The “Pope” Strikes Again…
Francis: HAPPY RAMADAN!
On July 8, 2013, “His Holiness” Mr. Jorge Bergoglio (called by most “Pope Francis”) visited the Italian island of Lampedusa, a tiny speck in the Mediterranean Sea between Tunisia and Sicily. In a speech in which he supported the rights (whether real or imagined) of refugee immigrants, Francis took a moment to greet in particular the Muslims, who were but two days away from their fasting month of Ramadan:
“I also think with affection of those Muslim immigrants who this evening begin the fast of Ramadan, which I trust will bear abundant spiritual fruit. The Church is at your side as you seek a more dignified life for yourselves and your families. To all of you: o’scià!”
(Antipope Francis, Homily in Lampedusa, July 8, 2013)
Good wishes from the apostate Vatican II Sect to the Muslims for Ramadan is really nothing new or surprising, as they have a habit of sending greetings and letters to non-Christians of all sorts of false religions, including the Hindus (see example here). So this alone wouldn’t be much news. What’s striking this time is the explicit wording Francis employed: “…I trust [your observance of Ramadan] will bear abundant spiritual fruit.”
You see, Mr. Bergoglio believes that Muslims, whom every Christian must love enough to seek their eternal happiness in Heaven through conversion to the Roman Catholic Church, can achieve “abundant spiritual fruit” through their observance of Ramadan. And this from the supposed Vicar of Christ on earth!
Instead of preaching Christ to them — which Francis at other times loves to insist is necessary for a true Christian — or at least making some first attempts to show the people involved in Islam that their religion is not that founded or approved by God, and hence the observance of Ramadan, tragically, can only contribute to their damnation, not their salvation, Francis happily endorses their soul-destroying misconception that Ramadan can help their spiritual lives – and do so “abundantly”! This is an absolute mockery of Our Lord and His Gospel, for there can be no holiness apart from Christ nor salvation outside the True Church:
- “Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)
- “But without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11:6)
- “Whosoever revolteth, and continueth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that continueth in the doctrine, the same hath both the Father and the Son.” (2 John 1:9)
- “Be Thou King of all those who are still involved in the darkness of idolatry or of Islamism, and refuse not to draw them into the light and kingdom of God.” (Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus)
- “Now We consider another abundant source of the evils with which the Church is afflicted at present: indifferentism. This perverse opinion is spread on all sides by the fraud of the wicked who claim that it is possible to obtain the eternal salvation of the soul by the profession of any kind of religion, as long as morality is maintained…. With the admonition of the apostle that ‘there is one God, one faith, one baptism’ [Eph 4:5] may those fear who contrive the notion that the safe harbor of salvation is open to persons of any religion whatever. They should consider the testimony of Christ Himself that ‘those who are not with Christ are against Him,’ [Lk 11:23] and that they disperse unhappily who do not gather with Him.” (Pope Gregory XVI, Encyclical Mirari Vos, n. 13)
The Catholic teaching is clear, and is clearly in contrast with Novus Ordo teaching and practice. It is candid statements like this one about Ramadan that reveal the true Bergoglio/Francis. The man is an apostate from the True Faith, not a Roman Catholic, and most definitely not the Pope of the Catholic Church. He believes that salvation can be found in any religion, as long as it is practiced sincerely and you support the poor and the marginalized.
“Conservatives” AWOL
This is exactly the kind of heresy that people like Michael Voris and “Fr.” John Zuhlsdorf are allegedly trying to combat, right? But what happened? Did they slam “Pope” Francis for this? No, of course not. Instead: silence, deafening silence. (Can you imagine what they would have said if these remarks had come from “Cardinal” Keeler or McCarrick?) Alternatively, if Francis had said that Muslims must convert from their false religion and embrace Catholicism, we would have never heard the end of it from Voris, Zuhlsdorf, and their ilk. Voris would have devoted another show to a “WWF Papacy” and Zuhlsdorf would have put the quote at the end of every blog post. Consider the following:
When, in March 2013, Francis said, “He who doesn’t pray to Christ, prays to the devil,” Voris and Zuhlsdorf were only too happy to inform their readers of just how Catholic Francis was. ‘Our Pope is conseeeervative – he’s Caaaatholic!’ you could basically hear them scream. (Voris’ “WWF Papacy” episode was a prime example of that, which we exposed here.)
From the beginning we warned against the “conservative” Novus Ordo spin about Francis, which cherry-picks Francis’ seemingly orthodox and conservative statements but totally ignores whatever other things he says that contradict or qualify such statements, thus giving a distorted view of the man and his theology (check our “Pope Francis” page for the other side). So, for example, when Francis said that “Christ cannot be found outside the Church”, Voris and Zuhlsdorf were in ecstasy, yet Novus Ordo Watch was warning people right away that Francis’ theology of the church is such that the statement is practically meaningless:
So now, where are Francis’ “conservative” supporters to inform us about what he said to the Muslims about “abundant spiritual fruit” for Ramadan? Weren’t we first told that Francis believes whoever doesn’t pray to Christ prays to the devil? So is he now saying that Muslims’ prayer to the devil will bring them abundant spiritual fruit? Mr. Zuhlsdorf? Mr. Voris? Mr. Haines? Care to comment? Hello? We can’t hear you!
Regardless of intentions, the objective fact of the matter is that by only reporting the stories on Francis that fit their agenda (“We’re real Catholics, and we’re with the Pope, who is against all the liberals and our friend!”) — a bad habit we’ve nicknamed the “Voris Virus” — these faux “Catholic” commentators are misleading their audience by presenting a Francis that just doesn’t exist – and this to the detriment of souls. If you cannot present the truth about a man because you fear it would disturb people’s consciences or make them lose their Faith, then perhaps it’s high time for you to realize that a man who is such a public danger to the Faith cannot be the Pope of the Catholic Church! The truth can never be served by lies.
In 1794, Pope Pius VI (Bull Auctorem Fidei) warned against the dissenters who were introducing nefarious errors and false ideas into the Church under the guise of ambiguous and vague statements, going even so far as contradicting themselves in order to allow them to deny the very errors they were seeking to spread:
- “In order not to shock the ears of Catholics, the innovators sought to hide the subtleties of their tortuous maneuvers by the use of seemingly innocuous words such as would allow them to insinuate error into souls in the most gentle manner. Once the truth had been compromised, they could, by means of slight changes or additions in phraseology, distort the confession of the faith that is necessary for our salvation, and lead the faithful by subtle errors to their eternal damnation.”
- This “cannot be excused in the way that one sees it being done, under the erroneous pretext that the seemingly shocking affirmations in one place are further developed along orthodox lines in other places, and even in yet other places corrected; as if allowing for the possibility of either affirming or denying the statement, or of leaving it up to the personal inclinations of the individual – such has always been the fraudulent and daring method used by innovators to establish error. It allows for both the possibility of promoting error and of excusing it.”
- The heretic Nestorius “expressed himself in a plethora of words, mixing true things with others that were obscure; mixing at times one with the other in such a way that he was also able to confess those things which were denied while at the same time possessing a basis for denying those very sentences which he confessed.”
- “Whenever it becomes necessary to expose statements that disguise some suspected error or danger under the veil of ambiguity, one must denounce the perverse meaning under which the error opposed to Catholic truth is camouflaged.”
This is exactly the tactic exposed by the Vatican II Modernists, especially their false “Popes”, and Novus Ordo Watch exists to tear that mask off their faces. Unfortunately, the Novus Ordo “conservative” pundits and commentators help keep that mask intact.
Michael Voris is currently very busy again denouncing what he terms the “Church of Nice” (see here) — his favorite thing to do because he doesn’t have to leave his comfort zone. We suggest he start reporting on his “Pope of Nice” as well. But that wouldn’t work for him — he’d undercut the strength of his own agenda (“We’re with the Pope!”), he’d lose most of his viewers, and he could cancel his cruise. Most of his speaking engagements would probably get canceled and he could find out what it really means not to be “mainstream” — kind of like sedevacantists.
At Novus Ordo Watch, we focus on the truth — without apology and no matter the consequences.
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