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Category Archives: Pope Francis
What Pope Francis actually said
I’ve been seeing Left-leaning politicized headlines about a recent statement by Pope Francis suggesting that he agrees with the Obamacrats about the border crisis. Uhhhhhh … no. His words are being taken out of context in two ways.
- The Bishop of Rome is not a political position, but a spiritual one. Pope Francis is to be taken very seriously when he teaches or preaches on issues of faith and morals. This speech he gave is a pastoral message; interpreting it as a political manifesto is inappropriate.
- His statement is much more generalized and non-political than leftist sources are suggesting. The words and phrases they’re quoting to suggest he supports amnesty and open borders are taken out of context. His complete statement @ https://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=130964.
I hope you’ll note that he’s speaking to a Mexican audience. His command that “these children be welcomed and protected” should perhaps be directed first and foremost at the Mexican government that is enabling the wholesale transfer of unaccompanied minors from Central America ACROSS their own territory and into the United States.
I hope you’ll also note that he specifically mentions finding LEGAL remedies to the problems of immigration and that he speaks globally, to all nations and peoples. Obamacrats want to use his words to condemn Americans who believe the most compassionate thing we can do is to enforce our laws and return the children to their parents. I think his actual words could more truthfully be used to condemn the way the kids are actually being treated by the Obama administration, with its closed facilities and refusal to allow compassionate citizens to provide aid or comfort in any way.
Filed under Immigration, Pope Francis
Dating the Medjugorje Anniversaries of Jesus’ Public Ministry
In my April 19, 2014 blog “A Timeline for the Ministry of Jesus” @ https://polination.wordpress.com/2014/04/19/a-timeline-for-the-ministry-of-jesus/, I proposed a calendar of Jesus’ public ministry.
In my April 20, 2014 blog “Is Mary’s Medjugorje timeline related to Jesus’ First Coming?” @ https://polination.wordpress.com/2014/04/20/is-marys-medjugorje-timeline-related-to-jesus-first-coming/, I explained my little idea that Mary’s appearances at Medjugorje may be retracing the days of Jesus’ First Coming. I am aware of two different prophecies suggesting Pope Francis will be our last pope.
Today, I want to show you the dates of Jesus’ public ministry and their Medjugorje anniversaries.
One thing that jumps out at me is that the Medjugorje anniversary of Jesus’ baptism was at the beginning of 2013.
In my June 28, 2013 blog “Dating the End of the World” @ https://polination.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/dating-the-end-of-the-world/, I explained how I had used the prophecy in Daniel 12:5-13 to calculate a possible date for the beginning of the End Times. My calculation netted the year 2013.
At the time, I thought maybe this meant the 7-year treaty would happen before the end of 2013. When 2013 ended with no sign of a treaty, I tucked my Daniel calculation away in a “mustagotthatwrong” folder. It keeps me humble. 🙂 But now, shebang … here it is. 2013. And not just some time in 2013, but the very beginning of 2013. So maybe what I got wrong wasn’t the Daniel calculation, but what it meant in the End Times calendar.
Another thing I stumbled on was that the Medjugorje anniversary of the wedding at Cana was Pope Francis’ first day on the job and that one of the first things he did was go to a Marian church to pray for guidance. I am aware of two different prophecies suggesting Pope Francis will be our last pope.
This Medjugorje anniversary thing has got me thinking there’s a lot more to God’s End Times calendar than just the seven years between the big treaty and the final war!
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Filed under Bible Prophecy, Pope Francis
Pope Francis: Leading by example
Traditionally, popes have heard confessions of some faithful in the basilica on Good Friday morning. But Francis had the service three weeks early.
And he surprised his master of ceremonies by going to confession in public himself. After receiving absolution, Pope Francis went to another confessional and spent about 40 minutes hearing confessions.
Pope Francis on penance: Conversion is not just for Lent [2:37]
In his homily, the Pope said following God’s call to conversion is not supposed to happen only during Lent, but is a lifetime commitment. When hearts are renewed and “created in God’s way” good behavior follows, he said. For example,
“always speaking the truth and steering clear of all lies; no stealing, but rather, sharing what one has with others, especially with those in need; not giving in to anger, rancor and revenge, but being meek, magnanimous and ready to forgive; not taking part in malicious gossip that ruins the good name of people, but looking mainly for the good side in everyone.”
God’s love cannot be held inside, he said.
“It’s open by its very nature; it spreads and is fruitful. It always generates new love.”
In that missionary spirit, the penitential liturgy opened an initiative called “24 Hours for the Lord” sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation.
The council asked dioceses around the world to have at least one parish open all day and night on March 28, so that anyone could go to Confession and take part in Eucharistic Adoration. It’s part of the Pope’s focus on celebrating God’s mercy and power of forgiveness.
Pope Francis has urged priests not to be too lax or too harsh during Confession and to make sure people always know when the sacrament of reconciliation is available.
“Let’s not forget that the faithful often struggle to take part in the sacrament, both for practical reasons and because of the natural difficulty in confessing one’s own sins to another person. For that reason we have to work really hard on who we are, on our humanity, so as to never be an obstacle, but to always help people be drawn to mercy and forgiveness.”
He also spoke about Confession during a public audience in February saying,
“Everyone say to himself: ‘When was the last time I went to confession?’ And if it has been a long time, don’t lose another day! Go, the priest will be good. And Jesus, (will be) there, and Jesus is better than the priests – Jesus receives you. He will receive you with so much love! Be courageous, and go to confession.”
He also said,
“The sacrament of reconciliation is a sacrament of healing. When I go to confession, it’s for healing: healing the soul, healing the heart because of something that I did to make it unwell.”
Sources:
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Filed under Catholic Church, Pope Francis
Jump in! Get it all!
This is a FANTASTIC video. Please watch it. Please. Please. Please. Sit down in a quiet room with a prayerful spirit and watch it ALL. You will be moved, uplifted, informed and amused. Really.
- “It’s the glory that glues us together, not the doctrine.”
- “We are saved by grace through faith to good works.”
Pope Francis and Bishop Tony Palmer — Message at KCM [46:56]
N.b., there are YouTube stand-alones of the 7 minute greeting by Pope Francis. This is included in the long video towards the end, where it was played originally at the KCM conference after Bishop Palmer spoke. If you watch just the pope’s part, you miss a LOT. Bishop Palmer’s talk is just too good to miss and it makes the pope’s part very much more meaningful.
Evangelical leaders praying for and blessing Pope Francis? “Heaven is thrilled over this!” And my eyes are leaking.
H/t ZMalfoy
Filed under Christianity, Pope Francis
The days when a real Catholic could be a Democrat are OVER
The Republican Party’s 2012 platform calls for a ban on abortion, but is silent on exceptions, leaving that decision up to Congress and the states.
The Democrat Party’s 2012 platform calls for unlimited abortion, regardless of ability to pay.
Sources:
Filed under Abortion, Barack Obama, Catholic Church, Democrats, Life Issues, Pope Francis, Republicans
Pope Francis praises the internet
From Pope Francis – January 24, 2014
Excerpts:
Media can help us to feel closer to one another, creating a sense of the unity of the human family which can in turn inspire solidarity and serious efforts to ensure a more dignified life for all.
The internet, in particular, offers immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity. This is something truly good, a gift from God.
This is not to say that certain problems do not exist, [but] they do not justify rejecting social media; rather, they remind us that communication is ultimately a human rather than technological achievement.
Communication is really about realizing that we are all human beings, children of God. We need to love and to be loved. We need tenderness. By means of the internet, the Christian message can reach “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Effective Christian witness is not about bombarding people with religious messages, but about our willingness to be available to others “by patiently and respectfully engaging their questions and their doubts as they advance in their search for the truth and the meaning of human existence” (BENEDICT XVI, Message for the 47th World Communications Day, 2013).
We have to be able to dialogue with the men and women of today, to understand their expectations, doubts and hopes, and to bring them the Gospel, Jesus Christ himself, God incarnate, who died and rose to free us from sin and death.
Let our communication be a balm which relieves pain and a fine wine which gladdens hearts.
Read the rest @
Filed under Christianity, Pope Francis
Feed them
Jan 13, 2014: Pope Francis: Baptism is the long chain of faith [1:19]
Pope Francis formally welcomed 32 babies into the Catholic church, pouring water from a shell-shaped dish over their heads and pronouncing their names one by one, as beaming parents held their children, dressed in white satin or silk gowns and other finery, in the chapel whose ceiling was frescoed by Michelangelo.
“If they are hungry, mothers, feed them, without thinking twice. Because they are the most important people here,” he said in the same chapel where he was elected as the first Latin American pope.
In his homily, Pope Francis emphasized the greatest and most important legacy that parents should leave to their children is the faith, following the unbroken chain of tradition begun by Jesus Himself.
Although He “had no need of being baptized,” Jesus, “with His body, with His Divinity, in Baptism blessed all the waters, so that water might have the ability to give Baptism.”
The first baptisms by the new pontiff occurred on the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord.
H/t LW
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Filed under Catholic Church, Pope Francis
Reuters shocked Pope is Catholic
Conservatives, in a nod to intelligence and good journalism, suggest this may be the stupidest headline and premise of a story ever and ponder, if the Pope is still Catholic, is it too late for TIME to rescind that Man of the Year thing.
Tweets:
- So the Pope is STILL Catholic. Thanks @Reuters.
- Wow, the Church is Pro-Life. Who would’ve thunk?
- Wow, I haven’t been this surprised since Obamacare imploded on the launchpad.
- The stupid is strong with the lamestream media.
- These liberal reporters actually think there’s a debate going on within the Church about abortion.
- Reuters, in nod to liberals, calls itself “news.”
- In nod to conservatives? How about “In nod to God’s teachings”?
- Is Reuters stupid? I don’t know. Is the Pope Catholic?
- Pope, in nod to conservatives, says Sunday Mass still “pretty much a requirement, guys, for real, don’t skip it.”
- The Pope was holding a bible during his statement, but @reuters incorrectly described it as an AR-15 shotgun.
- Pope, in nod to conservatives, believes in God.
- Wait till @Reuters finds out the Pope thinks Jesus was divine. It’s. About. To Get. Real.
Source:
Filed under Abortion, Catholic Church, Media Bias, Pope Francis
A pastor with the smell of sheep
Father Baez is a parish priest in Pope Francis’s former Archdiocese of Buenos Aires. He arrived in Rome late Jan. 7 and headed over to St. Peter’s Square the next day.
Pope Francis saw him from a distance and yelled to him, “What are you doing here?”
And he yelled back, “I came to see you!”
The pope had the driver stop the vehicle. He gestured to the priest to come.
“And I ran as best I could,” squeezing past the people pressed in front of him, past the large wooden barricades snaking through the square and past a large security detail that is now used to protocol being thrown to the wind.
The pope said, “Come, get on!” and gave the priest an empty seat next to his papal assistant.
Father Baez said that later, when he thought about it, he felt that phrase “Come, get on” was also meant for the whole world.
“When he invited me, he invited all priests to be near the people,” he said, and the pope was also inviting all people “to stand up, rise up and go,” and lift their hearts and lives up to the Lord.
Father Baez spoke very fondly of his former bishop. “He showed all of us priests how to be a priest, how to care for people, to be a pastor with the smell of sheep.”
Pope Francis’ homily Jan. 9 during his morning Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he lives, was about what Jesus meant by love.
Jesus “speaks to us of concrete things: feed the hungry, visit the sick. When there isn’t this concreteness, one can be living a Christianity of illusion because the person doesn’t really understand the core of Jesus’ message,” he said.
The pope said there were two things that make Christian love concrete. “First, love with actions, not with words. The wind whisks words away; today they’re here, tomorrow they’re not,” he said.
The second thing is “for love, it’s more important to give than receive. A person who loves, gives and gives,” he said, while someone who doesn’t love “is self-centered, always tries to receive, always looks to have things, have perks.”
Instead, people need to have an “open heart” that isn’t hardened against God.
Sources:
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1400084.htm
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/08/pope-francis-friend-argentina-popemobile
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Filed under Catholic Church, Christianity, Pope Francis
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