Is Francis signaling that he’s resigning soon or is he just gaslighting his opponents (again)?
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Sources:
https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/events/year.dir.html/2022.html
https://www. catholicworldreport.com/2022/09/05/pope-francis-jokes-that-either-he-or-john-xxiv-will-attend-world-youth-day-next-year/
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Personal lived experience . . immanentist subjective “what I ‘feel’ about” v.s. “ . . if it is GOD’S WILL (and not God’s ever-changing ‘feelings'”.
Anthony, is Francis playing a game called, ” both ends against the middle”.? [ Objective & Subjective v.s. the Laity, whether baptized, agnostic, or atheist ] Like, the man can only BE PLAYED WITH in return. NOT believed or modelled or followed.
This time—for purposes of personal RELIEF from such nonsense—I’ve found a significant former practise in the life of the Church, when life was equally rife with the temptations of “the World, the Flesh, and the Devil”. It concerns the Sacrament of Confession and the repentant Christian. I delighted in pondering it !
[ For complete teaching get a copy of The Catechism Explained, by Francis Spirago, publ. by Forgotten Books. . . @ p. 600 ff: The Means Of Grace/ #4 The Sacrament of Penance, “The Nature & Necessity of Penance” —Council of Trent 14: 9; 1: 6m 29 ]
Some quotes:
“ . . the words of absolution . . like lightening . . consume the sin at a flash . . A Crucifix always . . sometimes a picture (prodigal son, the repentant Magdalen, the sorrowing Peter) calculated to excite contrition.
. . . In very old confessionals one may sometimes see A ROSE CARVED, as an emblem of the SILENCE which is binding upon the confessor [ . . and the penitent? ]. The ancient Romans used to SUSPEND A ROSE over the dining table, to warn guests not to indulge in any confidential conversation in the presence of strangers.”
“ . . the Fathers term this sacrament as the ‘second Baptism’, or as ‘the plank after shipwreck’. By Baptism we embark upon the [ Barque of Peter ] ship that is bound for the port of Salvation. By mortal sin we are shipwrecked . . our only hope of rescue. . clinging to that plank [ the Sacrament of Penance ] . . “
Frankly, where does that leave us TODAY, engulfed as we are by a sea of verbiage on our “Digital Continent”? Pope Francis might be better off —and more telling — by going around like the one and only TRUE SKEPTIC, that Greek fellow Kratylus, who —since no true knowledge was possible anyway —went around silent, with his forefinger across his lips.
All the MORE NEED OF Ste.Thérèse’s “SHOWERS OF ROSES”, shouting [ in a loving way! ] “SHUT UP!” . . indicating God’s Reality first and foremost, “Be still and know that I am God”.
You know, out here in the Prairies —and foothills of the Rockies, under the horizon-to-horizon canopy of Big Sky, and while driving by herds of cattle “having breakfast all day” —the silence IS delicious! Breathing the prattle-free, non-lying fresh air —oh, summers ARE hot & winters REAL cold!—
transforms one into a brand new five-year-old . . honest too, “Grandpa, your teeth are yellow !”
Postscript: “”You are asking for something that would be harmful to your salvation if you had it—so by not getting what you’ve asked, you really are getting what you want.”
–St. Catherine of Siena
Another plausible (if not likely) explanation of Pope Francis’ cleared calendar is recovery for his ailing knee. He may simply be in too much pain to keep up a schedule. Of course, he can still do plenty of damage with pen and paper in his apartments.