Posted on 01/25/2017 11:21:35 PM PST by BlessedBeGod
For most of us, who are not Knights of Malta, the resignation of the group’s grand master will have little immediate impact. But the unprecedented papal intervention into the affairs of that venerable body fits into a pattern that should, at this point, worry all faithful Catholics. Under Pope Francis, the Vatican is systematically silencing, eliminating, and replacing critics of the Pope’s views.
During the reigns of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, “progressive” Catholics frequently complained about a crackdown on theological dissent. On the rare occasions when the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a warning about a wayward theologian’s published works, there were anguished warnings about a reign of terror at the Vatican. Now a crackdown really is occurring—instigated by the Pontiff who famously asked, “Who am I to judge?” And the objects of the current crackdown are not theologians who question established doctrines, but Catholics who uphold the traditional teachings of the Church.
The first and most prominent victim of the purge was Cardinal Raymond Burke, who was exiled from the Roman Curia soon after Pope Francis took office, and given a mostly ceremonial post as patron of the Knights of Malta. It is ironic—and perhaps not coincidental—that the latest incident involves his new charge.
The Pope himself asked for the resignation of Fra’ Matthew Festing, after a disagreement that apparently began with the discovery that the Knights of Malta had been involved in a condom-distribution program. The Vatican jumped into the fray—on the side of the man who was responsible for that involvement. In asserting control over the situation, Pope Francis was not deterred by the argument that the Order of Malta is a sovereign body under international law. Indeed the Vatican announced that the Pontiff plans to appoint a papal delegate to lead the group. “Under international law, what we are seeing is effectively the annexation of one country by another,” remarks canon lawyer Ed Condon.
(Condon goes on to observe that if the Pope goes ahead with his plan, and the Knights of Malta accept his delegate, the precedent thus created will “lurk under the Secretariat of State’s dealings with other governments like an unexploded bomb.” The next time Italian banking authorities demand records of financial transactions at the Vatican bank, or an American attorney for sex-abuse victims seeks to subpoena the dossiers of laicized priests, the Vatican will be in the awkward position arguing that, as a sovereign body, it is not subject to external intervention: the argument that was brushed aside in the rush to bring change at the Knights of Malta.)
But again, the furor over the Knights of Malta is not an isolated incident. Recent weeks have also seen:
All these incidents have occurred in a Vatican where the climate has already been formed by the Pope’s tongue-lashings of the Roman Curia, by the blatant manipulation of the Synod of Bishops, by the Pontiff’s daily denunciations of “doctors of the law” and “rigid” clerics. A clear picture emerges: of a Roman Pontiff determined to impose his own will on the universal Church.
In a syndicated column that appeared last week, George Weigel effectively punctured the myth, popular in liberal circles, that Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI imposed ideological control over the Vatican. Those Pontiffs, Weigel points out, regularly promoted men with dramatically different theological outlooks to the College of Cardinals, bestowing red hats on Cardinals Kasper, Marx, Tagle, Mahony, Daneels, Hummes, McCarrick, yes and Bergoglio. The same cannot be said of Pope Francis, who has elevated his potential allies (in the US, Tobin and Cupich) while passing over more senior prelates (Chaput, Gomez, Vigneron, Lori) whose approach did not match his own.
Writing in the National Catholic Reporter last December about the Pope’s bid to pack the College of Cardinals, Father Thomas Reese remarked approvingly that this was “the most revolutionary thing Francis has done in terms of church governance. He is doing everything possible to make sure that his legacy is continued by insuring his successor is someone who reflects his views.” Reese was honest enough to say that if Pope John Paul or Benedict had made the same sort of appointments: “Frankly, I would have been outraged.”
Outrage would have been a reasonable response then, if those earlier Popes had restricted promotions to men who shared their personal opinions. It is a reasonable response now.
These people (Pope) answer no more to the Bible but to the KGB states hell bent on seeing people divided and cannibalizing themselves for sake of submitting them
Obama as Pope?
That is why you have to hold fast to what you were taught when you first accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. Read Revelation, particularly chapters 2 and 3, Jesus’ letters to the Churches. You want to be a victor.
Satan knows the Scriptures and he knows that his time is coming soon. He is getting his minions ready for the time that the “Restrainer” will be taken out of the way as the “victors” are snatched up to be with Jesus.
So let not your heart be troubled!! Read your Bible, pray and look up, for your redemption draws near.
Later
Oh, but you claim you believe in Jesus. But it is all about "you" and "your" particular belief in Jesus.
It is all about you.
When the scientists stick you into your virtual reality machine to keep you from causing any trouble you will then be able to worship Jesus exactly as "You" please.
Glory be to Jesus ... er I mean You!
Sooner, rather than later.
Hopefully I won’t offend anyone when I say that I knew we were in trouble when they announced that the new pope was a South American Jesuit.
This is sort of what I expected. Liberation Theology with totalitarian overtones.
Good advice! And yet faithful Catholics ought to see the larger picture which includes ongoing apostasy within the Evangelical church. Some watchmen believe that the imploding Evangelical church will eventually merge into the hyper-charismatic NAR (New Apostolic Reformation), which bears striking similarities to occult Eastern pantheism. Time will tell. But for both Catholic and Evangelical faithful, your advice holds: “So let not your heart be troubled!! Read your Bible, pray and look up, for your redemption draws near.”
High Schrool or College?
High.
My high school Latin teacher was a Jesuit.
Nice enough but a alcoholic of the first order.
He kept a bottle in his desk drawer which we could occasionally catch him having a nip.
No. He can’t be Pope and Caliphate at the same time, you know. No, our new Pope will be George Soros, that worshipful, rich, NAZI supporter whose worms crawled into the Vatican some time back.
The Soros Pope strikes again!
Which reminds me......didn't Cardinal Burke say that a correction of the errors in Amoris laetitia would be served in the New Year, some time after the Epiphany? I'm wondering if the four cardinals have already privately "served" Francis" with his correction and the Knights of Malta takeover is Francis' direct response to this correction and to Burke in particular.
I was suggesting that Francis is to the Church what Hussein has been to the USA.
I was suggeting something more sinister.
You said it — Liberation Theology. It permeates Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si’.
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