Monday 2 November 2015

The Church is Bigger than Francis –and so is Christ

That splendid blog Rorate caeli (here) has reported an interview with Pope Francis by Eugenio Scalfari of La Repubblica in which Scalfari alleges the Pope has said that anyone who is divorced and ‘remarried’ who presents themselves for Holy Communion will receive it:

“We must not think that the family does not exist any longer, it will always exist, because ours is a social species, and the family is the support beam of sociability, but it cannot be avoided that the current family, open as you say, contains some positive aspects, and some negative ones. ... The diverse opinion of the bishops is part of this modernity of the Church and of the diverse societies in which she operated, but the goal is the same, and for that which regards the admission of the divorced to the Sacraments, [it] confirms that this principle has been accepted by the Synod. This is bottom line result, the de facto appraisals are entrusted to the confessors, but at the end of faster or slower paths, all the divorced who ask will be admitted."

There are three problems in this if Scalfari has quoted the Pope correctly.

First, Francis would be overruling Christ who says that such marriages are adultery.
Second, Francis would be placing himself above the Divine Authority behind the Ten Commandments by removing ‘thou halt not commit adultery’.
Third, he would be engaging in the heresy of Modernism, which posits that “Our religious attitude", as stated by "Il programma dei modernisti" (p. 5, note l), "is ruled by the single wish to be one with Christians and Catholics who live in harmony with the spirit of the age" (see New Advent.org here). In the heresy of Modernism (which is not the same as modernisation) doctrine can change in relation to the changes in society. By this heresy, the Dominical Command to “Go, teach all nations” is tuned on its head; it becomes, “Go and be taught by the nations”. This is what many have done since Vatican II, taking the Councils’ call to read the signs of the times as discipline the times rather than discern the times. I cannot tell whether this is because they have not applied their mind to what the Council actually said, or did turn their minds to it and wilfully distorted it. I must assume the first, for the sake of charity and their good name.

The heresy of Modernism has not passed its sell-by date; it remains and will always remain a heresy condemned by the Authentic Magisterium of the Church. The first real fight against it was Pius X Encyclical ‘Pascendi’in 1907. But the anti-modernist oath was imposed on clergy, Catholic professors etc, from 1910 then right up until 1967, so it was approved by all of the twentieth century Popes until the CDF abolished it under Paul VI in 1967.


If Scalfari is quoting the Pope correctly, many will conclude that Francis has fallen into the heresy of Modernism. Let us hope that he proves this to be a false conclusion when he publishes his post-synodal document. If the conclusion that Francis has fallen into heresy proves correct, we will have a choice between obeying Christ and obeying Francis. That choice can only be made one way: we must follow Christ. This is where Conservative Catholics and Traditional Catholics will part company, for Conservative Catholics have fallen into the error of extreme ultramontanism wherein anything the Pope says or allows is said and allowed by God: ‘we must be faithful to the sitting Pope above all’ would be their motto. Not so for the Traditional Catholic, who will also and certainly be faithful to the sitting Pope –as long as he is faithful to the eternal Truths of the Tradition and the Deposit of Faith. But where a pope deviates from it, Catholics faithful to the Tradition –whichis a source of Divine Revelation. Dei Verbum 9, Vatican II- cannot follow.  Can we trust Francis to show himself a loyal son of the Church? The Church is much older and much bigger than Francis, and so is Christ, the Head of the Church, which is His Body. Christ has both the Church and Francis in his hands.



17 comments:

  1. If this is true and i have no reason to doubt it (although i must wait until confirmed by the popes own lips) then pope francis has expressed heresy and as such is ipso facto excomunicated. Saddly if true i will not be able to recognise the pope as pope.

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  2. Thank you Father. I think you are exactly right. I do not understand why Priests who claim to be traditional are not saying the same thing. Why are they not supporting you? We cannot follow heresy. We dare not. Are you the only courageous Priest in the UK? If heresy is coming from Francis, we must not be afraid to say so...
    Many prayers Father. God Bless.

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    1. Thank you, Terry.
      I think priests need to be careful to remain in good standing with the Church, which they need to be if they are not to deprive their flock of a good shepherd.
      God Bless.

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  3. I trust the Pope did not say that. If he did he would be no different from Kasper and therefore implicitly heretical.

    And what is more, why stop at adultery. I mean there are lots of other mortal sins. Active homosexual practise, pornography, bestiality, greed, gluttony, sloth, wrath, envy, pride, and so on.

    And all could troop up and receive Holy Communion!


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    1. I think that is what they want put the wedge in the door, the old slippery slope

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  4. Apparently the vatican has issued a statement that pope francis didnt say "communion for all the remarried and divorced people". The word "all" seems to be their defence to rubbish the interview. However that dosnt ease my fears for potential heresy

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    1. Thank you, David. That is why we can only say 'if Scalfari has quoted the Pope correctly'. If he has, we have a big problem.

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    2. Indeed father a heretic occupying the seat of peter would be a huge problem an apocalyptic problem

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  5. Terry Pearson above is right.

    May God bless you Father.

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  6. Well, Father, you have been very clear yet carefully avoided calling Francis a heretic outright. I don't know if you are being charitable, prudent, or simply careful.
    Billy

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    1. Thank you. I have been all three I hope: charitable because his good name demands it; prudent, in case Scalfari is proved to have misquoted him; careful because one does not want to be guilty of libel.
      God Bless.

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  7. Consider the Scalfari incidents as simply modernist reconnaissance, whereby the trial marketing balloon is release to see the reaction, and also identify the "enemies", that is those who are against the modernists, i.e. faithful Catholics and prelates. Plus Francis always gets to play the plausible deniability card. You will notice that the Vatican press office did not really deny the report, rather all they said was that you cannot trust Scalfari. This is all going according to plan.

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  8. Excellent, Father...

    Your thoughts in the last paragraph follow closely my latest post:

    http://hector1088.blogspot.com/2015/11/guardians-of-gate.html

    War appears to be upon us and we must remain vigilant.



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  9. It has also been reported that bishops & priests have announced that anyone in a irregular relationship who presents him/herself for Communion will not be refused. Sadly it has to be said that Pope Francis appears to be giving room for schismatics & heretics to put forward their views without immediately quashing them. Surely an immediate response in line with Catholic doctrine would do more good than, supposedly, being generous by allowing such people to continue thinking that their ideas are wrong.
    Although compassion & forgiveness must always be there (as we all need them) we must also always remember that we must express sorrow for our sins coupled with a firm purpose of amendment.

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  10. I am going through a crisis not of faifh but of trust. In my country of New Zealand I do not know if there is one priest I can trust to teach the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I say I do not know because no priest here has come out and said that they are not heretics and will not follow heresy but know that heresy abounds, in the highest places, and wish to warn their flocks not to go along with heresy. Because I no longer know who to trust, I have withdrawn from the music ministry and will not resume it until I ,know that the leaders of the Catholic Church in New Zealand are going to be true shepherds and protect their flocks from the wolves. There are at least two priests whom I suspect woud not be hereti9cs, but neither has to my knowledge spoken out in public. The Catholic people of New Zealand are in dire straits. I try to warn the locals with face to face information, on blogs, or information anonymously through public notices or pamphlets left in church porches or public places. I feel God has told me that I am sowing seeds and that I must not be despondent because sowers
    of seeds willy-nilly see few of the plants that spring upl I encourage all to do similarly.. I have told my local leaders that I will not go along with any heretical policy that comes out of the Synod fathers. .

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  11. Large portions of the faithfull are unaware or so isolated they are being knowingly or unknowingly choked by the weeds. There is very little we can do except remain faithfull to the truth... we are in an information war and the word must get out locally as well as on the internet.

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