TrapCast Express
TrapCast Express, it's Monday, November 1st, 2021.
A new full-length TrapCast episode is currently in production.
TrapCast 31 to be released in a few days.
Meanwhile, let's take a few moments and address what happened in the Vatican this past Friday, October 29th.
You've no doubt heard about it already, but there's quite a bit to say on this.
White House resident Joe Biden paid an official visit to Jorge Bergoglio,
the Argentinian apostate who goes by the stage name Pope Francis.
The meeting between the two went unusually long,
and judging from photos and video footage released by the Vatican,
it was evident that the two got along extremely well.
One day prior, the Vatican had announced that, contrary to the usual custom,
it would not be providing or permitting live video of the meeting, only edited footage afterwards.
Okay.
After his visit on Friday, Biden went to see Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
It was at that encounter that journalists threw some questions at him about his meeting with Francis.
The Associated Press reports,
quote,
President Joe Biden said the issue of abortion did not come up in his meeting with Pope Francis,
but that the pontiff told him he should continue to receive communion,
despite calls from conservatives to deny him the sacrament over his stance.
Speaking to reporters after his 75-minute private office,
the audience with the Pope,
Biden said Francis told him he was happy I'm a good Catholic
and that he should keep receiving communion, unquote.
After that bombshell, journalists contacted the Vatican Press Office
for a confirmation or denial of Biden's claim.
Now, can you guess what the department head, Matteo Bruni, said in response?
If you've paid attention to Vatican Communications,
in the last few years, you probably can.
The long and the short of Bruni's answer was,
no comment.
The so-called National Catholic Register reports,
quote,
The Vatican declined to comment Friday on U.S. President Joe Biden's statement
that Pope Francis encouraged him to keep receiving Holy Communion during a private audience.
The Vatican, which has a longstanding policy,
of not commenting on specific statements attributed to the Pope during private meetings,
emphasized that the encounter between the two men on October 29th
was a private conversation, unquote.
Now, that, of course, is a disingenuous cop-out.
Yes, the conversation had no doubt been private,
but considering that one of the two interlocutors
had now made a purported part of the conversation public,
it is now a public matter.
More specifically, it is now a public scandal.
Therefore, if we go by the principles of Catholic moral theology,
it is now necessary for this public scandal to be repaired likewise in public.
That means that if what Biden said about the meeting is not true,
then Francis now has a moral obligation to deny it,
and unequivocally, in public.
He cannot hide behind the excuse that it was a private conversation.
It may have been then, but it is no longer, at least not that specific part of it.
In any case, why make a podcast about this?
Because it is a perfect example of how Pope Francis harms souls,
all the while playing innocent lamb in the process.
Let me explain.
What we see in this latest installment of the insufferable theological freak show
that is the Bergolian pseudo-pontificate
is the exact same pattern we've seen, for example,
with his numerous interviews with Italian journalist
and former Catholic-turned-atheist Eugenio Scalfari.
This is how it works.
First, Francis meets with someone for a conversation.
Then that person reveals...
some of what Francis allegedly said to him,
something outrageous or scandalous.
Then all hell breaks loose,
but the Vatican declines to comment,
won't confirm or deny,
and reacts evasively.
It was private, you see.
Francis himself, of course,
though he always has something to say about just about anything,
miraculously manages to remain silent.
He's too busy enjoying the show,
but he doesn't know what's going to happen next.
The effect of that is that the claim about the outrageous thing Francis allegedly said
goes unrefuted, and so the scandal spreads unmitigated.
Then, the next stage in the process is that
Novus Ordo apologists are asked about the matter.
We're talking people like Tim Staples, Jimmy Akin, Patrick Madrid, Dave Armstrong,
and other people like that,
especially from the California-based group,
Catholic Answers, here in the United States.
They're asked to weigh in and explain or somehow mitigate the scandal.
What do they do?
Well, of course, they point out that the person Francis met with
only claims that Francis said this outrageous thing,
and we can't know that that's actually true.
After all, Francis and the Vatican haven't confirmed it.
And besides,
since it's an outrageous thing,
then that person must surely be lying about it,
or maybe misunderstood it.
And we have to give Francis the benefit of the doubt.
Anything else would be a sin,
a calumny against the Pope.
Meanwhile, the person who met with Francis
gets to claim victory because he, or she,
can continue to spread the claim
that Francis said this outrageous thing
without any opposition,
or contradiction from Francis or the Vatican.
At the same time, however,
Novus Ordo apologists also get to claim victory
because they can maintain,
likewise, without opposition from the Vatican,
that we don't know that Francis actually said that.
And being the good and non-judgmental Catholics we are,
we have to presume that he didn't.
Right?
And so, everyone gets what they want.
But the conservatives,
the conservatives console themselves
with the idea that the claim is probably not true
and Francis is still a good, Catholic,
totally valid Pope.
They've convinced themselves
that giving him the umpteenth benefit of the doubt
is the morally upright, decent, and humble thing to do.
On the flip side,
the liberals have their stance confirmed as well,
taking the unrefuted and undisputed claim
about Francis' scandalous remarks,
at face value.
End result?
Both sides claim victory,
while Francis plays innocent lamb,
and yet, at the same time,
unmitigated damage to souls is being done
throughout the world.
It is a devilishly clever ploy,
and Francis is a master at it.
Over the last eight and a half years,
we've seen it again and again.
What's next?
Well,
the commentary circus will begin again.
So-called Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò
has already released a letter condemning the scandal,
and you know that Bishop Athanasius Schneider
surely has a number of interviews lined up
to provide his commentary on the whole fiasco.
Then we may hear from cardinals,
Raymond Burke or Gerhard Muller as well,
who will express their outrage
or disagreement
until eventually the controversy
either dies down
or is overshadowed
by the next Bergoglian scandal,
which is sure to come.
That, ladies and gentlemen,
is how it works.
That is the way Francis operates.
It's not a hapless shortcoming
of his fake pontificate.
It's a feature.
And it's not hard to see that.
Just ask yourself the following.
Imagine if someone was to say,
if some other politician,
one Francis has made a point to criticize in the past,
for example, the Italian Matteo Salvini,
imagine if such a man had met with him
and then after the fact claimed
that Francis told him he's a good Catholic,
a good Christian,
and that he should keep up his good political work.
Do you really think that Francis and the Vatican
would now be silent?
Do you really think that Francis and the Vatican
would now be silent?
Do you really think they would say,
oh, well, that was private.
We can't comment on that.
If you believe that,
I think I have some oceanfront property
in Wyoming to sell you.
Yesterday, the modernist English rag,
The Tablet,
published an article by Christopher Lamb
with the title,
Pope Biden Meeting,
A Rebuke to Communion Deniers.
Well, of course it is.
And if you permit me to express a theory I have,
that was probably the primary reason
for the meeting to begin with.
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