who banded together to create some extremely well attended public days of demonstration in favor of life.  They even recited the Rosary.

More about those people who recite Rosaries:

I don’t identify with the blank faces of those who recite the Rosary outside of clinics which practice the interruption of pregnancy, but with those young people who are against this practice and struggle for the quality of persons, for their right to health, to work.

“Interruption of pregnancy”?  This is a very odd expression in Italian for someone – a Catholic bishop – whose default position must be staunchly pro-life.  And I wonder what bishops in these USA would think about one of their brothers in the episcopate describing them as reciting the Rosary with blank faces.

Go here to read the rest.  It is incidents like this that make so many faithful Catholics fear for the worst in regard to this pontificate.

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Philip
Philip
Friday, May 16, AD 2014 7:20am

This so-called bishop has just given me more zeal to increase my prayer time at my local Murder Inc.

Can’t identify? Nor could many of the first followers of Christ. Jesus’ words we’re to difficult to understand so they left Jesus. Sounds like another half-hearted follower is identifying with the band that walked away.
So be it!

Paul W Primavera
Friday, May 16, AD 2014 8:59am

Sorry, folks, but I do not think this Pope knows what he is doing.

Philip
Philip
Friday, May 16, AD 2014 10:24am

Looking back at my rebellious years I wonder how much I would of been moved by a small group of people praying the Rosary with “blank looks” on their faces. Knowing that they we’re their for my souls behalf.
The seriousness of those few would drill through the hardest heart!

Believe that babies are being saved!
Believe that souls are being rescued.
Believe that the smoke of Satan has found Chambers to dwell in. Chambers that are intended for the Holy Spirit.

Mary De Voe
Friday, May 16, AD 2014 2:14pm

Communism in our Church.

Anzlyne
Anzlyne
Friday, May 16, AD 2014 2:46pm

I think those blank faces show that a whole interior thought process is going on. Wouldn’t it look funny if their faces reflected the story of the mystery? Uncontainable joy at third joyful, perplexed at lost and found in the temple talking with the elders. 🙂 I love those peaceful prayerful faces, I love seeing the beads slip through the fingers knowing that person is interiorly talking with God and remembering his life. In this frantic fast world it is so nice to stop in to “make a visit” and share your time there with a person of peace just praying his rosary. Seems like the old world is not in such mortal danger.

Mary De Voe
Saturday, May 17, AD 2014 2:07am

Anzlyne: Yours is a very good analysis of “blank faces”.

Penguins Fan
Penguins Fan
Saturday, May 17, AD 2014 5:04am

Pope Francis absolutely is in over his head. Bishop Galantino deserves the treatment of scandalous bishops in ages past – public rebuking and garbage thrown at him.

Anzlyne
Anzlyne
Saturday, May 17, AD 2014 7:35am

“Without taboos”. Donald McClarey said last week about sexual revolution : This is the mighty good that the sexual revolution and its good riddance to taboos have brought us: where no one trusts anyone …” Tossing out taboos would mean a denial of their inviolable sacred nature. I’m not saying we can’t talk about Law but we cannot amend it.

Sydney O. Fernandes
Sydney O. Fernandes
Saturday, May 17, AD 2014 9:46am

If it is some sort of liberation that Pope Francis is concentrating on, it seems that the past year has liberated some moral lunatics among the clergy: these straitjacketed fellows have burst through during this papacy, Galantino, Kasper, Kung and sundry others. Hopefully it will be the swan song for these ageing and lost shepherds.

CAM
CAM
Saturday, May 17, AD 2014 9:10pm

Anzlyne,
Beautiful thoughts.

trackback
Sunday, May 18, AD 2014 5:03pm

[…] he does not stand with the blank faced people who say the rosary outside of abortion clinics.  Go here to read the post.  Canon Lawyer Ed Peters at his blog In the Light of the Law weighs […]

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