Francis The Ostensibly Pious

by Thomas A. Droleskey

As noted on the home page, the work of the past week has been all-consuming, and that work has had to be done late at night after attending to various domestic responsibilities. I have been rather unobservant of my doctor's prescription, provided me four weeks ago today, to get more sleep, which is which why this article is but a brief "reality check" for anyone who make be taken the alleged appearance of piety and humility on the part of Jorge Mario Bergoglio/Francis. A more through commentary on Jorge Mario Bergoglio/Francis's "homily" yesterday will be posted tomorrow, the Feast of Saint Benedict and the Commemoration of Thursday in Passion Week.

Do not be fooled by Bergoglio/Francis's expressed devotion to Our Lady and Saint Joseph.

Our Lady hates heresy and sacrilege and blasphemy, something that Jorge Mario Bergoglio/Francis has promoted quite actively throughout the entirety of his pretended life as a priest, including embracing a pro-abortion, pro-perversity Talmudic rabbi, Abraham Skorka, after he gave a virulently anti-Catholic address at the Pontifical University of Argentina last year after being awarded an honorary doctorate, to say nothing of the many other examples that have been provided on this site thus far.

Saint Joseph will never protect anyone who promotes heresy, sacrilege and blasphemy as he is the Guardian of Christ the King, Who makes no compromise or concessions to errors of any kind.

Who says so?

Our true popes, that's who.

As for the rest, We greatly deplore the fact that, where the ravings of human reason extend, there is somebody who studies new things and strives to know more than is necessary, against the advice of the apostle. There you will find someone who is overconfident in seeking the truth outside the Catholic Church, in which it can be found without even a light tarnish of error. Therefore, the Church is called, and is indeed, a pillar and foundation of truth. You correctly understand, venerable brothers, that We speak here also of that erroneous philosophical system which was recently brought in and is clearly to be condemned. This system, which comes from the contemptible and unrestrained desire for innovation, does not seek truth where it stands in the received and holy apostolic inheritance. Rather, other empty doctrines, futile and uncertain doctrines not approved by the Church, are adopted. Only the most conceited men wrongly think that these teachings can sustain and support that truth. (Pope Gregory XVI, Singulari Nos, May 25, 1834.)

In the Catholic Church Christianity is Incarnate. It identifies Itself with that perfect, spiritual, and, in its own order, sovereign society, which is the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ and which has for Its visible head the Roman Pontiff, successor of the Prince of the Apostles. It is the continuation of the mission of the Savior, the daughter and the heiress of His Redemption. It has preached the Gospel, and has defended it at the price of Its blood, and strong in the Divine assistance and of that immortality which has been promised it, It makes no terms with error but remains faithful to the commands which  it has received, to carry the doctrine of Jesus Christ to the uttermost limits of the world and to the end of time, and to protect it in its inviolable integrity. (Pope Leo XIII, A Review of His Pontificate, March 19, 1902.)

For the teaching authority of the Church, which in the divine wisdom was constituted on earth in order that revealed doctrines might remain intact for ever, and that they might be brought with ease and security to the knowledge of men, and which is daily exercised through the Roman Pontiff and the Bishops who are in communion with him, has also the office of defining, when it sees fit, any truth with solemn rites and decrees, whenever this is necessary either to oppose the errors or the attacks of heretics, or more clearly and in greater detail to stamp the minds of the faithful with the articles of sacred doctrine which have been explained. (Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos, January 6, 1928.)

Let, therefore, the separated children draw nigh to the Apostolic See, set up in the City which Peter and Paul, the Princes of the Apostles, consecrated by their blood; to that See, We repeat, which is 'the root and womb whence the Church of God springs,' not with the intention and the hope that 'the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth' will cast aside the integrity of the faith and tolerate their errors, but, on the contrary, that they themselves submit to its teaching and government. (Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos, January 6, 1928.)

 

Jorge Mario Bergoglio/Francis spoke yesterday in vague, ambiguous and even pantheistic terms about protecting "creation" and the "environment," decrying violence in the world and urging the civil leaders assembled at his "inauguration" to be instruments of peace. He said not one word about sin, especially not about sins that cry out to Heaven for vengeance, including the chemical and surgical assassination of the preborn and providing special legal "rights," including "marriage" and "civil union" status (which Bergoglio urged his brother non-bishops in Argentina to promote as a "fallback" position once it was clear that the votes were not in the Argentine legislature to stop "marriage), for those engaged in perversity, at any point in his "homily" yesterday. Not one mention of sin. Not one.

United States Vice President Joseph Robinette Biden and Representative Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi, the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, both support the execution of the preborn and "gay marriage." Both approached and were given what purports to be Holy Communion at yesterday's so-called "Mass of the Inauguration of the Petrine Ministry of the Bishop of Rome." Neither heard any words of condemnation from "Pope Francis" about abortion or sodomy. The false "pontiff" assuaged them by speaking in soft, gentle, pious terms that could have been used by the head of any Masonic lodge.

Pious?

Not on your life.

There is nothing more dangerous that an ostensibly pious heretic who seeks to provide a "reasonable" "voice to the world" as he discharges what he believes is the "ministry of service in love" that is the "Petrine Ministry."

Pope Saint Pius X, who had true humility, denounced error with forcefulness as a man. So have our other true popes. 

Ah, one should remember that Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, whom Bergoglio/Francis will meet at Castel Gandolfo on Saturday, March 23, 2013, Saturday in Passion of Week, rarely spoke about abortion. And thus it is that Bergoglio/Francis, lacking even the grace of state that is conferred by the Holy Priesthood, chooses to ignore the two gravest social evils being promoted under cover of the civil law today in the presence of civil leaders around the world who support both and castigates anyone who opposes them by the use of one slogan after another. One shudders to think what will happen if it is within God's Holy Providence for us to continue this chastisement for decades to come, something that I pray is not going to be the case, and the counterfeit church of conciliarism gets a "Petrine Minister" who is not even validly Confirmed.

Pope Saint Pius X warned us about those who mix truth and error together, telling us to not be fooled by their appearance of piety and orthodoxy at one point and Modernism the next as Catholicism admits of no admixture of truth and error whatsoever:

 

The Modernists completely invert the parts, and of them may be applied the words which another of Our predecessors Gregory IX, addressed to some theologians of his time: "Some among you, puffed up like bladders with the spirit of vanity strive by profane novelties to cross the boundaries fixed by the Fathers, twisting the meaning of the sacred text...to the philosophical teaching of the rationalists, not for the profit of their hearer but to make a show of science...these men, led away by various and strange doctrines, turn the head into the tail and force the queen to serve the handmaid."

This will appear more clearly to anybody who studies the conduct of Modernists, which is in perfect harmony with their teachings. In their writings and addresses they seem not unfrequently to advocate doctrines which are contrary one to the other, so that one would be disposed to regard their attitude as double and doubtful. But this is done deliberately and advisedly, and the reason of it is to be found in their opinion as to the mutual separation of science and faith. Thus in their books one finds some things which might well be approved by a Catholic, but on turning over the page one is confronted by other things which might well have been dictated by a rationalist. When they write history they make no mention of the divinity of Christ, but when they are in the pulpit they profess it clearly; again, when they are dealing with history they take no account of the Fathers and the Councils, but when they catechize the people, they cite them respectfully. In the same way they draw their distinctions between exegesis which is theological and pastoral and exegesis which is scientific and historical. So, too, when they treat of philosophy, history, and criticism, acting on the principle that science in no way depends upon faith, they feel no especial horror in treading in the footsteps of Luther and are wont to display a manifold contempt for Catholic doctrines, for the Holy Fathers, for the Ecumenical Councils, for the ecclesiastical magisterium; and should they be taken to task for this, they complain that they are being deprived of their liberty. Lastly, maintaining the theory that faith must be subject to science, they continuously and openly rebuke the Church on the ground that she resolutely refuses to submit and accommodate her dogmas to the opinions of philosophy; while they, on their side, having for this purpose blotted out the old theology, endeavor to introduce a new theology which shall support the aberrations of philosophers. (Pope Saint Pius X, Pascendi Dominci Gregis, September 8, 1907.)

Moreover, of course, one is not "pious" or "humble" when he is bold enough to break the First and Second Commandments publicly as Bergoglio/Francis has done by entering into synagogues and mosques and being "blessed" by Protestants. Such piety is false piety. One is not humble to be "bold" enough to do that which carries with it a censure of automatic excommunication in the Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church, whose canons in this regard date back to apostolic times, something that has been noted repeatedly on this site.

One who believes in, no less promotes publicly by words and deeds, that which has been condemned by the Catholic Church has expelled himself from the bosom of Holy Mother Church just as surely as Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi and everyone else of their ilk who attended that travesty of a "Petrine Ministry" inauguration in the Saint Peter's Square yesterday.

Don't believe me?

Well, consider Pope Leo XIII yet again, if you will:

 

The Church, founded on these principles and mindful of her office, has done nothing with greater zeal and endeavour than she has displayed in guarding the integrity of the faith. Hence she regarded as rebels and expelled from the ranks of her children all who held beliefs on any point of doctrine different from her own. The Arians, the Montanists, the Novatians, the Quartodecimans, the Eutychians, did not certainly reject all Catholic doctrine: they abandoned only a certain portion of it. Still who does not know that they were declared heretics and banished from the bosom of the Church? In like manner were condemned all authors of heretical tenets who followed them in subsequent ages. "There can be nothing more dangerous than those heretics who admit nearly the whole cycle of doctrine, and yet by one word, as with a drop of poison, infect the real and simple faith taught by our Lord and handed down by Apostolic tradition" (Auctor Tract. de Fide Orthodoxa contra Arianos).

The practice of the Church has always been the same, as is shown by the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, who were wont to hold as outside Catholic communion, and alien to the Church, whoever would recede in the least degree from any point of doctrine proposed by her authoritative Magisterium. Epiphanius, Augustine, Theodore :, drew up a long list of the heresies of their times. St. Augustine notes that other heresies may spring up, to a single one of which, should any one give his assent, he is by the very fact cut off from Catholic unity. "No one who merely disbelieves in all (these heresies) can for that reason regard himself as a Catholic or call himself one. For there may be or may arise some other heresies, which are not set out in this work of ours, and, if any one holds to one single one of these he is not a Catholic" (S. Augustinus, De Haeresibus, n. 88).

The need of this divinely instituted means for the preservation of unity, about which we speak is urged by St. Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians. In this he first admonishes them to preserve with every care concord of minds: "Solicitous to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. iv., 3, et seq.). And as souls cannot be perfectly united in charity unless minds agree in faith, he wishes all to hold the same faith: "One Lord, one faith," and this so perfectly one as to prevent all danger of error: "that henceforth we be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the wickedness of men, by cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive" (Eph. iv., 14): and this he teaches is to be observed, not for a time only - "but until we all meet in the unity of faith...unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ" (13). But, in what has Christ placed the primary principle, and the means of preserving this unity? In that - "He gave some Apostles - and other some pastors and doctors, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" (11-12). (Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum, June 29, 1896.)

Banishing error is far, far from the mind of Jorge Mario Bergoglio/Francis as he is steeped in a veritable abyss of errors.

According to what the late Father Vincent Bowes, O.C.D., told me on Saturday, June 23, 2007, Holy Mother Church has to relive mystically the entire life of her Divine Founder and Invisible Head, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He explained that Holy Mother Church has been buried now and that she is awaiting her Resurrection (see Bookended From Birth to Birth).

Thus s it is that the late Archbishop Alban Goodier's reflection on the conclusion of Our Lord's discourse at the Last Supper in The Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ is very relevant for these days of apparently "pious" men who are but fakes, phonies, frauds, men who are apostates and blasphemers even though they give the appearance of piety and display their "humility" for all the world to see:

These things have I spoken to you in proverbs
    The hours cometh                                   
When I will no more speak to you in proverbs
    Of the Father.

And then, as if to crown all, as if to wipe away once for all whatever might have arisen between them in the past, He concludes His assurance, not only with a plenary pardon, but with a promise of a reward that shall be theirs. Sometimes, in their ignorance, and perhaps in their misplaced anxiety, they have complained to Him of what He did. They have warned Him when He seemed to them imprudent; they have encouraged Him when He held back and chose to be alone; when He spoke of doom coming upon Himself they have tried to lift up His hope. And He, on His side, has been compelled to complain of them: of their presumption, of their dulness, of their arrogance in regard to the kingdom: He knows that in another hour He will have bitter experience of their fickleness. But He will not now look at any of these things. He will see only the best in them, both in the past and in the future; the Lover will not allow Himself a word or a thought against His beloved, not though He is well aware of what soon will be.

    In that day
You shall ask in my name
    And I say not to you
That I will ask the Father for you
For the Father himself loveth you
Because you have loved me
And have believed that I came out from God.

They have believed, they have loved; let that for the present be enough. Many sins shall be forgiven them because they have loved much; because they have believed, and have stood with Him always, the Father Himself will be their Father indeed. Later that night, when Simon Peter stood in need of repentance, with words such as these ringing in his ears, how could he have failed to ‘begin to weep”? For with all his weakness Simon loved; with all his denials he had once nobly confessed his belief in the Son of God; with all his failure he knew the steadfast heart of Him who had said:

    The Father himself loveth you
    Because you have loved me
    An have believed.

Last of all, there remained the one question that had troubled the minds of His beloved all that night. He had said that He would go away, and that they could not go with Him; and sorrow had filled their hearts. Whither was He going that they could not go with Him? As the Supper had gone on, they had felt more than ever their silent questioning, for they dared not ask Him openly any more; and He answers them in the same spirit as that in which He has already spoken. He will not look at the dreadful prospect immediately before Him. He leaps beyond the thought of the Passion and Calvary; that for one ecstatic moment their ‘joy may be full’, He will not allow a word of these. In the simplest language He tells them the greater truth; that as He came from the Father, so to the Father He must return.

    ‘I came forth from the Father
    And am come into the world
    Again I leave the world
    And I go to the Father.’
   
Thus, in one way after another, now that the end has definitely come, Jesus fills these men with assurance and hope, founded on the evidence of His own real, abiding love, that nothing could destroy. And the assurance is always centered round ‘the Father’. Let them ask the Father, and the Father will give them anything they ask. Let them have no doubt; they shall come to know plainly of the Father. Let them fear nothing; the father loves them. Let them lift up their eyes and see; He Himself is going to the Father and all will be well. Saint John ends the story of the Supper on the same note as that on which he had begun:

    ‘Before the festival day of the pasch
    Jesus knowing that his hour was come
    That he should pass out of this world
    To the Father
    Having loved him own who were in the world
    he loved them unto the end.’  John 13:1

The Eleven who heard all this encouragement, coming as it did hot from the heart of One who loved them and did not care to hide it, were carried out, of themselves. In the light which love poured out upon them they saw more than they had ever seen before; they seemed to themselves almost to stand in the presence of the Father. It was all still full of mystery; what they saw, it would have been impossible for them to define. But they did see; the Father invisible, time and space eliminated, the Spirit brooding on the infinite expanse of being, themselves lost, yet, no less real, like stars in the infinite sky. It was the vision of faith, blinding as is the brightest light, yet greater and deeper, and more sure than is any vision of sense; it was the certainty of faith, far more firm that any certainty of reason, They knew; what they knew they could not say, but their momentary ecstasy of joy could not be restrained. Like him they could only speak in human words; like Him they strained them to the breaking point, unable to express the thoughts that were in their hearts.

    ‘His disciples say to him
    Behold now thou speakest plainly
    And speaketh no proverb
    Now we know
    That thou knowest all things
    And thou needest not
    That any man should ask thee
    By this we believe
    That thou camest from God.’
   
So enthusiastic for this single moment were these men. In an hour, what a change there would be! Still would Jesus give them this one vision of the truth, to strengthen them before the darkness gathered. He let them express their faith unreservedly, with compromise, as they had never expressed it before. They saw so much; they thought they saw everything. It was that phase of spiritual consolation, common with the Saints, when the soul is liable to appear foolish, drunk with the ecstasy of Jesus Christ.

But Jesus knew well how to gauge the ebullition; and the tragic pathos of His last words lies in the fact that He knew. These men had spoken more truly than they realized when they said:

    ‘Now we know
    That though knowest all things’;

for the fact of that knowledge, from the beginning, gives an added colour to the whole drama of His life and death. Whatever happened to Him, Jesus foreknew it all the time. Saint John has been careful to dwell upon it many times; evidently to him the recollection was of first importance for one who would fully understand the Master whom he loved. Early in the his Gospel he has told us that:

    ‘He knew all men
    And he needed not
    That any should give testimony of man
    For he knew what we in man.’
   
Again at the feeding of the multitude, near Bethsaida beyond the lake, when Jesus asked:
   
    ‘Whence shall these buy bread
    That they may eat?’

John has been careful to add that
        ‘He himself knew
        What he would do.’

And here again, at the beginning of the Supper story, he has emphasized it. Jesus knowing all; yet in spite of it Jesus loving to the end–this is the background which John would have us never forget.

In this light only it would seem that we can understand the full significance of the words that follow, the closing words of the memorable discourse. Only when we hold to it closely do we realize the agony in the heart of Him that spoke to them; He has said so much to comfort and encourage others, He has said so little of His own distress. He has been so intent on those to whom He spoke, He has so passed over Himself, that we who read are apt to be diverted from Him to the other actors in the scene.

    ‘Jesus answered them
    Do you now believe?
    Behold the hour cometh
    And now is
    That you shall be scattered
    Every man to his own
    And shall leave me alone’

This is the first vision before Him as He now turns and looks into the future. In spite of all He has said, and done, and given, in spite of all they have promised in response, they will at the very first trial, leave Him alone to fight His battle for Himself. Still, even under that provocation, He will not retaliate; He will not withdraw one item of love He has shown to them that night. He will not even linger on the picture; He will not end this Supper, this first Agape, on such a note of gloom. He recovers Himself; as he has done when comforting them so will He do for Himself. He reaches forward to the vision beyond:

    ‘And yet I am not alone
    For the Father is with me’;
and in the strength of that assurance He can overlook all else, and turn once more to His own and say:
    ‘These things have I spoken to you
    That is me you may have peace
    In the world you shall have distress
    But have confidence
    I have overcome the world.’

The three steps just narrated in this ending are characteristic We have seen them illustrated many times before during the life of Jesus Christ our Lord, but seldom, if ever, with such distinctness. These men have spoken with enthusiasm, and, so far as they knew, with sincerity; but Jesus has not be deceived. Before the night was much older there would be a change. They would desert Him who had never deserted them; they would leave Him, though He has assured them of so much for having followed Him. They would seek shelter and protection elsewhere, away from Him, each man for himself, though He had told them that if any man came to Him he would find life. For an instant there is a recoil at the prospect. The loneliness of the combat oppresses Him more heavily now that on that day when others had deserted Him and He had said:

    ‘Will you also go away?’

And they had answered:

    ‘Lord
    To whom shall we go?
    Thou hast the words of eternal life’

There were the same men, and they had learnt so much more, they had been given so much more, since then. But He will not consider that; as it were, He will brace Himself up for what must come. He throws aside the whole temptation to be sad and lament, and finds support in the abiding presence of the Father. Then when He has by this means confirmed Himself in peace, and therefore in courage, at once His thoughts revert again to His beloved. Come what may to Himself, all must be well with them. They will desert Him; another man so treated would have chided them for their fickleness, would have reminded them of their own assurances and promises, would have demanded some kind of sorrow and repentance, would have questioned whether He could ever trust them so implicitly again. Jesus does nothing of the kind; from that day onward not another word is said about it. When, in matter of tact, they do desert Him, He will allow no man to touch them; He will suspend the very action of the Passion itself that they may be allowed to go away in peace and safety. When on Easter Day He returns to them again, there is no word of complaint; it is all as if they had been faithful all the time. In the same way, though He has warned them sufficiently before and they have refused to listen, at this moment there is not thought of Himself and His own rights, no rebuke for their infidelity. He is troubled only about their sorrow, so definitely less than His own. He closes with words of confidence and peace for them, in spite of what they will do to Him, though for Himself there remains only an ocean of anguish; with the same words of peace and confidence He will resume His intimacy after He has risen from the dead, when be in noticed, it will be He who will come back to them, not they to Him. (Archbishop Alban Goodier, The Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Saint Paul Editions.)

 

We should read and then re-read this powerful meditation during Passiontide, a time when all of our focus must be on the sufferings of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

We are fickle, are we not? Yet it is that Our Divine Redeemer takes us back into His loving embrace in the Sacred Tribunal of Penance. He accepts us back without complaint.

In this time of apostasy and betrayal, a time in which it is so easy for souls to become distracted or confused by the events that surround them, it is important not to be confused by the apparent piety and humility of apostates such as Jorge Mario Bergoglio/Francis, who simply does not have the Catholic Faith as it has been handed down to us by the Apostles, who received It from Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Himself.

This is a time of suffering, of suffering in silence, of accepting whatever castigation comes our way, no matter whether just or unjust, knowing that everything is revealed on the Last Day at the General Judgment of the living and the dead. That is the only thing that matters.

There comes a point, you see, when trying to "argue" with people over the true state of the Church Militant in this time of apostasy and betrayal becomes nothing other than an occasion of sin. No one can be forced to see the truth about any situation, including that of the Church Militant today, which is why all I can do is write these articles and then let readers make up their own minds.

Pray for your relatives and friends who think you daft for not being taken in by Francis the Pious, Francis the Humble. Suffer well for them as the consecrated slaves of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Our Lord is using this period of chastisement that divides so many believing Catholics from each other to purify us, to ground us into nothing, in order that He might live more fully in us.

Never despair!

This is the time from all eternity in which God has appointed for us to live and thus to sanctify and save our souls as Catholics.

Are not the graces He won for us by shedding of every single drop of His Most Precious Blood on the wood of the Holy Cross on Good Friday that flow into our hearts and souls through the loving hands of Our Lady, she who is the Mediatrix of All Graces, enough for us?

Carry the cross of this moment and just be grateful that you can see the true state of the Church at this time of apostasy and betrayal, praying always to be faithful no matter the difficulties as it is easy to "go back" in order to be accepted and live without the difficulties and the castigation that comes from recognizing apostates as such and fleeing from any association with them as we pray fervently for their conversion back to the true Faith.

May Our Lady help us in this days of Passiontide we prepare to enter deep into the Paschal Mystery of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of her Divine Son in but eight days form now, praying as many Rosaries each day as our state-in-life permits.

Isn't it time to pray a Rosary now?

Immaculate Heart of Mary, triumph soon.

Viva Cristo Rey! Vivat Christus Rex!

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saints Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, pray for us.

See also: A Litany of Saints