As we see our Pope high-fiving a Protestant televangelist and prescribing ten rules for right living that Oprah would applaud, not one of which has anything to do with the Catholic Faith or eternal life, we realize that the embarrassing comedy of this papacy is not going to end. Indeed, it appears that Francis is just getting warmed up and that we may be dealing with a bottomless bag of tricks.

Someone whose vocation or avocation is commenting on Church affairs has three ways to approach this unprecedented situation: First, simply ignore Francis entirely while bashing the bishops for following his lead. This appears to be the neo-Catholics’ prescription in keeping with their historical role as enablers of the post-conciliar revolution, which is clearly entering a new and probably terminal phase. Second, raise an objection every time Francis says or does something objectionable, which would be almost every day. (As one wag put it: “If he doesn’t talk he’s not a bad Pope.”) Third, limit one’s objections to papal stunts that have serious theological implications as opposed to being merely ridiculous.

While Francis perplexes faithful Catholics and delights the world almost daily by saying and doing whatever occurs to him as a good idea, a surprising voice in defense of sound orthodoxy has emerged in the midst of the vast confusion this Pope is causing: Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

In a book-length interview just published in Spain, Italy, and the United States, Müller has resoundingly reaffirmed his opposition to Cardinal Kasper’s evil proposal to admit a supposedly small number of divorced and “remarried” Catholics to Holy Communion without any commitment to end their adulterous relations. Recall that this blatant attack on the indissolubility of marriage was part of Kasper’s address to the “Extraordinary Consistory on the Family” back in February, and that Francis praised the address as “beautiful and profound.” Recall also that Kasper, with no objection from Francis, is now being identified as “the Pope’s theologian.” Indeed, Francis made it a point to praise Kasper as “a talented theologian, a good theologian” on no less an occasion than his first Angelus address as Pope.

Remember that explosive “interview” Pope Francis gave to the radical Leftist and atheist Eugenio Scalfari? Not the third one, just published in La Repubblica, but the first one, published in that same newspaper on October 1 of last year, featured in L’Osservatore Romano, and lodged on the Vatican website as one of Francis’s speeches, thus seemingly making it part of his rather liquid magisterium.   You know, the one in which Francis is said to have declared that he does not believe in a Catholic God, that everyone should pursue his own vision of good and evil, and other “greatest hits” of what the press delights in calling a “headline-grabbing papacy.”

Recall that after one of the by now routine semi-disclaimers by Father Lombardi—who called the interview “faithful to the thought” of Francis and “reliable in a general sense”­­­—the text was removed from vatican.va in embarrassment. Well, the same interview suddenly reappeared on the Vatican website this week, in both English and Italian, and was included once again among the Pope’s speeches. But, after this stupefying development was noted by Antonio Socci and the Mundabor and Chiesa et Postconcilio blog sites, the “interview” was removed again, and the link provided by these bloggers now redirects searchers to the Vatican home page.

It is time to face reality: The conclave of 2013, following an unprecedented, mysterious, and strangely nuanced “resignation” by a Pope in full possession of his faculties, opened the door to what must be the final stage in the post-conciliar crisis.

If words have meaning, the man whose first words to the Church from the loggia of Saint Peter’s were a resoundingly banal “Good evening,” who referred to himself only as the newly elected “Bishop of Rome,” is the most liberal prelate who has ever ascended to the Chair of Peter. Pope Francis’s endless stream of shocking utterances—he will say whatever he pleases, to whomever he pleases, whenever he pleases—signals a clear and present danger to the Church. The danger is reflected in his progressivist-dominated “Council of Eight” and his insistent praise for the arch-Modernist Cardinal Kasper, now known as “the Pope’s theologian,” who proposes to destroy in practice what the Church, in fidelity to Our Lord, has constantly affirmed respecting the absolute indissolubility of marriage. The moral edifice of the Church would thus be undermined to the point of collapse.

Traditional Catholics attending a Traditional Latin Mass during WWII? 
No, just Catholics attending THE Mass during WWII

That today there are Catholics denominated “traditionalist” is a development unexampled in the entire previous history of the Catholic Church. Even at the height of the Arian crisis—the closest analogue to our situation—the Church was not divided between traditionalists and non-traditionalists, but rather between those who had not embraced the heresy of Arius and those who had.

But what exactly is a traditionalist? A look back at the way things once were might convey the meaning of the term more effectively than the usual attempts at a formal definition:

In his Responsio ad Lutherum, St. Thomas More called Luther an "ape", a "drunkard", and a "lousy little friar". But who was he to judge?

The Vatican has announced another milestone in neo-Catholicism: a joyous Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017! The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity proclaims the surprising development that makes this very special commemoration possible:

Catholics and Lutherans realize that they and the communities in which they live out their faith belong to the one body of Christ. The awareness is dawning on Lutherans and Catholics that the struggle of the sixteenth century is over. The reasons for mutually condemning each other’s faith have fallen by the wayside.

Yes, the awareness is dawning: Catholics and Lutherans are one after all! And since this great good news comes to us from a Pontifical Council, we ought not to protest it because, as the neo-Catholics so rightly insist, there must be no public criticism of the Pope. Ever. Under any circumstances.

 “… they make themselves up like little holy cards, looking up at heaven as they pray, making sure they are seen…"

—Pope Francis, condemning Catholics (again)

When will the Pope's relentless bashing of his own subjects cease?  Apparently not as long as he has breath in him and a microphone to speak into.  

On April Fool’s day we had another rambling sermon likening Catholics to Pharisees who " go to Mass every Sunday, but better not get mixed up in things – I have faith for my health, I do not feel the need to give it to another… Christians who do not leave space for the grace of God – and the Christian life, the life of these people, consists in having all the paperwork, all the certificates, in order…. Christian hypocrites, like these, only interested in their formalities. It was a Sabbath? No, you cannot do miracles on the Sabbath, the grace of God cannot work on Sabbath days. They close the door to the grace of God. We have so many in the Church, we have many!” 

Just who are these caricatures the Pope has in view? In Europe hardly anyone goes to Mass at all outside of traditionalist communities.  And just who are these hypocrites who make sure they are seen when they pray? Certainly not like Francis, eh?

The anti-traditionalists are back in the saddle again, and the neo-Catholic nomenklatura have resumed with renewed vigor their role as compliant Mensheviks alongside the still passionate, however elderly, Bolsheviks of the conciliar revolution.

A Blessed Respite

During the seven-year Benedictine Respite, the post-conciliar revolution in the Church seemed to have lost its momentum, even if it was far from being in retreat. Traditional Catholics rejoiced to see a series of papal acts favorable to Tradition: the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum (2007), bringing an end at last to the insane suppression of the traditional Roman Rite; the lifting of the increasingly ridiculous excommunications of the four bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX)—the only four clerics in the world still deemed schismatic; and the long-overdue correction of the errant, doctrinally defective translations of the Latin typical edition of the Novus Ordo Missal, which the neo-Catholic establishment had been doggedly defending for forty years.

"While Pope Francis has not altered any Catholic doctrines in his interviews and disquisitions, he is sowing seeds of confusion among the faithful, a high price to pay, even for “skyrocketing” poll numbers".…Patrick J. Buchanan

Conclusion

(Read Part I, Part II, Part III) 

Yet Another Explosive Newspaper Interview

The Pope continues to give free-ranging, explosive interviews to Italian newspapers. The latest edition of this “magisterium” by newspaper is an interview with the editor of Corriere della Sera on March 5. As with all the other interviews, this one contains bombshells whose detonations the world media duly note while the diving bell constituency covers its ears. I will address six key statements from the interview:

First, confirming exactly what Antonio Socci was widely ridiculed for suggesting, Francis explicitly declares that the Church now has two Popes—a reigning Pope and a retired Pope: “The Pope emeritus is not a statue in a museum. It is an institution. We weren’t used to it. 60 or 70 years ago, ‘bishop emeritus’ didn’t exist. It came after the (Second Vatican) Council. Today, it is an institution. The same thing must happen for the Pope emeritus. Benedict is the first and perhaps there will be others.”

"I find that [the Latin Mass] is rather a kind of fashion. And if it is a fashion, therefore it is a matter that does not need that much attention."...Pope Francis

Part III 
(Continued from Yesterday) 
Read Part I,  Read Part II

Still More Insults for Traditionalists

Pope Francis has publicly insulted faithful traditional Catholics so many times that one wag at CNN has compiled what he calls “The Pope Francis Little Book of Insults.” The insults keep coming.

On February 14, during an audience with Bishops of the Czech Republic, the Pope was informed of the growing numbers of young people who are attracted to the traditional Latin Mass. Instead of expressing approval of this development as a sign of true renewal in the Church, Francis dismissed the development, stating that “he cannot understand the younger generation wishing to return to it [the Latin Mass].” With amazing condescension he added: “When I search more thoroughly, I find that it is rather a kind of fashion. And if it is a fashion, therefore it is a matter that does not need that much attention. It is just necessary to show some patience and kindness to people who are addicted to a certain fashion. But I consider greatly important to go deep into things, because if we do not go deep, no liturgical form, this or that one, can save us.”

It must be said that Francis appears to be guilty of the very fault of which he publicly accuses others: liturgical superficiality, and this to an astonishing degree. In all candor, it is Francis who has not “gone deep” at all but rather rendered the shallowest of judgments on a matter that could not be more profound. How is it possible for a Roman Pontiff to dismiss as “a kind of fashion” the Church’s received and approved rite of divine worship down through the centuries, going back at least to the time of Pope Damasus (r. 366-384), if not to the Apostles themselves, a work of the Holy Ghost that is nothing less than the liturgical foundation of Christian civilization?