Matt C. Abbott
The enigmatic Francis continues to disappoint
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By Matt C. Abbott
February 10, 2017

It's difficult keeping up with all the Catholic news these days. Sad to say, a lot of it isn't good.

Catholic author and journalist Phil Lawler recently wrote a very good commentary titled "Pope Francis has become a source of division."

Mr. Lawler wrote (in part):
    Every day I pray for Pope Francis. And every day (I am exaggerating, but only slightly), the pope issues another reminder that he does not approve of Catholics like me.

    If the Holy Father were rebuking me for my sins, I would have no reason to complain. But day after weary day the pope upbraids me – and countless thousands of other faithful Catholics – for clinging to, and sometimes suffering for, the truths that the Church has always taught. We are rigid, he tells us. We are the 'doctors of the law,' the Pharisees, who only want to be 'comfortable' with our faith.

    The Roman Pontiff should be a focus of unity in the Church. Pope Francis, regrettably, has become a source of division. There are two reasons for this unhappy phenomenon: the pope's autocratic style of governance and the radical nature of the program that he is relentlessly advancing.
I agree 100 percent. I was happy to give Francis the benefit of the doubt the first year of his pontificate. Part of me still wants to give him the benefit of the doubt, but what has been transpiring in Rome in recent times has left me deeply concerned about the state of the Church.

Some of my readers may be asking: "What do you mean? Give examples of what the pope has said or done that concern you."

Click here for a lengthy article that lists a number of such examples, complete with links. If the article's analysis doesn't convince you that there's a major problem with this pontificate, well, nothing will.

Also of alarming note: Paul Ehrlich, the Stanford biologist who "champions sex-selective abortion as well as mass forced sterilization as legitimate methods to curb population growth," will be giving a presentation at the Vatican later this month.

Dr. Ehrlich, who in 2013 denounced Catholicism as "dangerous," now is quoted as saying: "I'm thrilled with the new pope moving the Church in the right direction." Click here for the (depressing) story.

Pray for the Church – and for me.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

© Matt C. Abbott

 

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Matt C. Abbott

Matt C. Abbott is a Catholic commentator with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication, media and theatre from Northeastern Illinois University. He also has an Associate in Applied Science degree in business management from Triton College. Abbott has been interviewed on HLN, MSNBC, Bill Martinez Live, WOSU Radio in Ohio, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's 2019 ‘Unsolved’ podcast about the unsolved murder of Father Alfred Kunz, Alex Shuman's 'Smoke Screen: Fake Priest' podcast, WLS-TV (ABC) in Chicago, WMTV (NBC) and WISC-TV (CBS) in Madison, Wisconsin. He’s been quoted in The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and other media outlets. He’s mentioned in the 2020 Report on the Holy See's Institutional Knowledge and Decision-Making Related to Former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick (1930 to 2017), which can be found on the Vatican's website. He can be reached at mattcabbott@gmail.com.



(Note: I welcome and appreciate thoughtful feedback. Insults will be ignored. Only in very select cases will I honor a request to have a telephone conversation about a topic in my column. Email is much preferred. God bless you and please keep me in your prayers!)

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