Posted on 05/11/2019 6:41:37 PM PDT by ebb tide
Yes, the title of this column is provocative, to say the least, but that is what is really going on with the just-signed Apostolic Letter “Vos Estis Lux Mundi” (VELM). VELM lays down requirements for reporting “crimes of sexual abuse” committed by clerics, which “offend Our Lord, cause physical, psychological and spiritual damage to the victims and harm the community of the faithful.” But VELM is just another layer of bureaucratic procedure that ignores the underlying rot of the widespread homosexual infiltration of the clergy.
We know this as soon as we read the description of the prohibited “delicts against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue”:
“… forcing someone, by violence or threat or through abuse of authority, to perform or submit to sexual acts…
“… performing sexual acts with a minor or a vulnerable person;
“… production, exhibition, possession or distribution, including by electronic means, of child pornography, as well as by the recruitment of or inducement of a minor or a vulnerable person to participate in pornographic exhibitions…”
The term “vulnerable person” is defined as “any person in a state of infirmity, physical or mental deficiency, or deprivation of personal liberty which, in fact, even occasionally, limits their ability to understand or to want or otherwise resist the offence…”. Notice how even the term “vulnerable person” is limited to cases of physical or mental deficiency or coercion. Apparently, “vulnerable person” does not include legal adults who are persuaded to engage in sexual acts by clerics who convince them there is nothing wrong with such conduct.
So, to sum up: VELM does absolutely nothing to address (1) “consensual” acts of sodomy involving clerics and their willing partners in one of the sins that cry out to Heaven for retribution; (2) the “production, exhibition, possession or distribution” of adult (versus child) pornography, or (3) consensual adult participation in pornographic exhibitions.
That is, the entire “gay subculture” and its practices among the clergy are left untouched so long as they do not manifest themselves in criminal offences against minors or the coercion of “vulnerable” adult partners in sodomy. Otherwise, VELM exhibits no concern about sexual “delicts against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue.”
Clearly, therefore, Francis sees no need to remedy the homosexual corruption of the priesthood. He does not even intimate that “consensual” sodomy involving clerics is also an evil that “offend[s] Our Lord, caus[ing] physical, psychological and spiritual damage to the victims and… the community of the faithful.” In fact, the carefully limited definitions in VELM implicitly treat sodomy between “consenting adults” in the clergy as something that is not even to be reported, much less punished. We see at work here a kind of positivism in ecclesiastical law: whatever is not prohibited is permitted. Indeed, in this case what is permitted is not even worthy of mention.
What a mockery, then, are VELM’s pious declarations that “Our Lord Jesus Christ calls every believer to be a shining example of virtue, integrity and holiness” and that “a continuous and profound conversion of hearts is needed… so that personal sanctity and moral commitment can contribute to promoting the full credibility of the Gospel message and the effectiveness of the Church’s mission.”
Here as elsewhere it is evident that not only has “the Great Reformer” reformed nothing, he has actually made the corrupt ecclesial status quo worse, as Henry Sire (aka Marcantonio Colonna) documents beyond reasonable doubt in his “The Dictator Pope.” VELM is just another sign of a radically dysfunctional papacy that represents what has to be the terminal phase of the ecclesial crisis the Church has endured since Vatican II.
But it is precisely at such points in Church history that Providence opens the way to restoration — in this case with the heavenly assistance of the Virgin Mother of God.
Ping
The man is destroying the Church.
I don’t see how I can accept Bergoglio as pope after this.
Shades of Little Nicky. Does he wear aluminum foil on his feet while he says mass?
Jeeze, Louise
Has there ever been an exorcism performed on a Pope before???
And my family members wonder why this former Catholic will not set foot inside a Catholic Chirch anymore.
“Papal infallibility” indeed.
I don't see how that corrects him.
I don't see how that improves the Church.
I don't see how that out-shines him in fidelity to Christ.
Another point: neither Francis nor anybody else has claimed that he was infallible in his actions, policies or opinions, since he has never invoked infallibility at any point in his pontificate.
You apparently do not understand what infallibility is.
It seems --- if I may guess at this --- you confuse it with "impeccability," which would be freedom from sin, and which (also) does apply to this pope.
Say the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel --- do you know it? --- come back and gird for battle. You'd be as welcome as the flowers in May --- if you would come back for the sake of love and war.
Oy! Oy! Oy!
None of PF's statements have been made under the very rare conditions of an "Infallibile" decree, they are all just his opinion. Infallibility has most recently been invoked once in the 1950's and once in the 1850's.
“so you depart from Catholicism, too?”
Speaking only for myself, I think the only way to remain Catholic is to remove myself from under that man’s misrule.
I would not have that man rule me except inasmuch as he says what Christ says, neither more or less. But if I may ask -— are you still in the Sacraments?
tagline
“But if I may ask -— are you still in the Sacraments?”
I’m not sure what you mean.
The notion that any man is infallible is not only laughable, it is unBiblical.
The claim that any man is the “Vicar of Christ,” meaning Christ’s representative on earth, is both unBiblical and almost blasphemous. Especially the part that Jesus reaches out to this “Vicar” and tells him to utter infallible words. Jesus very clearly said, “no one comes to the Father except through me.” That’s pretty clear. And don’t get me started on Mary being the “co-redemtrix of Christ.”
The leader of the Catholic Church can have an opinion about Scripture, and it might be a very informed and thoughtful opinion, but that will never make him infallible. Just because he is gilded in finery and lives in a palace does not make those words any better than the words of Billy Graham or the words of a house church leader, living under cover and in fear of his life, in China.
Look, I get it, a large church needs a leader, so there is a need for a Pope. And a large church needs rules, so there is a need for papal pronouncements and catechisms. But I began reading the Bible as a young man 30 years ago, and I finally saw the deep and enduring flaws of the Catholic Church, the church I was raised in. And the fact that these fictions persist still amazes me.
I never looked back.
I left the Catholic Church over 30 years ago, never fear it was not because of Francis.
Also, as I began studying the Bible directly 30 years ago, I stopped praying to Saints. They are not intercessors, the only intercessor is Jesus himself, who said “no one comes to the Father except through me.” That’s pretty clear.
Look at my other reply, post 15 if you’re interested further in why I left the Catholic Church and never looked back.
From a former Catholic, now a devout evangelical Christian ...
“In the Sacraments” means, as best as I recall, still confessing sins to a priest regularly, still having communion on Sunday, also regularly, and never having skipped a Sunday Mass.
I remember being sick in bed on Sunday as a kid and worrying that lightning would strike me before I was back in the Sacraments again the following Sunday.
Sheesh. What a shallow doctrine.
Again, the doctrine of infallibility does not mean that the occupant of the Chair of St Peter is not a sinner in need of a Savior. It is used in very limited circumstances to define a teaching which believers must adhere to. As I mentioned, it has been invoked twice in two centuries.
Sorry to hear that you left the Fullness of the Word of Christ.
I believe this is a Catholic Caucus thread, btw.
God Bless.
And THAT is the underlying reason for the problems with sexual abuse in the church... the Sodomite Cabal trade favors with each other and push out anyone who confronts them... So when one of their club also has a thing for young boys or girls as well, they cover it up to protect ALL of them.
It is NO coincidence that the frequency and number of abuse cases skyrocketed in the 70s and 80s... because that was one admitted homosexuals started to appear in local churches. You could not be an admitted homosexual and be a priest prior to Vatican II... Vatican II they allowed “admitted but non practicing” homosexuals in... that was the late 60s... it takes 8 years of seminary before you are ordained a priest... so that is why the rate of this crap started to shoot up and hasn’t slowed down since the mid to late 70s...
Now they are so entrenched in the church, that they are embedded in everything and protect each other and drive out any that would oppose them.
They let the devil in, and the devil does what the devil does.
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