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Posted on 11/21/2015 11:16:03 AM PST by marshmallow
Pope Francis on Friday described some Catholic priests as so scary and neurotic he keeps well away from them.
In comments that had his audience chuckling at a conference on training for the priesthood, the 78-year-old pontiff revealed he is instinctively suspicious of overly pious candidates.
"I will tell you sincerely, I'm scared of rigid priests," he said. "I keep away from them. They bite!"
Francis resorted to humor to make a serious point that some people who are drawn to a clerical career are fundamentally unstable - and that inevitably creates problems for the church if they are not weeded out.
"If you are sick, if you are neurotic, go and see a doctor, spiritual or physical," he added. "The doctor will give you pills. But, please, don't let the faithful pay for neurotic priests."
As well as assessing the spiritual state of candidates, seminaries should also seek to judge their physical and psychological condition, Francis argued.
"There are often young men who are psychologically unstable without knowing it and who look for strong structures to support them. For some it is the police or the army but for others it is the clergy," the pope added, warning that such disorders inevitably resurface at a later date.
(Excerpt) Read more at globalpost.com ...
This has been the rationale used throughout the Western church over the past 50 years to exclude from ordination many fine young men while active homosexuals and dissenters from Church teaching have been welcomed with catastrophic consequences. Many seminaries were and still are overtly hostile to young men with a love for Catholic tradition and devotions. "Neurotic" and "rigid" were/are the very terms so often used to blithely dismiss these young men as seminaries were turned into lavender palaces.
Take note here. Homosexuals are not sick. It's "overly pious" candidates for the priesthood who have a sickness.
Psalms 56:3-4 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?
Guess the Pope is going with Plan B — run away from scary priests who adhere to Word of God a bit too rigidly.
There are some people who suffer from what used to be called “scruples.” Is this what he’s referring to? If so, he couldn’t have said it in a more insensitive and buffoonish way.
That said, you make excellent points in your post.
rigid priests = truly Catholic priests
Of course Francis is scared of them.
I wish he would just go away.
I always thought neurosis was opposite psychosis.
Heretic pope is a contradiction in terms. If he is a manifest heretic then he loses membership in the Catholic Church and therefore, not Pope.
I am deeply saddened by this Pope.
Who’s going to remove him?The church is separated into factions.Pretty sad situation.
If he is a manifest heretic, God removes him automatically. He would look like he’s playing the part, but not really.
A house divided...
“I always thought neurosis was opposite psychosis.”
And appropriately for a religion thread,
that the epistles were the wives of the apostles.
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This man is an imbecile.
I think this Pope is not right in the head OR the heart! I think something is terribly wrong with him,
lol
The Pope is pretty scary IMO.
This pope snaps his chompers quite a big. Maybe he’s rigid.
Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of your dearly beloved son, Jesus Christ, in atonement for my sins and the sins of the whole world.
For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
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