tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post5370141561063848829..comments2024-03-28T20:30:10.681-04:00Comments on southern orders: IS POPE FRANCIS A PAPAL GENIUS? GIVING HIS HOLINESS THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT!Fr. Allan J. McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16986575955114152639noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-17781695508396094332015-10-23T12:08:02.568-04:002015-10-23T12:08:02.568-04:00At the turn of the first millennium the Church was...At the turn of the first millennium the Church was in great need of reform. Into the arena in 1046 strode the German King Henry III, a warrior and a man of deep piety. He surrounded himself with bishops and men of learning. Over ten years he appointed a series of popes (all German) committed to the renewal of the Church in general, and the See of Peter in particular. The greatest of these was St Leo IX (1049-1054). In five years Leo travelled to Germany, France and northern Italy, holding a series of great reforming synods, attacking the abuses of simony, lay investiture, and clerical marriage and concubinage. Bishops were deposed and excommunicated. Berengar of Tours (an earlier incarnation of Schillebeeckx with heretical views on the Eucharist) was condemned.<br /><br />In taking his reforming campaign into southern Italy Leo ran into hostility from the Normans and the Byzantines, but his successors continued the reform and the papacy was the spearhead of it.<br /><br />What has happened in the last millennium? Well, 'reform' nowadays doesn't mean the promotion of orthodoxy - quite the opposite in fact. The Germans are now the bad guys. Synods have a rather different role. As for the papacy ...John Nolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09027156691859606002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-32011213859555071752015-10-23T08:42:31.154-04:002015-10-23T08:42:31.154-04:00You cannot bridge the gap between orthodoxy and he...You cannot bridge the gap between orthodoxy and heteredoxy without compromising the Faith. If the Pope thinks he can, then he is far, far less than a "Papal genius" and probably closer to something lower on the intelligence scale. This entire notion of compromise with secular humanism and heterodoxy that has been floated by Vatican II and the aftermath needs to be erased and condemned. Nothing good will come from this Synod unless it is a total disgust and rejection by faithful, believing Catholics. The very fact that it was called, regardless of whatever meaningless document it comes up with, is a further indication of the weakness of the Church in the face of a secular, progressivist onslaught. We need warriors for the Faith and Christian culture, not garrulous nambie pambies who tremble at a raised voice or an angry comment, or walk on eggs for fear of offending some deviate, criminal alien, or pervert.Genehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06672484450736725268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-2203586161218821362015-10-23T08:27:55.956-04:002015-10-23T08:27:55.956-04:00'He will bridge the gap between orthodoxy and ...'He will bridge the gap between orthodoxy and heterodoxy'. How can he, since there cannot be a middle way between the two? Either something is true or it is not. The Church may leave some questions open, but she does not admit of half-truths.<br /><br />Attempts to equate Pope Francis's policy with that of Chairman Mao - let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools contend - which enabled the old monster to flush out the opposition so that he could turn on them, are just plain silly. John Nolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09027156691859606002noreply@blogger.com