He’s not being slandered. He is going to talk about global warming, and this will be the substance of his “environmental encyclical.” I read the Spanish and Italian language press, and this has been out there for a long time.
Please trust in Our Lord. St Peter was to be the Rock - which meant that he would support the Church and defend the teachings of the Church, as they had come from Our Lord - and the successor of St Peter has usually done this. If he doesn’t, he is no longer the authentic successor and can be deposed.
I don’t think Pope Francis has risen to this level, but some of the things that are being said through his surrogates...which he doesn’t reject... are certainly heretical and could bring bad times and persecution onto those members of the Church who stay with the deposit of faith.
Just pray hard and hang on. When the extraordinary council met in the 4th century to depose Pope Marcellinus (because he had offered incense to the emperor), he resigned voluntarily, repented publicly, and was reinstated. He died a martyr a few years later.’
So you never know what’s going to happen. But the important thing is the Faith, which develops the teachings given to us by Our Lord. And extends His presence for all.
I think it's a pity how ready so many are to see the latter when it's the former that is the normal course of things.
Nonetheless, I agree that he says many "spinnable" things but I have also often found clarity having looked further into them.
When it's all said and done, I recall that we really have a "spare" (as it were) and I'm sure B16 is praying effectively.
As for me, I would be lying if I said that anything that brings us nearer to the wrapping-up-of-it-all I am ready, willing and eager for (I fancy myself so, anyway).
Pax.
And I think I scrambled the first point: The media fails to tell the truth as a matter of course. The Pope, rarely.