For an 87 year old Pontiff, I must say that he is up to creating chaos even now.
Press the title for John Allen's commentary. It is very insightful, but just like everything about the pontificate, you really are sure about anything. He has created a papacy built on shifting sand, slight of hand and good old manipulation with a dose of double speak and gossip:
Whether superfluity or salvation, Pope’s scrambled the deck for his synod
Excerpt:
In all honesty, such dubia are the ultimate in a rhetorical exercise. The cardinals aren’t actually asking questions, they’re making points – or, if you’re so inclined, grinding axes.
The surprise this time is not that dubia arose, but that Pope Francis actually chose to answer. In so doing, and depending on how you choose to look at it, the pontiff has either rendered the entire synodal exercise superfluous, or saved it from itself.
No matter what, we’re now living in a different political universe vis-à-vis the synod than we were just a scant 48 hours ago...
..Although the details of these replies will be subject to endless scrutiny, in some ways the most interesting point is that he commented at all.
Not only does it break with the 2016 precedent, but it also seems at odds with the spirit of consultation and listening at the heart of the synod. One might have expected the pontiff instead to say something like the following:
“Thanks for raising these questions, which provide great food for thought. However, since the whole point of the synod is to listen to what the People of God have to say before making decisions, I’m going to wait for the results of the discussions before providing my own answers. Let’s talk when it’s all over in 2024.”
Participants who have traveled to Rome expecting to be heard on these questions may be slightly put out that the pope has already taken positions before absorbing whatever it is they planned to say.
10 comments:
I've been saying this for a long, long time. The outcome of this synod has already been determined according to "His Clericalness, Francis". German Bishops not sanctioned in any punitive way. Why? Because Francis agrees with them. Same sex attraction acted upon is no longer a sin. It is now blessed. Talk abut a 180. Everything is on the table; women Deacons and Priests, married Priests, etc. BUT under no circumstances can Summorum Pontificum stand. All those "Rad Trads" need to get in line; shut up and obey! If/when this all goes through we will welcome the Archbishop of Canterbury into a more inclusive, global co-Pontificate. Come Holy Spirit come!!
After reading this story: https://www.gloria.tv/post/2AQaZ6hDMvQh3RECv3WQQNQhr
I think Mister Allen maybe (gasp!) on to something. (and water is wet, too)
The Emperor/Pope has no clothes and His Holiness is the only one who does not know it…sad!
When PF walked on to the balcony of St. Peter's on the day of his election, I thought this was a serious downgrade from previous popes. Appearance can be a window into the soul.
Is this the same John Allen who I just saw on YouTube claiming that the papal responses to the July 2023 Dubia regarding synodal and related concerns were clear?
What?
John Allen's article in question is wishy-washy. The article is a space-filler. Much ado about nothing. John Allen offered two ways in which to spin his article.
Father McDonald, you opted for the negative spin that John Allen offered against Pope Francis.
I note the positive spin offered by John Allen. John Allen said:
"One could argue that by providing his answers on these matters now, Francis effectively has prevented synod discussions from being hijacked by controversy...the pope may have cleared a space to listen to other matters which are arguably more important for the long-term prospects of Catholicism."
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Mark Thomas...redefining "delusional".
Mark Thomas,
You criticize people far more erudite and knowledgeable of Church affairs than you. Quit embarrassing yourself and annoying Catholics of good will and wasting our time with your non sensical posts. Are you in Grade School or Junior High? Ars magistri minuitur discipuli stultitia.
The funniest, and most Allenesque, part is where he opines that the pope broke from "2016 precedent". For normal people precedent means long standing / traditional. Just because he did something once does not make it "precedent" (except perhaps in linguistic terms).
TJM,
I've been watching this play out for a long time and I've reached the conclusion that our resident buffoon is far more likely to be our resident agitator. He knows what he is doing. He is deliberately posting his infantile observations and doing so in the most annoying manner possible to deliberately upset us. If we were to put it in the language he likes to employ (deliberately, I might add, just to get on our nerves) his posts are "satanic". He is playing the role of a naive papolotrous bootlicker just to upset the conversation here and distract us. When we criticize and warn him that he is making a fool of himself, he probably laughs with delight. Somebody mentioned Saul Alinksy as an influence and I'm inclined to agree.
I know it's a waste of time to say so, and this advice will probably be ignored, but the best thing to do is not engage him, not acknowledge him and, for your own peace of mind, not even bother reading his verbal feces. Whoever he really is, I doubt that he believes it any more than you do. The sooner we walk away from his sandbox, the sooner he will stop flinging it at us.
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