Our bruin friend at Saint Corbinian’s Bear minces no words:
The Bear used to understand what the Catholic Church taught, and what he was required to believe, do and avoid as a Catholic. Now he is told this is “fundamentalism.”
The Bear will speak about Jorge Bergoglio.
Using his name is not to show the Pope a lack of respect, or still less a rejection of his office, but to acknowledge that the human personality of an elderly gentleman from Argentina has swallowed up the institution of the papacy. We bounce from personal enthusiasm to pet peeve, seemingly at random, loosely linked by a collection of familiar tropes and phrases. Every once in awhile, the irresistible presence of a microphone will elicit an off-the-cuff inanity as connected to Catholic thought as a Marx Brothers movie.
This is what Jorge Bergoglio does. Unfortunately, the world takes his utterances as a Pope’s pronouncement of truth.
Redefining Sin
Anyone who thinks they can shrug off the damage Jorge Bergoglio is doing to the Church does not understand the situation. The Bear has written about the “Social Justice Warrior” examination of conscience distributed at the Bear’s church. It was full of stuff like being environmentally responsible, but contained no real sins. What would be the state of the soul of someone who based his confession on such tripe? This would not have happened before Jorge Bergoglio. Since pewsitters are never instructed about sin in homilies, they will gradually be conditioned to forget sin — real sin — entirely.
And why not? Doesn’t mercy cover everything, anyway? The Bear does not hear about confession from Pope Francis. He tweets constantly about mercy, as if confession were not the ordinary channel of mercy; as if confession no longer mattered in his reign of mercy. (Maureen Mullarkey wrote an excellent piece on the Year of Mercy.)
Medieval Hocus Pocus Out, “Whatever” In
Communion used to be simple. You were a Catholic with no mortal sin. Now Lutherans are encouraged to receive communion, if their Protestant-formed conscience prompts them to. Same with homosexual couples, according to some, uncorrected, prelates. Same with divorced and remarried couples. “A little bread and wine do no harm,” as Jorge Bergoglio is famously reported to have told an Argentine divorcee. And now we are watching this being institutionalized.
What are we to make of transubstantiation now; and how do we understand the Mass? What about the issues of sacrilege and unworthy reception; the meaning of “communion;” or our relationship to the divine Person of Christ? Doctrines don’t get changed, they just gets swallowed up by changes in practice. Medieval hocus pocus that doesn’t meet the people’s needs is quietly abandoned for the new, relevant and inclusive Church.
Jesus Now Optional
Salvation used to require acceptance of the free gift of Jesus Christ’s salvific work through the Church. Now the Church of Jorge Bergoglio has announced that Jews need not accept or even believe in Christ, much less come into the Church to be saved. They are still saved “through” Christ, who is reduced to a mysterious, non-personal salvation process of some sort. So much for the miraculous conversion of the Jew, Alphonse Ratisbonne, with the Miraculous Medal. The appearance to him of the Virgin Mary, approved by the holy see, must have all been a mistake, since she did not tell him, “Alphonse my son, you are a Jew and have no need of my Son.”
An Unbelieving Church for an Unbelieving World
Jorge Bergoglio’s thoughts are not about correcting doctrines he believes to be in error. His thoughts are a solvent that dissolves doctrine entirely, or at least weakens it so that it may be bent and twisted to his will, like one of those horribly misshapen ferula our recent popes have adopted. Sow enough lies and confusion, and there is no need to change doctrine.
Jorge Bergoglio is not a preserver. He is not in continuity. Like the typical leftist he is, he loves only the Church of his imagination, one reformed according to his vision. He is possessed of ambitions that would make Martin Luther, nailing his 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg church, feel like a piker.
Everything is changing, always at the expense of the supernatural. The Church is being re-purposed before our eyes. Without doctrine, without mission, without faith, its eyes are lowered to terrestrial concerns, real and imagined. We are seeing a Church trying to make itself relevant to a world that no longer believes by becoming unbelieving itself. Those who still believe are named the enemy: “fundamentalists.”
Fortunately, when the Bear becomes confused, he recalls that Jorge Bergoglio has not really changed the truth, nor can he. A “fundamentalist” is just a good Catholic, and being one is as essential, simple and challenging as it ever was. The distortions of Bergoglioism must be opposed.
This is why the Bear has taken the frightening course of — let’s be honest — attacking the gentleman from Argentina with everything from sober commentary to outrageous parody. While he respects the papacy, the Bear will use every rhetorical weapon he has to do his tiny, perhaps illusory, part in defending the Church from Jorge Bergoglio, and to encourage the maligned and beleaguered believer.
Because make no mistake. The elderly gentleman from Argentina is the most dangerous man in the world.
Go here to read the comments. I am not quite as distressed by the Pope as is our bruin friend. We have had bad and/or foolish popes before, and in Pope Francis we have one in spades. What I find distressing is the number of Catholics, both clergy and laity, who seem to think that Catholicism consists of saying “Yes, Sir!” to whatever a Pope utters, no matter how idiotic, how at war with prior Catholic teaching. Let us be thankful that the Pope has not said a favorable word in favor of Satan, because I am certain that many of his sycophants would find a way to choke even that down. Such fundament kissing has nothing to do with Catholicism and everything to do with cowardice, careerism and contempt for the Truth of Catholicism, that is infinitely greater than any Pope.
The line that most resonates with me is:
“mercy, as if confession were not the ordinary channel of mercy; as if confession no longer mattered in his reign of mercy.”
It is this, more than any other facet of this papacy, that troubles me. It is that idea that seems so unhinged, that underpins the critique of Man judging and challenging sin.
I had thought it a question of not judging the sins of others soon after his election, that His Holiness was sending troubling signals that he repudiates the command that we confront our brothers with their sin, lest they be lost. I have come to understand Pope Francis to be advising that we not be troubled by our own sins.
There is no crossing the mountains barefoot to present oneself for reconciliation with this pope. I warrant he would have us stamd before God in the same raiment we wore in life and that is a fearful prospect.
He’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I agree with Donald, though. The cover provided to Pope Francis by those in the clergy and the laity is somewhat stunning. Quislings all. What isn’t mentioned in the article is the harm done to the pro-life movement. On some level, it has ceased to exist within the institutional church.
I wish that there were a Bear like that whom the lawyer that originated this post portrays himself as. And I wish that Pope Francis were confronted (metaphorically speaking of course) by such a Bear as Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is confronted in the movie The Revenant. This Pope will not change until he is so confronted. This isn’t a wish for physical harm, but it is a plea for something life-shattering to happen that will cause him to repent. I am sick and tired of Bergoglio and Obama, and every other liberal progressive religious and political leader. If God continues to allow such leaders to hold ascendency, then He will have to apologize to King Manasseh of Judah for having King Senecharib of Assyria deport him into captivity.
I think it is the “progressive,” agenda-driven character that is so alluring. It is so well-meaning, so nice-sounding, so positive-seeming, Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. Progressivism tella us what we want to hear, it is Wormtongue and the syncophants at Herod’s feet, wrapped in a mantal of gold.
Whether political or religious, social or economic, Progressivism gives life to the adage “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
Don’t though let “Pope Francis watching” ruin your joy which is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Hopefully your joy principally comes from God and from your parish, and family and from obeying improvements in you that God signals He wants. The mega picture of the papacy will not change if four million Catholics signed a letter asking him to resign. The devil can use this Pope’s multiple logic mistakes to de-joy Catholics who let him become an obsession. His carelessness in talking produces sorrow and satan loves to enlarge sorrow in good people. In her dark night, Mother Teresa went way too far into the sorrow zone as her journal showed. Better for the soul is to hear Aquinas the champion of balance: Pt2 of Pt2, Question20…art.4?..
“Reply to Objection 3. This very neglect to consider the Divine favors arises from sloth. For when a man is influenced by a certain passion he considers chiefly the things which pertain to that passion: so that a man who is full of sorrow does not easily think of great and joyful things, but only of sad things, unless by a great effort he turn his thoughts away from sadness.”
In short, watching this Pope constantly can lead to the spiritual sloth that fails to watch for the good God is doing elsewhere and sometimes through Francis.
Unfortunately, I must agree with the Bear.
Fortunately, I must agree with bill bannon.
I am not disagreeing with the bear. I agree that the Pope’s comments are damaging the faith. We must be the bridge builders.
The damage is rotton, but focusing on the damage isn’t inspiring anything worthy.
Is wishing for the Pope to contract an illness a valid prayer? Hell no.
We must play the role we are prepared to play.
Peace and Mercy from our paradigm, the pre Pope Francis era. The crossing over of souls to Truth depend on you! Your intellect and faith will build the sturdy bridge for those that have never considered crossing until now, and if it’s due to a dementia burdened Pope that moved them along, then it’s up to us to help them cross, and not place too much anger on the failings of our Pope.
This old computer . . . As the page loaded, I was asking myself, “How did Mac get my picture?”
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Anyhow, God forgive him. He is mainly dangerous to certain people that were apt to depart from Objective Truth in the first place.
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Which reminds of one of my main weaknesses are in Charity. I am working to truly “mean it” when I pray “And take all souls to Heaven.” I guess if I get there, I won’t need to interact with venal horses’ asses.
@T. Shaw.
“God forgive him.”
God please forgive me too.
I loved my Grampa’s treasured saying;
“Vey der be soo many more horses ass’es dan der be horses?”
Popular saying in his day…with the popularity of Liberalism der saying this making a come back don’t cha know.
The Bear does not hear about confession from Pope Francis.
But, in the document Misericordiae Vultus, Pope Francis announced that during the Year of Mercy he would send out “Missionaries of Mercy.” The Holy Father indicated that these Missionaries of Mercy would be “a sign of the Church’s maternal solicitude for the people of God,” or more concretely, “priests to whom I will grant the authority to pardon even those sins reserved to the Holy See.”
Again, the “Francis effect” has caused this Catholic to look far more deeply, listen more cautiously, love my faith, and to focus upon Christ and the Faith “as handed down by the apostles” more than ever. The contradictions and confusion therefore, at at least for me, are not necessarily a bad thing.
That there may be many that leave the faith, and perhaps many that will blindly accept its confusion and corruption without awareness or concern, does not alter my path in the least.
This is all in God’s plan. We need to make the most of it and trust Him more than ever.
Ah yes, the Mercy Missionaries. Anyway, if the Bear may weigh in on his own piece (and for a few more days he is indeed a lawyer, after which he shall only be a Bear) the Pope was never meant to be a star, a celebrity, a pop icon. Our culture has provided the means for an unwary or unscrupulous pope to assume a role that was never intended — oracle. The Bear fears that the current of the world is a permanent feature and only popes of heroic self-discipline and true humility will be able to resist continuing this distortion of the papacy. That’s why, in our own small ways, we must encourage each other and do what we can to burst the bubble of this ugly, swollen institution of the modern media papacy.
Pro-tem Bear/Barrister.
Peace on Earth
Good will to men…
and Bears.
Your message is understood.
Orthodoxy…. A whiter brighter soul… smile.
The thing is after this papacy there will still come 2 or 3 popes who will be as controversial, if not more controversial.
Just pray for the restoration of the Holy Church.
All faithful Catholics need plenty of endurance now and in the years to come.
http://popeleo13.com/pope/2015/08/29/category-archive-message-board-431-special-announcement-1/
http://popeleo13.com/pope/2015/11/08/category-archive-message-board-483-pray-for-the-restoration-of-the-church/
We should all applaud The Bear for what he does which is speak the TRUTH. What we are witnessing now is the collapse of the Catholic Church into secularism led by a person who is supposed to be the Vicar of Christ but is, in fact, “The most dangerous Man in the world”. When it is all over there will only be a Remnant of faithful Catholics as Christ predicted as well as Timothy: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” —1st Timothy 4:1
Bear,
Popes are never picked in the last three decades without consideration for media image. St. John Paul II and Benedict were picked to partly impress post Christian Euro intellectuals that we had intellects also on the bench.
Pope Francis promised to be poor/saintly in image ways. Our Cardinals did not pick great administrators in any of these choices and when you’re 90, they will still not be looking for what we need…administrators who love cleansing Catholic institutions of oddities like married gay theology professors ( Fordham ) or of gay rights clubs ( CUA )…or Catholic colleges with websites linking to plan b links. ( saw one just two weeks ago). None of the last three Popes stopped such things more than sporadically. They did what they loved and that was not administrating the real Catholic reality in the schools. What if Francis watching becomes the center of your life and consumes five years? I won’t give him that power….obsession destroys the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Instead, get a plenary indulgence with a similar work ethic and you’ll be freed from all punishment due in purgatory. Keep watching Francis’ oddities and you’ll create a private purgatory for your mind….what one beat poet in the 1950’s called…” a circus of the soul, a coney island of the mind”.
bill bannon.
Good advice.
I’ll take it.
Philip,
One half hour of devout Scripture reading is now a plenary…at home …with at church..Confession,Eucharist. Then Our Father and Hail Mary for Pope’s intentions, detachment from all venial sin ( which pray for prior)…if that last one is imperfect, devolves to partial…pray for it. Most unwritten about treasure of the Church. You can get one for yourself and deceased only. One Confession can be used for several serial plenaries but other requirements must all be repeated.
Bannon, Bear, Phillip, and Philip each personify opposing views with which I identify in my fevered psyche.
I find I have to take time off from the Borgia, er, I meant, Bergoglio Papacy, and retreat to the traditional Latin Mass, the traditional Roman Breviary, and Rosary, especially during this beautiful season of Advent, then Christmas, and Epiphany. That is the only place I ever find any peace in the day.
…
I know that some day when I return from those ‘distant lands’ of peace, Bergoglio, like all us mortal flesh, will have gone away. And then the next adventure will begin.
Thanks bill.
Our sins have merited a punishment, even though forgiven. Thank God for indulgences.
Your serial plenaries heads up is appreciated.
Thank you…agian.
@Steve Phoenix.
I hope you find peace in the midst of strife.
That is truly something amazing when you attain that level. Call it St. Maximilian Kolbe’s starvation bunker plan for peace.
It cost! For St. Max it was his life freely given.
Truly amazing.
Peace.
Well, even Copy/Paste is out in the dark.
Don’s last part of the Handel post until Christmas Eve has help for the people ‘walking’ around these days. George Fredric Handel tells us God’s prophetic words of hope with simple musical clarity, thankfully.
Our Father’s solicitude is proclaimed in Isaiah, but Misericordiae Vultus seems to imply that the Church and its conflicting, unchecked maternal voices of solicitude are high enough.