23 Comments

I hope y'all are right and pray for that.

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For the most I believe Pope Francis has done a pretty good job. My one hope is that his successor comes from Africa or Asia. That is where the future of the church is

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How you can conclude that the pope has done a pretty good job is perplexing. His silence in the face of heretical bishops is deafening.

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He signed a letter last year from the CDF with a very clear message to the German Bishops You cannot bless Same Sex marriages. That is a pretty clear message, Francis seems to be more ok with dissent from both the right and the left.

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That’s clear?! I have a bridge to sell you.

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Ryan. Are you a parent? Being a parent and being a shepherd are very similar. Those in moral positions of authority who fall silent, when faced with a moral challenge, are by default giving consent.

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Giving consent to what? In the grand scheme of things do I really care about what some crazy Bishop or Priest is doing no. If it was happening at my Parish or Diocese I would say something, but it isn’t. The German Bishop wrote to Rome and they were told publicly that they can’t bless disordered relationships. If you want the Pope to do more than write to them, you also have no idea what the Holy Father has done privately.

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That’s his major flaw. His position as Vicar of Christ, is not a private one. It is public like the public command to evangelize the world. He has failed to reaffirm the faith handed down from the apostles so many times he’s become an absent father.

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Defy Francis from the "left" and you get a seat on his C9 Cardinal advisers. Defy him on the "right" and you get TC. I'm not sure what you're talking about with regards to this pope's tolerance for dissent.

Of course right and left are political terms that don't really belong here. It's more proper to say that if you are ideologically aligned with him, he will allow dissent. If not, you will be isolated or silenced.

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based pope

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Can you stop?

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thinking the pope is based, or saying it?

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Both, preferably, but the latter specifically. I think it was a good joke maybe the first five times. Work on some new material!

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May 31, 2022·edited May 31, 2022

can't do the first, and won't do the second. btw it's an assertion against the critics of Pope Francis, who are unfortunately many of the Pillar's subscribers. it's not intended as a joke.

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Well it's a good phrase in that you intentionally cut against the usual use of 'based' (hence my assuming humorous intent). Debasing 'based', if you will. Well go on then if go on you must. You can call the pope based and I can wish for a based pope and on our merry ways

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Are you, I wonder truly, against any criticism of Pope Francis, or just the reflexive criticism no matter what he says or does?

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I'm against both reflexive criticism, and also all criticisms that I don't think are warranted (most of them). I think there can be and has been legitimate criticism- for example, a criticism he agreed with himself, his erroneous judgement in the case of Bishop Barros. I think that any criticism should be made according to knowledge, competency and station.

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Is it a foregone conclusion that Pope Francis' successor will be in the same theological and pastoral mold as Pope Francis given the current consumption of the cardinalate?

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In as much as Walter Cardinal Kasper (sometimes called the 'pope's theologian') has said that African Catholics “should not tell us too much what we have to do”, and he is no longer of voting age, but 41 of 83 voting-age cardinals are from the global south, I suspect that the results could be very surprising.

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And the promotion of those who covered up McCarrick's abuses continues. From Farrell being named Camerlengo to the promotion of McElroy to Cardinal, McCarrick's enablers continue to gain favor with Rome. If Richard Sipe's letter didn't disqualify McElroy from becoming a cardinal, would anything? Apparently, sex abuse coverups are just fine as long as Francis likes the person's politics. I guess that shouldn't be surprising, given the Pope's silence on the arrest of Cardinal Zen. Enabling genocidal regimes alongside sex abuse seems an integral part of this pontificate.

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There is something confusing to me in this list: "from Asia, India, Africa, and Oceania".

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Also, I thought I saw that two of the new cardinals of non-voting age weren't bishops. If that's so, are these the first such since Avery Cardinal Dulles? Do they have interesting stories (I'd guess!)?

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Very interesting. I am struck by the fact that Pope Francis, who likes to hold synods, prefers to take advice from a small number of people he trusts when (in my reading of things) it really matters -- forget synodality then!

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