Louie Verrecchio
Pope Francis hates the Catholic faith
By Louie Verrecchio
From the very earliest moments of his pontificate, hardly a week has passed without Pope Francis, at the very least, causing great confusion among many of the faithful. Often, his words and his deeds have been outright scandalous.
The papal improprieties of the past twenty-seven months are so numerous and so well-known that there is little need to list them here.
Besides, doing so will be of no avail for those who welcome the church-of-man, or who choose, as a deliberate act of the will, to bury their heads in the neo-conservative sandbox.
Looking ahead, all indications are that Pope Francis is about to outdo himself with the presentation of an encyclical on the environment, and this with a schismatic metropolitan and a population control advocate standing by his side.
In the more distant future, should the Lord choose to allow the Franciscan scourge to continue for another two years, the eyes of the world will witness the Successor to St. Peter celebrating the 500th anniversary of protestant revolt in 2017; the same that ushered in a pseudo-Christianity that dares to promote homosexual mock-marriages, divorce, contraception, abortion, female "priests" (practicing lesbians, included), and any number of other abominations, all in the name of Christ.
What can one say about such a pope?
Why does he do such things?
What is he thinking?
Numerous theories attempting to explain the man abound.
For example, some wish to believe that Pope Francis (who, after all, is a "son of the Church" – he said so himself) is the smartest guy in the room; a brilliant tactician employing a strategy for converting the world to Christ that is so masterful in its subtlety that we, his subjects, cannot even begin to comprehend it.
On the flip side are those who say that the man is just plain stupid.
Others are more Benedictine in their "interpretation" of Francis' more disturbing words and deeds; twisting themselves into knots in an attempt to wring "continuity" out of whole heretical cloth.
Others still, having long since taken up membership in the church-of-man, see Pope Francis as a breath of fresh air in spite of the Holy Catholic Church's near complete suffocation.
For my part, it seems that if nothing else is clear, it is entirely obvious that Pope Francis isn't the least bit serious about performing the duties of the Office of Peter, at least not as they have been understood for nearly 2,000 years.
He's also a walking "do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do" operation in hypocrisy.
He is a man who speaks rather often of "unity" while dividing like none other, who promotes "humility" while staging magnificent displays that call attention directly to himself, who trumpets collegiality while enforcing his will on the majority, who decries gossiping and name-calling while offering homilies with material that would make an insult comic blush, and so on.
At the end of the day, I think the most accurate explanation for his unseemly behavior is simply this:
Pope Francis hates the Catholic faith.
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen once famously remarked, "There are not more than one hundred people in the world who truly hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they perceive the Catholic Church to be."
I'm not so sure he had this right, but in any case, let's be perfectly clear: as it concerns the hatred that lurks within Pope Francis, it's not a matter of knowing not of what he despises.
Pope Francis knows the Catholic faith, he "gets" the Catholic faith, he is well aware of the Catholic faith; he simply hates it.
No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Matthew 6:24)
What is mammon?
Mammon is typically considered to mean "riches," and what's more, riches in which one puts undue stock, even to the point of devoting oneself to them.
Though "mammon" most often calls to mind money, it need not be so exclusively.
In the verses preceding Mt. 6:24, Our Lord gives a lengthy discourse wherein He offers three examples of "hypocrites" who have "received their reward," namely, men who practice piety, give alms, and fast in such way as to win the acclaim of others.
With this understanding in mind, can there be any doubt that Pope Francis loves him some mammon?
I suppose one might argue that it's not so much that Pope Francis seeks mammon so understood, much less loves it, but even if this be so, there can be no arguing against the fact that mammon has been heaped upon this man and his pontificate unlike any other.
Pope Francis enjoys immense, indeed unprecedented popularity among heathens, homos and heretics, and not without reason.
And let's not be naïve; it most certainly isn't because he strikes an image of Christ so clear and compelling as to be irresistible.
No serious observer of this pontificate will contend that Pope Francis is so loved for his intrepidness in teaching the one true faith.
Rather, it is most certainly the case that he is loved by so many for the exact opposite reason: he hates the one true faith.
This much is entirely evident if one simply allows the man to speak for himself.
A supposed soundness of doctrine or discipline leads instead to a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism... (Evangelii Gauium)
In some people we see an ostentatious preoccupation for the liturgy, for doctrine and for the Church's prestige... (ibid.)
I believe in God, not in a Catholic God, there is no Catholic God... (Interview with Eugenio Scalfari)
I would not speak about "absolute" truths, even for believers... (Letter to Eugenio Scalfari)
Do you need to convince the other to become Catholic? No, no, no! (7 Aug. 2013 via CNS)
To those sincere souls who still feel compelled to "figure out" the complexities of Pope Francis vis-à-vis his deeply disturbing words and deeds, I say do yourself a favor and just stop.
The impetus for the current papal program is at once exceedingly simple, and immensely tragic:
Pope Francis hates the Catholic faith.
© Louie Verrecchio
June 11, 2015
From the very earliest moments of his pontificate, hardly a week has passed without Pope Francis, at the very least, causing great confusion among many of the faithful. Often, his words and his deeds have been outright scandalous.
The papal improprieties of the past twenty-seven months are so numerous and so well-known that there is little need to list them here.
Besides, doing so will be of no avail for those who welcome the church-of-man, or who choose, as a deliberate act of the will, to bury their heads in the neo-conservative sandbox.
Looking ahead, all indications are that Pope Francis is about to outdo himself with the presentation of an encyclical on the environment, and this with a schismatic metropolitan and a population control advocate standing by his side.
In the more distant future, should the Lord choose to allow the Franciscan scourge to continue for another two years, the eyes of the world will witness the Successor to St. Peter celebrating the 500th anniversary of protestant revolt in 2017; the same that ushered in a pseudo-Christianity that dares to promote homosexual mock-marriages, divorce, contraception, abortion, female "priests" (practicing lesbians, included), and any number of other abominations, all in the name of Christ.
What can one say about such a pope?
Why does he do such things?
What is he thinking?
Numerous theories attempting to explain the man abound.
For example, some wish to believe that Pope Francis (who, after all, is a "son of the Church" – he said so himself) is the smartest guy in the room; a brilliant tactician employing a strategy for converting the world to Christ that is so masterful in its subtlety that we, his subjects, cannot even begin to comprehend it.
On the flip side are those who say that the man is just plain stupid.
Others are more Benedictine in their "interpretation" of Francis' more disturbing words and deeds; twisting themselves into knots in an attempt to wring "continuity" out of whole heretical cloth.
Others still, having long since taken up membership in the church-of-man, see Pope Francis as a breath of fresh air in spite of the Holy Catholic Church's near complete suffocation.
For my part, it seems that if nothing else is clear, it is entirely obvious that Pope Francis isn't the least bit serious about performing the duties of the Office of Peter, at least not as they have been understood for nearly 2,000 years.
He's also a walking "do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do" operation in hypocrisy.
He is a man who speaks rather often of "unity" while dividing like none other, who promotes "humility" while staging magnificent displays that call attention directly to himself, who trumpets collegiality while enforcing his will on the majority, who decries gossiping and name-calling while offering homilies with material that would make an insult comic blush, and so on.
At the end of the day, I think the most accurate explanation for his unseemly behavior is simply this:
Pope Francis hates the Catholic faith.
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen once famously remarked, "There are not more than one hundred people in the world who truly hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they perceive the Catholic Church to be."
I'm not so sure he had this right, but in any case, let's be perfectly clear: as it concerns the hatred that lurks within Pope Francis, it's not a matter of knowing not of what he despises.
Pope Francis knows the Catholic faith, he "gets" the Catholic faith, he is well aware of the Catholic faith; he simply hates it.
No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Matthew 6:24)
What is mammon?
Mammon is typically considered to mean "riches," and what's more, riches in which one puts undue stock, even to the point of devoting oneself to them.
Though "mammon" most often calls to mind money, it need not be so exclusively.
In the verses preceding Mt. 6:24, Our Lord gives a lengthy discourse wherein He offers three examples of "hypocrites" who have "received their reward," namely, men who practice piety, give alms, and fast in such way as to win the acclaim of others.
With this understanding in mind, can there be any doubt that Pope Francis loves him some mammon?
I suppose one might argue that it's not so much that Pope Francis seeks mammon so understood, much less loves it, but even if this be so, there can be no arguing against the fact that mammon has been heaped upon this man and his pontificate unlike any other.
Pope Francis enjoys immense, indeed unprecedented popularity among heathens, homos and heretics, and not without reason.
And let's not be naïve; it most certainly isn't because he strikes an image of Christ so clear and compelling as to be irresistible.
No serious observer of this pontificate will contend that Pope Francis is so loved for his intrepidness in teaching the one true faith.
Rather, it is most certainly the case that he is loved by so many for the exact opposite reason: he hates the one true faith.
This much is entirely evident if one simply allows the man to speak for himself.
A supposed soundness of doctrine or discipline leads instead to a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism... (Evangelii Gauium)
In some people we see an ostentatious preoccupation for the liturgy, for doctrine and for the Church's prestige... (ibid.)
I believe in God, not in a Catholic God, there is no Catholic God... (Interview with Eugenio Scalfari)
I would not speak about "absolute" truths, even for believers... (Letter to Eugenio Scalfari)
Do you need to convince the other to become Catholic? No, no, no! (7 Aug. 2013 via CNS)
To those sincere souls who still feel compelled to "figure out" the complexities of Pope Francis vis-à-vis his deeply disturbing words and deeds, I say do yourself a favor and just stop.
The impetus for the current papal program is at once exceedingly simple, and immensely tragic:
Pope Francis hates the Catholic faith.
© Louie Verrecchio
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
