Monday, July 29, 2013

Pope Francis: Quo Vadis?



Fox News is reporting that, "Pope Francis reached out to gays on Monday, saying he wouldn't judge priests for their sexual orientation in a remarkably open and wide-ranging news conference as he returned from his first foreign trip. 'If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?' Francis asked.

His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, signed a document in 2005 that said men with deep-rooted homosexual tendencies should not be priests. Francis was much more conciliatory, saying gay clergymen should be forgiven and their sins forgotten." (See here).

This is disturbing on many levels.  First of all, a homosexual man who identifies himself as "gay" is obviously not committed toward living a chaste life which homosexuals are called to (CCC, 2358, 2359).


Secondly, before entering into any state of life, a divine vocation is necessary. This because without such a vocation, it is difficult if not impossible to fulfil the obligations which pertain to that state and to obtain salvation. This is particularly true for the ministerial priesthood or any other ecclesiastical state. After all, it was Our Lord Who said: "He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up another way, the same is a thief and a robber" (John 10:1).

Consequently, the man who takes holy orders without a call from God is convicted of theft in taking by force a dignity which God has not called him to and does not desire to bestow upon him. This is the teaching of Saint Paul:"Neither doth any man take the honor to himself, but he that is called by God, as Aaron was. So Christ also did not glorify Himself that He might be made a high priest; but he that said unto Him: Thou art My Son; this day I have begotten Thee." (Hebrews 5:4,5).

It matters not then how learned or prudent or holy a man may be. No man may place himself into the holy sanctuary unless he is first called and introduced to the same by Almighty God. Jesus Our Lord was certainly the most learned and holy among all men, full of grace and truth (John 1:14), the Son of Man in Whom were (and are) hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3). And yet, Jesus required a divine call to assume the dignity of the priesthood. This is the teaching of the Council of Trent. That the Church regards the man who assumes the priesthood without a vocation not as a minister but as a robber: "Decernit sancta Synodus eos qui ea (ministeria) propria temeritate sibi sumunt, omnes, non Ecclesiae ministros, sed fures et latrones per ostium non ingressos habendos esse" (Session 23, cap. 4).

Those who seize the priesthood without a vocation may labor and toil exhaustively. But their labors will profit them very little before God. In fact, the very works which would be considered of much merit when performed by others will deserve chastisement for such souls. Because such men are not in conformity with the divine will, not having a vocation to the state of life which they have usurped, the Lord Jesus will not accept their toils: "I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will not receive a gift of your hand" (Malachi 1:10).

Not only will God refuse the gifts of their hand, He will punish the works of the minister who has entered the sanctuary without being called; without a vocation:"What stranger soever cometh to it (the Tabernacle) shall be slain." (Numbers 1:51). Bearing all of this in mind, please read the following which first appeared in The Wanderer [I submitted it back in 2001] and may be found at the Faithfulvoice.com website:

On October 1, 1986, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published an instruction entitled, Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Pastoral Service for Homosexual Persons, signed by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger and approved by Pope John Paul II. In this Instruction, Cardinal Ratzinger writes, "It is necessary to point out that the particular inclination of a homosexual person, though not a sin in itself, nevertheless constitutes a more or less strong tendency to an intrinsically evil behavior from the moral standpoint. For this reason, the very inclination should be considered as objectively disordered." (No. 3).

This would appear to be especially significant since Canon 1040 of the Code of Canon Law states that: "Persons who are affected by a perpetual impediment, which is called an irregularity, or a simple impediment, are prevented from receiving orders." Now, irregularities arise either from defect (ex defectu) or from crime (ex delicto). It seems clear that a homosexual inclination, which Cardinal Ratzinger has referred to as "objectively disordered," constitutes an irregularity ex defectu. In fact, when asked by a Bishop if it is licit to confer priestly ordination to men with manifest homosexual tendencies, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments replied with a letter signed by Jorge Cardinal Medina Estevez which stated that, "Ordination to the diaconate and the priesthood of homosexual men or men with homosexual tendencies is absolutely inadvisable and imprudent and, from the pastoral point of view, very risky. A homosexual person, or one with a homosexual tendency is not, therefore, fit to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders."

What does Pope Francis mean when he says that he won't judge "gay priests"?  If Christians' love of neighbor is genuine, it not only permits but REQUIRES THEM both to 'hold fast to what is good' and to 'hate what is evil' (Romans 12:9)." And again, according to Dr. Grisez, "Vatican II neatly formulates the prohibition against judging others" 'God alone is the judge and searcher of hearts; for that reason, he forbids us to make judgments about the internal guilt of anyone' (Gaudium et Spes, No. 28). This norm, however, does not preclude JUDGMENTS necessary for determining that one should try to dissuade others from committing sins or to encourage them to repent if they have sinned."

 Judging isn't always sinful. It is only sinful when we judge another's interior dispositions or internal guilt, when we judge their soul. But we are entirely free to judge words, ideas and actions which fail to hold up when placed in the Lumen Christi (Light of Christ).Sacred Scripture  makes this abundantly clear: "should you not judge those inside the Church"? (1 Corinthians 5:12), and again: "the saints will judge the world and angels" (1 Corinthians 6:2-3), and again: "the spiritual man judges all things" (1 Corinthians 2:15), and again: "Let prophets speak and the others judge" (1 Corinthians 14:29).

It should be obvious that not all judging is sinful. This is just common sense. Our legal system is structured in such a way that when a person commits a crime, he or she is tried before a judge and sentenced (judged) if found guilty. Likewise, it is our right (and duty) to judge words, ideas and actions which are not in conformity with the Gospels or which fail to conform to the Magisterial teaching of Christ's Church and to expose these as fallacious and/or sinful. In so doing, we are not rendering a judgment against a person. We are following the teaching of the great Saint Augustine (Bishop, Father and Doctor of the Church), who said: "Interficere errorem, diligere errantem" - kill the error, love the one who errs. This killing of what is sinful or erroneous is necessary if our charity - our love of neighbor - is to be genuine. Otherwise, our love is counterfeit. It is a fraud

Where is Pope Francis going with all of this?  This represents a real prayer need for the remnant Church.  See here.


Related reading here.

11 comments:

Michael Cole said...

Oh my God, this is absolutely spine chilling. The Antichrist will soon make his appearance. I am growing more and more certain of this.

Martin said...

Ever since Pope BXVI resigned, I have felt, in a sense, fatherless. For whatever reason, I have not 'warmed' to Pope Francis. When I read things like this, it concerns me greatly, as does the other story which emerged today, about the restrictions being imposed on the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate with regard to their freedom to say the Traditional Latin Mass. See here: http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1350567?eng=y

Michael F Poulin said...

2 Tim 4:3 "For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears"

And now I hear certain congregations are forbidden to say the "EF" Mass. ... hmmmm

Let's pray for healing but get ready for battle.

Unknown said...

Translation Douay-Rheims Bible :
"It were better for him, that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should scandalize one of these little ones".
Indeed " Quo Vadis, Lord" ? My poor Jesus, what are they doing to You, but we really are living in the end of times, satan knows all too well he's coming at the end of his empire and wants to schlepp as many souls as possible with him so he can spit even more in God's face.
Penance, Penance, Penance. Lord have Mercy and hasten Your Warning please. Rita

Paul Anthony Melanson said...

The storm is on the verge of arriving. Now, more than ever, we must have recourse to constant prayer. It's about to get really ugly.

Anonymous said...

Your link to an earlier post on the goal of ecclesiastical masonry raises question of a masonic lobby in the Vatican. Pope Francis referred to that in a remark during his in-flight interview:

“The problem isn’t this (homosexual) orientation … The problem is something else, the problem is lobbying either for this orientation or a political lobby or a Masonic lobby.”

Fr. Alexander Lucie-Smith discusses that matter in a post on today's Catholic Herald website:

Most of us would laugh at the idea of a masonic mafia at work in the Vatican. I’m not sure that we should
Should we be worried that Pope Francis mentioned a masonic lobby in his famous press conference?

www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2013/07/30/most-of-us-would-laugh-at-the-idea-of-a-masonic-mafia-at-work-in-the-vatican-im-not-sure-that-we-should/


Anonymous said...

But sir, so many children abused in the Church!

Pope Francis “Who am I to Judge?”

Did not the Lord give you authority! and what about the many countless victims? no justice for them!

Pope Francis ” Gay clergy should be forgiven and their sins forgotten”

This guy is not for me!

Anonymous said...

GODing-Dong, Ding-Dong.

Yoo-Hoo, Paulie!

It's McLean's in Belmont calling.

They got plenty of beds open! Just for you and your nutcase buddies! Don't forget to bring your meds!!

Anonymous said...

Paul, I hope you and your friends have their blessed candles to see us through the three days and nights of darkness. Glad I bought them a couple years ago.

M.

Unknown said...

to McLeans in Belmont calling....
One night while waiting to deliver a baby, the head of our department Prof.Dr Schoysman, a high ranked freemason, professor at the Freemason University in Brussels,(one of the first in the world to perform IVF and human cloning), was irritated by the screaming of a sick elderly woman on the 3-rd floor. He said : if I become like that when I'm old I would request euthanasia, but of course that catholic church would fight against it (in those days euthanasia was still illegal in Belgium). He said : "How long are we atheists, freemasons, fighting against the catholic church now? It's almost gonna be a 100 years and I guarantee you before the end of the 20th century they won't talk about the catholic church anymore, it will be over and done with." All of the sudden I heard the words spoken by Our Lady in La Salette : satan will be given a 100 years to attack the Church....! Well this was more than proof of who is working at the downfall of the Church. Please Lord, my Jesus, hasten the coming of Your Kingdom on this earthIII Rita B. BTW McLean did you take your meds today, ding-dong, sing a song !

Cesar said...

Awesome!

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