DICI: Vatican specialists perplexed

JMJ

While Sedevacantists will (as usual) dance about trying to make the Pope fall from his Office, the SSPX continues plodding along being Catholic.

P^3

Courtesy of DICI

Vatican specialists perplexed

26-02-2016
Filed under News, The Church in the world

After every pontifical journey, Pope Francis gives a press conference on the return flight. But rather than offering clear answers to the journalists, his statements always create serious interpretation problems. Everyone remembers his famous “Who am I to judge?” when he was asked about homosexuals after his apostolic visit to Brazil in July 2013.

In the press conference after his recent trip to Mexico, Francis voiced a severe judgment on American presidential candidate Donald Trump, declaring at the same time that he does not get involved in the Italian politics on the question of civil unions (i.e. homosexual “marriages”) in Italy; he then firmly rejected the crime of abortion while mentioning the possibility of contraception as a lesser evil to help avoid the consequences of the Zirka virus…

The Italian press spoke of “enigmatic exits” and of “multiple ‘Jesuitisms’, constantly on the move, that can never be stopped of grasped”, and resumed his contradictory answers as follows: “I meddle, I don’t meddle; I judge, I don’t judge… Francis disconcerts the Catholic world with his fluctuating evaluations.” The fact remains that the average reader’s conclusion will be very simple: “A Christian cannot vote for Donald Trump; as for the bill on civil unions, each person should listen to his own conscience… but no barrier has been laid down to keep it from passing; abortion is a crime, but contraception is only a lesser evil, so it is acceptable…”

Back in their writing rooms, these Vatican specialists denounced what causes their uneasiness: today, pontifical talk is “a perpetual ‘say, unsay and contradict’.” Some are doubtful as to Fr. Federico Lombardi’s efficacy as decoder of a line of thought that remains hopelessly muddled. What slightly reassures them, it is true, is the pope’s recent answer to the criticism of one of them, Antonio Socci, in an Open Letter on the Church in Time of War. “I am sure that many of the things you say will do me much good,” Francis wrote to him. So the journalists have hope. And while there is hope there is life.

Fr. Alain Lorans

Comments

News Roundup: October 19, 2026

+ JMJ Well ... I was looking in my blog drafts and found this list from after my News is an Addiction post. So ... yep ... not totally able to disconnect from the news world at this point. Frankly, I haven't read all of these articles - they catch my eye as I check for SSPX news regarding the exco's etc. So let's consider these topics as part of a higher level chronicle. They may not be key inflection points but helps to understand the flow of the world as perceived by the authors and myself who captured them as a snapshot in time. P^3 1 Popes Past Present and Future Benedict XVI and the Reforms of the Second Vatican Council: Re-Catholicizing the Liturgy—Part I - Adoremus RORATE CÆLI: France: Pope Lays Down the Law on Euthanasia RORATE CÆLI: "I went to France to preach the Gospel -- the Defense of Life is something that the Church believes very deeply" RORATE CÆLI: Image of the Day: the Pope at the Rebuilt Notre-Dame de Paris RORATE CÆLI: Leo XIV and the Place...

The Debt Canadian Traditional Catholics Owe to Fr. Yves Normandin (RIP)

+ JMJ On this All Souls day, I'd like to remind all Traditional Catholics in Canada the debt that they owe to Fr. Yves Normandin (RIP). Fr. Normandin stepped into the breach in the 1970's offering the Tridentine Mass across Canada for close to a decade before returning to his diocese for a number years before returning to the SSPX. I had the grace to visit him in Quebec twice and each time left with a greater appreciation of the fruits of his efforts. All of us 'old-timers' probably remembers Masses in Chapels, Homes, Halls, Funeral Homes, and event convention centres. I make the assertion that this laid the ground for all the Traditional Mass Communities, SSPX, FSSP, Diocesan and others. Probably a pretty safe assertion! In addition to praying for the repose of the Soul of Fr. Normandin, I'd ask you also pray for the repose of the soul of his Mother. I remember seeing her picture once and everyone has a Mom and she is worthy of our prayers for producing such a so...

Morning and Evening and other sundry Prayers

+ JMJ Along the theme of P^3 (Prayer, Penance, Patience), and for my own reference ... here is a collection of Morning and Evening prayers from the Ideal Daily Missal along with some additional prayers. In this crisis of the Church, I do not think it is possible to do too much prayer, penance and have patience. P^3

SSPX: Requiescat in Pace - Nov. Devotions

+ JMJ Recently, the St. Gertrude prayer was recommended to me and given my devotion to the Holy Souls in Purgatory, I thought it a good inclusion in the morning prayers and post it here for as a reminder for November - the Month of the Holy Souls. P^3 Courtesy of SSPX.org “Forget not the dead and hasten to pray for them!” - such is the Church's recommendation, beautifully summarized by St. Augustine. In Purgatory until the End of the World Our Lady Herself referred to Purgatory when, at the first Fatima apparition in May 1917, she was asked by Lucia about the souls of two young village girls who had recently died. The Virgin answered that the first one, Maria das Nevas, who died when about 16 years of age, was in Heaven. But of Amelia, a young lady of 18 years at her death, "will be in purgatory until the end of the world.” The disclosure about Amelia’s prolonged period of expiation never fails to shock and trouble. We are so easily misled to believe that Heaven is our natura...

The News is an Addiction ...

+ JMJ People seem to be mesmerised by train wrecks. They just can't turn away as the disaster creeps forward along train tracks towards the crossing where a car, truck, bus, trailer awaits its destruction. Trads have been watching the train wreck that is this crisis of the Catholic Church for decades. The trade war between the Canada and the US has reminded me that the news is addictive. The first time I was addicted what from 2009 to 2014 when I was closely following the Rome / SSPX discussions. I was at work watching a live-stream as Bishop Fellay disappeared into the Vatican. The lead-up to this moment had been intense as the 'resistance' got freaked out and the cultural cracks between doctrine and conspiracy theory widened. In the decade since then other things have emerged, wars, rumours of wars, conspiracies, celebrity Catholics etc. Now we have a new addiction and its name is Trump. Lately, no matter how much I try, I find myself wonderin...

Tradicat

Search This Blog