Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 6:17pm

PopeWatch: Joan of Arc and Rules

 VATICAN-POPE-AUDIENCE

 

Pope Francis continues berating those who follows rules set forth by the Church:

“This has also happened in the history of the Church! Think of poor Joan of Arc: today she is a Saint! She was burnt at the stake because she was considered a heretic… the inquisitors, those who followed the rules, those Pharisees: they were far from the love of God. And closer in time to us think of the Blessed Antonio Rosmini: all of his writings were placed upon the Index. You could not read them; it was considered a sin to read them. Today he is a Blessed. In the History of God with his people the Lord sent forth the prophets to tell His people that He loved them. In the Church, the Lord sends forth the Saints. And it is the Saints who carry forward the life of the Church, not the powerful, not the hypocrites: the Saints”.

In regard to Joan of Arc she was condemned not because her inquisitors were following the rules  but because they were not.  Her trial was a travesty as her Rehabilitation Trial made clear:

Inquisitor of the faith Jean Bréhal examined the illegality of procedures. These included the following: lack of defense counsel, the youth of the defendant, mortal hatred on the part of her judges, leading questions intended to entrap her, the secular rather than ecclesiastical prison, the location of the trial, omission of evidence favorable to her case and omission of eyewitness testimonies.

When the law is not followed it is almost always the weak and penniless who pay the price.  Pope Francis has a strong dichotomy in his mind between rules and mercy, but without rules and laws mercy is a mere useless sentiment.  The mercy that Christ calls us to is a rule also, something that the Pope does not discern.

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Clinton
Clinton
Monday, March 16, AD 2015 4:36am

Well, the examples of the rough treatment St. Joan of Arc and Blessed
Antonio Rosmini both received at the hands of merciless prelates should
certainly be a consolation to the friars of the FFI…

Ken
Ken
Monday, March 16, AD 2015 5:49am

Clinton hit it out of the park with his comment.

What does the pope think he is accomplishing with his litany of verbal assaults directed at…..? There are clearly some boogeymen whom he doesn’t like, but they seem to exist only between his ears.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Monday, March 16, AD 2015 6:25am

I didn’t know St. Joan of Arc was a divorced/remarried woman or that she “married” a same sex person and wanted the Church to regularize her sins against God’s Commandments and the Church’s teachings on marriage.
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Maybe this pope needs to write editorials for the New York Times . . .
.
As Clintion points out, he aren’t too smart neither.
.

Dale Price
Dale Price
Monday, March 16, AD 2015 8:07am

Only two of Rosmini’s works were on the Index, and those for a grand total of five years: 1849-54. Apparently the New Age of Mercy™ is somewhat fact-impaired.

And it wasn’t like Joan was being tried before the Pope–it was an ecclesiastical kangaroo court made up of pro-English and pro-Burgundian clerical suck-ups, overseen by secular authorities. The main bishop prohibited her from appealing to Rome. If anything, the trial of St. Jeanne is a great argument against the Pope’s pet project of giving local conferences more authority.

The Pontiff detonates the Irony Meter on a weekly basis.

Tom
Tom
Monday, March 16, AD 2015 8:23am

I wonder if this presages the complete rehabilitation of neo-modernists like DeLubac, Congar, Von Balthasar, all of whom were under suspicion in the years before the Council (for good reason, since they were all practitioners of the nouvelle theologie which was warmed-over Modernism).

They, too, were “persecuted” by the ossified manualists, pelagians, and pharisees that the Pope imagines guardians of doctrine to be.

You know, guys like Pius XII.

Phillip
Phillip
Monday, March 16, AD 2015 9:21am

“…it was an ecclesiastical kangaroo court made up of pro-English and pro-Burgundian clerical suck-ups, overseen by secular authorities.”

Sounds like the USCCB.

“I wonder if this presages the complete rehabilitation of neo-modernists like DeLubac, Congar, Von Balthasar…”

I doubt it. They were flawed in some of their theological conclusions but I think they would be appalled at what is going on now. No, this current Pope doesn’t even have them in his rear view mirror.

Penguins Fan
Penguins Fan
Monday, March 16, AD 2015 1:39pm

Is anyone surprised anymore at what this Roman Pontiff says? Like no other Pontiff or cleric that I am aware of, this Roman Pontiff has harsh words for somebody almost every time he opens his mouth.

He badmouths rules, traditions, pious introverts, Traditional Catholicism and anything else bugging him that day.

Well, I find strength in rules, piety and Traditional Catholicism. They were around before this Roman Pontiff and they will be around after this Roman Pontiff has faced his judgment.

Phillip
Phillip
Monday, March 16, AD 2015 2:37pm

“They were around before this Roman Pontiff and they will be around after this Roman Pontiff has faced his judgment.”

If he were truly humble he would understand that. He is not truly humble.

Pray and mortify for him.

Ernst Schreiber
Ernst Schreiber
Monday, March 16, AD 2015 2:39pm

Clinton said it.

Anzlyne
Anzlyne
Monday, March 16, AD 2015 6:36pm

All these canards against the Church remind me of the anti-Catholicism I heard often years ago.

DBlack
DBlack
Tuesday, March 17, AD 2015 7:18am

Imagine a pope more liked by protestants, atheists and cafeteria-Catholics than faithful Catholics and you have just imagined Pope Francis.

St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen..

Joan
Joan
Tuesday, March 17, AD 2015 7:41am

One thing I have never heard come out of this pope’s mouth is the admonition to repent of sins. His mercy is for the birds.

Dale Price
Dale Price
Tuesday, March 17, AD 2015 8:07am

“Imagine a pope more liked by protestants, atheists and cafeteria-Catholics than faithful Catholics and you have just imagined Pope Francis.”

Except that he is extremely popular amongst the people in the pews, too. I think a good number of them would be appalled if they followed him closely, but they do not. Which is probably better for their spiritual lives, but not helpful in shunting aside a disaster.

Foxfier
Admin
Tuesday, March 17, AD 2015 11:02am

Had no idea who the guy he was talking about was, but I do know just enough about the Index to realize that stuff was put on it for a reason…. took all of thirty seconds to find out that, basically, the two of his that were put on were because they were causing major issues in an already nasty situation.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=3939
.
This is… rather disappointing. The details matter, dang it, even if I do understand the appeal of a good story to make one’s point.

Tom D
Tom D
Tuesday, March 17, AD 2015 11:40am

I don’t think it was a bad speech. My biggest complaint was the one about inquisitors: our Pontiff painted a very broad stroke, and it is very questionable to call every inquisitor a hypocrite. This is, as a film critic at Commonweal once wrote, the present taking revenge at the past for not being the present.

Nevertheless, I must also say that most of the fact-based comments on this thread are dead-on (Clinton, Dale Price, Philip especially). Provocation can produce great fruit. It’s a shame that such provocation can also justify dissention for anti-Christian reasons. We all know that some are already doing that.

Ernst Schreiber
Ernst Schreiber
Tuesday, March 17, AD 2015 11:55am

The details matter, dang it, even if I do understand the appeal of a good story to make one’s point.

Reformers in a hurry usually leave to others the details they can’t be bothered with.

Tom D
Tom D
Tuesday, March 17, AD 2015 11:58am

Another dead-on comment, Ernst.

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