On the papacy of Pope Francis

You don't have to agree with Patrick Coffin -- and I do not agree with him -- to think that this video from Catholic Answers responding to his thesis is not adequate. Dismissing the cataclysmic internal upheaval we are experiencing, in a misguided attempt to calm the waters, could even cause scandal to the very people the hosts wish to reassure. 

The errors of Pope Francis are not just ones of personal immorality or defects of prudence. We are beyond "you can affirm he is pope without defending everything he says and does" and well into "there is something fundamentally wrong here."

I think Pope Francis is Pope -- and is a bad pope. I have come under fire from self-appointed establishment watchdogs like Dave Armstrong for saying this, even though I'm specifically distinguishing myself from those who think he is not pope at all.

But I warn Joe Heschmeyer and Cy Kellett not to take a flippant attitude towards those who are rightfully disturbed and dismayed. People really are losing their faith or, in the case of potential converts (the presumed target audience of Catholic Answers), turning away from the one true Church, on account of the Pope's hermeneutic of confusion regarding matters of liturgy, doctrine, and morals. Using the pseudo-assuaging tone of "it's fine, everything is fine" will not make this profound anxiety go away.

It's true that we, the laymen and suffering faithful, will not decide these matters (and Patrick Coffin says as much in his video), but we are well within our rights and duties to require the bishops to decide -- to hold them to the sticking point.

It's flippant, and therefore inappropriate, given the gravity of the matter, to say that Jesus will figure it out and "don't worry about it." Jesus may want us to call our bishops to account, just as the laymen of the 4th century did, in the Arian heresy. Read your St. John Henry Newman. Learn your history. The most scandalously depraved pope of history never attacked the foundations of the magisterial office the way Pope Francis has, as I have written in my book God Has No Grandchildren. 

And no, it was not Phil Lawler who said anything like that there is an imaginary crisis (around the 1 hour mark of the video). In fact, he is the one who has said that we are not in some merely cyclical blip of history, but at a significant crossroads, one that has to be confronted by all who are able to speak up.

(Part 2 here)


7 comments:

  1. I think you mean Dave Armstrong. I used to really appreciate his work, but we part ways on this issue and he is not the only friend for whom that is the case.Pope Francis has made it much more difficult for me to talk about the Church with Protestants because they can see the contradictions which a lot of Catholics seem willing to ignore or paper over.

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    1. Ah, thanks. It wasn't a parting of the ways so much as him accusing me of some sort of sin.

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  2. Did he accuse you directly? I stopped following him awhile back, so I haven't seen anything he's written in awhile. I do know that he seemed much less irenic than the guy I met at Defending the Faith some 2o years or so ago in the last stuff of his I read.

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    1. Directly and indirectly to others. Called me -- and my husband -- a schismatic, etc.

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  3. What do you think about the small faith sharing groups that parishes are asking the laity to attend and lend their voice to the Synod?

    From what I understand, it doesn't seem to be an open call for us to speak about whatever is on our minds but instead is sort of guided by what seems to be a canned program of provided Scriptures to meditate on to see what we think is the mission of the Church going forward. In other words, they aren't really interested in our opinion and are using a program in which to shuttle the conversation into a very narrow lane.

    I keep going back and forth between not participating because "Why bother?" and worrying that if I don't, the more liberal faction of the laity will skew the results as to what we really think. I also have a wary feeling that the info might not be used the way they are presenting it but rather it is a way for Bishops to sniff out any so-called rigid traditionalist leanings in their parishes so they know where and how to direct "programming" and "policies" that will ensure "unity" among the faithful. How sad that we even have to have this level of distrust in the hierarchy.

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    1. I agree, Elizabeth -- proceed with caution! Maybe it's better to write to the bishop (cc'ing the Vicar General and whoever else) with exactly what you wish to say. Or ask for a meeting -- the husbands should do this!

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    2. Great idea! Thank you. Completely agree about the husbands.

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