Friday, March 29, AD 2024 2:26am

PopeWatch: Good Vibrations

VATICAN-POPE-AUDIENCE

 

Hmmm:

 

Pope Francis hopes people wish him well, no matter what they believe.

The head of the Catholic Church often asks people to pray for him, but he offered an alternative on Sunday, “Pray for me, and if some of you can’t pray because you are not believers, send me good vibrations,” Reuters reported.

The pope, 78, was meeting with Argentina’s president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, at the Vatican and spoke to reporters in Spanish, but his alternative to prayer has now been translated and shared in many languages around the world. 

Go here to read the rest.  Good vibrations?  Well this papacy certainly has a Sixties feel to PopeWatch:

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Elizabeth Fitzmaurice
Elizabeth Fitzmaurice
Tuesday, June 9, AD 2015 4:42am

Good grief. We’ve apparently not seen the bottom yet of where this Pope will go, once he opens his mouth.

Don L
Don L
Tuesday, June 9, AD 2015 5:24am

Good vibrations? Perhaps if he uttered that in Latin, the Petrine office might maintain some semblance of dignity–or be ultra cool.

What’s next, smiley faces on the Sistine ceiling?

Paul W Primavera
Tuesday, June 9, AD 2015 5:58am

Good vibrations? Really? What a freaking idiot! Please, NEVER send me good vibrations or bad vibrations or any vibrations. Either pray fooor me (as I shall for you), or keep your thoughts to yourself.
.
Freaking godless New Age liberal progressive secularist humanist pagan superstitious nonsense.

Stephen E Dalton
Tuesday, June 9, AD 2015 8:56am

Will Francis try surfing next, and sing “Surfing Vat-I-can?”

Philip
Philip
Tuesday, June 9, AD 2015 9:29am

Immaculata please intercede…

June 2015

That the Heart of every believer in Christ may be open and ready to welcome people of other nations and religions as brothers and sisters.

From 2015 Monthly prayer intentions; Marytown, National Center of the Militia of the Immaculata.

As the Novena of the Sacred Heart comes to a close I thank God for Fisher-MEN that attempt to welcome souls into His Holy Catholic Church. Perfection only resides in Heaven, so even the most feeble fisherman can cast his net for a catch….and the harvest master who knows hearts will reward the less than perfect fisherman.

Kay Shields became a Catholic this Easter. She was Lutheran. She sat in our Rosary group for four years, never holding a rosary, but praying the Our Fathers and Hail Mary’s along with us.
In October of last year she asked me to sponsor her into the Holy Church.

I mention this because Pope Francis just might be bringing in more of a “catch” than feeble fisherman like me.

How about you?

How have your efforts manifested in expanding Gods kingdom?

Good vibrations could lead to conversions which net a profit for God, not a loss.

bill bannon
bill bannon
Tuesday, June 9, AD 2015 9:57am

. Pope Francis though is almost transparent due to his unguarded verbal transactions. Pope Benedict was very guarded and non transparent for me…until section 42 of Verbum Domini wherein he denigrated the Old Testament massacres as sins when Scripture clearly …clearly denotes them as ordered by God…Wisdom 12:6, Isaiah 23:11, Deut.3:2, Jos.8:1-2, I Sam.15:1-3. I’m not a massacre fan but God takes about 155K humans each day right now into the next life…some through horrible car accidents worse than sword thrusts and those last pains are expiatory in those headed towards Him via medicinal punishment. The fallible intellectual side of Popes is not new with Francis. He is simply more unguarded about his fallible side which could be larger than theirs or not.
Benedict and John Paul were not sure Judas was in hell….Augustine and Chrysostom were. We live in a milieu which is a taddy nutty everywhere.

bill bannon
bill bannon
Tuesday, June 9, AD 2015 9:57am

That should be tad nutty.

Kyle Miller
Kyle Miller
Tuesday, June 9, AD 2015 10:38am

The pope tries hard to be loved. He has no poverty of pride. I would rather he said
“Pray for me, and if some of you can’t pray because you are not believers, I will pray for you.”

Magdalene
Magdalene
Tuesday, June 9, AD 2015 1:46pm

I am sponsoring a man into the holy Catholic Church this Friday, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Never would I say to him to remain where he was before. Why would I not wish to share the awesomeness of the Catholic faith and the Sacramental life with others?

Celebrate luther???? That so-and-so who broke his vows and created schism and fomented a civil war that cost about 1/4 million their lives. He was an evil man who wanted to ‘wash my hands with the blood of bishops’.

Also Lutherans are split–there is the very liberal pro-abort, pro-sodomy ones and some who are not as far gone and the splits do not like each other. And also all are dying out anyway.

Ezabelle
Ezabelle
Tuesday, June 9, AD 2015 3:56pm

Philip- as always, your insights are striking and very true. You give an example of true emotional and spiritual intelligence. We need more people like you in our Faith.

Anzlyne
Anzlyne
Tuesday, June 9, AD 2015 9:54pm

“Vibrations” today refers to new age ideas about crystals and pyramids and magnetic pulls in the earth and all kinds of stuff that Catholic popes don’t usually refer to. Maybe it was a joke.
.
The Catholic idea Philip has is to lead people to Christ!
Yes- but reinforcing them in their misguided “spirituality” does not call the question: Who is Jesus? … and does not lead them the Christ.
.
Our priests and bishops should be calling people to Repentence for new age idolatry… It is rampant.
New age and eastern occult practices are a real danger to the continuation the Faith today. When our pope indicates a willingness to accept new age gnosticism, he isn’t teaching people about the Cross.

@FMShyanguya
Tuesday, June 9, AD 2015 11:06pm

Er … the media did not misreport? (tongue-in-cheek)
*
“There used to be a saying, rhetorical, ‘Is the pope Catholic?’ That’s no longer funny.” – Fr. Linus F Clovis.
*
@Elizabeth Fitzmaurice: no mincing of words here.
@Kyle Miller: well said.

Ezabelle
Ezabelle
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 2:09am

Anzlyne- meet people where they are then guide them to the Faith. In my experience, when you talk at someone with your point of view, they’re more than likely to tell you to get stuffed. Not everyone is at the same level of understanding you are. And until you can comprehend that, you can’t start dialogue. I totally agree with Phillips approach because it actually works.

@FMShyanguya
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 2:32am

Consistency and clarity from @Anzlyne and not at all surprised. From prior testimony, faithful in much, and that couldn’t be if not faithful in little; and therefore able to see the seemingly little and innocuous “send me good vibrations” for what it is.

Ezabelle
Ezabelle
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 2:38am

God is not neurotic.

Phillip
Phillip
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 3:37am

“I mention this because Pope Francis just might be bringing in more of a “catch” than feeble fisherman like me.”

Did she say this? If so then there is this:

“The Magisterium of the Church quotes these words when teaching the need
for the Holy Spirit to enlighten and inspire man to enable him to accept the truths
of faith or choose some good connected with eternal salvation (cf. Second Coun-
cil of Orange, can. 7). Therefore, anyone is foolish who thinks he can claim as
his own the good deeds he does or the apostolic results he obtains: they are in
fact a gift from God. As St Alphonsus says, ‘the spiritual man dominated by
pride is the worst kind of a thief because he is stealing not earthly things but the
glory that belongs to God […] For, as the Apostle tells us, we, on our own, can-
not do anything good or even have a good thought (cf. 2 Cor 3:5) […]. Therefore,
whenever we do something good, let us say to the Lord, ‘We return to thee, 0
Lord, what we have received from thee’ (cf. 1 Chron 29:14)’ (‘Treasury of Prea-
ching Material’, II, 6).”

But beyond that, I have more than once had acquaintances talk about how they were now prescribing contraception, or giving up on other consistent Catholic teachings in morality “because of Francis.”

@FMShyanguya
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 4:14am

Confusion may characterize our day and age [Cf. this answer of mine to “How is rosary different from chanting Mantra?” | C.SE & Body in Prayer is a multi-sensory Christian Meditation on the Stations of the Cross using Yoga Positions @ Holy Family Church, etc.]. All the more then for a pope of the Catholic Church to be Pope and not add to the confusion.

Antonio Fernández
Antonio Fernández
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 5:46am

This is either a lack of understanding of the meaning of the original phrase said in Spanish or an intentional attack to discredit Pope Francis. The Pope asked for prayers as he usually does; however, most probably knowing personally some of the Argentine reporters that were accompanying President Christina Kirchner, he added to those who do not pray, “mandarme buena onda”. That doesn’t have anything to do with esoteric vibrations… a correct translation of that phrase into English should be: “wish me well”, “best wishes”. What’s wrong with that! Please be honest in your reports!

Ezabelle
Ezabelle
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 5:56am

Thank you Antonio!

Philip
Philip
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 6:20am

@Phillip- Thank you for “ego-check” however anyone that knows me knows that I give ALL glory to God. For a short 15 years I have sought His glory and if any good works come from it, it is all His.

@Magdalene- (?) She was Lutheran and became Catholic. She, Kay, came to me only by the grace of God. The Holy Rosary is the weapon that dispels darkness.

@ all- My point was and is that if your spending more time picking every word of Pope Francis’ apart I hope the same effort is given to prayer for Pope Francis. I have no way to calculate the Popes effectiveness in welcoming converts into the Holy Church, but I do in my less than perfect way. We have the leader of the Church for better or worse. We are asked to pray for him. It’s not pride but obligation and trust in God that I pray for Pope Francis.

Every word is under the microscope for Pope Francis.

I hope for the best for Our Church. As far as our works, the fire will determine their worthiness.

Phillip
Phillip
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 6:23am

“I mention this because Pope Francis just might be bringing in more of a “catch” than feeble fisherman like me.

How about you?

How have your efforts manifested in expanding Gods kingdom?”

“Thank you for “ego-check” however anyone that knows me knows that I give ALL glory to God. For a short 15 years I have sought His glory and if any good works come from it, it is all His.”

Good. Because your first quote doesn’t really jive with the second.

Ezabelle
Ezabelle
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 6:47am

But Donald, funny how the English world always misinterprets him.

Maybe Pope Francis should learn English and problem solved!

Ezabelle
Ezabelle
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 6:47am

Sorry, that should read “English speaking world”

Philip
Philip
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 7:12am

@Philip-

If my query about “your efforts to expand Gods kingdom.” jives with my statements on Pope Francis or my “feeble” fishing techniques, than we disagree.

If my question was boastful it wasn’t intended to be…it was an honest attempt to make one think of the works we engage in for Gods kingdom.

Regarding your observations on Catholics being swayed by Pope Francis’ words, (misunderstandings) than thank God you we’re there to offer correction, and keep them from error.

If my query didn’t jive with my statements than pray for me….if you can’t do that then send me some “good vibrations.” Oooohh.

Patricia
Patricia
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 7:14am

‘ funny how the English world always misinterprets him. ‘

There are expert translators at the Vatican who have been appointed to do this work.
‘always’ is more than even ‘often’ or ‘occasionally’ and using the extreme adverbs bears consideration.

Phillip
Phillip
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 7:40am

Phillip,

I suspect we do disagree. I am not sure that the recent convert you note did so because of Francis as you claim. Perhaps she did because of some things he says. Perhaps she didn’t. My first point is, either way, in the end it was because of the Holy Spirit and the atoning sacrifice of Christ and not Francis – though God may have worked through him as he does through any of us when we do good.

Of course, God may have worked in spite of Francis as God can work good out of the evil we do. I do not know what efforts Francis may be having on bringing souls to Christ. My direct experience is the opposite as given in the example in my first comment. I have many others including a co-worker who was a former Catholic and now Evangelical. Any efforts to teach him the fullness of the Truth are met with comments about Francis’ very equivocal statements on morals. Francis has been a definite hindrance here. Then there is a priest that my wife went to school with. He reverted to the Faith through the positive example of JP II and entered the priesthood specifically because of the great Saint’s witness. He is now on personal leave from his priestly duties. Part of the reason is his demoralization with the current Papacy and its refusal to uphold Truth clearly. This is the effect of Francis I have seen.

I will pray for you as I ask you to pray for me. I won’t send “vibes.” (I actually accept that the Spanish expression may not reflect any New Age influence.) But the world doesn’t need vibes. Grace is the right thing.

Philip
Philip
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 7:57am

@Phillip-

God be with all of us.
I agree with you, wholeheartedly.
Your comments are blessings and as I prepare to take my walk I will place your intentions in todays Rosary.

Thank you for your beliefs and mercy.

CAM
CAM
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 8:03am

Speaking of Pope Francis’ “good vibrations” made me think of Chris Matthews “getting a thrill up his leg” when he thinks of our president and the mockery that ensued.
Pope John Paul II was very popular worldwide and his public persona never seemed to have a translation problem.

Dale Price
Dale Price
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 1:59pm

This one doesn’t bug me–and he’s said a lot of things that have, as anyone who knows me will attest.

It strikes me as reminiscent of asking for prayers and/or good thoughts in a time of crisis. Frankly, I think the latter actually *are* prayers, but I let those who think otherwise persist in their mistake. Wishing the best to someone doesn’t strike me as problematic.

@FMShyanguya
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 2:41pm

“Frankly, I think the latter actually *are* prayers”
*
One of the manifestation of the crisis of our day and age: lack of basic catechesis.
*
Prayer is raising one’s mind and heart to God, and since the pope added to those who do not pray, “mandarme buena onda”, how are these then praying?
*
To the pope [and to those not bothered by what the pope said], are prayers and “buena onda” from those who do not pray equivalent?
*
Cf. Lk 6:45 (RSVCE): […] out of the abundance of the heart [a person’s] mouth speaks. Two plus years, and the pope has already revealed a lot.

Ezabelle
Ezabelle
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 2:56pm

Patricia my comment was meant to be a jab at the English speaking world- not at the translators or Pope Francis. In fact it was a jab at the Media. Who wait for any opportunity to stir. The stories are coming through media accounts, not official Vatican translations or statements.

In other words its the journalists “version”. Bad journalism if you ask me. Bad Catholic Journalism- banging on about a story in order to make it one- like this story- which is really a non- story that some Catholics pounce on as an excuse to express their dislike for our Pope.

Dale Price
Dale Price
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 3:13pm

“One of the manifestation of the crisis of our day and age: lack of basic catechesis.”

Clearly, you know me better than myself.

Anzlyne
Anzlyne
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 4:22pm

What come to my mind: we have a tendency to see what we expect to see ( and hear). People who have nothing at all to do with new age, who are naive to such occult practices will not hear any thing of concern. People who are into new age and vibrations etc will hear the same words and (excuse my little joke 🙂 – “resonate” with the pope.
A second issue is meeting people where they are. I agree with that! Our Lord met us in our humanity at Bethlehem. He didn’t lower the bar for us. His teaching is clear.. We are to do the same.
.
Clarity is Charity!

@FMShyanguya
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 8:04pm

“One of the manifestation of the crisis of our day and age: lack of basic catechesis.” is speaking to catechesis and not about @Dale Price; about his comment and not about him.

@FMShyanguya
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 8:37pm

@Anzlyne: I believe there is one group you left out, those who having nothing at all to do with new age are astute enough – wise as serpents and innocent as doves – to realise at the very least what is an odd utterance from a pope of the Catholic Church.
*
Perhaps an examination of of the Pope’s utterances – what do they mean? – belongs to an article of its own.

CAM
CAM
Wednesday, June 10, AD 2015 10:04pm

Good vibrations reminds me of Soviet ESP experiments where a group would simultaneously think, project, or beam the same thought to affect some change. They weren’t good thoughts is my guess.

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