Above: Cardinal Fernández meets with Baba Tawadros II, Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church on May 22, 2024. Photo Credit: Coptic Church Official News.
At OnePeterFive we have endeavoured to strengthen the Traditional movement not only in terms of analysing the crisis deeper than Vatican II (see here and here), but also promoting traditional eastern Catholicism against the Greek schisms, for the sake of the conversion of Russia, under our patroness, Our Lady of Fatima in her Russian icon.
A critical aspect of this “eastern aspect” of OnePeterFive is countering the false Greek ressourcement of the Neo-Modernists who have (since Vatican II) attempted to use and abuse the eastern traditions to promote their heresies and iconoclasms against the Roman rite and the Roman orthodox faith.
We discussed all this in a previous article which provided the historical context of the Coptic Pope and his synod breaking off ecumenical relations with the Holy See in March, following Fiducia Supplicans. It seems that under the Pontificate of Francis, His Holiness has noticed the media outcry on behalf of the Coptic Church since the Muhammadans sought (again) to conquer the life-giving power of the cross by means of the sword. This might be behind his move to create an ecclesiological dubium by unilaterally adding these martyrs to the Roman martyrology.
As I discussed in the previously mentioned article, the true ecumenism with the east has virtually resolved the Miaphysite dispute, and thus the Coptic Church is one of the closest eastern traditions to the full reconciliation of Eucharistic communion. But it seems, sadly, that these orthodox aims are not at the heart of the pontificate of Francis, nor the priorities of His Eminence, Tucho “Heal Me with Your Mouth” Fernández.
(I wish I was wrong about all this – that Francis is The Dictator Pope. Part of me hopes that we are all wrong about Pope Francis – that he’s been misunderstood all along. It stems from my faith and devotion and love for the Holy See, the office of the Papacy, and the love I hold, as a practicing Catholic, for the Holy Father, whoever he is. But this hope, I fear, is against all reason. And so I am forced to speak and say what I think is true and reasonable, in defence of the faith of my children, as is my duty as a Catholic father.)
And so it seems that the Peronism of The Dictator Pope is behind all this. Fiducia Supplicans came out, and the worldwide episcopate opposed it, including the whole continent of Africa. The Francis-Tucho regime ridiculed and dismissed the “dissenters,” or “clarified” Fiducia in interviews since that time. But the media has celebrated it, and the Liberals have conducted their “gay marriages” or whatever they do with Fiducia.
But the Coptic Pope and his synod, thanks be to God, exposed the Vatican’s naked neo-Modernism and broke off ecumenical relations as a result. This is the equivalent, for the orthodox Miaphysites, of “recognizing & resisting” like all the good Catholic bishops have done, worldwide.
It seems that this stalwart action by the Coptic Pope made the Roman Pope look bad. This seems to get at the worldwide Christian support for persecuted Christians, of which the Coptic Church – being the largest Christian Church in any Muhammadan country – is in the spotlight, especially after the Coptic Martyrs resisted unto blood. And besides, if the Vatican regime does not keep up appearances of actually caring about true Ecumenism with the east, they can never push their neo-Modernism forward in the name of eastern ressourcement.
So after The Dictator Pope was embarrassed in the face of Christian media which loves the persecuted Coptic Church, His Holiness sent his henchman to Egypt to patch things up with Baba Tawadros II and get a nice photo op so the Vatican News could tell everyone that everything’s A-OK (see here for that nice photo op from Vatican media). The Vatican newspeak threw the bone (again) to the Faith:
Cardinal Fernández reiterated [to Pope Tawadross] that both Fiducia supplicans and the subsequent doctrinal declaration, Dignitas infinita, affirm that marriage is solely the union between a man and a woman open to the transmission of life, and confirmed the Catholic Church’s opposition to “same-sex marriage”.
After the bone is thrown by means of newspeak, then the doublethink begins. Don’t remember your Orwell?
The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation. These contradictions are not accidental, nor do they result from ordinary hypocrisy: they are deliberate exercises in doublethink.[1]
So here comes the doublethink:
Vatican News has been informed that the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith explained to His Holiness Tawadros II that the Catholic Church shares the teachings of the March 7 declaration [of the Coptic Church against Fiducia Supplicans], and has a positive view of its pastoral approach. Regarding Fiducia supplicans, Fernández explained that—as Pope Francis told the DDF plenary assembly — these blessings are not given to the union between individuals. If two people present themselves together, they can be blessed, making the sign of the cross over each and adding a short prayer. But this must happen briefly, spontaneously, without any rite, without liturgical vestments, and without any outward manifestation that might confuse this blessing with a marriage (emphasis added).
Translation: we will continue with our regime of affirming doctrine by words and undermining it in practice. This is the doublethink of the Francis Pontificate, since at least Amoris Laetitia.
But now we have a contradiction of the text of Fiducia, which says that “same-sex couples” not only exist (which is metaphysical impossibility), but can be the object of blessing. So now it’s not the “couple” and blessings are “not given to the union between individuals” but are in line with all blessings which “push the sinner towards conversion and maturation.”
What was the response of Baba Tawadros? Nothing. He “explained to Fernández the historical, cultural, and social ethos of the Egyptian people, who have been very connected to the Nile River throughout their history.” Wow, thank you for the history lesson? Vatican News could not report anything more positive in the response of Tawadros than that!
The official English language press release of the Coptic Church included the less than flattering photo shown above, and repeated most of what the Vatican News said, except for the doublethink explanation, revealing that “the delegation of the Oriental Orthodox Churches in the Dialogue Committee with the Catholic Church” had requested in January of 2024 an explanation of Fiducia from the Vatican. The Coptic news confirms that Fernández said he provided this explanation in a detailed letter.
It’s interesting that Vatican News did not mention the January request to the Vatican, nor the detailed letter, but the timeline is also interesting. Did Fernández provide the Copts with this letter before their March statement breaking off relations? Did the Copts reject this letter of explanation, and their March assault on neo-Modernist Rome was their response?
The Coptic press release also had nothing positive of a response from Baba Tawadros to say, not even the history lesson, but there seems to be an implied criticism of Fiducia and/or the letter of explanation thereof:
At the end of the meeting, H.H. Pope Tawadros referred to the path of love between the two Churches and the importance of dialogue, after evaluating the accomplishments of the past twenty years and the necessity of developing more effective methods and mechanisms for it.
H.H. Pope Tawadros asked the Cardinal to convey his greetings of love and appreciation to His Holiness Pope Francis.
Let us say an Ave now for Pope Francis, Cardinal Fernández, and our separated brethren, Baba Tawadros and the Coptic Church of Egypt against Muhammad’s sword.
المسيح قام!
al-maseeH qaam!
T. S. Flanders
Editor
Ember Friday of Pentecost
[1] George Orwell, 1984.
