We have a pope problem and we can't ignore it.

By Connecticut Catholic Corner

"According to their knowledge, competence and prestige which they possess, [the Christian faithful] have the right and even at the times the duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful"- Canon Law 212 Section 3 

About once a year I find myself in opposition to something Michael Voris says (most of the time I think he is spot on and an excellent teacher of the Faith - I highly recommend watching his 'Talks' videos).

Sadly today is one of those rare occasions when I disagree with Michael Voris.

God love you Michael Voris for trying to be the calm in the chaos of Pope Francis’ wake yet again, but I think you’ve got it wrong- at least partly wrong.

Today Voris put out an episode of the Vortex telling Catholics to ‘take a chill pill’ and wait a few days each time Pope Francis opens his mouth so that the Vatican has time to come out with numerous statements clarifying what the Pope MEANT to say.

Got that?  

Don’t listen to what the Pope says; only pay attention to what the Vatican tells you Pope Francis MEANT to say.

That is the SAD reality of our Catholic Church today.  We've got a pope problem and the only answer some are giving is 'ignore him'.  

For months, especially this last week, Catholic writers and bloggers (some of them priests) have been suggesting Catholics “IGNORE THE POPE” because he's causing chaos and division within the Church.  And now it seems Michael Voris is telling us the same thing, but for a different reason.

Voris quote: "Did you hear the reports saying the Pope said God doesn’t REALLY exist? Or did you see the headline that said the Pope said all that matters is overthrowing world economic markets?
Those might as well be the headlines, because they are just about as valid as any of the stuff being trotted out under the banner “WHAT THE POPE SAID TODAY”.Really, this nonsense has got to stop. From Rome on down to the Catholic blogasterium, to the secular press to Catholics on Facebook and so forth.This pope has an off-handed way of talking. Ok. Does he guard his every word and consider that he should be much more circumspect in what he says and to whom? It’s clear its not his style. No, he doesn’t do that.He talks a lot – and that’s who he is. And he has perhaps in little more than a year, become the most ill-quoted and misrepresented Pope in the history of the Church.Does he need to stop talking to so many people in such an off-handed fashion. That argument could be made somewhat easily. But face it, he aint gonna do that.So, Catholics around the world need to stop going crazy and just ignore much of this reporting until a few days have gone by after a reported strange comment."-end quote-  

             

Voris says “ignore much of this REPORTING” – what about the actual INTERVIEWS that the Vatican puts on and off and on (again) its website over and over again?  Do we ignore those too?

The issue for me, isn't what the media says, its what the pope ACTUALLY says..."who am I to judge"..."make a mess"...‘The most serious of the evils that afflict the world these days are youth unemployment and the loneliness of the old".  And what about what he's done?  Washing women's (and Muslims) feet during Holy Week?  I KNOW Voris objects to that (because its WRONG), he's voiced his disapproval for priests who wash women's feet numerous times. These things are a problem, and this problem will not go away by ignoring it.

Many Catholics (bloggers, Facebook, Twitter or other social media junkies etc) are voicing their confusion because we WANT someone to tell us ‘it ain’t so!” but most of the time the Vatican can’t even do that because these ‘interviews’ are done with no proof of what was actually said.

So we either call the person doing the interview a liar (maybe they are, we don’t know) or we point out the fact that the Pope continues to put HIMSELF in a position to BE confusing.

When the pope does that, Catholics (on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc) should NOT be blamed for freaking out.  It's not our fault this stuff comes out of his mouth constantly causing us to feel confused and disappointed and quite frankly nervous.

Voris says:  What’s the moral of the story. Forget the headlines, forget the blogs by the Church of Nice crowd, forget the knee jerk stupidity and just chill out and wait for the ACTUAL facts, or correct translation, or appropriate clarification to be issued.

I am really surprised at Voris for basically stating that Catholics should ignore everything that comes out of the pope’s mouth because only the Vatican can correctly interpret the Holy Father.  That the laity must sit back and wait for the Vatican to tell us what the pope means. 

Really Michael?  Is that where we are now?  Am I misunderstanding Voris here?

I understand the other Catholic bloggers who say 'ignore the pope because he's not THE FAITH and he can't change dogma so why worry', but I don't understand being told to ignore the pope because we must wait for the Vatican tell us what the pope MEANT to say.

Has this ever before happened in our Church history?  That a pope could not speak for himself because no one but the Vatican could understand him?

The problem is, ignoring the head of the Holy Catholic Church is NOT easy- especially when he scares you.  

And let’s be honest here, Pope Francis scares/worries a LOT of people.

I don’t know Michael Voris personally, but have followed his web shows for years now and watched more of his Youtube Catholic teaching videos than I can count.

But to be honest, I get the feeling from listening to Voris for so many years that he isn’t any happier with the current pope than most of the rest of us. (I say this because I recently listened to a talk he gave called “Satan’s Defeat” (excellent by the way) which took place after Pope Benedict resigned, in which Voris was asked who he wished would be our next pope and Voris said Cardinal Raymond Burke whom he wished would take the name Pope Leo XIV- clear indicator he was wishing for a very orthodox, straight talking, no confusion holy pope-like many of us). (note Voris' comment is the final few seconds of the video)

Voris has made it perfectly clear he will not publicly criticize a sitting pope, but that doesn’t automatically mean he’s any happier about what is happening than the rest of us.

He tells us not to have a 'knee jerk' reaction to the pope, but if I were a betting person I would bet Voris has had his own knee jerk moments because of the pope- he just refuses to do so publicly.  

I get a visual of Voris doing a face plant each time Pope Francis does an “interview/non-interview” as the tsunami of chaos ripples over the world.  Once he prays and calms down he has to get to work figuring out how he’s going to steer through the latest storm the Holy Father has unleashed on the world with his next Vortex episode. I admire him for trying and respect him tremendously for NOT going against his view that publicly criticizing a pope is wrong.

Where I disagree with Voris this time, is in laying the blame on the laity and even the media for freaking out when we hear or read what the Holy Father has said.  If this was JUST that the media was at fault for taking something out of context (like with Pope Benedict and the “condom” incident) Voris would have a point.  But the issue is Pope Francis himself- he's purposely putting himself CONTINUALLY in the position to cause chaos.

There are NO MORE excuses for Pope Francis on this- at least in MY opinion.

Pope Francis gives the first interview and chaos erupts.  The interview was on the Vatican website, then taken down from the Vatican website and yesterday it’s back up on the Vatican website and then taken down TODAY- again.

Chaos and confusion.

The Pope does a second interview and the world goes into a tailspin over it.  The Vatican (as Voris points out) has to AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN come out with statements to calm the Catholic world by telling us basically NOT to listen to anything Pope Francis says, just wait for the Vatican to tell you all what he actually MEANT to say.

And last week Pope Francis has done it again.

More chaos and confusion.

Voris puts a lot of the blame on Catholics for freaking out and the media for misunderstanding or misinterpreting the Pope.

Well WHEN is the Pope going to be responsible for what HE says and does?

Why is everyone else getting blamed for what HE says?  What he’s said at times IS scary.  We have a legitimate reason for our unease with this Pope.

Pope Francis said he wanted "a mess" and he's doing a fantastic job of creating a mess in the Church.  

Are we in for YEARS of one mess after another?   

                                                             

This "mess" is on the Pope, not the laity.

If he cared about the confusion and chaos suffered (and it is suffering) by the Catholic laity he would STOP doing these interview/non-interviews, but apparently he’s MORE concerned with his own pleasure in being interviewed, rather than what is best for the Church.

He’s got a priority problem.

And we the Church have a pope problem. 

Some people don’t want to say what needs saying, but it’s the truth.  We have a pope problem.  

It’s an easy fix, just STOP giving off the cuff interviews/non-interviews.  Stick to pre-written statements that the Vatican has looked over to make sure there will be NO chaos or confusion. That way we won't have to wait days for the Vatican to explain what the pope MEANT rather than what he said.

Sadly, I don't think Pope Francis will change for the good of the Church.  He wants a 'mess' and he's determined to continue making a mess within the Church.  

That's a problem we can't ignore.

I pray someone at the Vatican will fix it and be able to clean up Pope Francis' mess.

God help us and give us clarity where we have a mess of chaos and confusion.

In Christ,

Julie @ Connecticut Catholic Corner

"Is the hierarchy perhaps free to teach what they find most to their liking on matters of religion, or what they expect will be most pleasing to the proponents of certain current views opposed to all doctrine? Certainly not! The prime duty of the episcopate is to transmit strictly and faithfully the original message of Christ, the sum total of the truths which He revealed and confided to the Apostles as necessary for salvation." -Pope Paul VI

"The sacred deposit of truth must be safeguarded. It is absolutely vital that the Church never for an instant lose sight of the holy patrimony of truth inherited from the Fathers ... This is the certain and unchangeable doctrine to which the faithful owe obedience." -Pope John XXIII 

Voris’ wish for next pope: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6FIQOdD024 (see the last 3 seconds of the video; it’s his final comment at the end of the talk).

link:  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/thecrescat/2014/07/the-importance-of-ignoring-the-pope.html

link: http://veneremurcernui.wordpress.com/2014/07/14/pope-francis-i-dont-know-what-to-say/

link: http://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/fetzen-fliegen/item/794-as-pope-francis-continues-to-drop-bombs-even-the-normalists-can-hear-the-air-raid-siren