A Papal Provocation, again

We are now in the midst of another scandal which has the potential of demolishing the simple faith of many, many hundreds of thousands in the Church.  I refer of course to what everyone is talking about, the reception by the Pope of a sexually deviant couple consisting of a woman who has had her body medically mutilated and accompanied by her "girlfriend".  But let us get right to the crux of the matter: they were not received by the Pope, they were invited by the Pope, and that is what is at the heart of the matter.  A number of blogs have pointed out this latest mind-numbing escapade, the most thorough article about it which can be found at The Eponymous Flower.  Many readers have no doubt already seen it.

What this man in the Vatican has done here is to begin a process of dissolving the simple faith of the peasant in Africa or Syria or South America or anywhere where there are simple people trying to live a Catholic life.  And as usual, many of those who have written about this have avoided discussing the central point, which, again, is that these two unfortunate women were invited to visit the Pope after having written him a sobbing, self-pitying letter.

In the report we read this:

"Last fall, she had written the Pope  a letter complaining that she will be "excluded" as a "practicing Catholic" in her home parish in the Spanish city of Plasencia, since she had undergone a sex change. A priest, said Diego Neria Lajarraga,  even insulted  her as a "daughter of the devil"

Well gee whizz, darlings, what would you expect the priest to say?  You can bet your bottom dollar that you will be excluded until you receive absolution for your sins and amend your preposterously disordered life.  That rational people have to laboriously explain the obvious shows us how dangerous the situation in the Catholic Church really is.

Can we assume that after this meeting Pope Francis said to them, "Go and sin no more"?  I am afraid that in lieu of a direct statement from the Holy See we cannot make that assumption.  Can we assume this is yet another of Francis' grandstanding, bull-in-the-china-shop gambits wherein he is unaware of the spiritual damage he has just done to simple Catholics?  Once again, in lieu of a direct statement we cannot make such an assumption.  He has merrily shattered the beliefs of numerous Catholics with gay abandon essentially since he has been elected.  One can forgive a gaffe here and there.  It is when it becomes habitual that we are entitled to see a pattern.  This is just yet another papal poke in the eye.

Sandro Magister has at last recognized, and said plainly, that the Pope finds the ancient practices of the Ancient Faith somewhat repulsive.  If one so hesitant and careful as Magister can say these things then I believe we are on firm ground when we agree with him.

How wearying it is to have to catalogue these unremitting outrages coming from the Vatican.  One shudders to think what effect these papal flippancies are having on non-Catholics.  We don't have to search far for an answer to that.  Read the astonished articles of the Orthodox, the simple Protestants and others as they watch with gaping jaw these latest episodes.  Who could be attracted - and I mean really attracted - to the one, true Faith by the words and actions of the Holy Father?  There will be conversions, no doubt, though we are entitled to ask of what kind these conversions may be.  Will they be a sentimental conversion to do-goodism, or a true conversion to the Faith of Jesus Christ, our King?  I suspect the former will encompass most of any conversions which may take place in the wake of our superstar Pope.

We could say something like this: "In all fairness we don't know what the Pope told them, etc., etc."  Yes, we could say that.  But I would find it hard to say that simply because, let us remember, these two odious sexual deviants were personally invited to the private audience with the Pope and no great effort was made to keep the meeting out of the news.  The soul-baring style of the letter to Francis would seem to suggest another photo-op was in the offing.

[Another recent occurrence, and one the Pope is not directly responsible for, is the proposal of "marriage" between sex deviate and washed-up football drone Michael Sam, Cardinal Dolan's object of adulation, and his male friend atop the dome of St Peter's in Rome.  A handy photo-op was duly prepared and has been sent around the world.  More shame for the Church and more blasphemy directed against God Himself.  Though we cannot necessarily blame Francis for this infantile outrage in a direct way we can blame the new atmosphere of tolerance for mortal sin that has disfigured the Church for well nigh on fifty years, an atmosphere hardly helped by the clumsiness of the current Pope.]

Did he hear the confessions of the two women, the transvestite and the lesbian?  To ask this, I believe, is to answer it.  The current Pope has given scant evidence that he considers this unspeakable perversion terribly important.  He still has as one of his retainers the sodomite Msgr Ricca,  His Bastard Synod (which continues later this year) discussed nothing about the mortally sinful nature of this vice.

What can be done?

Many of us are commenting, writing letters to the editor, blogging, trying to bring solemnity back to our Masses (the highest example of which is the restoration of the Ancient Rite of Mass in as many places as we can), speaking out, etc.  But is there anything else?

We can (as hard as it may be) say the following prayer for the Pope:

Prayers for the Holy Father 
(to be said after the Rosary)

V. Let us pray for our Pontiff, Pope Francis.
R. The Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him to be blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies (Roman Breviary).

Our Father. Hail Mary.

(From the old Raccolta: A plenary indulgence on the usual conditions, when this prayer has been devoutly said every day for a month (S.C. Ind., Nov. 26, 1876; S. P. Ap., Oct 12, 1931).

Let us pray.

Almighty and everlasting God, have mercy upon Thy servant, Francis, our Supreme Pontiff, and direct him, according to Thy loving-kindness, in the way of eternal salvation; that, of thy gift, he may ever desire that which is pleasing unto thee and may accomplish it with all his might. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen (Roman Ritual).

(From the old Raccolta: An indulgence of three years, a plenary indulgence once a month on the usual conditions, for the daily devout recitation of this prayer. S. P. Ap., March 10, 1935).

(courtesy, Catholicism.org)

It is hard, let us be brutally honest, to say the above prayer for a man who has expressed little interest in those of his flock who are hanging on for dear life to a sinking ship.

Other than that, we need the help of Mary.  Who else can we turn to now?