Posted on 07/11/2015 4:55:51 PM PDT by ebb tide
In Evangelii Gaudium Francis declared (quoting John XXIII) that “We feel that we must disagree with those prophets of doom who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world were at hand.”
Just over a year-and-a-half later, however, Francis declared in Laudato Si’ that “Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain.”
A change of position? Perhaps an outright self-contradiction? It is neither. The two statements relate to different sorts of prophet. The first statement, echoing the truly fatuous optimism of John XXIII, scoffs at traditional Catholic “prophets of doom,” including a long line of Popes before Vatican II, who warned of the coming destruction of our entire civilization because of its rejection of Christ and the authority of His Church.
For example, in his encyclical Evangelii Praecones (1951) Pope Pius XII — in line with Pius XI, Pius X, Leo XIII, Pius IX, and Pius VII — summed up the prophecy of doom that Francis, joining John XXIII, belittles:
Venerable Brethren, you are well aware that almost the whole human race is today allowing itself to be driven into two opposing camps, for Christ or against Christ. The human race is involved today in a supreme crisis, which will issue in its salvation by Christ, or in its dire destruction.
Francis will have none of that sort of thing, which would mean that men must actually believe in Christ and obey His teaching as expounded and defended by the perennial Magisterium in order to avoid not only loss of their souls but the raining down of divine wrath upon the whole human race. It would also mean that the world is threatened by enemies of Christ, who must be opposed. Not exactly music to the ears of someone who prayed at the Blue Mosque in Turkey and feels himself competent to declare that “authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence.” It does not seem that Francis thinks that Christ or His Church have a single enemy in the world.
On the other hand, while Francis scoffs at “prophecies of doom” uttered by his own predecessors, he is all ears when it comes to doomsday scenarios propounded to him by atheist, pro-abortion, climate change fanatics who advocate population control and “reproductive rights,” such as Jeffery Sachs and the screwball Francis appointed to the Pontifical Academy of Science, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber.
Heeding the advice of such people, Laudato Si’ employs the word “crisis” 23 times, “destruction” 10 times, “destroy” 9 times, and “danger” or “dangerous” 9 times, “threat” 6 times and “threatened” 3 times. These dire expressions do not concern the consequences of apostasy and sin in the world, but rather “global environmental deterioration.”
So, there is no contradiction at all. Francis is completely consistent. Hence he thinks nothing of prophecies of doom relating to the eternal fate of souls, but is quite concerned about “the increasing use and power of air-conditioning” (Laudato Si, ¶ 55). Now that’s a threat we have to take seriously!
Ironically, a Pope who scoffs at the predictions of his own predecessors about the terrible consequences of society’s rebellion against Christ is actually a sign of the coming fulfillment of the very prophecies at which he scoffs.
Thus does the Third Secret of Fatima continue to unfold before our eyes.
What fascinating times in which we live!
Many popes of self alone amongst Catholics lately.
Examine your own conscience.
Um,,,,,you do realize I was only including you in the ping because the original post was to you right?
Is this what God actually tells us??? Heaven forbid...God gave us the instruction manual with God as the author...He told us to search the scriptures to know what he teaches, not to put our trust in other men...
While the magisterial office is valid in Scripture , and general obedience to both Christian and civil authorities is enjoined, just consider how history would have turned out if the one duty of the laity was that of submitting with docility to the judgment of leaders, since the Scribes and Pharisees sat in the seat of Moses.
Probably because they agree with them.
Because I know many Catholics who are faithful to the church, attend weekly and more than weekly, support their church financially, are active in community outreaches and events, etc, and yet who are as out spokenly liberal as the day is long and who vote Democrat because the dems are *for the poor*.
While failure to provide religious assent (versus solemn assent) may not anathematize one, yet it is called for by popes and prelates and sanctioned RC teaching.
The Vatican has wonderful observatories. Perhaps they see something coming we don’t see.
ya THINK!!??!!
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1403893.htm
Yes I’ve seen a few of these taken at that moment.....I understand the necklace he’s wearing was also a gift and carries the same emblem.
....”What fascinating times in which we live!”....
Immeasurably so imo....as so many things are ‘shifting’ in pretty much every arena of life both here and abroad. Even unbelievers are saying as much.
How we turn it off?
I’d MUCH rather have incorrect speelings than incorrect WORDS!
What is generally called the "Third Secret" is, in actuality, the third and final part of the full prophetic Secret which the Blessed Virgin gave to three child seers on July 13, 1917.Maybe those lightning bolts were His punctuation following some of the written warnings?The other two sections of the Secret (the vision of hell and the rise of Communist Russia) were publicly revealed with the publication of Sister Lucy’s Memoirs in the 1940s, the final part of the revelation remains in the possession of the Vatican and has not yet been disclosed to the world.
It was under the direct order of her bishop and, with the assistance of Our Lady, that Sister Lucy dos Santos wrote the third part of the Secret down on January 2, 1944.
Speaking to Sister Lucy, the Queen of Heaven told her that it was God’s Will that she commit the Secret to paper and entrust it to her bishop and, through him, to Pope Pius XII.
At that time, the Blessed Virgin also indicated that this part of the Secret was to be revealed to the Faithful no later than 1960.
Upon learning that her bishop was unwilling to open the envelope containing the Secret, Sister Lucy "made him promise," in the words of Canon Galamba, "that the Third Secret would be opened and read to the world upon her death or in 1960, whichever would happen first."
If her bishop died first, it was agreed that the Secret would be confided to the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon.
Despite this agreement, the Secret was, in fact, delivered to the Vatican where it has remained undisclosed to the public for over fifty years.
"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
Matthew 23:13"Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering."
Luke 11:52
In the conclusion to his study of the Third Secret, Frère Michel sums up his findings as follows:And here we are..."Having reached the end of our inquiry, we are able to discern, with near certainty, the essential elements of Our Lady’s final secret: While ‘in Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,’ in many nations, perhaps in almost the entire world, the Faith will be lost.The pastors of the Church will fail gravely in the duties of their office. Through their fault, consecrated souls and the Faithful in great number will let themselves be seduced by pernicious errors spread everywhere.
This will be the time of the decisive battle between the Blessed Virgin and the devil. A wave of diabolical disorientation will be hurled over the world.
Satan will introduce himself even to the highest summit of the Church. He will blind the minds and harden the hearts of pastors.
And God will deliver them to themselves as a chastisement for their refusal to obey the requests of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
This will be the great apostasy predicted for the ‘last times’; ‘the False Lamb’ and ‘False Prophet’ will betray the Church to the profit of ‘the Beast,’ according to the prophecy of the Apocalypse."
when My Day comes, the sun will turn as black as coarse sackcloth; the moon will be aflame and the very foundations of the earth will shake, and like entrails pouring out of an abdomen, the earth will vomit out its demons;St Malachy's last Pope prophecy? Already more accurate than the Mayan calendar and counting.when this happens, men will long for death but will not find it!
then, the sky will roll like a scroll and immediately will dissolve in flames and all the elements will melt in the heat;
that day is coming and sooner than you think;
I will fulfill these prophecies in your own lifetime;
Let my try to explain this. Typically the first name in a post “to” is the person being responded to. Subsequent names in that list are included as a courtesy and may be because of perceived interest in the response. My post was NOT, I repeat NOT intended for your. I included you in the ping because the person I WAS responding to had addressed you. My post was in response to HIS post and was addressed to HIM and NOT to you. I simply thought you would be interested in my response to HIM.
Very simply if it has to do with faith and morals, then yes we do need to listen and obey. However when it comes to science and politics we should take it seriously under advisement and proceed as we think best.
When the Pope says we must must act with charity and not pollute the environment of the poor and we must take care of the created world entrusted to us for the sake of humanity and the unborn, then the Pope is indisputably correct. When he talks about a scientific theory with policy and political actions regarding it, not so much. The Pope has been poorly advised on global climate science and his call for world governments is bad policy that contradicts the long standing tradition of subsidiarity in Catholic teaching. The line can be very fine sometimes, but history and tradition of the Church are there to guide our judgement.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.