TrapCast Express
TrapCast Express, it's Monday, December 10th, 2018.
Don't you hate it when that happens?
You've been spouting heresy the better part of your life,
and then in one particular case you're a little ambiguous,
and boom, immediately someone accuses you of orthodoxy.
Well, obviously you can't let that go unrefuted,
so you've got to jump into action and clarify that you really did mean heresy.
No? Never happened to you? Good.
But that's what happened the other day with Father Joseph Ratzinger,
better known by his stage name, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
On November 28th, the Boston Pilot reported,
quote,
Retired Pope Benedict XVI sent a letter courting,
directing a German theologian who implied that the former pontiff
encouraged the evangelization of the Jewish people as a mission.
In a message sent to the German monthly Herder Korrespondenz,
Pope Benedict responded to an article in which Michael Bornke, the theologian,
criticized the pope and accused him of advocating proselytism.
Judaism and Christianity are two ways of interpreting the scriptures,
the former pope said.
The accusation in the article is
Grotesque nonsense and has nothing to do with what I said about it.
I therefore reject his article as a completely false insinuation.
Unquote.
Well, thanks for the clarification, Razzi.
Not that we really needed it, but, you know, it doesn't hurt.
For more information on this, please see our post,
Benedict XVI, No Mission to the Jews, Just Dialogue.
We published that on November 26th at our blog at
novusortowatch.org slash wire.
Remember this incident as a case in point next time some recognize-and-resist trad
tries to tell you that we cannot know that something the pope said
that sounds heretical was actually meant in a heretical sense.
The false Novus Ordo popes are quite capable of clarifying ambiguous statements
when they want to.
It's just that when they do finally clarify something,
it's to reinforce the heretical sense, not the orthodox sense.
Oops.
In other news, when you have a pope who isn't Catholic,
or when you think you have one,
you kind of start wondering whether you really should be praying
for the intentions of the Holy Father,
as is required to gain a plenary indulgence.
In an article published at First Things today,
entitled Pray for the Pope,
author Michael Warren Davis writes,
And, of course, a good bishop is something Francis definitely isn't.
Neither good nor a bishop.
Davis then continues,
and says that that was a mistake,
and so that he resumed praying for Francis
after reading the following quote from St. Catherine of Siena.
Quote,
Even if the pope were Satan incarnate,
we ought not to raise up our heads against him,
but calmly lie down to rest on his bosom.
He who rebels against our father is condemned to death,
for that which we do to him we do to Christ.
We honor Christ if we honor the pope.
We dishonor Christ if we dishonor.
We honor the pope.
I know very well that many defend themselves by boasting,
they are so corrupt and work all manner of evil.
But God has commanded that even if the priests,
the pastors, and Christ on earth were incarnate devils,
we be obedient and subject to them,
not for their sakes, but for the sake of God,
and out of obedience to him.
Unquote.
Unfortunately, Davis doesn't cite a source
for these alleged words of St. Catherine of Siena,
but let's take them at face value,
St. Catherine is obviously using some hyperbole
because, for one thing, Satan cannot ever be incarnate.
But she's obviously talking about,
and this is the important point,
a morally wicked, corrupt, evil pope
who nevertheless professes the true faith.
In other words, a really, really, really bad Catholic.
And indeed, our submission to an immoral pope
must be the same as to a saintly pope.
Which is precisely why the Catholic doctrine on the papacy
never distinguishes between morally good and morally bad popes,
except to say, for example, that the church in her faith
is equally protected, not from, but by the pope.
Here is what Pius XII said, for instance,
in the address Ancora Una Volta of February 20th, 1949.
Quote,
The pope has the divine promises.
Even in his human weaknesses,
he is invincible,
and unshakable.
He is the messenger of truth and justice,
the principle of the unity of the church.
His voice denounces errors, idolatries, superstitions.
He condemns iniquities.
He makes charity and virtue loved.
Unquote.
The pope, the pope as such,
regardless of whether he's a murderer, a fornicator, or a thief,
that's because the papacy was created by God, not by man.
Only God can guarantee,
that the pope will always be the rule and guardian of orthodoxy,
despite any sinful life he may lead to the scandal of many.
And we even see this verified in church history.
As Fr. Fernand Mouret writes in Volume 3 of his History of the Catholic Church,
quote,
Divine Providence, watching over the church,
miraculously preserved the deposit of faith
of which this young voluptuary,
Pope John XII,
was the guardian.
This pope's life was a monstrous scandal,
but his bularium is faultless.
We cannot sufficiently admire this prodigy.
There is not a heretic or a schismatic
who has not endeavored to legitimate his own conduct dogmatically.
Fauchus tried to justify his pride,
Luther his sensual passions,
Calvin his cold cruelty.
Neither Sergius III, nor John XII,
nor Benedict IX, nor Alexander VI,
Supreme Pontiff,
definers of the faith,
certain of being heard and obeyed by the whole church,
uttered from the height of their apostolic pulpit
a single word
that could be an approval of their disorders.
Unquote.
Now, of course, this applies only to true popes,
and that's why the divine promises
are not realized in the Novus Ordo,
popes,
because they are not true popes.
By the way,
this whole business of praying for the intentions
of the Holy Father to gain a plenary,
indulgence has nothing to do with whether the pope is good or bad, because he must necessarily
be a Catholic, and as such, his intentions always include the following, according to the sacred
congregation of indulgences, the progress of the faith and the triumph of the church, peace and
union among Christian princes and rulers, the conversion of sinners, and the uprooting of
heresy. And you can find this printed in the preliminary pages of the Raccolta, the traditional
Catholic manual of indulgences approved by the Holy See. Well, one thing's pretty clear. Those
intentions are definitely not the intentions of Francis. Progress of the faith and triumph of the
church can be a break. That smacks of rigid certainties, no room for doubt, proselytism,
and especially triumphalism.
Peace and union among Christian princes and rulers? Forget it. Francis doesn't believe in
Christian nations or societies. He wants religious liberty and separation of church and state.
Conversion of sinners? Well, maybe, but definitely not to Catholicism. Uprooting of heresy?
Good one. So, no, these intentions are definitely not the intentions of Jorge Bergoglio.
They're quite incompatible.
With Pope Francis. Now, what might that tell us?
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