Pope Francis has a style of closeness to people that would help a lot in the conversion of the world if it were based mainly on this cause. An example of his closeness to people was when he called a mother who lost her son days after participating in World Youth Day last year.
I am sorry. But these, dramatic 'Events' , in Papa Frankie's life are frequent. They get him noticed and they get him praised. I take them as naricisstic and virtue signalling so that people will exclaim, 'Oh look he did this or did that, well look how holy he really is, in spite of everything!' The fact that you yourself refer to this show that these , 'Events' work. He loves been centre stage. He loves been praised. Above all he loves to be thought holy. As soon as he was made Pope he started of these dramatic virtue signalling events. For instance he insisted in going back with the Cardinals to their hotel in the bus after being elected. He refused to live in the usual Papal appartments causing great expense. He refused to travel in the usual Papal cars. Even his use of the name, 'Francis'. Drama, drama, drama. Virtue signalling, virtue signalling, virtue signalling. 'Look at how very special I am'. He was the same in Buenas Aires when he had himself photoed travelling with , 'Ordinary' people on the buses. He became famous for it even back then. Great public relations. He does these things but he always get his photo took doing them and they end up being reported everywhere.
You yourself seemed enthusiastic about him at the beginning of his pontificate for his apparently humble style. I wanted to highlight this example of a phone call because it can be very comforting and also reinvigorating for the faith of those who lose a close family member. In today's society, many people are unaware of death as God's purpose, even for devout Christians, and often use this against our beliefs.
Matthew 7:16-20 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. You cannot, as Jesus said be evil but bring forth good (being evil but a bit good). You are either evil or good. As to the in between, the lukewarm, Jesus said He would spit them from His mouth. Some people claim to be confused. I'm not. Adolph Hitler built great motorways and made the trains run on time. Genghis Khan knew how to throw together a great Civil Service. Napoleon made Paris look great. Jack the Ripper never got caught. Joe Biden gets back up when he falls down. Pope Francis made a phone call. So what?
October 13, 1973 "My dear daughter, listen well to what I have to say to you. You will inform your superior." After a short silence: "As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests." "The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres...churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. "The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them" Our Lady of Akita I had a dream last night in which I stood in a beautiful gleaming white Church in Eastern Europe. It was a very simple rural community made up of very ordinary folk; farmers, peasants, farm workers and so. Not rich but poor and struggling to make ends meet. Still they had found from somewhere as their parents and grandparents going back all the centuries had found the money to support their Church and build these wonderful Churches to support the Church. But in my dream I was shown a very bad, heretical Bishop a False Shepherd had just been appointed to their Diocese by even more wicked and heretical Cardinals and Bishop in Rome. I was shown that as a very simple rural people they would not know that an evil Shepherd was now in charge. My heart just went out to these poor sheep. But this is currently happening all over the World because Rome itself has Fallen to Evil and the Evil One. Jesus said, 'Let your yes be yes and your no be no'. I say no. I don't say maybe a little yes, mostly no or mostly yes maybe a little no. I just say a great big no.
As you yourself know, I am not a great supporter of this pontificate, but I think it is necessary to highlight again what I said previously: the style of closeness that Francis demonstrates and that led him to admire him greatly at the beginning of his pontificate can help a lot in the evangelization of the world if it is truly based on this cause. In fact, not every public demonstration of humility is vanity if it is based on the humility that Christ transmitted to the apostles so that they could transmit it to the Church. An example of this is the foot washing ritual on Maundy Thursday.
you admired him for this supposed humility at the beginning of his pontificate; even though the media reported in the first week that he was Cardinal Martini's candidate in the previous conclave.
You can count the good things about this pontificate on your fingers, but the liturgical year dedicated to Saint Joseph was one of them.
We have Father Calloway to thank for that..... https://www.ncregister.com/features/the-incredible-story-behind-the-year-of-st-joseph
Thank you for sharing. As you may know there is an on going thread now on the forum using Fr. Calloways 33-day consecration format to St. Joseph aligned to make consecration on the feast of St Joseph (March 19th)! I did not realize that doing this consecration came with a plenary indulgence… what an extra gift of grace.
Hopefully Father's not taking out his hole digging shovel again......there's nothing odd about what's going on there. It's the accepted practice; ignore what the document says and follow the "spirit" instead........
He is incredibly innocent. But perhaps, in a way, this is a good sign of him. Faced with Pure Evil in its very worst form I hope we might, even the worst of us, be a tiny bit innocent.
I think that initially we were all in some way touched by Pope Francis' gestures until we really understood what was happening. It took me about 2 or 3 months to realize that there was something deeply wrong with this pontificate, perhaps some realized it in a few hours, while others needed several years to realize it and others still haven't managed to do it. But now we, those who can see this, have a great responsibility on our shoulders. Personally, I also have great difficulty valuing some apparently good gestures of Pope Francis because it seems to me that they serve to approve others that are intrinsically evil. Even if they are not made with that intention.
bob and weave to move quickly up and down and from side to side, usually in order to avoid hitting or being hit by something: He went on a run through midfield, bobbing and weaving around defenders.
