You posted somewhere in the past that Saint Pius X was just such a Pope, using fisty cuffs and all that jazz. If only we could have a holy mans man for a Pope.
Maybe we have a holy man for a Pope. He comes across as rather crazy but he could be personally holy with a weird world view. In the interview, he said that he was expecting to return to Argentina after the Conclave. He had his sermons prepared and had left a special cassock behind. He says that he is merely implementing what was agreed at the Conclave. I'm editing this paragraph because I really botched what the Pope said about his interest in the environment. Here are the questions (2) and answers from the interview: Some time ago, Your Holiness, you admitted that a few years ago ecological issues were of no interest to you. Now Your Holiness has changed, for you are one of the world leaders who speak out most on this issue, on the abuses committed against the Earth. Has the ecological choice made you enemies? Will you be in Glasgow for COP26? Two questions in one. I am going to make history: [The V General Conference of CELAM in] Aparecida was in 2007 if I am not mistaken. I’m a little lost for dates. In Aparecida I heard the Brazilian bishops talk about preserving nature, the ecological problem, the Amazon.... They insisted, insisted, insisted, and I wondered what this had to do with evangelization. That’s what I felt. I didn’t have the faintest idea. I’m talking about 2007. That shocked me. When I returned to Buenos Aires, I became interested, and slowly I began to understand something. Already being here, huh? I am a convert in this. And then I understood more. And somehow, I realized that I had to do something and then I had the idea of writing something as a magisterium because the Church in front of this... just as I was a “salami” as we say in Argentina, a fool who did not understand any of this, there are so many people of good will who do not understand... So, to give some catechesis on this. I summoned a group of scientists to explain to me the real problems; not the hypotheses, but the real thing. They made me a nice catalogue and rightly so. I passed it on to theologians who reflected on it. And that is how Laudato sí came about. A nice anecdote: when I went to Strasbourg, President Hollande sent the Minister of the Environment, who at that time was Mrs. Ségolène Royal, to receive me and see me off. And in the conversation I had with her, she said to me, “Is it true that you are writing something?” The Minister of the Environment understood. And I said, “Yes, I’m on this.” “Please publish it before [the] Paris [summit] because we need endorsements.” I came back from Strasbourg and sped up. And it came out before the Paris meeting. For me, the Paris meeting was the summum in becoming globally aware. Then what happened? Fear set in. And slowly, in the subsequent meetings, they went backward. I hope that Glasgow will now raise its sights a bit and bring us more in line. But will Your Holiness be there? Yes, in principle the program is that I go. It all depends on how I feel at the time. But in fact, my speech is already being prepared, and the plan is to be there. He hopes that Cardinal Becciu is innocent because he likes Becciu and they seemed to have been in agreement on matters important to the Pope. He has only been on three unofficial visits to houses outside the Vatican. One was to the home of what I think he described as his best friend, an Italian journalist. I could be wrong about that. He didn't name the friend. He said that anyone who didn't agree that he is doing what was agreed at the Conclave mustn't have understood what the Cardinal electors agreed. I recommend that you read the interview. He's either a crafty manipulator or a holy tool of crafty manipulators. Popes rely on people surrounding them. He only reads one Roman newspaper which means that almost all the news he receives is filtered by the worldview of those surrounding him. That newspaper is probably the one his atheist friend writes for. What worried me most was his admiration for Cardinal Parolin - a great diplomat. Hope I haven't misrepresented the contents of the interview. It would be better if everyone read the whole thing and formed their own opinion.
When holy Popes tell parents with large families they are breeding like rabbits, I will be ready to revisit what else holy might mean, especially with Charity in mind. In the meantime we can continue to Keep Watch and Pray especially for our poor Holy Father as he continues his mission in the service of the Lord.
First Friday and Saturday are coming up and I've already been to Confession. I'm trying to focus only on the good - few sentences that I read in the interview.
Yes, exceptionally. He even goes and kneels before the Tabernacle, after the ablution of his sacred vessels after communion, to offer his own Thanksgiving. I’ve never seen any priest do this and it’s incredibly encouraging.
Seems to me, the City/State of the Vatican is very much a national & international business. The Papacy itself is not. Does about sum it up?
My understanding is that the Vatican state was established after the fall of the Papal States at the end of the 19th century, to allow the Church autonomy from the state of Italy. It functions as a tiny state with its own stamps but not its own currency. It’s not supposed to be a business. The Pope is the head of state. In this way he is free from the political control of other states.
