Wednesday, September 30, 2015

He came. He saw. And left us just as we are.

Pope Francis entered a broken, dying country and he left it a broken and dying country.  Francis presented himself before American Catholics almost totally ignorant of the Faith they profess and its practices. He left the Catholics in the same state in which he found them.  The spiritual physician from Rome did not diagnose the problem nor prescribe the remedy.  Indeed the doctor from Rome didn't even recognize that a problem exists.

Perhaps he came for another reason, though I am hard pressed to know what that might have been. There were compensations, however.  The cheering throngs gave him the rock star treatment he seems to crave so much.  The world does not hate him.  On the contrary.

When speaking about US Catholics in general I refer not to those good citizens who work and pray and try to live their lives as Christ wants them to live it. I refer to the rest, the majority (if polls are to be believed), who will go on to do and say and think what they've always done, said and thought, because they were left unchallenged by the man whose mission is to teach all nations.

America needed to hear about its blood lust, the blood lust that murders infants in the womb and innocents abroad who Washington wants "democratized".  We needed to hear about arrogance, injustice, moral relativism, our dying culture.  But the Pope did not address these things.

He could have said, and with complete justice, that any nation that allows groups like Planned Parenthood to do what they are doing does not have long to live.  He could have warned us that we are at the abyss.  He could have said that a Great Comeuppance is coming from somewhere (I know not where); that something terrible is going to happen to a nation like ours (I know not what).

He could have said that the Catholics who greeted him were for the most part Catholics completely out of touch with Catholicism, Catholics who are merely Mass-going Protestants. This could be hard for him because he himself seems out of touch with much of the Faith as it has been understood for twenty centuries. Even so, he might have reminded his flock that there is a Sacrament called Penance, rarely used; that perhaps the flock could address that glaring omission in their lives, and soon.  A good question in this regard might have been asked: why does almost no one go to Confession anymore.  Why do some pastors (like one I met only two days ago) actually physically remove the Confessionals from their churches?  Francis could have asked his flock, "Are you all immaculately conceived now, and have no sin?"  We have been told that he often exhorts the use of this particular sacrament.  If so we heard precious little about it in America where Catholics destroy their own children with the same gay abandon as their non-Catholic neighbors.

We as a people and a nation are drowning in sin...but all we heard from Francis was platitudes. Endless, very boring platitudes.

To be fair, there are reports of some genuinely edifying  moments during his visit.  Apparently he met Mrs Kim Davis and offered her hope.  Good for him that he did that.  I wish he had done more of that kind of thing, and with more publicity.  It was noteworthy all the same.

But we are flogging a very dead horse here; we know that this Pope, like some of his predecessors, prefers to ignore such vital issues.  Why continue to keep mentioning the obvious?

The answer: why do we continue to breathe?  Since the Vatican doesn't want to discuss these issues, somebody has to, even if it has to be insignificant bloggers.

Recently I wrote a little apology to those non-Catholics of good will who were about to get the full "Francis Treatment" when he arrived in America.  That post was not well-liked by some.  But in light of the recent papal visit which has just thankfully ended I reiterate that apology.  The Vicar of Christ, the spiritual physician, left us a bleeding, dying nation, just as he found us.  Even non-Catholics of good will have noticed this.  They wanted to hear truth.  A nation that was begging to be healed by the strong and clear teachings of the Faith was left alone and in ignorance.  Instead of teaching us he patronized us.  He addressed us as citizens of "the land of the free and home of the brave".  It is to laugh.  How brave is it for us to exterminate little ones in the womb and chop up their body parts for sale; how brave is it for us to march into another country and rain down bombs and destruction on the innocent?

We are "free", Francis?  That's extremely funny.  Tell that to the "supreme" court, or the bought-and-paid-for Congress.  Or to the man in the White House with whom you were so jocular.

Some Catholics, straining beyond belief to find some good in what he said and did while here, looked rather ridiculous in their attempts to paint the rosiest picture possible.  It is eye-opening to see this, for it displays how out of touch with reality some can allow themselves to get.  Others, out of respect, preferred to keep a dignified silence.

It would be naive to deny that everyone likes to be liked.  I do.  But I am not certain I would wish the world to be giving me ovations.  Francis, on the other hand, like many recent Popes, wants to make friends with the world.  I trust I do not need to offer Bible quotes to remind you of Our Lord's opinion about being loved by the world.

I admire Edward Pentin.  An excellent, honest journalist who loves the Faith.  I envy him because he can write so dispassionately about what is going on, and is about to go on starting this Sunday, October 4.  In his interviews there is an inner anguish in the good man's eyes which is unmistakable.  Like many he is worried. Admirably he hides what he thinks behind cold, hard facts even if, once in awhile, his anguish can be more clearly read between the lines.  He and others are beginning to see what veterans like the late Hamish Fraser was already seeing in the 1960s up until his death in 1986. The ground had been prepared for someone like Francis by previous Popes who preferred not to admonish or even govern.

I mention Mr Pentin for two reasons: I admire his doggedness in reporting the truth.  I admire too his calm, his ability to keep his head on his shoulders.And the other reason is that he gives me hope.  When honest men who love the Church - but do not classify themselves as "traditionalists" - are willing to see that something is rotten in Denmark, then I believe it possible that the tables are beginning, finally, to turn.

The doctor came, saw the sick, dying patient and just left.  We can hope that one day this physician will heal himself.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

He offered Km Davis hope? The only good he could have done for her is to let her know that she needs to be Catholic to be saved. He did not do that. We know this because he refuses that very truth himself.

Some are reporting that he gave her a rosary. A rosary is not a magic talisman. Without the necessary instruction on meditating it's Mysteries, it will do her no more good than it has for Francis. Maybe he does not know how to pray the rosary either.

The fact is Mrs. Davis, by her example of fidelity to Christ insomuch as it is possible for her, did more for the pope than anything he did for her.

Mark Thomas said...

<<<"To be fair, there are reports of some genuinely edifying moments during his visit. Apparently he met Mrs Kim Davis and offered her hope. Good for him that he did that. I wish he had done more of that kind of thing, and with more publicity. It was noteworthy all the same.">>>

A public meeting between the Holy Father and Kim Davis would have destroyed Pope Francis' ability to address multiple Culture of Life message issues during his Apostolic Visit to the United States.

Kim Davis would have become the focus of the Pope's Apostolic Visit to the United States.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Kim Davis and her attorney insist that it was best for all parties to have maintained secrecy (until the Holy Father departed the United States) about the Pope Francis-Davis meeting?

Pax.

Mark Thomas

Aged parent said...

Dear Mr Thomas:

I believe you are correct that Mrs Davis' lawyer agreed that it was probably prudent to leave the visit a quiet one.

Having said that, though, I'm not at all sure it was necessarily the wisest course. You bring up the interesting point that publicity over the meeting "would have destroyed Pope Francis' ability to address multiple Culture of Life message issues during his Apostolic Visit to the United States." That is a sentence that requires much thought in order to be able to respond. Firstly, of course, considering the dire situation we are now in with the ascendance of the Homosexual Mafia a direct shot across the bow - by not hiding his meeting with this courageous woman - may have been the right thing to do, perhaps not from a diplomatic perspective but it might have been the right thing to do from a religious perspective. It's a tough call. Can we afford to fall back on standard diplomacy in the face of such an anti-Catholic onslaught? Many saints, we know, confronted their antagonists eyeball-to-eyeball. They did not sit down and dine with them. In any case, the crazies are becoming unglued over this anyway now that the cat is out of the bag, so perhaps this discussion is now moot.

As for Francis "addressing multiple Culture of Life issues", I would respectfully ask, did he? By that I mean did he do it clearly, forcefully and unambiguously? I don't think that he did. He approached these vital subjects rather euphamistically in a number of cases and was perhaps a bit too vague when he should have been more frank. A little more clarity, even if carefully expressed, would have gone a long way to clear the air.

But....I don't know. I'm not a diplomatist.

aly said...

I will say that the Pope, a Pope electing to meet Mrs. Davis was a good thing and giving her a Rosary was a good thing. It will leave her with a lasting impression and a Rosary. We can't tell where these will lead her. In the public discourse it was platitudes and political speeches. We needed more but perhaps couldn't have really expected more being that we've observed Pope Francis from his ascent to Peter's Chair to now. The Church is now about the business of modernism and ecumenism. At the Vatican Pope Francis invokes our Lord's Name Jesus but here he mentioned God almost generically for the sake of politics, multi-culturalism and ecumenism and for his elder brothers most particularly who will all be swept up and saved in the last moment because they are the people, the only people chosen by God. He speaks about mercy but not much about the cause for the need of mercy, sin. It seems really he is calling for people to people mercy which includes Priests and Bishops. Penance and the need and hope for God's mercy is not spoken of. Mercy in all cases that are or might become penalty of death appeal for the State and men's mercy but life in the womb is negotiable between mothers and their conscience(s). it seems. Bye Pope Francis. See ya in the funny papers.

Anonymous said...

How sad it must be for you, Mr. Villarrubia, aged parent, observer, philosopher, to be filled with so much hatred that it leaves no room for compassion for others, most especially Pope Francis. How lonely it must be for you aged parent, philosopher, Mr. Villarrubia, observer to turn to computer technology for friendship and social interaction. Good luck with your 'fasting', as if. . . . .

Aged parent said...

Anon@7:37am:

I see you are back again after a thankfully long absence, riding your odd hobby horse as to who you think I am supposed to be. To be obsessive-compulsive over this is more of a reflection upon the writer than the target of his venom.

But let us put that all aside for the moment and concentrate on what may be coming to weaken and hurt an already badly bleeding Church, i.e.: the Synod. Please join me in some kind of prayer and/or fasting to fight these people who are trying to do so much damage. Today, the First Saturday of the month of October, the feast of little St Therese of Lisieux, would be a perfect day to offer these prayers and sacrifices, for the Synod of Sodomy begins tomorrow.

Can you not join those Catholics, weeping at the scene of the Cross while the Apostles have long fled? Someone has to pray and weep as the Church's Crucifixion goes on unabated.

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