“…the great error of this age [is] that a regard for religion should be held as an indifferent matter, and that all religions are alike. This manner of reasoning is calculated to bring about the ruin of all forms of religion, and especially of the Catholic religion, which, as it is the only one that is true, cannot, without great injustice, be regarded as merely equal to other religions”
– Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Humanum Genus on Freemasonry
Is the pope Catholic?
Much like that other Socratic inquiry, “Does a bear sh*t in the woods?”, this question was once rhetorical… a stock affirmation of anything obvious.
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But it’s been a genuine concern for the last dozen years. Some suggest it’s lingered longer than that.
Monothelite Misstep
Fourteen centuries ago, Pope Honorius I received a clever letter from the Patriarch of Constantinople. To reconcile the eastern and western wings as to whether Christ was of one nature or two, Sergius suggested a middle way.
To bridge the Byzantine Monophysites with the dual-nature dogma of Rome, he proposed a Monothelite theory that Christ was both God and Man, but with only “one will”. Honorius didn’t accept the compromise. But he missed the opportunity to clarify his case.
He rejected the idea of debating whether Christ was of “two operations”, fearing many would assume each was at odds with the other. Honorius noted that Christ couldn’t have opposing wills, since He was always doing that of His Father.
But that was it. The pope neglected to elaborate with a more thoughtful line of argument. That Christ might lack human will was philosophical nonsense and doctrinal heresy. One who was (part) human couldn’t lack human agency.
Honorius didn’t say that. But his response was interpreted that way, and his imprecision gave him posthumous problems.
As this wasn’t ex cathedra teaching binding on all Catholics, the pronouncement didn’t affront papal infallibility. But it caused confusion during a theological controversy.
For this, the Council of Constantinople anathematized Honorius four decades after his death. He was the only pope the Church ever condemned.
That’s probably because Pope Francis wasn’t alive at the time. Sadly, as of a few hours ago, he isn’t now either. In Honorius’s era, it’s hard to imagine the late pope would’ve escaped censure.
A Competing Option
If nothing else, Jorge Bergoglio was a piece of work. He joined the Jesuits in 1958 and ordained a priest a decade later. He was named Cardinal in 2001, after being Archbishop of Buenos Aires for only three years.
Upon the weird resignation of Benedict XVI, he took the papal name Francis.
From the Chair of Peter he made a point to flaunt his “humility”. He opted for a simple cossack shorn of embellishment, shunned the Apostolic Palace for the Santae Marthae guest house, and minimized the moniker “Vicar of Christ.”
Reducing the awe of his office was in character for Francis. His pontificate converted the Vatican to something of an exalted NGO.
Priority shifted from salvation of souls to criticizing capitalism, extolling “the environment”, controlling “the climate”, and advocating for illegal migration to any place except the Holy See.
Regardless readers’ opinions on any of these issues, they aren’t the reasons the Church exists. Plenty of organizations support these causes.
But only one was established by Christ to guard the Faith, spread its Gospel, and teach, govern, and sanctify followers so they’re worthy to enter the Kingdom of God.
Yet Francis treats the Catholic faith as if it were merely a competing option among many viable choices. As he proclaimed to a General Audience with representatives of the world’s various religions:
“the Church regards with esteem the believers of all religions, appreciating their spiritual and moral commitment…Now, to conclude this Audience, I invite everyone, each one on his or her own, to pray in silence. May each one do so according to his or her own religious tradition.”
In his eagerness to be “ecumenical”, Francis welcomed the doctrines of Luther, Cranmer, Calvin, Buddha, and Mohammed. He seemed reluctant to offer vehement opposition to anything, with the sole exception of traditional Catholicism.
While he didn’t directly contradict Church teaching on marriage, contraception, homosexuality, transsexuality, priestly celibacy, or female ordination, he seemed to relish causing confusion… as indicated by linked sources above and numerous examples below.
Trojan Horse
Jorge (that’s what the “Supreme Pontiff” prefers to be called) was an uncontrolled fire hose. He made a habit of spouting confusing off-the-cuff comments that did more to wash away than to reinforce 2,000 years of Catholic teaching and Tradition.
In fairness, it wasn’t all his fault.
In 1962, the Second Vatican Council convened. Under the guise of reviving the True Faith, it created a new religion. John XXIII ostensibly said it would open the windows of the Church to let the fresh air blow in. Instead, hot air has blown out.
As Dietrich von Hildebrand put it, a Trojan Horse entered the City of God. Like a fuse to a bomb, came a string of apostasies leading ineluctably to Francis.
Since the Council, the Church Militant become the Church Milquetoast. It laid down her arms, except with regard to its most devout believers.
To the post-conciliar “popes”… and especially Francis… Traditional Catholics are the new Albigensians. The ancient Rite of the One True Faith…what Father Adrian Fortesque called “the most beautiful thing this side of Heaven”…was treated by Francis the way an exterminator approaches a roach.
His vindictive Motu Proprio issued four summers ago was a can of Raid on the venerable rite. Whereas his predecessor partially liberated “the Latin Mass”, Francis confined it to quarters, and pressed a pillow to its face.
The Mass that was sacred for centuries can’t suddenly be sacrilege. But that’s what the departed “pope” would’ve had us believe.
As the name implies, the Tridentine Mass was codified at the Council of Trent. But Pope Pius V merely made uniform similar rites in use by the time Protestantism proliferated.
It reflected ancient practice, and was nothing like the revolutionary disruption of Paul VI. His Novus Ordo wasn’t a development. It was a departure.
Pius Chimes In
Ecumenism is the real religion of Vatican II, even if it must dilute the Faith it purportedly defends. For this offense, Pope Honorius got the heave-ho.
About ecumenism, Pope Pius XI had this to say:
“It even takes possession of the minds of very many Catholics and allures them with the hope of bringing about such a union as would be agreeable to the desires of Holy Mother Church, who has indeed nothing more at heart than to recall her erring sons and to lead them back to her bosom. But in reality beneath these enticing words and blandishments lies hid a most grave error, by which the foundations of the Catholic faith are completely destroyed.”
This isn’t what Bergoglio believed, as he said so six months ago at the Synod on Synodality:
“Unity is a grace, an unexpected gift. We are not its driving force. The true driving force is the Holy Spirit who guides us toward greater communion…. We do not know exactly what the unity to which we are called will be.”
But any Catholic does know. The “unity” looks like the True Church founded by Christ.
Has Francis never read the Nicene Creed? In it Catholics proclaim their belief in one holy Catholic Church. That is the unity to which Christ calls us: the one Church that He Himself founded. Others need not believe this. But of all people, a pope surely should!
Pope Pius XII and his predecessors did. Here’s what that last pre-conciliar pontiff had to say. None of his successors had the gumption (or, rather, the desire) to repeat it:
“If the local bishop wants to authorize a meeting in which Catholics and Protestants take part to talk about their religious differences, the Catholic must present the Catholic Faith in its entirety, and must make clear that it is only by converting to Catholicism that true religious unity can be obtained.
The whole and entire Catholic doctrine is to be presented and explained. By no means is it permitted to pass over in silence or to veil in ambiguous terms the Catholic truth regarding the nature and way of justification, the constitution of the Church, the primacy of jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff, or the only true union by the return of the dissidents to the one true Church of Christ.
It should be made clear to [the Protestants] that… they should not imagine that in returning to the Church they are bringing to it something substantial that it has hitherto lacked.”
This is common sense from any religious leader obliged to proclaim about his professed belief.
Circle of Ideas
As putative pope, Francis rejected the idea that if you aren’t proselytizing the Faith, you aren’t practicing it:
“Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense. We need to get to know each other, listen to each other and improve our knowledge of the world around us. Sometimes after a meeting I want to arrange another one because new ideas are born and I discover new needs. This is important: to get to know people, listen, expand the circle of ideas.”
A pope’s job isn’t to “expand the circle of ideas”. It’s to expand the diameter of Divine Dogma that’s been revealed.
In Bolivia, he gratefully accepted a hammer and sickle “crucifix” from that country’s communist president, and then degraded Our Lady by dedicating it to her.
For a dozen years, the apostasy has been relentless. Actually, it started even earlier. In 2006, as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he knelt to receive a “blessing” from Protestant ministers.
As “pope”, Francis cast doubt on the Trinity, said God bestows forgiveness without contrition, and claimed Christ made Himself the Devil, among other deviancies from the doctrine of the Church.
On Vatican radio on June 15, 2013, he made a mockery of Confession:
“True reconciliation means that God in Christ took on our sins and He became the sinner for us. When we go to Confession, for example, it isn’t that we say our sin and God forgives us. No, not that! We look for Jesus Christ and say: ‘This is your sin, and I will sin again‘. And Jesus likes that, because it was his mission: to become the sinner for us, to liberate us.”
Whether modern sensibilities are hip to these sentiments isn’t the point. This is supposed to be the pope, not a president, or a pop star. His role isn’t to reflect the “will of the people”. It’s to guide it toward the salvation of their souls.
While questioning the reality of an Inferno, he’s suggested “good” Atheists can go to Heaven. Regardless your beliefs, this makes no sense from a man who called himself the pope.
Hell’s Bells
Baudelaire famously declared, “The Devil’s cleverest wile is to make men believe that he does not exist”. Seven years ago (on Maundy Thursday!) the ostensible successor to St Peter didn’t doubt the Devil. But he denied his address.
Jorge Bergoglio announced that “There is no Hell, there is the disappearance of sinful souls.”
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What?!?
How can there be no Hell? After all, something must be freezing over for a reputed “pope” to say something like that.
The Apostles Creed affirms that Christ “descended into Hell (‘ad infernos’).” Does that affirmation now need a re-write?
Leaving the theology aside, one must at least question Francis’s judgment…and his vision. Like water around a fish, maybe Hell is so ubiquitous it’s impossible to see.
Francis has apparently spent no time surveying his own Church: banal vernacular liturgies, declining doctrinal adherence, indifferent Mass attendance, vanishing candidates for the priesthood, scandalous seminaries, and “houses of worship” that are ugly as sin (assuming that still exists).
Hell’s bells, even Thomas believed his own eyes!
The litany is much longer than this. After what he endured for a poorly written letter, poor Honorius must be beside himself.
We pray for the soul of Jorge Bergoglio, and that he rest in eternal peace.
This originally appeared on Premium Insights.
