Remember that explosive “interview” Pope Francis gave to the radical Leftist and atheist Eugenio Scalfari? Not the third one, just published in La Repubblica, but the first one, published in that same newspaper on October 1 of last year, featured in L’Osservatore Romano, and lodged on the Vatican website as one of Francis’s speeches, thus seemingly making it part of his rather liquid magisterium.   You know, the one in which Francis is said to have declared that he does not believe in a Catholic God, that everyone should pursue his own vision of good and evil, and other “greatest hits” of what the press delights in calling a “headline-grabbing papacy.”

Recall that after one of the by now routine semi-disclaimers by Father Lombardi—who called the interview “faithful to the thought” of Francis and “reliable in a general sense”­­­—the text was removed from vatican.va in embarrassment. Well, the same interview suddenly reappeared on the Vatican website this week, in both English and Italian, and was included once again among the Pope’s speeches. But, after this stupefying development was noted by Antonio Socci and the Mundabor and Chiesa et Postconcilio blog sites, the “interview” was removed again, and the link provided by these bloggers now redirects searchers to the Vatican home page.

It is time to face reality: The conclave of 2013, following an unprecedented, mysterious, and strangely nuanced “resignation” by a Pope in full possession of his faculties, opened the door to what must be the final stage in the post-conciliar crisis.

If words have meaning, the man whose first words to the Church from the loggia of Saint Peter’s were a resoundingly banal “Good evening,” who referred to himself only as the newly elected “Bishop of Rome,” is the most liberal prelate who has ever ascended to the Chair of Peter. Pope Francis’s endless stream of shocking utterances—he will say whatever he pleases, to whomever he pleases, whenever he pleases—signals a clear and present danger to the Church. The danger is reflected in his progressivist-dominated “Council of Eight” and his insistent praise for the arch-Modernist Cardinal Kasper, now known as “the Pope’s theologian,” who proposes to destroy in practice what the Church, in fidelity to Our Lord, has constantly affirmed respecting the absolute indissolubility of marriage. The moral edifice of the Church would thus be undermined to the point of collapse.

Traditional Catholics attending a Traditional Latin Mass during WWII? 
No, just Catholics attending THE Mass during WWII

That today there are Catholics denominated “traditionalist” is a development unexampled in the entire previous history of the Catholic Church. Even at the height of the Arian crisis—the closest analogue to our situation—the Church was not divided between traditionalists and non-traditionalists, but rather between those who had not embraced the heresy of Arius and those who had.

But what exactly is a traditionalist? A look back at the way things once were might convey the meaning of the term more effectively than the usual attempts at a formal definition:

In his Responsio ad Lutherum, St. Thomas More called Luther an "ape", a "drunkard", and a "lousy little friar". But who was he to judge?

The Vatican has announced another milestone in neo-Catholicism: a joyous Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017! The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity proclaims the surprising development that makes this very special commemoration possible:

Catholics and Lutherans realize that they and the communities in which they live out their faith belong to the one body of Christ. The awareness is dawning on Lutherans and Catholics that the struggle of the sixteenth century is over. The reasons for mutually condemning each other’s faith have fallen by the wayside.

Yes, the awareness is dawning: Catholics and Lutherans are one after all! And since this great good news comes to us from a Pontifical Council, we ought not to protest it because, as the neo-Catholics so rightly insist, there must be no public criticism of the Pope. Ever. Under any circumstances.

 “… they make themselves up like little holy cards, looking up at heaven as they pray, making sure they are seen…"

—Pope Francis, condemning Catholics (again)

When will the Pope's relentless bashing of his own subjects cease?  Apparently not as long as he has breath in him and a microphone to speak into.  

On April Fool’s day we had another rambling sermon likening Catholics to Pharisees who " go to Mass every Sunday, but better not get mixed up in things – I have faith for my health, I do not feel the need to give it to another… Christians who do not leave space for the grace of God – and the Christian life, the life of these people, consists in having all the paperwork, all the certificates, in order…. Christian hypocrites, like these, only interested in their formalities. It was a Sabbath? No, you cannot do miracles on the Sabbath, the grace of God cannot work on Sabbath days. They close the door to the grace of God. We have so many in the Church, we have many!” 

Just who are these caricatures the Pope has in view? In Europe hardly anyone goes to Mass at all outside of traditionalist communities.  And just who are these hypocrites who make sure they are seen when they pray? Certainly not like Francis, eh?

The anti-traditionalists are back in the saddle again, and the neo-Catholic nomenklatura have resumed with renewed vigor their role as compliant Mensheviks alongside the still passionate, however elderly, Bolsheviks of the conciliar revolution.

A Blessed Respite

During the seven-year Benedictine Respite, the post-conciliar revolution in the Church seemed to have lost its momentum, even if it was far from being in retreat. Traditional Catholics rejoiced to see a series of papal acts favorable to Tradition: the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum (2007), bringing an end at last to the insane suppression of the traditional Roman Rite; the lifting of the increasingly ridiculous excommunications of the four bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX)—the only four clerics in the world still deemed schismatic; and the long-overdue correction of the errant, doctrinally defective translations of the Latin typical edition of the Novus Ordo Missal, which the neo-Catholic establishment had been doggedly defending for forty years.

"While Pope Francis has not altered any Catholic doctrines in his interviews and disquisitions, he is sowing seeds of confusion among the faithful, a high price to pay, even for “skyrocketing” poll numbers".…Patrick J. Buchanan

Conclusion

(Read Part I, Part II, Part III) 

Yet Another Explosive Newspaper Interview

The Pope continues to give free-ranging, explosive interviews to Italian newspapers. The latest edition of this “magisterium” by newspaper is an interview with the editor of Corriere della Sera on March 5. As with all the other interviews, this one contains bombshells whose detonations the world media duly note while the diving bell constituency covers its ears. I will address six key statements from the interview:

First, confirming exactly what Antonio Socci was widely ridiculed for suggesting, Francis explicitly declares that the Church now has two Popes—a reigning Pope and a retired Pope: “The Pope emeritus is not a statue in a museum. It is an institution. We weren’t used to it. 60 or 70 years ago, ‘bishop emeritus’ didn’t exist. It came after the (Second Vatican) Council. Today, it is an institution. The same thing must happen for the Pope emeritus. Benedict is the first and perhaps there will be others.”

"I find that [the Latin Mass] is rather a kind of fashion. And if it is a fashion, therefore it is a matter that does not need that much attention."...Pope Francis

Part III 
(Continued from Yesterday) 
Read Part I,  Read Part II

Still More Insults for Traditionalists

Pope Francis has publicly insulted faithful traditional Catholics so many times that one wag at CNN has compiled what he calls “The Pope Francis Little Book of Insults.” The insults keep coming.

On February 14, during an audience with Bishops of the Czech Republic, the Pope was informed of the growing numbers of young people who are attracted to the traditional Latin Mass. Instead of expressing approval of this development as a sign of true renewal in the Church, Francis dismissed the development, stating that “he cannot understand the younger generation wishing to return to it [the Latin Mass].” With amazing condescension he added: “When I search more thoroughly, I find that it is rather a kind of fashion. And if it is a fashion, therefore it is a matter that does not need that much attention. It is just necessary to show some patience and kindness to people who are addicted to a certain fashion. But I consider greatly important to go deep into things, because if we do not go deep, no liturgical form, this or that one, can save us.”

It must be said that Francis appears to be guilty of the very fault of which he publicly accuses others: liturgical superficiality, and this to an astonishing degree. In all candor, it is Francis who has not “gone deep” at all but rather rendered the shallowest of judgments on a matter that could not be more profound. How is it possible for a Roman Pontiff to dismiss as “a kind of fashion” the Church’s received and approved rite of divine worship down through the centuries, going back at least to the time of Pope Damasus (r. 366-384), if not to the Apostles themselves, a work of the Holy Ghost that is nothing less than the liturgical foundation of Christian civilization?

“Let us make no mistake: Satan is right now shaking the Church to her very foundations over this divorce issue…” 

Father Brian Harrison, O.S.

Part II, Continued from Yesterday 
(Read Part I)

A Warning Come True

Immediately after Cardinal Jose Mario Bergoglio was elected Pope, the Rorate Caeli blog site presented a dire report by an Argentinian journalist, who wrote that as Archbishop of Buenos Aires the Cardinal was a “sworn enemy of the traditional Mass,” that he was “[f]amous for his inconsistency (at times, for the unintelligibility of his addresses and homilies),” that he was “accustomed to the use of coarse, demagogical, and ambiguous expressions,” that he was “loose in doctrine and liturgy,” and that “he has not fought against abortion and only very weakly against homosexual ‘marriage’(approved with practically no opposition from the episcopate)…”

Honesty compels one to admit that every element of this grim assessment has been borne out by the brutal dismantling of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate on the Pope’s direct order, and by his astonishing plenitude of disturbing statements and actions during the scant year he has been in office. These include the phrase that will be emblematic of his entire pontificate, which is now appearing on "Who am I to judge?" tee shirts marketed to gay-rights activists and assorted other radical liberals in order to taunt the Church.

Alarming Adulation by a Hostile World

In the case of Pope Francis the fallibility of Popes in matters not involving doctrinal definitions is remarkably evident. It does no good to deny this when the entire world is heaping praise upon him for his unheard-of pastoral novelties (e.g. the jailhouse foot-washing ceremony, including a Muslim woman), his numerous statements suggesting a revolutionary relaxation of Church discipline in the name of a false “mercy,” and his repeated public insults of traditional Catholics and the traditional liturgy, which he has cavalierly belittled as “just a kind of fashion” to which certain members of the faithful are “addicted.” As if to reward his behavior, Francis has been lauded as “Person of the Year” by the world’s most prominent left-liberal news magazine (Time), the world’s leading “gay” magazine (The Advocate), the world’s leading “rock culture” magazine (Rolling Stone) and the world’s leading “rock culture” video outlet (MTV). Even the trashy libertine quarterly GQ Magazine joined the adulation by naming Francis “Best Dressed Man of the Year,” using the occasion to mock the overdressed Pope Benedict. All of these tributes, and innumerable others of like kind, have been bestowed explicitly at the expense of Francis’s predecessor and the Church’s teaching on faith and morals. Any Catholic who still retains the sensus catholicus must view with alarm this unprecedented torrent of praise from the realm of Belial. Something is seriously amiss.

The Complete Series:  All four parts of Christopher Ferrara's weeklong series, "The Francis Effect", appear in the following post. Those who commented on other sections of this aricle are encouraged to respost their comments on this final version of the article. This article will also appear in its entirety in the next print edition of The Remnant.  MJM

The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres... churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. 

Our Lady of Akita, October 13, 1973

Introduction

On March 9, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, America’s foremost Catholic prelate, appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and commented as follows on the “coming out” of a “gay” college football star:

Good for him… I would have no sense of judgment on him…. God bless ya. I don’t think, look, the same Bible that tells us, that teaches us well about the virtues of chastity and the virtue of fidelity and marriage also tells us not to judge people. So I would say, “Bravo.”

“No sense of judgment…. Bravo.” That is how a Prince of Church in the Year of Our Lord 2014 reacts to a celebrity’s announcement that he engages in unspeakable acts—“men with men, working that which is filthy (Romans 1:26)”—acts that cry out to heaven for vengeance, as Churchmen used to teach before the “opening to the world” at Vatican II. Here we see the vast ripple effect of the “who am I to judge?” mantra that Pope Francis launched into the collective consciousness of humanity by going out of his way to speak to reporters about homosexuals in the hierarchy at “a surprise news conference” they had not even requested. The “Francis effect” is disarming prelates and priests alike. It threatens to disarm us as well, unless we take a stand against what is happening.