Category Archives: News

Pope Francis the Charismatic

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“Before beginning this celebration, I bring you a greeting. Before I left this morning, I was with Pope Francis, and I told him: ‘Holy Father, I have to leave soon. I’m going to Rimini where there are thousands upon thousands of faithful of the Charismatic Renewal: men, women and young people.’ With a great smile, the Pope said: ‘Tell them that I love them very much!’ Upon leaving the Holy Father, Archbishop Fisichella recounted, the Holy Father added: ‘Look, tell them that I love them very much because I was responsible for Charismatic Renewal in Argentina, and that’s why I love them very much.’”

I would suggest that the influence of the charismatic movement is evident in many of the words and actions of Pope Francis.  In particular, the following strikes me noteworthy: Continue reading →

Confronted with the Truth

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Pope Francis does not mince words in his daily homilies: calling the attempt to tame the Holy Spirit in the work of the Second Vatican Council, stubbornness and foolishness; and then several days latter saying that “ideologues,” from whatever side they come, “falsify the gospel.”

And these ideologues, as we have seen in the history of the Church, end up being intellectuals without talent, ethicists without goodness – and let us not so much as mention beauty, of which they understand nothing.

Pope Francis says that the solution is the humility by which one welcomes the Word of God, not only into one’s head, but also into one’s heart.  He says that the doctors of the law in our Lord’s time were too heady:  they knew the law, but they were unconverted:

They are the ones who walk only ‘on the path of duty,’” theirs is the moralistic (outlook) of those who pretend to understand the Gospel with their heads alone.

Today he speaks of “lukewarm Christians,” “Christian satellites” who want to have a small Church, and “walk only in the presence of common sense,” building a Church according their specifications for their little group.

Hard words about hard words (Jn 6:60).

I have written much on this blog about ideology on the left and right in the Church.  Ideologies are unhelpful, whether they have to do with turning sex into mysticism or a crisis into the apocalypse.  Thank God, once again, for Pope Francis.

Rorate Caeli and Marcelo Gonzalez Dig Themselves In Deeper

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Marcelo Gonzalez is the Argentinian blogger who was the source for Rorate Caeli’s report on the status of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass in Beunos Aires under Cardinal Bergoglio. Dawn Eden pointed, from one of Gonzalez’s articles that he is a Holocaust denier and also called his report on the status of EF under Cardinal Bergoglio a “smear.” A controversy has ensued.

Rorate Caeli has defended the accuracy of Gozalez’s report and seems to be correct that Cardinal Bergoglio provided only one priest for the EF, who celebrated only a “hybrid mass.” Apparently, this was unacceptable to the Latin Mass community and so poorly attended that it was discontinued. But the report of Gozalez, as reproduced by Rorate Caeli, begins thus:

Of all the unthinkable candidates, Jorge Mario Bergoglio is perhaps the worst. Not because he openly professes doctrines against the faith and morals, but because, judging from his work as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, faith and moral seem to have been irrelevant to him.

Continue reading →

Francis Against the Dictatorship of Relativism

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Pope Francis has spoken again of his reason for taking the name of the Saint of Assisi: poverty and peace.  In his address to the diplomatic corps this morning, he drew a link between a certain kind of poverty and a lack of peace.  Taking up the sword of Benedict XVI, he railed against he dictatorship of relativism by which individuals make themselves the measure of all things and thus subordinate the good of others to their own whims:

But there is another form of poverty! It is the spiritual poverty of our time, which afflicts the so-called richer countries particularly seriously. It is what my much-loved predecessor, Benedict XVI, called the “tyranny of relativism”, which makes everyone his own criterion and endangers the coexistence of peoples. And that brings me to a second reason for my name. Francis of Assisi tells us we should work to build peace. But there is no true peace without truth! There cannot be true peace if everyone is his own criterion, if everyone can always claim exclusively his own rights, without at the same time caring for the good of others, of everyone, on the basis of the nature that unites every human being on this earth.

In this Pope Francis shows his particular bent of mind as a protector of the poor, but in so doing he shows himself the true successor of Pope Benedict.  The safeguarding of the dogmatic truth of the Church, the deposit of faith, must engage an orthopraxy that extends itself especially to the protection of the weakest and most in need.

This is precisely the kind of evangelization that is bound to propagate the faith in the world we live in today.

Pray for the ministry of Pope Francis.

Francis and the Holy Spirit

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The people of St. Francis’ time, both the hierarchy and the simple faithful, recognized him as a particular prophetic instrument of the Holy Spirit.  He created a movement that set the world on fire and it spread like fire.  His movement was both traditional and innovative.  I wonder if in the providence of God Pope Francis’ name has a significance beyond what even himself might have anticipated.  St. Francis was an instrument of the Holy Spirit to reform the Church in difficult times.  But his innovation was not without its own problems. Reform typically initiates a crisis from which equilibrium only emerges after time and much difficulty.

St. Francis’ spirit of obedience to the Church manifested itself, not only in an evangelical desire for reform and the simple gospel life.  It also showed itself in a docility to the prescriptions of reform promulgated by the Fourth Lateran Council.  In fact, St. Francis made sure that the simple gospel life of the friars was protected from pride and error by his instance, stated at both the beginning and end of his Rule, that the friars remain humble and submissive to the Holy Roman Pontiff. Continue reading →

Francis on Francis

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Some people wanted to know why the Bishop of Rome wished to be called Francis. Some thought of Francis Xavier, Francis De Sales, and also Francis of Assisi. I will tell you the story. During the election, I was seated next to the Archbishop Emeritus of São Paolo and Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Clergy, Cardinal Claudio Hummes: a good friend, a good friend! When things were looking dangerous, he encouraged me. And when the votes reached two thirds, there was the usual applause, because the Pope had been elected. And he gave me a hug and a kiss, and said: “Don’t forget the poor!” And those words came to me: the poor, the poor. Then, right away, thinking of the poor, I thought of Francis of Assisi. Then I thought of all the wars, as the votes were still being counted, till the end. Francis is also the man of peace. That is how the name came into my heart: Francis of Assisi. For me, he is the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects creation; these days we do not have a very good relationship with creation, do we? He is the man who gives us this spirit of peace, the poor man … How I would like a Church which is poor and for the poor! Afterwards, people were joking with me. “But you should call yourself Hadrian, because Hadrian VI was the reformer, we need a reform…” And someone else said to me: “No, no: your name should be Clement”. “But why?” “Clement XV: thus you pay back Clement XIV who suppressed the Society of Jesus!” These were jokes. I love all of you very much, I thank you for everything you have done. I pray that your work will always be serene and fruitful, and that you will come to know ever better the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the rich reality of the Church’s life. I commend you to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Star of Evangelization, and with cordial good wishes for you and your families, each of your families. I cordially impart to all of you my blessing. Thank you.

—Francis, March 16, 2013

Poverty, peace, and I would say reform.  Never mind Hadrian, as I pointed out in my last post, St. Francis was, in fact, a reformer.  The rebuilding of the Church, which is the essence of the Franciscan vocation, is precisely about reform.

From the same address, the following is also very Franciscan and corresponds quite well with what I wrote about faith in the pastoral wisdom of the Church always being assent to Christ.  Francis also notes that Benedict’s decision and all that followed has been the work of the Holy Spirit:

Christ is the Church’s Pastor, but his presence in history passes through the freedom of human beings; from their midst one is chosen to serve as his Vicar, the Successor of the Apostle Peter. Yet Christ remains the centre, not the Sucessor of Peter: Christ, Christ is the centre. Christ is the fundamental point of reference, the heart of the Church. Without him, Peter and the Church would not exist or have reason to exist. As Benedict XVI frequently reminded us, Christ is present in Church and guides her. In everything that has occurred, the principal agent has been, in the final analysis, the Holy Spirit. He prompted the decision of Benedict XVI for the good of the Church; he guided the Cardinals in prayer and in the election.

And here are two episcopal reflections on the choice of the name: Archbishop Chaput and  Archbishop Aquila (H/T NewAdvent)

Benedict and Francis

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Most Catholics around the world are giving thanks to God for a new pope.  A few of us are already pontificating about the future.  This is my own little reflection on the relationship  between the pontificates of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

Benedict’s Plan

I believe that in order to fully appreciate the events of the last month or so, one must consider that we have a new Holy Father because, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Pope Benedict carefully formulated a plan.  The evidence shows that he did not just wake up one morning and say: “I have had it.  I just can’t do it anymore.”  The historical facts indicate that he was considering a potential abdication through most of his pontificate.  I think it is also fair to say that he was aware of all the potential outcomes.  The man, before anything else is a thinker.  I don’t believe he was surprised by any of the reactions or criticisms.  He had prayed for a long time and had thought the whole thing through.  When he made his decision he was definitive. Continue reading →

Celebrating the Pope Named Francis

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2013-03-14 08.29.30

So I welcomed Pope Francis in with a bang last night on the way back from a Communion call.  No one hurt, thank God.  And, no, I would prefer not to share the details, not because they are embarrassing (of course), but because I would not want to imply that any differences between English and American driving laws had anything to do with it.  And no, there was no alcohol involved.  For the fact that I am still here to write about it, and in doing so perfect health, and that no one else was hurt, I thank God, Our Lady, St. Francis and my Guardian Angel. Nuff said.

I was will have more to say about our new dear Holy Father in the coming days, just as soon as I get the insurance details ironed out and have a few moments to get un-rattled.

Meanwhile I recommend looking at the links on New Advent.  Dawn Eden has a great guest post from post here by Fr. George David Byers.  And here are some telling quotes from Sandro Magister:

Continue reading →

First Words of Pope Francis to the World

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You all know that the duty of the Conclave was to give a bishop to Rome. It seems that my brother Cardinals have come almost to the ends of the earth to get him… but here we are. I thank you for the welcome that has come from the diocesan community of Rome.

First of all I would say a prayer pray for our Bishop Emeritus Benedict XVI.. Let us all pray together for him, that the Lord bless him and Our Lady protect him.

Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory to the Father…

And now let us begin this journey, the Bishop and people, this journey of the Church of Rome which presides in charity over all the Churches, a journey of brotherhood in love, of mutual trust. Let us always pray for one another. Let us pray for the whole world that there might be a great sense of brotherhood . My hope is that this journey of the Church that we begin today, together with help of my Cardinal Vicar, be fruitful for the evangelization of this beautiful city.

And now I would like to give the blessing, but first I want to ask you a favour. Before the bishop blesses the people I ask that you would pray to the Lord to bless me – the prayer of the people for their Bishop. Let us say this prayer – your prayer for me – in silence.

[The Protodeacon announced that all those who received the blessing, either in person or by radio, television or by the new means of communication receive the plenary indulgence in the form established by the Church. He prayed that Almighty God protect and guard the Pope so that he may lead the Church for many years to come, and that he would grant peace to the Church throughout the world.]

[Immediately afterwards Pope Francis gave his first blessing Urbi et Orbi – To the City and to the World.]

I will now give my blessing to you and to the whole world, to all men and women of good will.

Brothers and sisters, I am leaving you. Thank you for your welcome. Pray for me and I will be with you again soon.

We will see one another soon.

Tomorrow I want to go to pray the Madonna, that she may protect Rome.

Good night and sleep well!

Praying for the 115. Waiting for the 77. Hoping for the 1.

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Pro Eligendo Summo Pontifice

For the Election of the Supreme Pontiff

Let us Pray,

We humbly beseech Thee, O Lord, in Thy immense mercy to grant to the Holy Roman Church a Pontiff, who will be always pleasing to Thee due to his zeal towards us, and worthy of reverence from Thy people for his salutary government for the glory of Thy name. Through Christ Our Lord.  Amen.