Well be careful, ya'll. Parse them words, hone them explanations, thread those hermeneutic needles and don't screw up - or you might just end up in...
...The Protestant Zone.
Posted on 07/15/2014 7:36:08 PM PDT by NKP_Vet
Many conservative Catholics are experiencing a range of negative feelings about Pope Francis. When a headline screams that he stated that 2% of Catholic clergy are pedophiles, that he “promises to solve the celibacy problem” that he doesn’t want to convert Evangelicals or that he doesn’t judge a homosexual who “searches for the Lord and has goodwill” they experience confusion, anger, resentment, bewilderment and fear.
Some have given up on Pope Francis. Others say he is “the false prophet” who will accompany the anti Christ in the end times. Others don’t like his dress sense, grumble about his media gaffes and some think they are all intentional and that he is a very shrewd Jesuit who wants to undermine the Catholic faith. The sensationalism doesn’t do any good. These folks should step back and realize they are (in their own way) being just as sensational about Pope Francis as liberals were about Pope Benedict when they called him “God’s Rottweiler” or “Nazi Ratzi” and said he was a closet homosexual and a hater of women.
So if Pope Francis upsets you–and by the way–I’ve had my own moments of head scratching over Francis–here are ten things to remember which help put things in perspective and maintain some balance.
The first thing to remember is that he is the pope. He is not going to change Catholic doctrine or moral teaching. He can’t and he knows that. He may be a “reformer” but there’s only so much he can do. His statement on women priests is an indicator of that: “The door is closed to women’s ordination.”
The second thing to remember is that we have been blessed for the last thirty years with two stellar popes. Most of us don’t remember any other kind of papacy. Both Pope St John Paul II and Benedict XVI have been men of outstanding holiness, intellectual accomplishment, courage and perception, and they were very much bookends. They supported one another. Francis is different, and if he is not their equal in those attributes, he has other strengths. Instead of criticizing him for what he’s not we should be loving him for who he is.
The third thing to remember is that Popes come and go. Each one brings different gifts and different personalities to the papacy. God knows what he’s doing, and if a particular pope challenges your faith…well faith isn’t much good unless it’s challenged. What kind of faith is it it is nothing but certainty and confidence all the time? Think of St Peter walking on the water. That’s faith.
Fourth: is your faith in Jesus Christ and the faith of the church or is it in the pope? Catholics should love the pope, but they should love Jesus more. If one pope comes along who you find difficult to love and understand, take heart. You weren’t supposed to love him that much anyway. It’s okay to love the pope, but those who blame Catholics for idolizing the pope? Well, sometimes they have a point.
Fifth: Check out the times in which we live. With modern social media, every conversation can become a global headline. This is a pope who loves people and relates to them. Here is a pope who connects with people, talks with people, shares with people and embraces people. When this happens there is a multitude of communication risks that take place. The pope says “X” but the person hears “Y” and reports “Z”. Hasn’t this ever happened to you? You’ve had a conversation and it was reported to a third or fourth party and you shriek, “But that’s not what I said!” The only way to avoid this is for the pope to be a silent figurehead in the apostolic palace just waving to people and never saying anything except in a formal papal statement. Maybe some people think this is what the pope should be, and some popes have been content to be that sort of figurehead. Not Francis.
Six: Media people love to write attention grabbing headlines and they know conflict sells. People love to read the gossip. They love to read the scandal. They love to pick up on the negativities. If a sour person can put a negative and shocking headline on a story he will. That’s life. Read More.
Pope: Kids Crossing US Border Illegally Should Be ‘Welcomed’
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3180661/posts
I sat down with a good holy priest last night, a priest in good standing and in full communion with Rome, and the subject of our Pope came up. He just rolled his eyes. I asked him what the priests who he knows and respects think of this Pope. He said they all just try to ignore him now. Yeah, its that bad.
In the ‘80’s, Communism fell reportedly the result of a triumvirate of: an activist Pope, a strong U.S. President and a strong UK leader. Now we have: a socialist Pope, a weak/evil U.S. President, and a weak UK leader.
Is the West screwed? It’s all up to the people now.
Well gee whizz, he’s very blase about everything this author. I’d like to hear his 10 things to remember if Barack Obama upsets you.
I’ll tell you what bothers me most about this pope, I don’t understand why he was chosen.
He seems to be quite flaky. It is very surprising that a person can raise to the heights of one of the most prominent positions on earth but constantly can’t make himself understood and/or is unwilling to be forthright about what he thinks.
Yeah, I admit JPII and Benedict were extraordinary men, I understand not every pope might be of their caliber.
But, I just don’t get this Francis. He just seems to be confused and confusing. That might have been OK for a few decades back in the year 1100, it’s not a good time in the world for it in our leaders, but now that I put it that way, he fits right in with the rest of the global elites.
Not Catholic myself. But he sounds a lot like liberal Protestant “clergy” who hang around in the PCUSA, UMC, or ELCA. I read in the Lord’s discourse in John 13-16 that if we teach what Jesus taught, the world will hate us. Since the contrapositive is always true, that implies that if the world doesn’t hate us, we aren’t teaching what Jesus taught. Maybe some clergy who want to sound nice so the world will like them ought to think about that.
I think this is Pope Francis' primary weakness. He wants everyone to like him. So he tells people what he thinks they want to hear, or what he thinks will make them like him.
That is bad enough for a priest in a small hamlet somewhere inconsequential, but it has serious repercussions when you're the Pope.
And as you said, the world likes this Pope. A lot.
"Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets."
Well be careful, ya'll. Parse them words, hone them explanations, thread those hermeneutic needles and don't screw up - or you might just end up in...
...The Protestant Zone.
Francis has not changed anything at all to do with Catholic social doctrine and he will not change anything. He likes to talk like he’s your grandpa. He wants to be a parish priest. That’s what he loves doing. But the church will survive just fine with Francis. I wish he wouldn’t talk so much but he likes to talk.
Those of us Catholics who survived John XXIII and Paul VI and “the spirit” of Vatican II can probably suffer through a few years of Pope Chatty Frankie with our Faith intact. Perhaps he is a punishment from the Holy Ghost to remind us to be better Catholics and thus deserve a next pope who is a worthy successor to Saint John Paul II.
-- Pope Francis to the UN
I have seen the same thing from some good and holy priests I know. Oh well, just keep praying.
All popes are different, some are better than others. They lead the Church which Our Lord left to us. We may complain about our leadership but we will never leave because we know and understand our history. We will be faithful to the end because He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
I hope that refers to Jesus, and not the Pope. Just remember that if the next Pope wants to be Holy Roman Emperor. Or wants to follow the anti-Christ.
We may complain about our leadership but we will never leave because we know and understand our history.
I capitalized He, I assume you know that refers to God.
Maybe I should remember this when a pope (who I have no allegiance to) tries to tell me that MY TAX DOLLARS should go to support law breakers for practically their whole young lives through continued welfare payments and government handouts..?
If this guy had been pope instead of John Paul back in the 80’s the USSR would still be alive. He would have sided with the Marxists.
Benedict is still my Pope.
“I’ll tell you what bothers me most about this pope, I don’t understand why he was chosen.”
And to think that one of the reasons that Benedict resigned was so that they could put in place a younger more energetic Pope to defend the church from attacks. What did they do? They put in place a wrecking ball that is 10 times worse than any attacks from outside.
I would like to see everbody who is worried about this Pope commit to praying for him. (That would include me). It is absolutely essential that this man gets some prayer cover, for the good of his own soul, and the good of the Church.
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