Pope Francis Snubs 2,000 Years of Church Teaching…Again…
Two years ago to the day, I wrote my first post in which I was highly critical of Pope Francis. I received a lot of backlash from many close friends in which they accused me of starting to go off the rails and questioned if I was really on team Catholic. By the end of the night, I had received so many complaints from such close friends and even family that I ended up pulling the article and apologizing. It was the first time I had ever retracted a post and it has haunted me ever since.
None of the thoughts I had in the article have gone away. If anything, they have become stronger since my original article was published and have been validated by some of the antics performed by Pope Francis.
Seeing as this is the second anniversary of publishing and pulling the article, I have decided to republish it. What you will read below is the original article with only minor edits made for grammar and to clarify any points that I feel need further explanation. This article was the first time in which I felt that calling Pope Francis a heretic was not only warranted, but justified based on the teachings that Christ and His Church has given us. We see further evidence of Pope Francis’ disdain for Christ and His Church only recently when the Bishop of Rome while meeting with Lutherans, informed them that if they could receive the Holy Eucharist during Communion if they discussed it with God and felt called.
It is even more important that we revisit this article as it is the Year of Mercy and we must understand that the mercy that Pope Francis speaks of is not the same mercy that Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ speaks of throughout the Gospels.
Originally posted on February 13, 2014:
Today, during his Wednesday audience, Pope Francis said:
“If you do not feel in need of God’s mercy, if you do not feel you are a sinner, then it’s better not go to Mass, because we go to Mass because we are sinners and we want to receive the forgiveness of Jesus, to participate in His redemption, His forgiveness.”
This statement is contrary to 2,000 years of Catholic teaching.
I understand some of you want to defend him, as he is the Pope after all, but this error cannot stand. This statement is a blatant disregard for church teaching, and can not be defended as a “well if you look deeper” moment.
His statement isn’t a “well what he’s trying to say is that you should want to go to Mass. Otherwise, you shouldn’t go” moment either. Obviously, the soul who, in his humility and full understanding of the Mass and Christ’s presence in the Eucharist and His sacrifice on Calvary, would desire to go to Mass. This statement says nothing of that.
Let’s use another analogy. What would happen if I was to say to your child “if you do not feel that you are in need of your parent’s mercy, or feel that your room is dirty, it is better that you do not clean your room”? You would tell me how crazy I am and inform me that your child would not clean his room. Ever.
Similarly, the poor soul who thinks that they do not need God’s mercy because really, we are all good people, and when we die we go to Heaven no matter what (another heresy), will think that they do not need to go to Mass.
No matter how you look at it, if you replace it with any scenario it comes out wrong, especially the fact that we are required as Catholics to attend Mass every single week.
I’m tired of hearing the nonsense that comes out of Pope Francis’ mouth. (And how much more nonsense has he spewed in the last two years?)
Unfortunately, there is nothing charitable to be said about what he said today; it is just wrong no matter how you spin it, or how you look at it. Yes, we should want to go to Mass as that is the desirable attitude we should strive for continually.
However, giving an ambiguous statement like this is irresponsible, reckless and, unfortunately, is a condemnation of these poor souls to go to Hell. It permits anyone who is Catholic in name only, and doesn’t feel like going to Mass can now say “well, Pope Francis said I don’t have to go to Mass unless I want to”
Missing Mass on Sundays without a serious reason (and by serious I mean something that will prevent you from going such as dangerous weather, No Mass within a reasonable distance of going, or for health reasons) is a mortal sin. If we die with unconfessed mortal sin, we will go to Hell. That is 2,000 years worth of Church teaching. That is dogma.
Frankly, I cannot wait for the heresies of this papacy to end. Pope Francis has made a mockery of the pontificate; he’s made a mockery of the papacy, and he has made a mockery of the Catholic Church.
These mockeries would not stand in any age of the Church, but only in the post-conciliar age where anything goes, as long as it feels good and makes you happy.
Pray for Pope Francis and pray that God will not let this travesty continue however He sees fit. May Our Lord’s Holy Will be done and may you stay in a state of grace.
You did not identify yourself in your comment here. And it would help us a lot if you refer to the exact Occasion and event where the Pope said your partial quotation. It is difficult to make a judgement on what he really meant if you just cite a particular phrase or sentences that you want to discuss and whine about. Give us the the message, event, title or encyclical where your citation was mentioned. That is in the spirit of truth so we can properly appreciate the Pope’s statements as well as your complain.
Dave, I cited two sources. Perhaps you would be so kind as to click on those green links. On the internet, hyperlinks take you to another website. Just thought I’d give you a head’s up in case you didn’t know.
But of course, since you are clearly a Pope Francis devotee who demands that you have a notarized signature from Pope Francis on anything that someone disagrees with before you rush to judgment, I doubt you’ll find any use in Zenit’s translation located here.
great website exposing the false novus ordo church:
http://www.novusordowatch.org/wire/index.htm
God bless you and thank you for reposting this. We are called to speak.
The attacks on the faith have only increased in this last year – for instance, when he recently said:
“JESUS PROBABLY HAD TO BEG FORGIVENESS OF HIS PARENTS. The Gospel doesn’t say this, but I believe that we can presume it. Mary’s question, moreover, contains a certain REPROACH” –Dec. 27, 2015 (VATICAN)
here is a full chronology type list of many strange and just plainly wrong statements
http://thewildvoice.org/pope-francis-chronology-perspective/
May God bless, protect, and continue to guide you always.
Thank you. I did see that comment about Jesus needing to beg forgiveness. Sadly, that is on the tame side of some of the blasphemies uttered by Pope Francis. And thank you for the link. This is quite the comprehensive list, something I had considered attempting but was left intimidated by the sheer magnitude of the work involved. I will be sure to let other readers know about this useful site.
You are right, it is almost impossible to keep up with – and has truly become a full time job. Thank you so much and God bless you for speaking up when, as you mentioned in this article, it can be very, very difficult to do. This a cult of personality and to question it invites extreme retribution. God bless you.
I really think the Pope is highlighting in this statement that any person who believes he is not in need of God’s mercy is gravely mistaken because there’s is no one that exists that is not a sinner. As scripture says in Proverbs 24:16 “For a just man shall fall seven times in the day”. Therefore the point he is making is that it is for the very reason that we are all sinners and in need of God’s mercy that we need to partake in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the “sacrament of our salvation” (Cat 1359) in which “Christ gives us the very body which He gave up for us on the cross, the very blood which He ‘poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins'” (Cat 1365).
I will agree that his statement is somewhat unclear and open to misinterpretation. It does seem that Pope Francis has an unfortunate tendency to make these somewhat ambiguous comments. Surely he’s not doing it on purpose? Why on earth would he do that? If so, he’d have to be a false Pope. I hope not.
GO, TEAM CATHOLIC! God is at work in you, Jeff! Thank you. And by the way, two is a highly significant number. Jesus said to Sr. Mary of St. Peter at a time in human history very much like ours today when evil is so rapidly proliferating as many are preying upon Christ’s flock, these wolves in shepherds’ and sheeps’ clothing in need of supernatural liberation from the evil that enslaves them, “By My Holy Face you will work WONDERS,” and He still means it. This is why Almighty God our Father of Mercies’ Work of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus is being re-presented in our time after having fallen into obscurity thanks to so many meaningless distractions and so much false teaching and worship of the self. Even a small number of people making reparation in imitation of and in union with Christ (through His sacraments), His salvific mission, and His reparative suffering is making a huge, and eternal, difference that is of real value. THERE IS NO WAY WE CAN LOSE. KEEP REACHING, TEACHING, AND PREACHING CORRECTLY, TEAM CATHOLIC!! God is at work in you. WHAT A WONDER.
If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. What you have experienced among the dissenters to the obvious, Jeff, is good people who unquestionably do not want what is occurring to be the case. But it is the case, and that is what you are so responsibly addressing for the sake of all. GO TEAM CATHOLIC.
Amen Michele – ‘if it walks like a duck….’ – and yes, understandably, most will not want to see what is really happening. A great, great test of faith is upon us. God bless you and God bless Jeff for speaking up.
PRAYER OF REPARATION
“O Jesus, my Savior and Redeemer, Son of the living God, behold, we kneel before Thee and offer Thee our reparation; we would make amends for all the blasphemies uttered against Thy holy name, for all the injuries done to Thee in the Blessed Sacrament, for all the irreverence shown toward Thine immaculate Virgin Mother, for all the calumnies and slanders spoken against Thy spouse, the holy Catholic and Roman Church. O Jesus, who has said: “If you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it to you,” we pray and beseech Thee for all our brethren who are in danger of sin; shield them from every temptation to fall away from the true faith; save those who are even now standing on the brink of the abyss; to all of them give light and knowledge of the truth, courage and strength for the conflict with evil, perseverance in faith and active charity! For this do we pray, most merciful Jesus, in Thy name, unto God the Father, with whom Thou livest and reignest in the unity of the Holy Ghost world without end. Amen.”
Jeff,
As a convert to the Catholic faith, and a former protestant, I have experienced many Baptized Catholics speaking against Pope Frances for whatever reason.
In this world today, where social teaching is changing faster than we can keep up with it, ( due to advances in technology), our Pope is trying to help those who have strayed so far from the truth come back into the folds of the Catholic Church. I hardly believe that Pope Frances objectives are to harm the Catholic traditions in any way, nor do I believe he is purposefully trying to move the Church into some dangerous direction which will create division and heresy.
For those who have the benefit of higher education in the traditions of the Church, I am quite certain they are frustrated to say the least. However, I need to remind you that the majority of Catholic Christians throughout the world are not. So how does the Papal office communicate with such a wide division in comprehension among its members?
I remember being in elementary school. I sat at the front of the class and was called on quite regularly because the teacher knew I had done my homework, and hoped that my answers would help to inspire others to do theirs as well. One thing that really upset me was when one of my classmates who sat near the back of the classroom, and who we all could tell was much slower at learning than the rest of us, would get called on to answer a question. Inevitably, this student would sheepishly give the incorrect answer every single time, which caused the rest of the classroom to disregard him even more in every single way; he was bullied and made fun of on the playground. He was picked last in all the team formations. He was sad all the time, and had no one to sit with at lunch.
One day, I couldn’t watch this person be treated like this any longer. I asked the teacher during recess if i could move my seat from the front of the classroom, to the back beside this student. She wanted to know why. This is what I told her.
” I understand how to do my homework, and I enjoy learning. But Robby is having such a hard time. If i sit next to him, I promise to help him do better”.
“Well”, she said, “we can try it for a while and see how it goes”. So I moved to the back.
All the kids who were once my friends suddenly saw Robby beginning to do his homework. When the teacher asked him questions, sometimes he got the answers correct! And the kids stops teasing and bullying him on the playground so much. What had changed?
What had changed with Robby and our classroom was exactly what Pope Frances has done with his Papacy. Someone is lowering themselves to another level in order to LIFT others UP to a higher one.
When Christ said “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, he wasn’t speaking about just being polite. He meant in EVERYTHING. When Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was Pope, he had the arduous task of following in the footsteps of Saint Pope John Paul II…can you imagine? It would be something like,( let me see if I can put this into some content that reflects today’s societal boundaries) a third year seminarian’s homely following a Cardinals…or something like that. You get the idea. We all learned so much about the Papacy and the Catholic Church from Pope Benedict XVI. I know i did. Then why do you suppose all the complaining about Pope Frances?
Perhaps we need to go back to the story of the classroom. Guess what happened to Robby? He went on to graduate from MIT and is working for Lockhead Martin, last I heard. SO my point is this: Do we stick to straight tradition and forget about helping others learn how to open up to God, or do we try and help as many souls as we can come to the fullness of the faith? Pope Frances is trying to include EVERYONE. He teaches in a simple matter of fact way that is easily understood by everyone, not just the learned and seasoned Catholics who have practiced their faith for years in the same exact way. Is Pope Frances trying to change the Church…no I don’t think he is. He is only trying to reach the MILLIONS of unbaptized and uneducated souls who deserve to know and love Jesus in the fullness of the Catholic faith, just as we do…
and please remember, the Church has survived for over Two Thousand years, so I doubt very seriously that Pope Frances’s teachings will do anything but good….there will always be traditionalists who for whatever reason refuse to accept any point of view other than their own…but I pray that all Catholics will respect the Papacy for what it is….the Head of the Catholic Church, and God’s representative here on earth. God bless you!