FRANCIS REASSURES THE SYNAGOGUE

The last several pontificates have started off, almost immediately, with the newly-elected Pontiff making obsequious gestures to the synagogue, even before more pressing matters in the Church are considered, assuring these men that the pontificate will continue the new orientations in discussion that have emanated from Nostra Aetate.  Twenty-four hours into his position of Vicar of Jesus Christ (a dignity he has not yet publicly acknowledged to be the case, preferring the more generic title, "Bishop of Rome") Pope Francis sends a notice to the chief rabbi of Rome informing him of his eagerness to continue a fruitless dialog, a dialog pursued also by Pope Benedict XVI.  Benedict too made it his first order of business to reassure the rabbis that Vatican Council II's new orientations toward them would continue uninterrupted.

Those new orientations include a ceasing of any efforts to convert the Jews to the only Faith that can save them.  The Church's twenty century history of true charity - teaching all nations to embrace Jesus Christ and the Church He founded while He lived on earth - effectively went by the boards with flawed documents like Nostra Aetate and it has resulted in an almost complete collapse of all missionary effort.  The conversion of the Jews is spoken of only in small circles in hushed tones if it is ever spoken about at all in Rome.  There are prelates who will even speak of the Jews having their own Covenant which they intimate will save them (so much for the life, suffering, death and Resurrection of Christ).  Why has the official Church ceased to have concern for the souls of these people who are living in darkness and Original Sin?

The answer to that question, I maintain, would explain much about the diabolical disorientation that the Catholic Church has been plagued with for a very, very long time.  That disorientation eventually horrified St Pius X who would retaliate by ordering an Oath Against Modernism.  It was a brave gesture, even though it was doomed to failure.  The good Pope Sarto believed that men taking an oath before God would not dare to break it.  He did not reckon with the perfidy of some Bishops and clergy who took that oath and then merely went underground for awhile patiently awaiting Sarto's death.  When St Pius X died they sensed a new freedom under Benedict XV and began again, mole-like, to renew their destructive activities.  Pius XI did not stop them, either out of ignorance or naivete, and Pius XII when he was handed some God-given opportunities to crush them did not act.  Under jolly Pope John XXIII they were fully out in the open, even obnoxiously so, and have continued to go from strength to strength with each succeeding Papacy.  Benedict XVI threw them temporarily into disarray with this Summorum Pontificum but he essentially gave many of them their head, appointing some of the worst offenders to higher ecclesiastical office.  If the early indications are anything to go by the Modernists will seem to have little to be fearful about with the new Pope.

This anxiety not to offend the synagogue has led to two of the most disastrous papal decisions in the entire history of the Church: the recognition by the Vatican of the criminal state of "Israel" (aka Palestine) by Pope John Paul II, and secondly Pope Benedict's shocking revision of the Good Friday prayers for the conversion of the Jews in the ancient liturgy.  With these two acts we see the triumph of forces inimical to the salvific mission of Christ's Church.

The recognition of the "state of Israel" by Rome was, at Jewish demands, to be preceded by a public humiliation of Christ's Church wherein Pope John Paul had to publicly apologize(!) to the Jewish people for the supposed crimes committed against them by the Church over 2,000 years.  It is always the same; the Church makes unwise gestures which are quickly followed by even more demands and impudence.

The Church wisely refused in the past to give formal recognition to a criminal state that has occupied the Holy Land unjustly and has been ethnically cleansing its historic population since 1948.  Indeed the Church in the past condemned it.  But now that voice for justice in the Holy Land has been effectively muted by this Rome-Tel Aviv Agreement (far, far more deadly to the Faith than the famous Rome-Moscow Agreement between Rome and the Communists) with consequences which have only begun to come to light.  This recognition acted as a knife in the back of the Arab populations (Muslim and Christian), and severely hampered the work of the Catholic (and Orthodox) hierarchies in the Middle East.  This recognition was correctly seen by the Arab nations as a disaster.  Incredibly, after such a betrayal, there are many non-Christians in the Holy Land who still revere the Pope.  How long that attitude will remain depends upon the future actions of the Popes of the Roman Catholic Church.  In this respect the new papacy has, so far, been showing signs of even more abandonment of these oppressed peoples.  Nearly the entire world has begun to protest the human rights abuses of the arrogant Israeli "state";  only the USA (not surprisingly) and the Vatican fail to utter the necessary forceful condemnations of this blatant fascism, or demand justice for the Palestinians.  When Rome does bestir herself to utter protests against Jewish misbehavior in Palestine it is usually stated in the most delicate diplomatic niceties.

Benedict XVI's tampering with the Good Friday prayer, despite the glowing reports of many Catholics of a traditionalist bent, signalled yet again that the conversion of the Jews to Catholicism was not going to be too aggressively sought, in fact not even attempted.  The rabbis made it very clear to the Popes that they will not tolerate any attempts to convert them from their Jewish religion.  The Popes have taken that warning to heart and we can witness the results.  In a sort of "trickle down" manner of thinking this fear of offending them has led Bishops and priests to embrace the most outlandish "ecumenical" events which include but are not limited to seder meals among  Catholics, constant self-flagellation when it comes to discussing the anti-Jewish activities of the National Socialists and an ever increasing tendency to avoid mentioning the Holy Name of Jesus in front of them for fear of "insulting" them.  We have now reached the point when mentioning the name of Jesus Christ is looked upon by Catholics as an insult.

The Jewish response to the changing of the Good Friday prayers, predictably, was insolence.  The repellent Abraham Foxman of the Jewish Masonic organization known as the Ant-Defamation League was, also predictably, unsatisfied with the Pope's changes.  As he and his brethren were the ones who pressured Benedict into making the change in the first place one would have thought that the Pope's actions were sufficient.  They were not sufficient.  For the synagogue they are never sufficient.

This tragic road of fear and appeasement is, apparently, one which the new Pope is intending to travel down.  His past relationships with the Jews as Archbishop, as referenced in the article linked above, indicates a man who is, as one reader on this blog well said in a recent comment, "worshiping at the wrong altar."  Only time will tell if this Pope recognizes the folly, the suicidal nature of this relationship.

One wonders how these demeaning gestures made by the Vatican towards those who utterly deny Christ sit with the Orthodox, the only group that historically, morally and religiously we should be having dialog with.  These are our real brothers, tragically separated for far too long, with whom we should be together and at peace, in the manner that Christ demanded of His Church.  How will the new Pope deal with this urgent matter?  I do not know.  But I do know that all other overtures to Protestants, pagans and Jews need to be put on the back burner, and that our wounds with the Orthodox need healing.  That healing must be the only legitimate ecumenical effort; it is the only one worth making, for with the Orthodox we are dealing with Christians who love and revere Christ and His Holy Mother.  With others we are dealing with those who hate Christ and His Holy Mother.  I also believe that our Orthodox brothers are more interested in truth and Liturgical beauty, less so with ostentatious statements about a new, poor Church.

Prayer and sacrifice can bring about wonders.  It can even set Popes on the right course.

St Paul, ora pro nobis.

UPDATE: 20 March 2013: Abe Foxman blesses the Pope
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2013/03/20/3122636/poe-francis-tells-jewish-leaders-they-have-special-spiritual-bond

Oh, great.