Do as I say, not as I do…
Francis the Hypocrite Condemns Insulting Speech
From the man who believes the biggest problems facing our world today are not the decline of Christendom, the flooding of the world with vice, or the abortion holocaust, but instead the unemployment of the youth and the loneliness of the elderly, now comes yet another gem of Jesuit wisdom. At his Sunday Angelus address on September 7, 2014, the Argentinian apostate-claiming-to-be Pope, Jorge Bergoglio, said the following on the topic of fraternal correction:
An attitude of gentleness, prudence, humility, and attention against those who have committed a crime, avoiding that words can hurt and kill the brother … When I make an unfair criticism, when I “curse” a brother with my tongue, this is killing the reputation of the other! … [Fraternal correction] also helps us – us – to free ourselves from anger or resentment which only hurt: that bitterness of the heart that brings anger and resentment, and that lead us to insult and attack. But it is very bad to see this come out of the mouth of a Christian as an insult or an attack! It’s bad! Got it? No insults! Insulting is not Christian!
(“Pope” Francis as quoted by Macro Tosatti in “Francis: ‘Insulting is not Christian! Even words kill’”, Vatican Insider, Sep. 7, 2014)
Several things need to be noted here.
First, the hypocrisy of Francis’ words is staggering. You may recall that since his election, Francis has constantly used his sermons and addresses to hurl insults at people — usually at good Catholics or those trying to be such — so much so that “Fr.” Tim Finigan dreamed up the justification that Francis was just being very traditional and “reviving papal invective” (nice try, Mr. Finigan!).
Francis didn’t even shy away from using what he called an “Apostolic Exhortation” (the infamous and heretical Evangelii Gaudium) for his uncalled-for overblown rhetoric. Such impressive phrases as “sourpusses” and “self-absorbed Promethean Neo-Pelagians” now grace the pages of an official “papal” document. Indeed, one Novus Ordo blogger couldn’t take it any more and decided to engage in some satire by publishing Pope Francis’ Little Book of Insults. The Bergoglian jibes have been so numerous that even the secular press started noticing, one writer calling Francis an “insult comic” and “the vicar of snark”.
So, for Francis to now rail against insults as “not Christian” is the pot calling the kettle black — it is the height of hypocrisy.
Second, of course our speech must at all times be charitable, it is true. However, it must be charitable according to the standards of Catholic morality, not Francis’ humanist “church of nice” standards. When we have to engage in fraternal correction — that is, telling a fellow-Catholic that he is doing something sinful — then of course we typically ought to do it with kindness, showing that we are trying to help him, for the sake of his soul.
However, there are times when kindness simply will not work — it will not accomplish the intended end, either from experience or because it is obvious that kindness would be totally out of place and not appropriate for the situation. For example, if a Catholic — a real, traditional Catholic — were to express his support for so-called “gay rights”, it would be silly to approach him with kindness about it, because it is clear that he knows better. Instead, he ought to be rebukedfor this wickedness, and sometimes such a rebuke is greatly and efficaciously aided by the use of an insult. Such an insult would still be considered as meeting the demands of charity because charity isn’t “being nice”; rather, it is the love of one’s neighbor for God’s sake, and love of our neighbor (friend or foe) means we desire him to attain eternal beatitude in Heaven.
No, we’re not making this up. Let’s review some basic Catholic morality on this topic of insults. The technical moral term for this is “contumely”:
Contumely consists in unjustly dishonoring another person in his presence and thus showing one’s contempt for him… Dishonoring another may be done by words, deeds or omissions… The gravity of the sin of contumely is determined by the words, actions or omissions employed and especially by the dignity of the person dishonored. Some expressions used among the less educated may be only banter, and, therefore, no sin; whereas among the more cultured people they would imply a grave affront.
(Fr. Heribert Jone, Moral Theology [1961], n. 378)
Did you notice the key word here? Fr. Jone states that the sin of contumely is committed when “unjustly dishonoring another person in his presence”. But clearly there are times when it is just to do so, in fact, when the offender has already dishonored himself by his wicked act.
Don’t believe it? Then consider these rather insulting words used by our holy Lord Jesus Christ against the Pharisees:
O generation of vipers, how can you speak good things, whereas you are evil? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
(Mt 12:34)
You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do.(Jn 8:44)
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, you make him the child of hell twofold more than yourselves.
Woe to you blind guides, that say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but he that shall swear by the gold of the temple, is a debtor. Ye foolish and blind; for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? And whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, is a debtor. Ye blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? He therefore that sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things that are upon it:
And whosoever shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth in it: And he that sweareth by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have left the weightier things of the law; judgment, and mercy, and faith. These things you ought to have done, and not to leave those undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness.
Thou blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside may become clean. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men’ s bones, and of all filthiness. So you also outwardly indeed appear to men just; but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; that build the sepulchres of the prophets, and adorn the monuments of the just, and say: If we had been in the days of our Fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Wherefore you are witnesses against yourselves, that you are the sons of them that killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. You serpents, generation of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of hell? Therefore behold I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them you will put to death and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city: That upon you may come all the just blood that hath been shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the just, even unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom you killed between the temple and the altar.
(Mt 23:15-35)
These holy words of our Blessed Lord are not “nice.” They are not kind. They are, in fact, quite insulting. Yet, our Lord is Charity itself, the every essence of Love. Here we have a perfect example of the just dishonoring of someone in his presence, the just use of insulting language, aimed at the betterment of that person’s life, to the good of his soul and his eternal destiny. Our Lord did not hate the Pharisees, He loved them — with a true, genuine, and perfect love, not with the “niceness” demanded by our politically correct but wicked world.
Let’s be clear about it: A loose, unbridled tongue is very dangerous. Sins of the tongue have landed many a soul in hell, without doubt, and the sin of contumely is generally a mortal sin, unless the unjust insult is merely slight (see Jone, Moral Theology, n. 378). Our Blessed Lord Himself said as much: “…whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment… And whosoever shall say, Thou Fool, shall be in danger of hell fire” (Mt 5:22). And yet this is the same Lord who hurled strong epithets of rebuke and contempt at the Pharisees because they deserved it and needed to hear it, and so did the people around them.
The lesson to be learned here is simply this: Not all insults are wrong. Charity is not “being nice,” at least not necessarily. In order to be truly charitable, one must sometimes be very unkind, just like a parent must sometimes spank his child and punish him, not out of malice or through a lack of charity, but precisely from a motive of genuine love and seeking the child’s ultimate happiness. (The same goes for humility. Reproving another is often an act of humility, not of pride.)
As usual, then, Francis has it all wrong. His teaching that “insults aren’t Christian” is false — though in his case, it is also amusingly hypocritical. True, a Christian ought to watch what he says and take great care to show as much kindness as possible, but not all insults are wrong. Francis knows this (he certainly practices it!), and his failure to point this out, especially in the context of fraternal correction, once more distorts the true teaching of Christ and thus misleads souls.
We live in a world where this is “niceness” in abundance, but very little charity. Francis has just done his part to ensure that it will continue to be this way.
Bergoglio’s Angelus address also included, of course, the obligatory semiweekly denunciation of gossip. Novus Ordos must be relieved to know that their “Pope” has the spiritual prowess to quickly identify what really ails this world, and what they have no other pastor to warn them against: uncharitable speech, judging, lack of dialogue, and gossip. Impressive!
Being a 1960’s-educated Jesuit, Jorge Bergoglio is the perfect embodiment of everything that is wrong with the Novus Ordo Sect. If a Freemason-Modernist-Naturalist-Sillonist-Indifferentist nincompoop hell-bent on destroying the last few well-meaning and pious “Catholic” souls in the Vatican II Church were to claim the papacy, just what would he be doing differently from Francis?
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