Church Militant goes on to say the following:

While we greatly admire and are the beneficiaries of the work of those on whose shoulders we stand in the work to help restore the Catholic Church to its authentic glory, we can neither support nor encourage their ongoing, unnecessary and harmful attacks on the Church and the Holy Father…Who benefits from attacks on the Rock on whom Our Lord established His Church (Matt. 16:18)?

A line must be drawn when it comes to criticism of the Holy Father, even when he says or does things that would invite appropriate criticism when said or done by those of lower ecclesiastical rank. Errant priests and bishops can be replaced. The Pope cannot…. 

No good is served by giving people the impression that the Pope is not Catholic, even if it can be alleged that there is reason to believe that he is not. "Ecclesiastical porn," such as what is found on hard and soft sedevacantist websites and in allegedly faithful Catholic publications, discourages those struggling to remain faithful to the Catholic Church as well as those considering conversion to the Catholic Church…Church Militant will not engage in public criticism of the Pope. Period.

About Face

Fast forward to the present. Revelations contained in Abp. Vigano’s recent statement allege that Pope Francis covered up for Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s sexual abuse and should resign. At this point Voris is not only ok with spiritual porn, he has turned into the Larry Flynt of spiritual porn. The spiritual centerfold of this week’s CMTV publications is an hour long video entitled, “WATCH: POPE FRANCIS MUST RESIGN: ‘A CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE’ (A Damning Indictment).

This is an interesting title as an hour long video could also be made about CMTV’s conspiracy of silence in the face of Pope Francis’ heresy, apostasy, sacrilege, and blasphemy over the last five years. But, not to fear. Michael Voris understands why people might be confused over his doing a 180 overnight on this all important issue, so he put out a recent video to explain himself.

In it, Voris states:

Given the horror that has increasingly seized hold of the Church these past 50 years — and which has climbed to unimaginable heights under the pontificate of Pope Francis — now is the appropriate moment for the laity to offer comment, which we are rightly allowed to do according to canon law.

Yes, now is the appropriate moment. Five years into the Bergoglian horror show, Voris will finally reveal to CMTV viewers that Francis was Pennywise the whole time. For Voris has suddenly discovered a right under canon law for the laity to comment on the pope’s systematic ruination of the Church! Never mind that this “right” under canon law has been in the code for at least 25 years.

But wait, there’s more:

As many people know, Church Militant has taken great pains in the past to avoid public criticism of Pope Francis with regard to various confusing theological writings, interviews and off-the-cuff remarks.

Out of respect for the office of Pope, and so as not to induce scandal, we have dutifully left the work of publicly analyzing his theological content to those above us, more qualified to address those things specifically and those responses we have covered in great detail.

Likewise, we have made a point of steering far clear of any disrespectful or uncharitable comments denigrating the Holy Father owing to his theological pronouncements — but that was in the arena of theology.

The homosexual clerical sex abuse scandal and resulting cover-up is not theological at its foundation, but moral.

And in this arena, the laity are absolutely duty-bound to speak up, for while we may not all be theologians, each one of us is a moral being and will be judged by Our Blessed Lord on how faithfully we have lived in accord with that objective morality.

Where to even begin?

First, Voris has the matter completely backwards. Heresy and sins against Faith are far more serious and of a higher order than immorality. This is especially true for a pope, whose very job it is to pass down the Faith, whole and entire, to the faithful. The sin of heresy has the potential to put one, even a pope, out of the Church and make one no longer even a Catholic. On the other hand, personal mortal sin, while depriving one of the state of grace, does not sever one completely from the Church.

In comparison, as justifiably angry as Voris is upon finding out that Francis covered up the horrid sexual abuse of Cardinal McCarrick, this act cannot, in and of itself, deprive Francis of the papacy. Therefore, the correct course all along, has been to point out to the faithful each and every error of Francis’ “magisterium” in order to warn them that we are not dealing with a Shepard but a wolf. For only a wolf could teach error that leads souls to Hell and present it as the teaching of the Church.

Second, Voris is saying the laity can now finally publicly comment on Francis’ morality because we are not theology experts, but we are “moral beings.” Does it really take a theological expert to understand that the countless things Francis has said regarding theology are not Catholic? For example, do we really need an S.T.D from the Gregorian in order to publicly say the following statements and acts of Francis are wrong?

- Claimed that the miracle of Jesus multiplying the bread and fish was really a miracle of 'sharing', not multiplying;
- Said 'Who am I to judge?' about gay priests;
- Held the first Muslim/Jewish prayers and Koran readings at the Vatican;
- Told a woman in invalid marriage it's alright to take Holy Communion, saying 'A little bread and wine does no harm';
- Claimed lost souls do not go to Hell;
- Joked about the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ;
- Claimed that Jesus begged his parents for forgiveness and the Virgin Mary 'reproached' Christ;
- Suggested that John the Baptist doubted that Jesus Christ was the Messiah;
- Approved of contraception in special circumstances;
- Praised an abortion rights advocate;
- Issued an Exhortation that changes the practice of denying Holy Communion to those who are in 'irregular unions' (divorced and remarried, etc.);
- Taught that Jesus 'knew temptation in Himself';
- Said 'It's not right to convince someone of your faith';
- Put a red statue of Martin Luther in the Vatican;
- Said Martin Luther was a prophet and he 'admired him';
- Said God was 'unjust with his son';
- Said obeying all the commandments 'paralyzes you';
- Said 'Jesus did not say whether it is lawful or not lawful' about divorce;
- Taught that Jesus Christ 'made himself the devil';
- Said 'God cannot be God without man';
- Said 'no war is just';
- Said 'The most minor sins are the sins of the flesh';
- Said 'pagan blood runs through the veins of Jesus';
- Said 'God does not avenge himself! God loves, he does not avenge himself';
- Said 'at the end of our history' 'Everything will be saved. Everything.';
- Said 'The words of the Buddha offer each of us a guide.';
- Made the official interpretation of Amoris Laetitia that which permits Holy Communion to couples in a state of public adultery and proclaimed this interpretation an act of his "authentic Magisterium";
- Awarded pro-abortion politician Liliane Ploumen with honorary title;
- Accused sex abuse victims of slander;
- Told a child that his father who was an atheist is in heaven with God;

Third, Voris is not being intellectually honest. Francis’ officially allowing cohabitating adulterers to receive Holy Communion is most certainly a moral issue as it affects Catholic moral teachings on the indissolubility of marriage and the need for purpose of amendment for valid absolution. In addition, Francis stating the death penalty is inadmissible is in contradiction to the Church’s moral teaching on capital punishment. Thus, even according to Voris’ new rules, he was negligent in not publicly criticizing Francis for these previous egregious public violations of the moral law.

Now, after keeping silent on Francis’ continual violations Church teaching for five years, Voris suddenly rips the man he would previously piously refer to as “The Vicar of Christ on earth,” “The Supreme Roman Pontiff,” and “Sweet Christ on Earth” to absolute shreds.

Compare the quotation CMTV uses on their “Pubic Criticism of the Pope” page below…

"Even if [the Pope were an incarnate devil], we ought not to raise up our heads against him, but calmly lie down to rest on his bosom. ... He who rebels against our Father is condemned to death, for that which we do to him we do to Christ: we honor Christ if we honor the Pope; we dishonor Christ if we dishonor the Pope." ~St. Catherine of Siena

with this excerpt from Voris’ most recent video transcript…

…You, Holy Father, as every Catholic must do when in a state of sin, should accuse and judge yourself guilty, now, while you still have air in your lungs [should read lung], and dispose of the wicked heretics and sodomites you have shamelessly collected around yourself so that they may never have a role in electing your successor.

Then as your last act in office, you should resign the papacy and spare Holy Mother Church and the People of God any further harm and evil that you could inflict upon them!

You are tearing the Body of Christ apart by elevating the very men whose crimes cry out to Heaven for vengeance, who never will stop because they have no supernatural faith.

Your actions and omissions have left you unable to reign over the Church in any meaningful way. You have no credibility, no moral authority, not a shred of decency left after having covered up one scandal after another, until the day you go to your own grave.

You had better hope that this is not the state you die in, or you will be delivered over to the demons for an everlasting death of agony and torment in the unquenchable fire, for popes are not immune from risk of damnation, whether you believe in Hell or not.

And when you would next encounter the henchmen you have promoted in this life, each of you will rip and tear one another apart for all eternity, having contributed to the damnation of each other as well as innocents while on Earth.

Whatever pact of evil you may have created with one another, or rationalized, it will be your everlasting shame and agony when you are plunged into the pit where the fire is never quenched and the worm dieth not..”

As you can see, these quotations are entirely consistent.

In a past video, Michael Voris lectured us that only Saints have the authority to publicly admonish the pope. Apparently Francis must have canonized Michael Voris in a secret ceremony. Though at this point I’m not sure even Voris would recognize its validity.

Conclusion

To be clear, Michael Voris and CMTV should be commended for their work exposing the sex abuse crisis in the Church. Especially their exposing of corrupt bishops and in their recent condemnation of Francis, asking for his resignation. We at the Remnant fully support all of these actions.

The problem is that after years of smearing The Remnant, Catholic Family News, and other good Catholic publications as “spiritual” and “ecclesiastical” pornography for merely telling the faithful the truth about Francis, neither Voris nor CMTV can bring themselves to admit that their previous policy was wrongheaded and helped the enemies of the Church. Instead, their viewers are fed a completely untenable rationalization of their contradictory and hypocritical behavior that now claims the theological sins of Francis are forbidden to be publicly commented on, while only moral failings are.

Perhaps Michael Voris can one day muster the moral courage of Dr. Taylor Marshall who recently tweeted the following regarding his own about face on Francis: