Pope Francis: I don’t know what to say

……I was supposed to not talk about Pope Francis anymore, at least until some news developed.  I don’t know if the recent scandals are really “new” information, or not. To some degree I think yes, but it mostly just confirms what I think informed Catholics already know.  One thing that certainly seems confirmed, is thatPope Francis is extremely clever about how he gets his message out in the Church, yet frequently keeping plausible deniability.

None of my family is Catholic.  Shall I, then, just give up evangelizing them and praying for their conversion?  I almost find refreshing the statement that we’ll never overcome our doctrinal differences, because I think that is almost entirely true.  The ecumenism that tries to paper over vast doctrinal differences -that is, the ecumenism that has been practiced for the past 50 years – is a total falsehood. Statements like the 1999 joint statement on justification between the Church and the Lutherans (or really, just one of many Lutheran branches, each believing different things) don’t satisfy anyone and are just exercises in indifference and lack of clarity.

But I don’t think the fact that this false ecumenism is pointless (which I have always said) means we should just say to heck with it and try to g0 along to get along.  That makes  a mockery of so much of what Our Blessed Lord said, it is difficult to know even where to begin.  For one thing, Matt XXVIII:19, all of John VI, and so much more.

It is profoundly demoralizing for people fighting in the trenches to see their general suddenly seem to wave the white flag.  What, on earth, did so many Saints struggle and die for, if 100, 200, or 500 years later a Pope can make a travesty of their efforts?  How can people holding what the Church has always believed to be such wildly disordered  understandings of the Faith even “find Jesus?”  And how on earth can the head of any organization, religious or no, say such a thing to the very groups who are absolutely destroying his own in his home region?  It is just such a sign of surrender.

I cannot imagine how so many priests must feel right now. Stabbed in the back, I am certain, is the least of it.  It is not fun to be called a potential pedophile, even if a certain number of priests are (as are all men, but priests at much lower rates than the general population, I think).  This matter of claiming there is little or no justification for celibacy is more troubling, since there is ample support in Scripture and celibacy was a strong characteristic of the priesthood from the beginning.  Our Lord said those who could take it, should take it, and St. Paul more than once indicated that celibacy for the Lord was a most wondrous thing.  He also indicated widowed women should strive not to remarry, especially if they were of a certain age.  Celibacy only became the universal discipline in the west a thousand or so years ago, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t very common in the priesthood and, certainly, among religious priests.

I don’t know.  Pat Archbold has a post juxtaposing statements from previous popes (egad, sorry, fixed error) with those of Pope Francis.  And that is where the trouble really begins, because how are simple lay people to understand what to believe when we see today’s Pope say things seemingly completely at odds with the Tradition?  So many people have fallen into the error of just saying and doing whatever the current Pope does, no matter how wildly one pope swings to another.  But those who have studied the Faith a bit deeper and see the enormous contrast in word, deed, style, emphasis, you name it between this pope and so many of his predecessors are left in a very troubling place.  Unfortunately, few of those of us who have studied are theologians capable of really fine distinctions.  I have to wonder, though, what kind of Church proclaiming to be the repository of Truth would  have constant recourse to double-speak (apparently, canonizations are infallible, except when they’re not), hair’s breadth distinction and seeming contradictions?

But the question that really troubles is, where does all this lead?  Pope Francis has shown he is a  man with a plan to rebuild the Church in his image.  He wants to “make a mess.”  He has taken some shockingly violent actions against a religious order.  He appointed an extremely outspoken and seemingly highly radical cardinal to lead his advisory body.  There are big plans for this upcoming Synod.

I guess the question is, what happens if the actions begin to match the rhetoric?  What happens when the mess starts to get made, in earnest?

I cannot counsel anything but to pray.  I probably shouldn’t post this, I know some won’t like it, but it’s just too much.  Lord, protect Your Church!  Have mercy on us poor, weak, confused souls!