The Fellow Travellers from Hell Attacking the Pope

Fr. Intrepidus

I have always defended Pope Francis. Not for any personal reason, but because he has many unique qualities of great merit, in acknowledgement of the word of God – “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19).

I have never seen the ferocity of attack against the Pope such as I have seen this week following the publication of the document Fiducia Supplicans on the pastoral meaning of blessings, including those of “irregular relationships”, notably those of homosexuals. It is a priori to be established and affirmed that Pope Francis did not authorise the blessing of homosexual acts or same-sex marriage. The document states that the blessings of homosexual persons are NOT a liturgical act and can in no way be part of any formal liturgical setup. Such blessings are entirely pastoral-oriented and are to be bestowed after the receivers recognise themselves as “destitute” and needing help. The word “destitute” means admitting one’s sins and requiring conversion.

This isn’t an approval of homosexuality, let alone a blessing of marriage, “which can only be between a man and a woman”.  Indeed, same-sex couples eager to find a religious approval of their lifestyle, or perhaps the blessing of their rings, as some Maltese websites put it, will have a very bitter surprise after reading Fiducia Supplicans.  It will leave them dismayed and dumbfounded.

This is the second time in a month that a papal pronouncement was intentionally and maliciously twisted out of its meaning from every quarter. This is done both by the Pope’s enemies and those supporting him according to their agenda.

On the one hand, there are the Evangelical Protestants, of whom there is a vocal number in Malta. On the other hand, some traditional Catholics, who are exceptionally devoted to the Tridentine Liturgy, are also behaving as the Pope’s enemies. Supporters of him are those of a liberal bent. This camp is made up of two factions. On the side, there is the liberal media, with the absolute majority of the journals being either anti-clerical or declared atheists. On the other side are the bishops and a section of the clergy. Although there is a gaping chasm between these four categories, they are all united in their belief that in Fiducia Supplicans, the Pope has indeed changed the dogmatic teaching of the Catholic Church on sexual morality related to homosexuality, or at least has paved the way to such a change.

These four camps are enemies of maximum bitterness towards each other. They hate each other to the grave and beyond. Despite that at least one of these camps, that of the bishops and a section of their clergy are praising the Pope, not condemning him, based on this spurious interpretation, at the end of the day, they, together with the other three camps, are scratching each other’s backs to impart this erroneous interpretation of this document to the world. As such, in the same manner of Pontius Pilate and Herod, who hated each other as bitterly as these four camps hate each other, on this particular occasion, all four have united their forces to war on the Son of God in the person of his Vicar on Earth.

Let me start with the Evangelical Protestants. Since the times of Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli, they perceive in Rome and the person of the Pope the Great Beast prophesised by the Apostle John in his Apocalypse. Because of this, these Evangelicals affirm that all the Pope says is a priori and eternally wrong because he is the Great Beast of the Apocalypse. Even when the Pope pronounces himself in terms on which they are fundamentally in agreement, such as on the immorality of abortion, they either ignore his pronouncement or try to undermine it on the grounds of hypocrisy. Whatever he might say is more evidence against him. Thus, when the liberal media such as the BBC, Reuters and the Guardian came out singing from the same hymn sheet that the Pope has changed fundamental teachings of the Church, they leapt at the opportunity to tar the Pope as the Antichrist and proclaim that we are living in the last days of Revelation.

The second camp is that of those keen about the Tridentine Liturgy, especially those attached to the figure of Mgr Lefebvre and the Society of St Pius X, which is noteworthy for its resistance to Vatican Council II. A number of these have fallen into Sedevacantism, while a number have not. Other Traditional Latin Mass supporters are in communion with Rome. For decades, this camp has repeated ad nauseam that the Roman Catholic Church has fallen into heresy, not only because of the Novus Ordo mass established by the Post-Conciliar Church but also on account of the modernist ideas that they allege have infiltrated the Church at all levels, seminaries, theological faculties, clergy, religious orders, etc. Pope St Pius X has described Modernism as the heresy of heresies, and he condemned it on numerous occasions, notably in the encyclical Pascendi.

According to these Traditionalists, the Virgin Mary prophesised the penetration of Modernism many times in appearances such as at La Salette, Fatima and Akita. For them, Pope Francis is a heretic, a usurper of the Petrine Throne, and, above all, a tool of the devil to destroy the true Church, the Catholic Church, from within. For them, Pope Francis is that smoke of Satan that has entered the temple, the famous statement of Pope St Paul VI, whom, incidentally, they reject on account of his liturgical reforms.

There is a yawning abyss between Evangelicals and Traditional Catholics. Nonetheless, they act like Pilate and Herod, who warmed toward each other to take up arms against a familiar foe – that time, Jesus Christ and not his Vicar on earth, i.e. the Pope. I am sure that whenever some new pronouncement comes from Rome, both sides consult not the official sources, such as the websites of the Holy See or the Acta Appostolica Sedes, but each other’s media.

The third camp that has jumped into the same insalubrious bed is the liberal media. These differ from the Evangelicals and Traditional Catholics to the extent that they praise the Pope. Every one of the broadsheets is praising the Pope because he has given the green light for the blessing of homosexual marriages. But these, too, are practising deceit because the Pope has not changed any of the Church’s perennial teachings. However, every time Evangelicals and Traditional Catholics express opprobrium against the Pope, the media serves it up hot on a plate. Whenever Traditionalist sources chastise the Pope, they are serving the ends of the entire liberal media by giving it grist to its mill to serve and manipulate this chastisement as it pleases. These, too, serve the exact cause despite the hatred in which all four camps hold each other.

The last camp consists of our Bishops and their supporters and upholders. Among them are clergy such as Fr Joe Borg, Fr Colin Apap and Fr Kevin Schembri, all of whom have for decades constantly shown disregard for the moral teaching of the Catholic Church on sexuality. To this crew, one may add Andrew Azzopardi, who has hijacked the media of the Church. This camp has long years of disregard for the Church’s teaching on sexuality, starting from their total silence on Humanae Vitae.  Obviously, for this camp, Pope Francis is a paradigm but on the same spurious interpretation that he has changed the teaching of the Church, basing their understanding of the concept of the Development of Doctrine of St John Henry Newman. 

Archbishop Scicluna will not admonish these clerics in the same fashion as the Pope, who rebuked the Bishops of Germany through the missive to them by the Secretary of State Pietro Parolin. Neither will he reassure the concerned like the Pope did when writing a personal letter to a German woman expressing his concern on the line taken by the German synod on these matters. Scicluna and Schembri seem to be relishing this sad spectacle of people, incredibly bright young men, believing the headlines of Lovinmalta asserting that the Pope did indeed change Catholic sexual morality about homosexuality. For this, they will reap very bitter fruits.

Few priests remain who defend the Pope, not only as the successor of Peter but because he has changed nothing about the teaching on homosexuality. My enemies are rejoicing right now, but I know that the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph in the end. My consolation is the Lord God himself. In God alone is my soul at rest; it is from him that my salvation comes. He alone is my rock, salvation, and fortress so that I stand ever unshaken. (Psalm 62)