It is easy for libertarians, conservatives and capitalists to be upset with popes … although it is also easy to be selective about quoting them. After all, it was Pius XI who said, as late as 1931, that “No one can be at the same time a sincere Catholic and a true socialist.”
Despite this, Catholic bishops, especially in the West, appear to be totally addicted to socialist doctrines. This is not an inconsistency of Catholic teaching, but rather an inconsistency in its application. Confiscation and redistribution by the state is, after all, a violation of the Fifth Commandment: “Thou shalt not steal”, and not only stifles, but makes a mockery, out of voluntary Christian charity.
It is from this school that Pope Francis comes. Catholic teaching on papal infallibility does not guarantee popes from error except in very limited circumstances, such as making centuries-long traditions that come into question by theologians, into defining dogma. The last time a pope used this tool was in 1870, and involved the Virgin Mary.
It has been centuries since the Catholic Church has had a weak or even a bad pope, but no Catholic can deny that there have been some lemons in the mix of the 266 Vicars of Christ since St. Peter. The problem is, criticism of popes and their often foolish remarks ought to be shared with Catholics, and even then, it would be best to allow the passage of time to pass a verdict on the legacy of any pontificate.
Tim Brown’s anti-catholic screed is hardly worthy of any sensible reply, for it repeats emotional calumnies and generalizations that demonstrate colossal ignorance about what Catholic teaching is, how Catholic doctrine is formed, or how the canon or body of teaching cannot be changed by the whim or personal predilections of individual popes.
Pope Francis, by all measurements available to us, is a confused and weak pope. His refusal to entertain scientific evidence that disdains politically correct and government-funded climate science reminds us of a child who stops his ears and talks loudly to avoid hearing something unpleasant. His invitation to abortion apologists into the Vatican as advisors, his disparaging remarks about large Catholic families, and his sympathy towards renegade cardinals and bishops, bode ill for Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
But no pope is without virtues, and to hear Dr. Tim Brown decry the pope for living in a thousand-room mansion, with servants, is amazing in that Francis has made a point to live as humbly in the Vatican as he did in Buenos Aires.
Or did I miss something?
Then, too, there is the problem of selective reporting by the secular media. As a candidate for public office, and as a prolife activist, I know a little about this. Folks writing about this pope ought to read the entire interviews. Few would doubt that Francis’ remarks, especially the one about “Who am I to judge?” have been taken out of context. We might charitably expect that the same thing has been done regarding his comment on the manufacturing of weapons.
And I would remind our protestant and anti-Catholic brethren that we have homosexual marriage because it was protestants, and not Catholics, who have permitted divorce … and remarriage … and contraception … and in many denominations, abortion. All of these have, together with homosexuality, divided the marital act from its accepted and inseparable duality of procreation and spousal unity. It was the protestant churches who held this doctrine along with the Catholics — until the 1930s. It would be well to read what both Luther and Calvin said on the subject.
And, in case Dr. Brown missed it, Pope Francis has affirmed the most unpopular and controversial encyclical in centuries, Humanae Vitae, issued by the supposedly liberal Paul VI in 1968, against the majority advice of his own secular and religious advisors, and which clearly predicted the mess we are in.
In Catholic worship, Francis has also continued the “reform of the reform” begun by Benedict and John Paul: returning the sense of sacred to the Catholic Mass, rather than the false, banal and mundane “Spirit of Vatican II.” These are very, very conservative actions by a supposedly very, very liberal pope, but only a few Catholics are even aware of it.
I could wreak havoc about protestants, their inconsistencies, their historical records, and their doctrines … but Christian charity, the need for Christian unity, genuine friendship and dare I say need in these benighted times, prevent me from doing so. I would hope that Joe Miller’s excellent Restoring Liberty website will, in the future, more carefully screen the offerings that it chooses to post for the rest of us to digest.
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