THE MYSTERY OF POPE FRANCIS: WAS THERE A VATICAN COUP?

Powerline ^ | SEPTEMBER 27, 2015 | STEVEN HAYWARD

[xzins]

One thing that that has puzzled a lot of people since the selection of Pope Francis two years ago is how a left-leaning Pope could succeed two very serious conservative Popes—John Paul II and Benedict XVI—who you would have thought had stacked the ranks of the Cardinals with clergy that would perpetuate their theological and philosophical outlook. Was Benedict hounded out of office by some kind of internal Vatican scandal perhaps? Was there some ecclesiastical version of a coup?

There’s no evidence that I’m aware of—until now. Three days ago the National Catholic Register ran a very curious article about the contents of a newly published authorized biography of retired Belgian cardinal Godfried Danneels. The Register article reports:

Further serious concerns are being raised about Cardinal Godfried Danneels, one of the papal delegates chosen to attend the upcoming Ordinary Synod on the Family, after the archbishop emeritus of Brussels confessed this week to being part of a radical “mafia” reformist group opposed to Benedict XVI. . .

At the launch of the book in Brussels this week, the cardinal said he was part of a secret club of cardinals opposed to Pope Benedict XVI.

He called it a “mafia” club that bore the name of St. Gallen. The group wanted a drastic reform of the Church, to make it “much more modern”, and for Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to head it. The group, which also comprised Cardinal Walter Kasper and the late Jesuit Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, has been documented in Austen Ivereigh’s biography of Pope Francis, The Great Reformer.

Over at The American Conservative, Rod Dreher has gone to the trouble of translating an Italian report that is even more curious:

The Italian Vaticanist Marco Tosatti writes (in Italian; I’ve modified the Google translation):

The election of Jorge Bergoglio was the result of secret meetings that cardinals and bishops, organized by Carlo Maria Martini, held for years in St. Gallen, Switzerland. This, according to Jürgen Mettepenningen et Karim Schelkens, authors of a newly published biography of the Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who calls the group of cardinals and bishops a “Mafia club”.
Danneels according to the authors, worked for years to prepare for the election of Pope Francis, which took place in 2013. Danneels, moreover, in a video recorded during the presentation of the book in Brussels, admits that he was part of a secret club of cardinals who opposed Joseph Ratzinger. Laughing, he calls it “a Mafia club that bore the name of St. Gallen”.
The group wanted a drastic reform of the Church, much more modern and current, with Jorge Bergoglio, Pope Francis, as its head. They got what they wanted. Besides Danneels and Martini, the group according to the book were part of the Dutch bishop Adriaan Van Luyn, the German cardinal Walter Kasper and Karl Lehman, the Italian Cardinal Achille Silvestrini and British Basil Hume, among others.

I underscore that this is not some secretly sourced claim, but it’s from an advance copy of Cardinal Danneels’ official biography, approved by himself.

This is the first confirmation of rumors that had been going around for years about Benedict being thwarted by a liberal conspiracy, one that eventually forced him out. These men — Danneels, Van Luyn, Kasper, Lehman, and Hume, at least — all preside over dying churches. And they killed the Benedict papacy.

This might explain a few things. . .

[fatima]

He never wanted to be Pope.He just filled in till he started feeling sick.He fell on a trip in the bathroom and hit his head.The trips were too much.A writer met with him and he was going blind in one eye and now he’s using a walker.Benedict knows all but didn’t have the strength to do it.No way anyone pushed him out.Danneel who wrote this book met with him and made amends a few years ago.

[BlackElk]

That is what RCIA often seems to exist for: to raise doubts in the hearts of participants and to lead them to question the Faith. Likewise a bevy of organizations of half-baked heretics calling themselves Catholic like Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and Call to Action and organizations focused on attempts to force the ordination of women (which St. John Paul II defined as impossible and that it will never happen) but injecting the poison of progressive ideology in place of the Truth of Jesus Christ, His Church and its Teaching Magisterium.

You know how the song goes: The Vatican is just so mean to homosexuals, to participants in abortion even if Muffie REALLY needs that abortion for social or economic reasons and the abortionist really needs that new Lamborghini, and to divorced and re"married" folks who just cannot be bothered to get an easily available annulment of marriage #1 or 2 or 3. The "progressives" want a Church that accepts each and every sin and the consequences (and the souls in the pews) be dam*ed. Read the reader responses to articles on homosexuality or even abortion in The National "Catholic" Reporter for the agendas of SNAP, Call top Action and similar groups of termites.

I belong to a Church raised to the status of an Oratory by our previous Bishop Thomas Doran and run exclusively by a priest (two priests as of this coming weekend) of The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.All Masses and sacraments are of the Tridentine (Old Latin) rite.

When people are converting to Catholicism, there is no RCIA just sessions with the pastor as it used to be and as it ought to be.

The Catholic Faith that you seek can be found not in the chatty progressive termites who abound whenever the laity gets involved in distorting doctrine. It is found in Scripture, in great books by great men: Thomas a Kempis, St. John of the Cross, Bishop Fulton Sheen (such as his Life of Christ), Gilbert K. Chesterton, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Fr. Vincent Micelli, Fr. Malachi Martin, Dietrich von Hildebrand, the writings and encyclicals of solidly Catholic popes: Pope Leo XIII (esp. Rerum Novarum), Pope St. Pius X (esp. Pascendi Domenici Gregis and Lamentabile Sane both against the heresy of Modernism), Pope Pius XI, Pope Pius XII, Pope John Paul I, Pope St. John Paul II (books and encyclicals), and Pope Benedict XVI (books and encyclicals). If you must go through RCIA to become Catholic, books and encyclicals like those mentioned above will arm you to absolutely destroy Madame Progressive running RCIA and arm you for the rest of your life.

If you ever are in Rockford, Illinois, come to St. Mary's Oratory in downtown Rockford, directly across from the County Jail. Meet Canon Brian Bovee and he will introduce you to the kind of Catholicism that ought to be universal.

.Good luck! God bless you and yours!

[BlackElk]

You earned every word and you earn a lot more credit here each and every day. God bless you and yours!

Viva Cristo Rey!

[BlackElk]

You also have a way with words and wisdom. You have brushed the foam off the beer with a precise rendition of the problem.

God bless you and yours!

[SaveFerris]

Yep, that’s why John chapter 14 was written.

Yet, I’ve been amazed at how few understand it.

[Deo volente]

Ann Barnhardt is a bit over-the-top and some of her language is intemperate, but there’s very little I can find in her analysis to disagree with.

These are dark days indeed.

[Falconspeed]

Pope Benedict XVI is winning behind the scenes by existing quietly in the Vatican. Every day his presence reminds the modernists they yes, they are defeated intellectually and spiritually. Pope Francis probably hates having Benedict XVI in the same household.

Thus, Benedict XVI is winning by convincing Pope Francis that he is psychologically defeated. And Pope Francis looked very tired and defeated while traveling in NY and Philly.

[Helen]

Thank you. Thank you so much for the encouraging words, as well as for the reading list. I needed both.

I live outside of Houston, and apparently there is a cathedral that offers a Tridentine Mass on this side of town, even. The idea of attending Mass there is exciting to me!

I think I may owe Madame Progressive a thank you for pushing me to air my frustrations on FR!

[coloradomomba]

You can find a Church that adheres to the Pre-Vatican II tradition. I left the Novus Ordo about 8 months ago. My new Parish is conservative and a true God send, I am so grateful to God for leading me here. I pray and think of our Lord more than ever before, He is my First thought at rising, throughout the day and my last thought before sleep.I now look forward to mass, adoration and confession. I am even attending Catechism classes again..and I am in my 50’s!! I never left the church, the church left me. But I have rediscovered it now and I pray that many others find it as well. What a Blessing!

[WTFOVR]

Straw man argument.

I never stated that Francis was illegitimate for reason of Benedict still living. Celestine V governed the Church for four months, before deciding the job was too big for him (Dante placed him in the “inferno” and called him cowardly).

The fact, which you attempt to toss out from the first, is that there has NEVER been a “Pope Emeritus” sharing the office of (and possibly “advising”) the reigning Pope. To hold the title of “Pope” - notwithstanding the qualifier “Emeritus” - one must ACT in the capacity of the office of Pope. This is not the case with Benedict XVI - and no provision has ever been made for such arrangement ... Not in Church tradition, nor in Canon Law, nor in Holy Scripture.

This “Emeritus” position is yet another liberal novelty, foisted upon the Catholic word by the same “innovators” who gave us the illicit bastardize Novus Ordo Missa. It is pure Modernist bull crap all the way to the core.

In any case, if what is stated in the original premise of this thread is true, then the argument we are having is moot - because Pope Frankie’s megalomaniac papacy would be null and void - and he and his fellow Modernist conspirators would all be excommunicated from the Church.

[WTFOVR]

More properly known as pederasty.

[BlackElk]

I have a daughter in the Houston suburbs who probably attends that Church. For reasons I do not know or understand, she is estranged from me since her wedding three years ago. Pray for her and for me that the estrangement will end. She and I were once very close.

Ping me anytime for reading suggestions. I now spend most of my time on the internet and at medical appointments so I can suggest books and other things.

I don't know if you saw the movie For Greater Glory about the Catholic Cristero revolution in Mexico in the 1920s. If not, I am sure it would be available on Netflix or at movie rental stores. Andy Garcia, Lawrence O'Toole (I believe it was his final movie, and a wide cast of actors/actresses who did a magnificent job. Very Catholic movie. As the final credits roll, the background is the film of the martyrdom of Fr. Miguel Pro, SJ, shot by firing squad for saying Mass in a private home in Mexico City.

When you deal with Madame Progressive, you will be fortified by the Tridentine Mass and by good books. When you become a Catholic, you will be fortified and nourished by receiving Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the sacrament of the altar. You might talk to those at the Tridentine Church about continuing your journey to Catholicism there. It may well be simpler and quicker. The novus ordo churches up here make converts wait until Easter to be formally received into the Church unless they are in near danger of death. I regard that as ecclesiastical malpractice. All that waiting without the sacraments!

As one who is converting you might be delighted by the works of Gilbert Keith Chesterton whose parents had been Unitarians and who became a High Church Anglican himself before converting to Catholicism when he was 48 years old. Look him up on Wikipedia for a comprehensive story of his life and friendships with George Bernard Shaw (not at all one of us) and author Hillaire Belloc (also well worth reading) and a bibliography of his many books including Orthodoxy which is a good starting point. Chesterton was humorous and sarcastic and penetrating in his insight. You could spend years enjoying his prolific work. He influenced C. S. Lewis to return to Christianity but Lewis never quite followed him in swimming the Tiber as we say. Belloc wrote short books brilliantly on single topics.

Enjoy and God bless!

[BlackElk]

See #132. I attend a Tridentine only Church run by the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest in Rockford, IL.

[Jacquerie]

Yes, that is the exact term.

[Helen]

How sad for you and your daughter. Absolutely - I am praying for both of you.

I feel so much better than I did yesterday. For some reason, I felt locked in to RCIA (until Easter) because I thought that was just the way it was done. It had gotten to the point I felt worse after going to Church!

I feel stabilized and excited again, and am in the process of getting fortified. Not sure what the direction will be from here, but the joy of it all will not get misplaced again.