Category Archives: Pope Francis

by | September 23, 2015 · 8:38 pm

Eight things you need to know about Pope Francis

2015_09 23 Pope Francis canonizes Junipero Serra

Michael Marinaccio did a brilliant job with six important issues including:

1. Pope Francis did not say that homosexual acts are okay.
2. Pope Francis did not say that trickle-down economics is bad.
3. Pope Francis did not say that priests should be able to marry.
4. The Church did not suddenly decide that abortion is forgivable.
5. Pope Francis did not make it so Catholics can exit marriages easily.
6. Pope Francis did not make climate change a Catholic dogma.

Please read this excellent article in full @ https://medium.com/the-politic/6-times-you-were-flat-out-lied-to-about-pope-francis-f1027cd708a2

ALSO,

7. Pope Francis is NOT A MARXIST. Got that? Not. A. Marxist.
8. Pope Francis does not condemn the kind of capitalism we practice in the USA.

Here is a summary of Catholic teaching on these last two issues, quoted directly from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2425 (emphasis mine).

The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modern times with “communism” or “socialism.” She has likewise refused to accept, in the practice of “capitalism,” individualism and the absolute primacy of the law of the marketplace over human labor.

Regulating the economy solely by centralized planning perverts the basis of social bonds; regulating it solely by the law of the marketplace fails social justice, for “there are many human needs which cannot be satisfied by the market.”

Reasonable regulation of the marketplace and economic initiatives, in keeping with a just hierarchy of values and a view to the common good, is to be commended.

http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catechism/catechism-of-the-catholic-church/epub/index.cfm

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by | September 21, 2015 · 6:33 pm

The Real Pope Francis

POPE that's not what I said PN

Below is a list of the official Vatican media sites where you can check the veracity of any story about or statement attributed to Pope Francis that you see circulating the internet:

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by | September 19, 2015 · 10:16 am

Barack Obama is no friend to the Catholic Church

Why any devout Catholic continues to support him is beyond me.

Among his openly hostile actions toward us are:

  • threatening nuns and priests with huge fines and jail for refusing to pay for birth control and abortion drugs;
  • appointing a pro-abortion ambassador to the Vatican;
  • cancelling Masses at military bases;
  • barring Catholic military priests from reading or distributing an Archbishop’s pastoral letter;
  • choosing a tranny activist Episcopalian to organize the pope’s visit to the White House; and,
  • inviting a pro-abortion activist nun, a tranny activist Catholic, a gay activist Catholic, and a pro-gay, openly homosexual, twice-divorced Episcopal bishop for the pope’s visit.

An unnamed senior Vatican official told the press that the Holy See is not happy.

John White says, “We haven’t seen such a raw, naked attempt by a secular head of state to manipulate a pope in centuries.”

TOON Pope is Catholic

Statements Pope Francis has made on …

  • ABORTION: “Abortion is killing someone that cannot defend him or herself.”
  • CATHOLIC DISSIDENTS: “[They] have one foot outside the church. They rent the church.”
  • GAY MARRIAGE: “This is … is an attempt to destroy God’s plan.”
  • GENDER IDEOLOGY: “Gender ideology is demonic!”
  • SEXUAL ISSUES: “[My position is] the position of the Church. I am a son of the Church.”

TOON Jesus unpopular politics

Sources:

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by | September 16, 2015 · 9:04 am

Pope Francis will be at the White House on Yom Kippur

Check out who Barack Obama has invited to be at the White House to greet the pontiff:

  • Mateo Williamson, a biological woman who identifies as a man, and former co-chairman of the Transgender Caucus for Dignity USA.
  • Retired Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson, currently a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, who “divorced” his gay partner last year, and previously separated from his wife of 14 years.
  • Dissident Catholic nun Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of the social justice group NETWORK and pro-abortion leader of “Nuns on the Bus.”
  • Aaron Ledesma, who writes a blog called “The Gay Catholic” and who claims that Pope Francis drew him back to the Church earlier this year.

Because …

OBAMA Middle school - flip bird

Source:

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by | September 11, 2015 · 9:18 am

Media Malpractice

The MSM has become little more than an undeclared political PAC for the Democrat-Progressive agenda.

Case in point.

2015_09 TIME misquotes Pope

I am not holding my breath for the pope’s remarks on marriage to be reported by any of the Left’s agitprop “news” organs.

Vatican City, Sep 10, 2015: Pope Francis told couples, “The family – as God wants it, composed of a man and a woman for the good of the spouses and also the generation and education of children – is deformed by powerful contrary projects supported by ideological colonization.”

Sources:

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by | September 10, 2015 · 2:00 am

Pope Francis has reformed the annulment process

On September 8, the Holy See released a pair of documents by Pope Francis which reform the way in which the Church handles annulments.

1) What is an annulment? Is it the same thing as a divorce?

A CHURCH annulment (formally known as a “declaration of nullity”) is a ruling that something was so gravely wrong at the time of the wedding that no SACRAMENTAL marriage came into existence. A CIVIL divorce dissolves a CIVIL marriage.

2) Why are annulments an important issue in the Catholic Church?

Jesus Christ expressly taught that if two people divorce and then remarry, they are committing the grave sin of adultery (Mark 10:11-12). Because of this teaching, the Church cannot simply give divorced people permission to remarry. To do so would be to give them permission to commit adultery.

Pope Francis blessed marriage

3) How does the annulment process work?

When a man and a woman have divorced, they can contact the appropriate diocese and have their marriage investigated to see if it was valid. This process could be simple or lengthy, depending on the nature of the case and the forms of evidence available.  A SACRAMENTAL marriage is only valid if both man and woman were free of coercion and fully capable of fully committing to the union at the time the vows were made.   Pregnancy might be one reason a couple felt coerced.  Addiction might be one reason a couple was not capable.

4) What has Pope Francis done?

He has issued two motu proprio documents. A motu proprio is somewhat similar to a presidential executive order in that it is issued on the pope’s initiative for the purpose of establishing or clarifying matters of church administration. Just as a presidential executive order is not supposed to create or change federal law, so too does a motu proprio not deal with church doctrine.

5) Why has Pope Francis done this?

He did so out of a desire to make the annulment process more efficient. In many parts of the world, the process has been notoriously slow and difficult.

6) What changes did Pope Francis make to the process?

Unless you’re familiar with the annulment process, you wouldn’t understand the significance of the changes. But if you care, you can read more at the link below.  These changes take effect December 8, 2015, which will be the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Sources:

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Filed under Marriage & Family Life, Pope Francis

by | July 3, 2015 · 10:50 am

Absolutely no grounds

Pope Francis on gay marriage

Bishop Joseph Strickland has issued a statement to be read after Sunday’s Gospel throughout the Diocese of Tyler, Texas.

“Let me unambiguously state at the outset that this extremely unfortunate decision by our government is unjust and immoral, and it is our duty to clearly and emphatically oppose it. … there are absolutely no grounds for considering unions between two persons of the same sex to be in any way similar to God’s plan for marriage and the family. … what God has revealed and what the Church therefore holds to be true about marriage has not changed and is unchangeable. … We know that unjust laws and other measures contrary to the moral order are not binding in conscience, thus we must now exercise our right to conscientious objection against this interpretation of our law which is contrary to the common good and the true understanding of marriage.”

Source:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/bishop-to-all-mass-goers-catholics-have-duty-to-emphatically-oppose-marriag

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by | June 24, 2015 · 1:54 am

Spin-the-Pope

Spin the Pope - spinner

The latest version of the popular “Spin-the-Pope” game features what Freedom Outpost cast as the “Pope’s New Inquisition: You Can’t Make Guns & Call Yourself a Christian.” Never MIND that most of the pontiff’s remarks that day were about HUMAN TRAFFICKING and never MIND that his specific comment about weapons manufacturing was aimed at arms dealers who FUND WARS FOR PROFIT.

The Left is all, “Yay! The pope is for gun control!”, while the Right is all, “Boo! The pope is against self-defense.”

Spin the pope - 3 kinds of people

I really wish people would take his comments in the FULL CONTEXT of Catholic teaching. Take this gun thing, for example. Jesus never condemned soldiers. And the Catholic Catechism [2264] says,

“Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality. Therefore it is legitimate to insist on respect for one’s own right to life. Someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow.”

The pontiff is also not stupid; he obviously knows his own Swiss Guards are heavily armed. Again from the Catholic Catechism [2265],

“Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility.”

Jesus said some pretty wild stuff that, taken out of context, would make dramatic headlines too. For example, “if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.” [Matthew 5:30]  In context, this is a dramatic statement about the deadly, malignant nature of sin; out of context, it sounds like support for self-mutilation.

Some say Pope Francis should just shut up. Frankly, I find that really offensive. He’s my pastor. It’s his JOB to help Catholics like me apply Christ’s teachings in our highly politicized world. The fact that some of his statements can be spun OUT OF CONTEXT to support someone else’s agendas is not his fault. It’s the fault of those who ignore 99.99% of what he says and stands for, yet somehow feel justified in spinning the .01% to support their own agendas.

Source:

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by | June 20, 2015 · 5:37 am

Huh?

2015_06 18 NARAL on encyclical

Source:
http://twitchy.com/2015/06/19/who-knew-naral-has-an-epiphany-about-popes-stance-on-issue-other-than-climate-change/

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by | June 19, 2015 · 5:10 am

The Left is giddy … but

The eco-encyclical is out … all 184 pages of it. And, sad to me, Pope Francis did say he thinks climate change should be of grave concern. Pbltt.

I gotta say, I’m not entirely surprised that Satan has managed to use him to make a non-doctrinal statement that will help Anti-Christ become dictator of the world.

But let me reiterate in the strongest terms. It’s NON-DOCTRINAL.

We were only promised that the Holy Spirit would protect the teaching authority of the Church on issues of faith and morals.

The Pope has no more authority or expertise in climate science than does Al Gore.

Consider how very, very helpful the U.S. Bishops were in shoving Obamacare down our throats.  WE WARNED THEM the Left would use it to violate our religious freedoms, but they patted us on the head and told us we were just being so, so silly.

But back to the encyclical. Predictably, the Pontiff’s opinion about climate change is the ONLY thing the Left is interested in discussing.

2015_06 18 UN climate chief on encyclical

Pope Francis said the following in his encyclical as well.

“It is enough to recognize that our body itself establishes us in a direct relationship with the environment and with other living beings. The acceptance of our bodies as God’s gift is vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home, whereas thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our own bodies turns, often subtly, into thinking that we enjoy absolute power over creation. Learning to accept our body, to care for it and to respect its fullest meaning, is an essential element of any genuine human ecology. Also, valuing one’s own body in its femininity or masculinity is necessary if I am going to be able to recognize myself in an encounter with someone who is different. In this way we can joyfully accept the specific gifts of another man or woman, the work of God the Creator, and find mutual enrichment. It is not a healthy attitude which would seek ‘to cancel out sexual difference because it no longer knows how to confront it’.”

And,

Since everything is interrelated, concern for the protection of nature is also incompatible with the justification of abortion. How can we genuinely teach the importance of concern for other vulnerable beings, however troublesome or inconvenient they may be, if we fail to protect a human embryo, even when its presence is uncomfortable and creates difficulties? ‘If personal and social sensitivity towards the acceptance of the new life is lost, then other forms of acceptance that are valuable for society also wither away’.”

Sooooo … if somebody tries to heap Pope Guilt on you for being a Catholic Climate Skeptic, explain that Pope Francis has zero teaching authority on the issue of climate science and, oh by the way, on those issues of FAITH AND MORALS where he DOES have authority?  He upheld Catholic Tradition about sexual differences and abortion.

ENCYCLICAL LETTER
LAUDATO SI’
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FRANCIS
ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME
http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

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