Thanks to Pope Francis I'm No Longer a 'Neo-Catholic'

I was a Catholic on the fence, Catholic in name only. In other words, I was a disgrace. Sure, I prayed to God (when I needed something), went to Confession (once a year), refrained from sin (when it wasn't too inconvenient) and believed (in a false version of God).

Clearly, I was living a lie.

Picking and choosing those bits of the Church's teaching that suited me, while completely ignoring the others, I was quickly becoming a disciple of Satan without even realizing it.

And so, as an ardent follower of Satan, I found myself watching some Protestant videos on YouTube. Then it happened. By the Grace of God, I stumbled upon a pretty interesting Protestant video on Pope Francis.

As a modern, semi-liberal Catholic (thank God, I have always been very much pro-life), I had thought that Pope Francis was pretty amazing. I never knew much about him, but I quickly bought into the whole 'mercy mission' of our Pope. Watching this Protestant video bashing Pope Francis, I felt my heart sink. For although I liked some Protestants, there was something deep inside me, buried beneath the layers of modernism, that was truly Catholic. I had always known that the Catholic Church was the only true church.

Still, these Protestants were right about everything regarding Pope Francis. The video in question analyzed the obviously outrageous prayer exchange between our Pope and the prosperity gospel fraud Kenneth Copeland.

My heart was racing like crazy. What is Pope Francis doing? What's going on?

And then, a question crossed my mind: Is the Catholic Church really the One True Church?

I needed to find out what was happening. Is it possible that Catholics support the actions of our Pope?

This was the beginning of the end. The end of the old me and the first step on my journey home. For, while I was searching for facts regarding Pope Francis and Catholicism, a whole new world opened up to me: the world of traditional Catholics (aka faithful Catholics).

I learned abouth the Church history, the errors of modernism, the rotten fruits of the Vatican II, the few remaining faithful bishops and cardinals, Amoris Laetitia, the Latin Mass and the false mercy. But, most importantly, I learned about hell.

I had never known about hell. Sure, there was a vague concept somewhere at the back of my mind of what hell might look like. You know, a place where some really nasty paedophiles and serial killers go. Mortal sin – what's that?

Metaphorically speaking, it was Pope Francis who led me to hell. His actions and words became so outrageously liberal and erroneous, that I could no longer ignore the whole 'let's-tolerate-everyone-and-everything-in-the-name-of-mercy“ attitude, let alone mistake it for the real Church teaching. I needed to know what the Church really is all about. I needed to know what hell is. Thanks to Pope Francis, I learned all this and so much more.

Had Pope Francis never been elected, would I have changed my ways? Only God knows.

The whole point of this story is, that even in the midst of the unprecedented crisis in Church history, the Holy Spirit still governs the Catholic Church. Sinners are being converted every day, some in spite of the crisis in the Church, others because of it.

Thank you, Holy Spirit, for always guiding us.

Forgive us, Our Lord Jesus, for we have sinned.

Have mercy on our poor souls, God the Father.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.

I love the anti- Catholic rants, and that’s exactly what they are because first you don’t even understand what Catholic means - look it up.

I've come to the conclusion long ago that there are much bigger problems threatening us - like the destruction of Western Civilization - that have to be faced before we get into the trivialities that these Protestant-Catholic feuds without end are going on about. People don't like the Papacy, people think Martin Luther was wrong, etc... which is fine. But it is not the problem. If every Catholic (or every Protestant) vanished overnight our sick culture would still have the exact same problems it does now.

These pointless debates are a bit like libertarians (who have finally entered full clown world) constantly talking about "muh weed" while the house is burning down. Not an attack against either of you, I just wish we would take care of much bigger problems facing us first.

. Not an attack against either of you, I just wish we would take care of much bigger problems facing us first.

I understand. I hear you, however, in my opinion there is no greater cause more worthy of defense than the God's Word. It is sacred, alive, true, and powerful.

Moreover, my post was my testamony to my faith and my coming to a knowledge of the saving grace of Jesus Christ. I wasn't attacking anyone or trying to start arguments. I was talking about the Biblical standard. Again, there is no greater cause than this. Here on Free Republic, we debate piplelines, gas prices, the "who said who" gossip of Washington DC, sports, politics galore, and many other things.

All of those will be burned away someday, and the only think left standing will be Christ and those who are His own. I do know some Catholics that I believe are saved, they have accepted Christ and are in His grace. I know many others (including my own relatives) who are not.

There is one difference between Christianity and every other religion on the planet. All religions teach people to "be good, do good" to some degree, so that you may please God in order to save yourself from His punishment. People, then, are motivated primarily out of self-preservation when it comes to God.

It is only Christianity that says we can do nothing to save ourselves. Christianity is 180 degrees out of phase with the rest. It says that because Christ died, and paid our penalty, those of us who accept His gift of sacrifice and atonement for our sins are saved from Hell itself.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Ephesians 2:8

You mean early church fathers in Scripture, which held that to be the only substantive wholly inspired body of Truth, to which their own preaching of the word of God was subject to.

Absolutely! When the basic tenets of the Christian faith were being defended against heretics who started immediately to challenge what was believed always, everywhere and by all, the sacred God-breathed Scriptures were recognized and held as THE standard to determining what was the divinely revealed body of truth. Paul told believers that he did not shun to declare to them all the counsel of God (Acts 20:27). Paul forewarned that grievous wolves would creep in to scatter the flock of God and "of their own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them."

The example had always been that God revealed the truth to His prophets and that it was written down and preserved for all generations. Those who chose their own philosophical meanderings and boasts of superior intelligence outside of and at odds with Scripture were and will continue to be shown as INFERIOR to the Divine word as confirmed by the Holy Spirit in word and in power.

Absolutely! When the basic tenets of the Christian faith were being defended against heretics who started immediately to challenge what was believed always, everywhere and by all, the sacred God-breathed Scriptures were recognized and held as THE standard to determining what was the divinely revealed body of truth. But as RCs will show, tradition became what was also and increasingly invoked, which error I surmise was the recourse after Arianism etc. countered with Scripture themselves, and rather than staying the course and defeating them as we must do today with such as them and other day heretics, they found it easier to basically say, "we always believed this" as referring to post Biblical tradition, which progressively took on a life of its own. .

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