Am I the only one who sees irony in this quote of Pope Francis’ Christmas talk to the Curial Cardinals? Is this meant to be a commentary or ironic or tone deaf?
Everyone has had the experience of getting lost, he said, saying members of the curia need to be especially attentive, because “we are now living ‘at home,’ within the walls of the institution, in the service of the Holy See, at the heart of the Church.”
“Precisely for this reason, we could easily fall into the temptation of thinking we are safe, better than others, no longer in need of conversion,” he said, saying, “we are in greater danger than all others, because we are beset by the ‘elegant demon,’ who does not make a loud entrance, but comes with flowers in his hand.”
7 comments:
PF is the one who needs dressing down. What a HUGE mistake the Cardinals made when they elected him. And I don't want to hear one peep from the usual quarters that his election was inspired by the Holy Spirit. If it was, the Holy Spirit did a lousy job just like when he
"inspired" the election of the Borgia and Medici popes.
TJM,
At the risk of being another "echo" in the chamber, Hear! Hear!
One look at history certainly instructs us that when it comes to the papacy, there have been many times when man's free will (and obstinance) forced the PERMISSIVE will of God instead of submitting to God's Perfect Will.
Maybe Captain Sanctimony will get that someday.
Bellum,
Jerome
Jerome Merwick,
Agreed!
Merry Christmas
I just read Pope Francis' very instructive address in question. I do not find that he had "dressed down" the Curia.
But had he done so, then Pope Francis included himself among those who had been "dressed down."
Pope Francis preached conversion...that we need to focus, and refocus constantly, upon Jesus Christ...to be on guard against the "tempter" who tries constantly to lure us into the real of evil.
To those who believe that he sometimes sounds harsh, Pope Francis noted that "it is not because I don’t believe in the value of kindness and persuasion. Rather, it is because it is good to keep our caresses for the weary and the oppressed, and to have the courage to “afflict the comfortable”, as the Servant of God Don Tonino Bello liked to say. For there are times when the comfort they enjoy is only the deception of the devil and not a gift of the Spirit."
That is sound advice to each of us.
To the Pope's critics who denounce his "harsh" tone...His "harshness" is akin to excommunication. There are those who view excommunication as an act that is harsh and even hateful. But excommunication is an act of mercy.
Therefore, if Pope Francis is "harsh," then he is "harsh" in the supposed manner in which excommunication is "harsh."
Anyway, I decided not to rely upon somebody else's spin in regard to the Pope's 2022 A.D. address to the Curia. I read the address. My "spin" is positive.
Pope Francis has blessed me via his address in question.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
MT,
Seek help
I appreciate greatly the powerful manner in which His Holiness reminded us that the devil is relentless in attempting to devour us.
Pope Francis warned that "conversion does not only make us aware of evil so that we can choose the good; it also forces evil to change its tactics, to become more insidious, to find new disguises that will be hard for us to see through. The battle is real. The tempter keeps coming back, disguised, but he comes back."
That is a powerful reminder as to the profound depth of the spiritual war that the tempter wages against us.
That is why Pope's Christmas Address emphasized our need to convert, again, and again, to Jesus Christ...when we sin, return to Jesus Christ to receive mercy and forgiveness.
We need to form a spiritual circle around our holy, and great, Vicar of Christ, Cardinals, bishops, priests...each other...as Satan seeks to devour us
Deo gratias for Pope Francis! Deo gratis for his beautiful, powerful, and uplifting Christmas Address!
Pax.
Mark Thomas.
The NCR makes clear that conversion for His Holiness is this:
Francis went on to draw a parallel between Vatican II and the current synod process, an ongoing consultation with the world's Catholics, which has unleashed lively discussion on how the church can best evangelize in the modern world and how to navigate a number of topics once considered taboo in the Catholic Church, such as the role of women, LGBTQ persons and the clergy sex abuse crisis.
"Our current reflection on the church’s synodality is the fruit of our conviction that the process of understanding Christ’s message never ends, but constantly challenges us," said the pope.
For Francis, the opposite of conversion is "immobility," which he said is "the secret belief that we have nothing else to learn from the Gospel."
"This is the error of trying to crystallize the message of Jesus in a single, perennially valid form," he warned. "Instead, its form must be capable of constantly changing…
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