THE POPE OF THE DEFEANING SILENCE

The well informed Vatican writer Sandro Magister has recently written an article which attempts to explain the silence of our current Pope in the face of such a massive attack on faith, morals and common sense that is hitting the world from all sides, including the Vatican.  It is a very revealing article.

http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1350737?eng=y


Magister titles his article: "Bergoglio, the General who wants to win without fighting".   I am assuming that to mean that Francis has thrown in the towel already, and is conceding defeat.

Magister offers some explanations which at first glance seem plausible enough.  But after a few hours of reflection the plausibility seems to fade away as the starker reality sets in.  In fairness to Magister he does ask some very pertinent questions about the wisdom behind this papal silence and offers some comments from people who knew Francis well that are extremely troubling.

A brief overview of this curious phenomenon can be mentioned:

The Belgian government has just legalized the killing of children for some pretty vague reasons.  The reaction of the Pope: silence.

Traitorous German clerics like Marx and the disgusting Kasper are calling for an outright abandonment of the Sacrament of Marriage, although phrased in a typically oily, non-offensive, "compassionate"® manner.  Pope Francis' reaction?  So far, silence - though he did praise Kasper for his insights.  We of course shudder to think of what those "insights" might be that the Pope finds so praiseworthy.

The Sodomite Juggernaut advances in nearly every sphere of life.  The Pope's response: silence.

Perhaps His Holiness believes he is being prudent in not mentioning these things from the pulpit.  Perhaps, considering the ever clearer evidence of a Homo Mafia at the Vatican he has other reasons to refrain from talking about this.  Magister quotes an author who has insights into Bergoglio's thinking:

On February 22, 2011, the feast of the Chair of St. Peter, Bernardini [the Apostolic Nuncio] delivered a homily that was interpreted by almost everyone as a harangue in defense of Benedict XVI but in reality was a concerted attack on Bergoglio.

The nuncio placed under accusation those priests, religious, and above all those bishops who were keeping a “low profile” and leaving the pope alone in the public battle in defense of the truth.

"We have to acknowledge," he said, “that there has increased year after year, among theologians and religious, among sisters and bishops, the group of those who are convinced that belonging to the Church does not entail the recognition of and adherence to an objective doctrine.”

Because this was exactly the fault charged against Bergoglio: that of not opposing the secularist offensive, of not defending Church teaching on “nonnegotiable” principles.

If nonnegotiable principles are not considered crucial to our new Pope, then what is?

The Pope answers:

There are two factors that are driving the pope to ask us not to speak “always” and “only” about certain moral principles: in order not to wear others out, overloading them and obtaining an effect of rejection, and above all in order not to destroy the harmony of our message. [quoted from the Magister article]

Does this mean that the Pope is like the newly-trained but timid salesman who is afraid of customer rejection?  Are there not in scripture accounts of another Salesman who proclaimed the truth boldly and was thus rejected by many, including His own people?  Our Lord was saddened by this rejection but it did not silence Him; He went on delivering the message daily, hourly.  So can a Pope be a Pope if he is terrified of being rejected?

Francis proclaims, instead, that if he is "too rigid" about proclaiming the truth about moral issues "we lose the opportunity to proclaim the beauty of Jesus Christ".  But what, exactly does it mean to "proclaim the beauty of Jesus Christ"?  It is a nice, soothing phrase....but what does it mean?  I am not nit-picking here about this phrase as it relates to the Pope's strategy, if any.  I simply ask in all sincerity for him or someone to explain what that phrase is supposed to convey.  Of course Christ is beautiful.  Would anyone say He is not?  But the dots have to be connected between proclaiming the obvious beauty of Christ and the refusal to speak out firmly, clearly and loudly about the moral abyss that faces us.

Magister opens his article with this:

"I have never understood the expression 'nonnegotiable values,'” he said in his latest interview. And in a book, his closest collaborator explains why Pope Francis is carefully avoiding a head-on collision with the dominant culture.

As to Francis' wanting to avoid a head-on collision with the dominant culture, that is a prudential judgment on his part that may or may not be catastrophic.  My finite (and I'm afraid, very basic) mind is doubtful that postponing the inevitable collision is the best idea.  (God's infinite mind may have other ideas.  I don't know.)

When Francis makes a statement, so shoddy of thinking, proclaiming his lack of understanding of "nonnegotiable values" however, then we must face the fact that we are dealing with a man who is going to play it safe, avoid rejection and continue his silence.

When his interrogators were trying to force Saint Thomas More into agreeing that his silence on the subject of the King's adulterous marriage meant that he was against it, Thomas was quick to remind them that they may make no such judgment about his silence and that in any case silence usually meant consent.  Does the silence of Pope Francis also mean consent?

There are too many indications that this might be the case.  My fellow bloggers have reported fully on them.

There is an old and rather indelicate phrase that says, "s**t flows downhill".  As evidence of that in the discussion underway here we note a number of high-ranking Churchmen who are soaking up the merde flowing from the Vatican and continuing its flow downwards to priests and people.  Many are in agony; but many are overjoyed such as, most recently, Italian Archbiship Castellani, whom I suspect to be a card-carrying member of that certain "Mafia" in the Church which Francis once said he would do something about, but has apparently forgotten.  And then there is the ever-popular Timothy Dolan, Clown Prince of the Church....but I cannot clutter up my mind just now with memories of that overweight bore.

Pope Bergoglio is under the mistaken impression that if he ignores the problems battering the doors of Holy Church that they will just go away by themselves.  He prefers to mingle and breathe in sheeply scents.  In this I fear he is very sadly mistaken.  He may smell sheep but the Satanic forces smell blood.

While Francis fills his nostrils with the stench of the sheep we Catholics are smelling something else, something sulphuric, emanating from the Pit.  And the evil smell will grow and grow until God gives us not the Pope we deserve, but the Pope we desperately need.