We are witnessing the Church at war with itself – UPDATED

I am curious that I was sick the past two days, when so much disturbing news broke, of cardinals rebuking each other, of incredible proclamations being made in the name of the Pope, of stern words being directed at female religious so heretical they no longer merit the name Christian, let alone Catholic, and much else besides.  It has been stunning catching up on the events of the past two days. I am floored and flabbergasted.  I assume many of you are up to speed, but if not, a brief recap of events:

• Cardinal  Muller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, criticizes, and, in a diplomatic sense, denounces, the arch-heretics at the Leadership Conference of Women’s Religious in the starkest terms yet seen.  The Cardinal basically claims that the LCWR ceased being Catholic long ago and must undertake a sudden and dramatic conversion or their organization may – or will – be squashed by the Holy See.
• But then arch-modernist Cardinal Walter Kasper rebukes Cardinal Muller and publicly praises, at least by proxy, the LCWR.
• Cardinal Kasper also gave a recent interview in which he claims the Church is “not against birth control at all.”
• Then Cardinal Baldisseri, recently appointed by Pope Francis to serve as President of the Synod of Bishops (and given a red hat) and charged with leading the upcoming Extraordinary Synod on the Family claims that he favors seeing a “change” in the Dogma regarding bigamists – those manifestly persisting in a public state of grave and in many cases mortal sin – receiving the Blessed Sacrament.
• Cardinal Kasper followed the above incredible statements with a disastrously dangerous quote, in which Kasper claims that Pope Francis told him that “50% of all marriages are not valid.”  Even if true, the pastoral implications of such a statement are mind-blowing, and likely to only encourage those in adulterous relationships to approach the Blessed Sacrament

So, on the one hand, we see what might be the beginning of a long and tragically overdue action on the part of the CDF against women religious who have utterly wrecked their orders and take a sick pride in their very public rejection of the Faith.  But that is more than offset by the destruction and diabolical disorientation wrought by others – people very close to the Pope and publicly praised by him!

We now have public statements from a significant number of prelates either raised to high positions by Pope Francis, or given strong and public support for their not just novel, but I would even say destructive (and I would say more than that, but will hold my peace for now) views.

And yet this is not all.  We also have a sermon given just a few days ago by Pope Francis, in which he, once again, puts completely at odds the Church as it existed and taught for centuries (or millenia), and his vision of what “true Christianity” is.  Or, at the very least, the Pope makes statements that are exceedingly easily interpreted as pitting the Church against Herself, Her past self.  And, I might add, this opposition is based on seemingly deeply entrenched false dichotomies held by many modernists:

We are not a ‘religion’ of ideas, of pure theology, beautiful things, of commandments.  No, we are a people who follow Jesus Christ and bear witness – who want to bear witness to Jesus Christ-  and sometimes this witness leads to laying down our lives.

The Church is fruitful and a mother when she witnesses to Jesus Christ. Instead , when the church closes in on itself , when it thinks of itself as a – so to speak – ‘school of religion’, with so many great ideas, with many beautiful temples, with many fine museums, with many beautiful things, but does not give witness, it becomes sterile.

It is absolutely incredible to me that anyone, let alone the Supreme Pontiff, would claim that there is some irreconcilable dichotomy between having Commandments, adhering to the Truth revealed by Scripture and Tradition, and giving witness!  This seems a pointed rebuke of all the theology of the great Saints Aquinas and Liguori, brilliant minds like Bossuet and Sanchez, and so many others besides.  I am aghast that any Catholic would say this, let alone the Holy Father!

There is nothing irreconcilable between BEAUTY and WITNESS!  Beauty is it’s own witness!  Is this not an incredibly reductive vision?

Aye, it is.  But it is also a vision completely in line with the thinking of those progressive modernists who seized control of the Church after Vatican II.  This is the whole “poor pilgrim church” so beloved of modernists.  And more.

Is it just me, or has there been any other pope in recent history who takes so many shots at the best, most committed Catholics, constantly telling them “you’re doing it all wrong.”  I have my problems with Opus Dei, but many are seeing in a different part of the sermon a severe rebuke of that organization, which constitutes the bulk of the orthodox (if not traditional) faithful in much of the world, especially the Spanish-speaking world.  The quote was something to the effect of: “Are numeraries of this sect fruitful because they do testify or remain sterile because they are not able to let the Holy Spirit lead them forward in a Christian vocation?”  This was in reference to the “numerary” of Opus Dei, lay people who take a vow of celibacy, something the Church has embraced, supported, and cherished since Her earliest days.

Likewise, doctrinal orthodoxy, and WITNESS to that orthodoxy, is something the Church has cherished since Her inception.  Augustine is a Doctor due to his theology!  So are all the other doctors!  And they gave WITNESS to that theology!

Enough.  Black masses, gnostic lesbians calling themselves “nuns,” a pope chastising the most faithful Catholics while giving a pass (if not an overt embrace) to those persisting in grave sin……is it just me, or is just about everything upside down right now?

 UPDATE: Much more here, at Rorate.  My admittedly amateur opinion is that Kasper is a manifest heretic, and quite close to being a formal one.  This particular quote just made me grind my teeth:

If you have a problem with the leadership of the women’s orders, then you have to have a discussion with them, you have to dialogue with them, an exchange of ideas,” he said. “Perhaps they have to change something. Perhaps also the Congregation (for the Doctrine of the Faith) has a little bit to change its mind. That’s the normal way of doing things in the church. I am for dialogue.

You are for dialogue, because you are a MODERNIST.

“We should be in communion,” he continued, “which also means in dialogue with each other. I hope all this controversy will end in a good, peaceful and meaningful dialogue.”

Yes, “dialogue,” where modernist heresies are allowed to sprout and grow, unchecked save for an occasional minor comment from Rome, consigning millions of souls to hell, forever.  But Cardinal Kasper doesn’t believe in hell, now, does he, because an infinitely merciful God would never be so cruel as to consign anyone to hell.