Francis, Holy Thursday, and the Miracle of the Knees

Bergoglio the Wonderworker

Francis, Holy Thursday, and the Miracle of the Knees

On Mar. 9 of this year, after stiff-kneed Francis managed to kneel rather easily for his annual public confession stunt, we made the following prediction: “The next time Francis will be able to kneel will be on Mar. 29. That’s when he will perform the washing of politically-correct feet.”

And so it happened. Mar. 29 was Holy Thursday, and, while the rest of the world was trying to digest the developing “Hellgate” scandal, its protagonist was busy washing the feet of inmates at Rome’s Regina Caeli prison. According to Vatican News, the feet in question belonged to eight Novus Ordos, two Muslims, one Buddhist, and one Eastern schismatic.

As predicted, Francis had no trouble washing these men’s feet on his knees during the Mandatum ceremony, which took place in the afternoon. Here is a video report of the event:

When earlier the same day he celebrated the “Chrism Mass”, however, he found himself unable to even so much as genuflect. See the following video from around the 1:20:46 to the 1:22:40 marks:

And who could forget this memorable shot, published on Feb. 20, while the Jesuit pseudo-pope was participating in a Lenten retreat:

The last man standing…

The phenomenon is always the same: Francis kneels before man, not before God. (Not that the Novus Ordo Eucharist is valid, but Francis claims to believe it is.) This behavior is despicable but it is consistent because his theology is entirely man-centered. Have you ever heard the garrulous Jesuit preach a sermon on the infinite dignity of the Most Holy Trinity and the duties of man towards his Creator? …Didn’t think so.

Numerous photos of the footwashing circus can be found at the Vatican web site.

But Francis did not visit the Roman prison merely to wash feet — he also had plenty to say. He used the opportunity once more to attack the Catholic teaching on the permissibility of capital punishment — divinely revealed, by the way (see Gen 9:6; Rom 13:4) — but he did not stop there. Being the Naturalist that he is, he condemned not only the death penalty but also life imprisonment because, so he claims, it stifles “hope” — by which he means not the assurance of God’s help to attain salvation while resigning oneself to one’s just punishment (cf. Lk 23:41), but the possibility of being released from imprisonment.

As always, Francis demonstrates that the temporal world is his only real concern. For Francis, natural life in this world is the highest good; but for a Catholic, the supernatural life of grace and happiness in the world to come is infinitely more important: “For the wages of sin is death. But the grace of God, life everlasting, in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23).

And now, let’s make another prediction: For the feast of Corpus Christi, observed this year on May 31 (unless he transfers it to the following Sunday, June 3), Francis will once again neither kneel nor genuflect.

Want to bet?

Image source: vatican.va/Twitter (@CatholicSat)
License: Fair use/Fair use