I don’t understand (or support) the dead pool going on right now with respect to the death of Pope Francis. I don’t know if he’s dying or not and, quite frankly, I believe it would amount to nothing more than clickbait to pretend that I do. I have gone on the record as praying for his happy death and the repose of his soul when the time comes and have no intention of amending or retracting that prayer. Here’s why:
Francis has positioned himself as the mortal enemy of the traditional Catholic Church. He has punished tradition-minded cardinals (Burke) for demanding moral orthodoxy of him; he has sacked good bishops (Strickland) for resisting his Modernist agenda; he has excommunicated archbishops (Vigano) who have called him out for the sexual abuse crisis he refuses to take seriously (Google “Rupnik/Francis scandal”). He’s trying to rob our children of their last best chances of saving their souls (Traditionis Custodes). He has scandalized the world with his blessing of homosexual couples, his bald-faced Globalism, his Pachamama idolatry, etc.
I do not pray that he dies, and I certainly do not pray that he suffers. But because I am not schizophrenic, neither can I pray for the 88-year-old to recover quickly so that he can continue the diabolical work of destroying the Church.
Nevertheless, I do not pray that he dies, and I certainly do not pray that he suffers. But because I am not schizophrenic, neither can I pray for the 88-year-old to recover quickly so that he can continue the diabolical work of destroying the Church. If that makes me a “bad Catholic” in your book, so be it. I gave Francis every benefit of the doubt. I was criticized for years after the conclave for insisting on referring to him as ‘Holy Father’ and for editorially hoping and praying for the best for him and from him. He has dashed those hopes against the rocks of Synodality which Cardinal Gerhard Muller told Raymond Arroyo on live TV would lead to the “end of the Catholic Church.” And with his public alliance with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization, the UN, and the World Economic Forum, Francis has made it abundantly clear which side he’s on, causing him to emerge in my book as St. Robert Bellarmine’s pope who would “try to destroy the Church”: “Just as it is licit to resist the Pontiff who attacks the body,” writes Doctor of the Church Bellarmine, “so also is it licit to resist him who attacks souls or destroys the civil order or above all, tries to destroy the Church…”
Praying for the quick recovery of a pope who fits St. Robert’s description is the epitome of counterproductive emotionalism that indicates a total lack of understanding of the diabolical nature of the crisis through which Holy Mother Church is suffering – a crisis which starts at the top.
This is not a game. Resisting the pope is a serious matter that demands constant prayer and careful study. It is not a matter of sensationalism, designed to score clicks on the Internet but to be put on hold when death becomes imminent. In death, just as in life, Francis must be vigorously resisted, even as faithful Catholics must pray for him now, at the hour of his death, and even after his inevitable Halo Awards ceremony.
For now, I pray to St. Joseph—Patron of the Universal Church, Patron of a Happy Death – that he may intercede for Francis, so that he may be granted every grace and the mercy of God, including and especially that of a happy death, which includes repentance, absolution and Holy Viaticum. And if you don’t understand what is meant by this prayer then it is likely you didn’t go to Catholic school, you weren’t raised by a traditional Catholic mother, and you are operating in an entirely difference space. I wish you all the best and in addition to praying for the pope’s happy death, I ask you to pray for my happy death, which is the greatest act of charity a Christian can perform for his brother.
Michael Matt speaks candidly on the issue:
