AKA Catholic, October 21, 2016
According to Vatican News Service, a common declaration has been issued bearing the signatures of both “HIS GRACE JUSTIN WELBY” and “HIS HOLINESS FRANCIS” proposing to send “out on mission together 19 pairs of Anglican and Catholic bishops from countries around the world.”
The document is precisely what one might expect in this post-conciliar age of radical ecumenism; namely, a grave offense against Christ and an embarrassment to the faithful.
It’s more than that, though; it’s yet another indication of the faith, or lack thereof, of its signatories.
The text refers, not only to the heretic layman Justin Welby before whom “His Holiness Francis” scandalously bowed his head for a blessing during at least one of his visits to Rome, but also to an assortment of various other heretic laymen as “Archbishop,” in total, more than half-a-dozen times.
The declaration proposes to “commission” nineteen other fake bishops of the Anglican kind along with an equal number of Catholic bishops “to send them forth in pairs as the Lord sent out the seventy-two disciples.”
Seriously?
I was unaware that among the seventy-two sent forth by Our Lord were men and women who reject such fundamental truths of the Faith as that concerning the Most Holy Eucharist, the priesthood, Holy Mass, the Blessed Virgin Mary and yet embrace homosexual activity, contraception and even abortion.
When Our Lord sent out the seventy-two, He said, “Behold I send you as lambs among wolves.” (Luke 10:3)
Francis, by contrast, is sending forth wolves among the lambs!
The word “Apostle” means “one who is sent forth;” either directly by Christ or by His Church.
Here we have Francis sending forth a collection of nineteen heretic laymen and women pretending to be bishops “to give voice to our common faith in the Lord Jesus Christ;” as if they have some legitimate claim to Apostolic succession.
Those who hold and profess the Catholic faith know better.
Pope Leo XIII definitively removed any and all doubt in this matter:
Wherefore, strictly adhering, in this matter, to the decrees of the pontiffs, our predecessors, and confirming them most fully, and, as it were, renewing them by our authority, of our own initiative and certain knowledge, we pronounce and declare that ordinations carried out according to the Anglican rite have been, and are, absolutely null and utterly void. (Apostolicae Curae 36)
At any time prior to the Age of Fruitless Dialogue inaugurated at Vatican Council II, no cleric (much less a pope) would have addressed costumed heretic laymen and women as “bishop” much less deign to send them out on a joint mission “to be Christ’s witnesses” along with actual (albeit pathetic in their own right) bishops, as if to imply that the former enjoys legitimate Apostolic succession.
Big deal, he’s done much worse!
Indeed, but there can be no doubt that this preposterous declaration is enough to lead a sincere soul in search of the true faith to believe that one does just as well to take up membership in a Lutheran community, perhaps even under the leadership of a lesbian “bishop,” as in the one Church of Christ.
Again, those who hold and profess the Catholic faith know better, but the terrible question that one is forced to ask is simply this:
Does Francis believe as Catholics believe?
With every passing day this question becomes more urgent, but let’s be clear:
Ours is not to judge the interior disposition of Jorge Bergoglio’s soul. That’s Our Lord’s job.
That said, making observations based on objective reality is entirely appropriate; indeed, given the degree to which so many are confused in our day, it is entirely necessary!
One can scarcely deny that there is precious little evidence that “His Holiness Francis” actually holds the Catholic faith; not just on the matter of Anglican ordinations, but on a whole host of others – including such fundamentally important matters as marriage, mortal sin, the Blessedness of Our Lady, the Real Presence of Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist, and on and on the list could go.
By contrast, there is an overwhelming amount of evidence – namely, his own well-documented words and deeds – that indicate, and very strongly so, that Francis holds to some highly personalized version of Protestantism that may more properly be understood as a form of secular humanism.
The entire purpose of this “joint commissioning” with the heretics is stated in the declaration:
“The world must see us witnessing to this common faith in Jesus by acting together. We can, and must, work together to protect and preserve our common home: living, teaching and acting in ways that favour a speedy end to the environmental destruction that offends the Creator and degrades his creatures, and building individual and collective patterns of behaviour that foster a sustainable and integral development for the good of all.”
Remove the flowery pseudo-Christian prose from this screed and it’s really nothing more glorious than a call to environmental activism worthy of the U.N.
For Francis, if it takes blurring the lines between the one true Church of Jesus Christ and a gathering of heretics posing as clerics to get on with the task of “sustainable development,” so be it.
Now you tell me, are these the priorities of a Catholic?
Truly, we live in a day when the man considered by most of the world to be the Vicar of Christ on earth shows forth every appearance of being, at best, a lukewarm Protestant; at worst, a dyed-in-the-wool humanist.
The situation couldn’t be more serious.
We must pray for Francis – quite literally, for his conversion, that he might come to embrace, teach, and defend the Catholic faith in its fullness. His soul, as well as that of countless others is at stake.
We must also pray for those in the sacred hierarchy who recognize the seriousness of this situation and yet are paralyzed – whether by fear, or careerism, or whatever the case may be – that they may be granted the grace to speak up loudly and clearly in defense of the flock, for truly, wolves in clerical clothing now roam freely among the lambs.