Maureen Mullarkey’s latest is up on her personal blog. A preview:
One thing for which we can be grateful to Pope Francis: His pontificate puts paid to the superstition that our popes are chosen by the Holy Spirit. That could only be believable if we are willing to say that the Spirit operates like a one-eyed Odin, setting his dogs loose at conclaves.
On Rorate Caeli this morning is a pronunciamento by the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin. It had appeared in La Repubblica on November 16, after the atrocity in Paris. Headline: Parolin, The Jubilee: “The Holy Year will be open to Muslims.”
The message out of Vatican City is an injunction to “respond with mercy and hospitality to violence.” It is hard to decide which is more disreputable, the moral vanity at work here or the absurdity of the instruction. Hospitality implies welcome. We are to welcome those who would slaughter us? Whose goal is the subjection of the West to the universal caliphate? In this context, the word hospitality is an obscenity.
Do we hear the Islamic world asking for mercy? Where are the Muslim voices of repentance? Last I looked, there was rejoicing in the Middle East over the grand success of the heroic action of eight true sons of Allah.
Parolin’s comments stink of Vatican lust for dhimmitude:
Mercy is also the most beautiful name of God for Muslims, who can also be involved in the Holy Year, as this is what the Pope wants.”
Mercy is drained of meaning by this pontificate. To distribute it freely to those who do not want it devalues the substance of it. Dispensing it unasked to those who would spit on it or turn it against their sentimental benefactors, makes a laughingstock of Christianity. And it further endangers what is left of the Christian world.
Go read the rest. It’s worth your time.
“One thing for which we can be grateful to Pope Francis: His pontificate puts paid to the superstition that our popes are chosen by the Holy Spirit. That could only be believable if we are willing to say that the Spirit operates like a one-eyed Odin, setting his dogs loose at conclaves.”
I wonder how anyone ever came up with the idea in the first place that the Holy Ghost personally chooses popes.
He chose Pope Formosus, and then once Formosus was dead, the Holy Ghost chose Pope Stephen VI so Stephen could dig up Formosus’ body, put it on trial, cut off the fingers, throw the body in the river, and then declare that Formosus was never a valid pope to begin with?
And let’s not even get into John XII.
Strange, what things people can convince themselves of.
DJR—spot on and well said. The whole idea of any pope representing the whole truth is absurd on face. Days ago there was a diatribe on here about all the different ways a pope can teach..majesterial, et al, blah, blah, blah. Things that Christ never spoke of, but mere men with egos think they are above God himself, thus, install own laws. Yep, you are right, “Strange, what things people can convince themselves of.”
A horrible crime happens in Paris, and now we’re criticizing the Vatican for not issuing a call to arms? Good grief.
It was a crime and merits a response from law enforcement agencies. The Vatican has no significant international law enforcement capabilities and no military. They are not relevant here. And what do you expect the Pope and his spokesmen to say in a situation like this?
“what do you expect the Pope and his spokesmen to say in a situation like this?”
Something truthful would be nice. Certainly not something suicidal. Of course, if you have a problem with the assertions in the piece, feel free to leave a comment on the author’s website.
So you clearly align yourself with Mullarkey’s muddled argument , but we should leave a comment on her website. I see.
Muddled? I think she’s quite explicit in her criticism of the pope’s muddled policies. On the one hand the Vatican calls for importation of more potential terrorists into the heart of Europe, and on the other blathers on about a mindless mercy. Oh, to be sure, it makes the bold statement that the cops should apprehend the mass murderers. As Steve indicates, sounds like a foolproof formula for suicide to me.
I challenge you to Read Maureen’s essays on this wayward pope since last January. She is a great writer and very perceptive and crystal clear, if one is able to comprehend.
Speaking of “something suicidal”, Steve, it was edifying to note the Vatican Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, has confirmed that the Jubilee is on schedule and that Father Lombardi confirms it will be open to Muslims. So let’s all pile into Rome and watch mercy in action.
http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2015/11/vatican-secretary-of-state-holy-year-is.html
And, as we all pile in, we can do with a certain peace of mind. After all, the Italian government has increased (armed to the teeth) security to the maximum. Ditto for the pope’s bodyguard, doubled I believe. So, while the Vatican abounds with palaver about openness and peaceful Muslims and how welcome they are to this Jubilee, the rule of thumb there seems to be one Ronnie Reagan once talked about, viz. “trust…but verify.”
I am immensely reassured.
The important people get to double their security details, while the little people get slaughtered in cafes. All thanks to the policies of the “elite.” We must all be willing to be slaughtered for the sake of “hospitality,” unless we can afford bodyguards.
Yes. Have you ever heard of an “important person” telling his (or her) entourage of professional gunsels to leave their firearms home? I haven’t. Here is a curious fact, and I wish I could remember exactly where I read it and the precise details, but I can’t. I believe it was Pope Pius XI who actually kept a firearm in his desk drawer for personal protection. Of course, that was back when popes were manly, stouthearted fellows.
On the other hand, one could argue that as Lutherans are apparently members of the same Church as Catholics (acc. to Card. Tauran, IIRC), so perhaps Muslims are as well. And what this *could* mean – from a Papal POV – is that, far from regarding non-Catholicism as of any value, the Popes have such a low regard for non-Catholicism as to consider all non-Catholics as Catholics.
IOW, all mankind is (from this POV) Catholic – but not everyone had yet realised that they are Catholics. Muslims are in fact Catholics, in so far as their religion is good at all. So it is totally appropriate for them to be involved in the Jubilee. Because all non-Catholic religions are incomplete or perverted or mutilated versions of Catholicism, which is the only religion that really exists; all others, are approximations to it. Or, in the case of Judaism, a foreshadowing of it.
*If* this interpretation of recent Papal thinking is accurate, it would mean that the Popes are even more “triumphalist” than was allegedly the case before V2. It would amount to saying that whatever is good is Catholic – and such an idea would not be difficult to derive from the V2 documents. It would not please the liberals, of course. But liberalism is paganism and atheism, so that is to be expected.
Dear James M,
You had me as far as:
“On the other hand, one could argue that…”
Following upon that tentative premise of yours and through all those subsequently posited in your hypothetical, I can only say that, as a Catholic, I cannot subscribe to this (these) line(s) of thought without doing violence to the tenets of the Catholic Faith.
Your thinking, or your presumptive propositions, are reminiscent of a mindset expressed by the character, Pangloss, in Voltaire’s “Candide” (aka “The Optimist”):
“All events are linked together in the best of possible worlds.”
Peace.
I like MM’s work, most of the time. This time is not one of those for a very simple reason. Something better argued to support the truth than the other side of the emotional coin would be nice – and something I expect from MM.
E.g.
+ Mercy is impossible without truth.
+ Truth is impossible without recognizing that which distinguishes good from evil.
+ All Muslims are called to the Year of Mercy – which requires of them to proclaim the truth of Christ’s Mercy and reject Muhammad’s errors regarding mercy.
MM is spot on re ‘hospitality’
You are not responding to the actual statements in the article.
It does not advocate a “call to arms”. Whatever made you draw this conclusion? It criticizes the devaluation of mercy, the complete distortion of this concept, where it is distributed among those who do not ask for it. Those who celebrate the success of islamist murderers are obviously not asking for mercy. They expect a heavenly reward. What then is the Vatican welcoming?
To understand the point of this article, you could try contemplating on the conditions for a good confession of sins. Without remorse there can be no confession of sins, nor can there be any mercy – in short.
Should the sin of murder committed for Allah, and celebrated as an act of heroism, be rewarded with God’s mercy, and should it be followed by an invitation from the Vatican to deliver more of the same?
Are Allah, who calls for this murder, and God one and the same? Why should there be any mercy required, if the act was heroic, anyway?
In the second-to-last paragraphs she says “Not a single word about the need for military response.” So yes, she at least raises the idea that the Vatican should issue a call to arms.
“should it be followed by an invitation from the Vatican to deliver more of the same?” I don’t know where you are getting that from. The Vatican condemned the attacks. It is not inviting more.
Maureen Mullarkey is upset by the headline “The Holy Year will be open to Muslims.” But how could it not be? It’s also open to Buddhists and atheists. We’re all sinners. I don’t see anywhere that anybody at the Vatican said we should let these criminals off the hook.
Who says the Year of Mercy is open to everyone? The Pope is head of the Catholic Church. Any ‘year’ called by him is for Catholics, presumably Catholics who repent, do penance, then enjoy God’s Mercy.
Muslims don’t ask for mercy. Buddhists and atheists don’t ask for mercy – to them it’s nonsense. Protestants don’t ask for mercy as they believe (in general) that they are already forgiven by Jesus Blood shed for them.
The big lie has been spoken: the Year of Mercy is for everyone – wheeee!!!! So those of us who want to step back and look at this are going to be accused of being unmerciful. See how it goes?
You make an excellent point, Barbara. One cannot impose mercy on those who do not seek it and those who do not fall under one’s lawful jurisdiction. To do so establishes the mercy giver as one who believes himself in a position to rule over another.
Reminds me of Vatican II sophistry attempting to tell Muslims that they worship the same God as Catholics do. While Catholics may believe they have a duty to digest this contradiction (I don’t.) believing Muslims are rightly offended by it.
Your point about her mention of a call to arms is correct.
Regarding the openness to Muslims, what exactly do you mean? What do you think the Vatican means?
I know that a person expecting of a Christian, that he would listen to what Jesus said, and follow Him, is labelled as a dangerous fundamentalist, dangerous to world peace. The claim is often made, that religious fundamentalism is the source of all war, all evil.
Anyone informed, morally sound and intellectually sharp, knowledgeable about the engineering of a “global community”, ONE world with one world religion, is labelled a conspiracy theorist.
Do you know, how I was able to remain immune to this engineered “spirit of the times” that is deceptively presented as inevitable, a stage in evolution of humanity?
I never bought the lie that Jesus eternal (beyond constraints of time) somehow didn’t know about this “inevitable” evolutionary stage. As fundamentalist as it sounds to the brainwashed, Jesus IS the way, the truth and the life. If it is not true, He is liar. There is only one path, and not all paths lead to Heaven. It is narrow and hard, it is going against the flow. It is a road of the cross.
You do not want to stoop to the level of Jesus Christ not re-interpreted? Your choice. Try to be gentle and tolerant toward people like me, please. The plan is to deny us most basic human rights, for we are in the way of progress. Progress of what? Onenness? Oneness in what? Shared humanity? Where lukewarmness despised by God is the only way I am permitted to be?
What, exactly, does it mean to be open to Muslims or any other non Catholic?
I don’t know, and I probably should not have speculated on that. But it was La Repubblica that reported Parolin said “The Holy Year will be open to Muslims.” Now that you mention it, I really don’t know what it means for a year to be “open”.
Children expect to be able to trust their parents, AustinCatholic. That is why a Holy Father who, for all intents and purposes, is represented by statements that advocate embracing clear and present danger are suspect.
The good grief is those calling themselves Catholic who applaud half-truths, twisted definitions, and obfuscation of those set to protect souls and defend the Faith.
I’d dare say folks would take issue with the Vatican issuing statements about harboring unknown men in one’s house after a prison break wherein the escapees just robbed a bank, taking out untold number of bank tellers.
What is irrelevant here are obtuse arguments, so obviously intended to shame and blame in order to shout down the examination of serious problems.
“statements that advocate embracing clear and present danger are suspect.”
No. Maureen Mullarky says “Vatican instruction comes with a ringing call to mobilize “the agents of security, from the police and the intelligence forces in order to root out the evil of terrorism.”” She doesn’t think Church officials are advocating embracing danger.
“I’d dare say folks would take issue with the Vatican issuing statements about harboring unknown men in one’s house after a prison break wherein the escapees just robbed a bank, taking out untold number of bank tellers.”
This is a poor analogy, and as Mullarky says, the Vatican is saying the police should find the culprits of the Paris crimes.
“…A horrible crime happens in Paris, and now we’re criticizing the Vatican for not issuing a call to arms? Good grief.”
The criticism is of the Vatican issuing misdirected statements, those that undermine the reality of the threat. (..like telling my son who is going off to war that he must be polite to everyone he meets.)
You may operate under a different agenda, but I am duty bound to act with prudence and sound a warning call. Not pretend that offering mercy to those who do not seek any and/or are unrepentant is somehow going to stop them from wanting to harm/kill those who do not embrace Islam.
And when known criminals are on the loose, one does not keep one’s doors unlocked or usher in the unknown so as to put one’s charges in danger. But keep up the distraction.
Good lord, you mean the Vatican called for the police to actually “find the culprits of the Paris crimes”?!?! Whaoooh! Bold!
Your tendentious citation of Mullarky’s words cuts off the most important part of what she wrote, so let me quote it in full here:
“Vatican instruction comes with a ringing call to mobilize ‘the agents of security, from the police and the intelligence forces in order to root out the evil of terrorism.’ Not a single word about the need for military response. No suggestion of any awareness that in some situations peace has to be imposed. And aggressively maintained. Unhappily, it is becoming clear—if we have not already seen it—that our survival as Christians depends in no small part on defying the debased, delusional pieties of this papacy.”
Despite what you say, Mullarky most certainly DOES think Church officials are advocating embracing danger. Any other reading of her essay is clearly wrong.
“And what do you expect the Pope and his spokesmen to say in a situation like this?” Simple, something like this: “The Church has always recognized the legitimacy of self defense against aggressors. We now see that the policy of inviting millions of Muslims into the heart of Europe was suicidal and only invited strife and bloodshed. Since we finally recognize this truth, we encourage other European nations to follow the example of their eastern neighbors, and to close their borders to further immigration from inherently violent places like Syria, Iraq, etc. We apologize sincerely to all for the stupid statements about this policy previously issued by the Holy See.”
Or the Vatican should just shut up in all political areas and preach Catholic truth: maybe starting with the Ten Commandments. Er, presumably the Ten Commandments are still part of what God wants us to do?
Obey the Ten Commandments and all will be well. Think about it.
…that would be humble, Johnny!
That was awesome Johnny….your last sentence sums it up nicely
“…what do you expect the Pope and his spokesmen to say in a situation like this?”
How ’bout NOTHING. I would love to hear nothing coming out of Rome these days unless it is well thought-out.
On second thought, what I’d like the Pope to consider is calling a new Crusade.
Remember that in 2006 Pope Benedict said this:
“Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”
Pope Benedict was quoting a Christian emperor from 1391.
It is always good and right for Christian leaders to tell the TRUTH about Muslims, Nazis, Communists, Scientology, Mormonism, and other false demonic belief systems.
But as we all know, per the Glorious Council (V2), Catholic popes and bishops aren’t supposed to do that anymore.
“Saint” John XXIII set the tone with his opening address to the Council and the world:
“Errors come and go, like the fog before the sun. The church has always opposed errors regarding the faith and, in the past, did so with the greatest severity. Nowadays, however, the spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the MEDICINE OF MERCY rather than of severity.”
“In the daily exercise of our pastoral office, we sometimes have to listen, much to our regret, to voices of persons who, though burning with zeal, are not endowed with too much sense of discretion or measure. In these modern times they can see nothing but prevarication and ruin.”
“We feel we must disagree with THOSE PROPHETS OF DOOM, who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world were at hand.”
Pope Francis might better have been named Pope John 23.2. He’s a redux of the pope of all sunshine and rainbows.
I predict that the V2 papacy of sunshine and rainbows will continue until the Vatican City State is occupied by the Islamic State.
I respectfully disagree with you characterization of the Paris attacks as a mere “crime.”
The Islamic State is a real state,
Islamic State fighters are soldiers (not terrorists in the usual sense), and its aim in nothing less that total world domination by the Islamic State.
Unlike terrorist groups, the Islamic State has for over a year now controlled a territory the size of Indiana. It has a central government and municipal governments. It collects taxes, pays salaries to gov’t workers, has a budget, provides health inspections & distributes food for free to the poor.
After Islamic State soldiers with machine guns carry out a Paris-type attack in the USA, nearly EVERYBODY in the U.S. will call for sending U.S. ground troops to destroy the Islamic State–but that will be too late. We need to do a PREEMPTIVE attack NOW.
Want U.S. ground troops to destroy the Islamic State now?
Then sign the petition: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov//petition/immediately-use-full-force-us-military-killcapture-all-members-isis-terrorist-group-iraq-syria
The Islamic State is a variation on the Third Reich, and the longer it endures as a state, the more its legend will grow in the Muslim world, and more harm it will end up inflicting on America.
Petitions can force the mainstream media to report on things they otherwise would not report on.
Please sign the petition.
ISIS was and continues to be a mercenary force funded AND ARMED by those who run the United States. You’ll note that ISIS has NOT attacked Israel, and that ISIS fighters have in fact (mainstream media has admitted) been given medical treatement in Israeli hospitals. So signing a petition for the U.S. to conduct a ‘pre-emptive’ attack on ISIS is a non-starter. Have you not read anything even the mainstream media has copped to in the last couple of years, regarding the convergence between the Israeli, Saudi and U.S. interests in the region?
Here, I’ll give you a hand. Some recent articles which may shed more light on the Levant.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/06/11/exclusive-israel-is-tending-to-wounded-syrian-rebels/
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-23/secret-pentagon-report-reveals-us-created-isis-tool-overthrow-syrias-president-assad
“For the first time, Saudi Arabian interests and Israel are almost parallel,” …so stated Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal in an interview with the Wall Street Journal in 2013. A rather revealing interview:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304337404579211742820387758
And then there is the Bloomberg article dated June 4, 2015; “Israelis and Saudis Reveal Secret Talks to Thwart Iran.”
Excerpts: “While these men represent countries that have been historic enemies, their message was identical: Iran is trying to take over the Middle East.”
This contradicts what Prince bin Talal stated in the last
line of the WSJ article. “If you look at a map of the Arab world now,
Saudi Arabia is very much the leader,” says the prince. “America
cannot afford to have the leader of the Arab world not be on the same wave
length as the United States.”
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-06-04/israelis-and-saudis-reveal-secret-talks-to-thwart-iran
“You Can’t Understand ISIS If You Don’t Know the History of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alastair-crooke/isis-wahhabism-saudi-arabia_b_5717157.html
And the latest U.S. arms sale to Saudi which is currently
bombing Yemen:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34838937
And if you haven’t read the Oded Yinon plan for Greater Israel, I suggest you do the heavy lifting for yourself and read it. Available widely as a pdf on the internet.
Dear CumExApostolatus,
Thank you for all the information. I read several of the webpages to which you referred.
You wrote: “ISIS was and continues to be a mercenary force funded AND ARMED by those who run the United States.”
I am correct in drawing the conclusion that when you write “those who run the United States” you are referring to the people who run the State of Israel?
If so, I would only state that I have seen that thesis proposed but have never seem that that thesis substantiated.
As I see it, lot of groups have influence on the U.S. Congress and the U.S. president, including ordinary voters, wealthy people, coalitions of churches, Skull & Bones, neo-conservative intellectuals, the Israeli lobby, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Rifle Association, the Democrat Party, the Republican Party, the Ayn Rand Society, and so on.
But I see no evidence that any one little power clique has a consistent hold on concentrated power in the U.S. government. (But of course, if this little power clique exists, it might work hard to remain hidden, and might have remained mostly successful in that regard up to this day.)
Regarding the war in Syria, of course the State of Israel has fostered it. But as far as I can see, the claim that the people who run the State of Israel are running ISIS has not been verified. It’s possible. But, as best as I can tell, it is not yet established as a fact.
Regarding petitions to get the U.S. government to obliterate ISIS, I realize that it is a long-shot that it could make any difference. It is by no means a sure thing. But in life very very few things are a sure thing–right?
Anyone could look at the things you are doing to make things better, and say, “Well, that won’t work.” There are always naysayers. But those who care must do something–right?
I hope you work to promote the truth is successful.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us.
I expect a Pope to call the Muslims out of their idolatry and into the life of Christ. That doesn’t include welcoming them into ‘the year of mercy’ (so-called), until they are baptized Catholics.
I think the hour has come and now is for everyone to seriously consider the statements made by Pope Francis and wonder if they could have been made by a real Pope or even a real Catholic at all. I know we have to wait until someone more learned and powerful than us chickens makes a decision and a statement rejecting him but something has got to happen soon or the Church will be dead. Think of the nearly one billion faithful being cast aside by this arrogant little Argentinian leftist.
You’re letting emotion rule your intellect when it should be the other way around. Because a Pope goes all stupid on us doesn’t mean he doesn’t hold the office. It would be catastrophic to relegate the office of the Pope to the subjective decisions and judgments of laymen or subordinates. There’s plenty of creepy little sede picante cults out there who can show you just how catastrophic that road can be.
Isabel, one thing you said is something I agree with. It is that Francis is ARROGANT.
He really is. It takes time to see that under all his ostentatious false humility, and all his jokes and laughter. He is packed full of VANITY and PRIDE.
He is so sure that no one has been as wise and profound as he and his little clique of liberation theologians.
He really thinks that only he and his little clique have eaten from the Tree of Knowledge, that only they are illuminated and enlightened.
All the Catholic thought that preceded the Glorious Council (V2) must now be filtered through the doctrinal schemata of their New Pentecost.
Francis views you and I as mere children, intellectually and spiritually speaking. He would like to just pat us on the head and give us a lollipop.
That is a very interesting interpretation. I think you may have a real insight here. Thanks.
In the Church, in politics, in science et al Progressives have two indelible characteristics; the presumption of intellectual superiority and the presumption of moral superiority. These two conceits blind them to rational deliberation. Thus we see similarities between PF and OlBlame-O concerning the global warming hysteria. CO2 as an ecological threat is scientifically disproved yet the mob think of climatism marches on. May God have mercy on His poor church and may the Holy Spirit inspire our Jesuit happy-go-lucky Modernist.
this guy Francis, is the anti-pope
Don’t be a dufus.
The Holy Spirit does not pick the Pope, However, God does permit men like this to be elevated to the papacy to chastise His wayward people. We get what we deserve.
Liberals such as Pope Francis, President Jimmy Carter, President Obama, Gandhi and Dorothy Day subscribe (or subscribed) to the idea that war begets war, and that nonviolence and mercy beget nonviolence and mercy.
We know the lost world engulfed in sin really doesn’t work that way. The Islamic State must be ended, just as the Nazi State had to be ended.
Want U.S. ground troops to destroy the Islamic State now?
Then please sign the petition: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov//petition/immediately-use-full-force-us-military-killcapture-all-members-isis-terrorist-group-iraq-syria
I don’t remember being taught that Christians are expected to lay down their lives for the sake of “hospitality.” That is exactly what the people of Europe are being told to do, while their leaders keep the flow of violent jihadists coming from up in their ivory towers.
A TRADITIONAL CATHOLIC LIMERICK
There once was a Catholic of the pews
Who went on the web to read the news
He saw stuff he deplored
The Church not yet restored
He was stuck in the trad Catholic blues.
http://www.homeaway.com.au/info/files/shared/Holiday%20Ideas/Events%20%26%20Festivals/st%20patricks%20day.jpg
Blessed are they who are poor in spirit…
The Papacy seems to have a deatb wish 🙁