Posted on 12/16/2016 3:35:48 AM PST by Repent and Believe
By now, Catholics are used to it: Pope Francis speaks plainly, openly, and sometimes … yes, indeed, rudely. But then there are times when you just ask yourself: What is he trying to achieve?
The Jesuit on the Chair of Peter regularly keeps journalists on their toes when he steps onto an airplane, for they – anybody for that matter – wait in suspense for whatever is going to come out of the Pope’s mouth during the in-flight press conferences. Because the words of Pope Francis are often thoughtless and rash at best, or abrasive and rude at worst, he leaves it to others to clean up the media mess afterward. At the same time, secular media imbue him with a sacrosanct infallibility so that phrases like “Who am I to judge?” or the Church is a “field hospital” become slogans of the liberal press mill are repeated ad nauseam readily applying the principle: “Sixty-two thousand four hundred repetitions make one truth,” from Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.
But what does the Pope achieve with some of his stories? This question came again to mind while listening to the daily homily at the Domus Sanctae Martae on Friday, December 9.
In the homily, Pope Francis tells a story repeating the words “rigid” and “worldly” from his Little Book of Insults.
The story goes like this:
About rigidity and worldliness, it was some time ago that an elderly monsignor of the curia came to me, who works, a normal man, a good man, in love with Jesus – and he told me that he had gone to buy a couple of shirts at Euroclero [the clerical clothing store] and saw a young fellow — he thinks he had not more than 25 years, or a young priest or about to become a priest — before the mirror, with a cape, large, wide, velvet, with a silver chain. He then took the Saturno [wide-brimmed clerical headgear], he put it on and looked himself over. A rigid and worldly one. And that priest – he is wise, that monsignor, very wise — was able to overcome the pain, with a line of healthy humor and added: ‘And it is said that the Church does not allow women priests!’ Thus, does the work that the priest does when he becomes a functionary ends in the ridiculous, always.
Outrage! A young priest – under 25 – with a cape and a hat in a shop for clerical dress.
Who are the two people in question: One is an old, working, normal man who loves Jesus and speaks to the Pope; the other is a young, maybe newly ordained, rigid, worldly priest on a shopping trip. The enemy or Feindbild (“image of the enemy”) is clear: an effeminate young man, probably handsome, busy with worldly affairs like a dandy from an Oscar Wilde novel. Undoubtedly, he must have come into Rome for a shopping trip as a break and indulges in an aesthetic pleasure that only the dolce vita of Rome has to offer. He is rich (velvet!), careless, mundane, superficial, lazy, and vain …
On the other hand, we have the old monsignor. Seemingly he has stable work in Rome, he is old, good, pious, and wise. He checks in with the Pope out of allegiance and obedience and has just a “normal” conversation with the Successor of Peter, talking about his last visit to the prison and how to include refugees into his parish.
Is that really what we are dealing with in the Church – and more importantly in her relation to the in the world – today?
Reality looks very different: young priests who chose to wear traditional dress (which is what the story suggests) do so as a battle uniform. That is right: they are at war. They are at war with a society that hates anything traditional, anything old for that matter – the old is the enemy. They are at war with their secular friends who ridicule them for wearing that “priestly dress.” They are at war with liberal Catholics who want to make the Church serve the world – a true worldliness – in her morality, her structure, and her teaching. They are at war with a fashion industry which chooses either immorality or decadence, mostly both, as a principle for fashion today. They are at war with the flocks of priests who wear jeans and shirts. Why do they to choose to be at war? Because Christ was at war. He was at war with enemies of the good, the true, and the beautiful. Had Christ not owned a cape so precious that even well-paid Roman soldiers did not want to cut it in half?
On the other hand, now some old priests choose to wear jeans and T-shirt? To give the world a good example? To become like the world? No. To escape that ridicule that the world prepares for those who dare to stick out. Will they be approached on the street by carefree faithful asking for a blessing of rosaries or even to hear confession? Doubtful. Yet this is an experience countless seminarians and priests share in Rome.
What makes that old monsignor good? Is he good because he works? Works as what? Is the work of the young priest or religious less valuable because he is young? The monsignor is a “normal” man? What is that? Normal according to the standards of modern society? Modern as in entrenched in mindless modern ideology? Does he defend gender theory? Does he defend false feminism? Does he succumb to the “tyranny of relativism” that has befallen our Western world? Is this story by a Curia-Clerk who provides counsel to Cardinals and bishops making decisions that will impacts thousands or millions of lives all over the globe truly fueled by “healthy humor”? Is the monsignor’s way the only possible way of life in the Church? Is she that narrow?
And honestly, in the worst-case scenario – if all that the monsignor thought about the young priest were true – can the monsignor not “cut him some slack”? If he truly had wisdom, he would know that the young priest will suffer for what he wears anyway and that will be his “cross.”
Contrary to the monsignor’s opinion, the Church of Tradition is attractive. Why is that? Because she is the stumbling block that the Gospel mentions (Cf. 1 Cor 8) the unmoved rock on which the waves of the Zeitgeist break in vain. Thousands of young men are attracted to more “traditional” ways of doing things, of a clear priestly identity, of a priestly vocation that expresses itself in outwardly visible signs, in a referent liturgy without abuses, and in a Church that is the Rock – because she knows that she will win over the world. The Latin Mass is crowded with young families and many children. Children who will be educated in the faith too.
They are attracted because they want to give God all and the best. As St. Francis of Assisi said: “The chalices, corporals, appointments of the altar, and everything that pertains to the sacrifice must be of precious material. And if the most holy Body of the Lord is very poorly reserved in any place, it should be placed in a precious location.” He knew how to give God the best and greatest and most precious things that man has to offer. Ad maiorem Dei gloriam is even the resounding motto of the Jesuit Order.
At the same time, how often do we overhear people (believers and unbelievers alike) look around Vatican museums and ask snidely, “Why the Church does not sell all of this and give the money to the poor?” In an ironic way, Oscar Wilde’s words receive new relevance: “The people today know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
The young man’s clothing is chosen for its beauty. And is beauty not in itself a way to God? How often and how intensely has Hans Urs von Balthasar emphasized that the via pulchritudinis, the way of beauty, has primacy as a way to God – especially for the simple people and not for the rich! Do beautiful images and materials not also help our prayer life? Also, does Pope Francis ever make fun of the Eastern Catholic priest who wears a headdress and much larger cassocks than in the West?
But ultimately one question stands out most: Pope Francis has repeatedly condemned the “terrorism of words,” the “divisive act,” and that which is “destroying the Church from within”… what is that you say? Gossip. Why does Pope Francis include the gossip of an old disillusioned, complacent, fixated, and – to use Pope Francis’s own term -- rigid old man in his homily as a teaching of truth for the Church?
As for the monsignor, if he cannot distinguish between a cultured and well-manned exterior from an effeminate fixation, then that may well tell volumes …
Yet another question arises in the heart of many Catholics: Why would our Father do this? Is this a paternal correction that we need? Have we children been that naughty? And what will happen when the world attacks us? Will we find sanctuary and support in him?
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Article is full of good information like the above snippet. If only more knew that the crimes of Vatican II has nullified all the "official" changes and acts due to apostate popes from John XXII - to present false pope.
If Obama had a pope...
Caesar use the same terminology when describing civilizations or countries that have grown soft because of their lavish lifestyles. If a country including Rome became affluent then they also became effeminate. The word effeminate which Caesar used in the Classic Latin translates to soft. When a country or perhaps even an order become soft it becomes ineffective, weak, and easily conquered.
It was a JOKE. He was calling the preening priest effeminate, which I’m sure he looked like.
“Had Christ not owned a cape so precious that even well-paid Roman soldiers did not want to cut it in half?”
In an attempt at keeping contextually accurate, by rending the cloth the soldiers knew that the value would be appreciably less, which meant that the amount of cheap rude wine procured would be less as well.
Yawn.
I’m tired of hearing about this pope. How anyone could remain in such a crazy religious system is beyond me.
It was a JOKE. He was calling the preening priest effeminate, which I’m sure he looked like.
1. What women do you know that wear dresses today?
2. What priest from A.D. 1700 through A.D. 1958, who actually were dressed as that man, do you accuse of being effeminate?
3. Why is a man who calls himself “pope” mocking those as “rigid” who would like to have back the papacy and have it be occupied by a ROCK of a man rather than a waffling, “pastoral” wimp who wants to make TRUTH more appealing to the effeminate Sodomites and adulterers and marxists and heretics such as whom Mr. Jorge Bergoglio prefers to hug and coddle?
4. Jesus proclaimed the pope as one who is more than rigid: Rock.
I always wonder about the blood. We can assume that all of His clothes were soaked in it, so to me it’s always been a question of who (among the unbelievers) would want it at all? Did they have a good way to remove blood stains back then, in the days before bleach?
“Had Christ not owned a cape so precious that even well-paid Roman soldiers did not want to cut it in half?”
In an attempt at keeping contextually accurate, by rending the cloth the soldiers knew that the value would be appreciably less, which meant that the amount of cheap rude wine procured would be less as well.
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Not clear what you’re saying here. Are you disputing the idea that Jesus Christ our Lord was wearing a fine piece of clothing by comparing it to cheap wine? (If so, how does the context bear that out?)
I’m tired of hearing about this pope. How anyone could remain in such a crazy religious system is beyond me.
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You apparently didn’t agree with my assessment of him being a false pope.
When you have false popes you have a crazy religious system.
Get over calling the men “pope” who “reigned” from 1958 though today, and submit to the popes prior, and you will find a sane religious system established by Jesus Christ.
Today there are real priests and bishops, though few, who live in that reality. They can be found and will lead you to Christ Jesus.
Or is it false (fake) news?
**What women do you know that wear dresses today?**
I do, and I have friends that wear dresses too.
He’s not a false pope - he’s a heterodox pope.
I wear dresses to work and to church. For making other people more respectful and polite, it’s even better than open carry.
“Or is it false (fake) news?”
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Are you suggesting that VATICAN RADIO is publishing false (fake) news?!
It was a JOKE. He was calling the preening priest effeminate, which I’m sure he looked like.
1. What women do you know that wear dresses today?
2. What priest from A.D. 1700 through A.D. 1958, who actually were dressed as that man, do you accuse of being effeminate?
3. Why is a man who calls himself “pope” mocking those as “rigid” who would like to have back the papacy and have it be occupied by a ROCK of a man rather than a waffling, “pastoral” wimp who wants to make TRUTH more appealing to the effeminate Sodomites and adulterers and marxists and heretics such as whom Mr. Jorge Bergoglio prefers to hug and coddle?
4. Jesus proclaimed the pope as one who is more than rigid: Rock.
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1. LOTS of women wear dresses.
2. I have not accused priests in general of being effeminate. I suggested that the priest who was preening in front of the mirror might have looked effeminate.
3. I have no idea why the Pope would mock anyone as rigid. Perhaps his Jesuit training has made him so open minded that his brains fell out.
4. Jesus proclaimed Peter as the rock upon which he would create a church. I don’t know if he had the modern papacy in mind.
He’s not a false pope - he’s a heterodox pope.
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Basing on Wikipedia’s definition, “Heterodoxy in the Roman Catholic Church refers to views that differ from strictly orthodox views, but retain sufficient faithfulness to the original doctrine to avoid heresy...”
All supposed claimants since the last true pope (Pius XII) are frauds, as they embraced and promoted actual heresy.
Briefly: ecumenism, synchretism with false religions and heretics, and religious liberty, as well as changing the sacred doctrines of the Church by the changing of and elimination of vital content in the Mass and Sacraments so as to render their legitimacy suspect and void of grace. In particular it is quite clear that the words of consecrating a bishop are invalid for confecting the office.
Currently Bergoglio cannot let a day go by without speaking blasphemies for the whole world to hear.
1. LOTS of women wear dresses.
2. I have not accused priests in general of being effeminate. I suggested that the priest who was preening in front of the mirror might have looked effeminate.
3. I have no idea why the Pope would mock anyone as rigid. Perhaps his Jesuit training has made him so open minded that his brains fell out.
4. Jesus proclaimed Peter as the rock upon which he would create a church. I don’t know if he had the modern papacy in mind.
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1. FEW women in the West wear dresses today. Women in pants or slacks was condemned by the Pope and the Church in the 50 years prior to these past (sad) 50.
2. I know priests who dress in robes and a hat, and they look and act manly and pius. (When is the last time you’ve heard the word “pius” even spoken or written?)
3. I have a very clear idea why the false Pope would mock everyone who protects doctrine from change as rigid. He is an enemy of Christ who in that role wishes to sway the flock to give the treasures of the Church to the unclean. Incidentally, because his brains fell out as you well noted, he was ineligible for the Papacy in the first place, as Canon Law states that one cannot be chosen as Vicar of Christ if insane. Those who elected Bergoglio are apostates and heretics if Catholic.
4. Popes and theologians over the years have confirmed that Jesus had the perpetual Papacy in mind when Jesus proclaimed Peter as the rock upon which he would create His Church. (That is why we know that the past handful of sitters were not Popes. We, rather, are awaiting the next true Pope.)
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