Prominent clergy, scholars accuse Pope Francis of heresy in open letter

It seems to me that it is the story of the sower and the wheat and tares. All it seems we can do is watch and weigh against that which we know is solid teaching and hold to it.

 

Father Rutler is wonderful; I could listen to him all day. It looks like Jimmy Atkin's really t'eed him off I don;t think it would be like the good Father to open fire with both barrels like that unless he was really, really angry. I would certainly not like to get into a public debate with the good Father myself, he is very erudite and a superb writers and speaker. I feel like I am in same wondrous time machine when I see him in action, back in some gentler more mannered age. If he were in a Church near me I would never leave it. I think I will go to utube and listen to a few talks from him this morning to cheer me whilst I work.

It is a Huge Sign of the times when someone like Fr Rutler chimes into the debate. He is really rolling his sleeves up too. Good for him.

I checked Jimmy's bio at Catholic Answers. It tells you very little beyond the fact that he is a professional self publicist.

Bless Fr Rutler, I will offer up my mass today for him in thanksgiving. He is such a huge gift to the Church.

I will offer it up too for Jimmy; though for very different reasons.

profile
Jimmy Akin
11/19/2018

Jimmy Akin is an internationally known author and speaker. As the senior apologist at Catholic Answers, he has more than twenty years of experiencing defending and explaining the Faith.

Jimmy is a convert to the Faith and has an extensive background in the Bible, theology, the Church Fathers, philosophy, canon law, and liturgy.

Jimmy is a weekly guest on the national radio program Catholic Answers Live, a regular contributor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a popular blogger and podcaster. His personal web site is JimmyAkin.com.

 

Now that dear friends is one very entertaining smack down. I can visualize Fr. Rutler’s slow, measured, intellectual verbal delivery of this text as I read it. Some things just put a big smile on your face...this did it for me.

 

Fr Rutler is magnificent. Thanks for the link!!

 

Agree wholeheartedly!

 

Once again, we have the prophets telling us the church will take on hard times. Pedro Regis has been given God's and our Blessed Mothers warnings to this and we should not be surprised as we see it unfold in real times.

4795 - Message of Our Lady Queen of Peace, May 4, 2019

Dear children, do not stray from the truth. You are heading for a future of great confusion and many will have their faith shaken. I am your Sorrowful Mother and I suffer for what comes to you. There will be great discord in the House of God and many of My poor children will walk like the blind leading the blind.

4793 - Message of Our Lady Queen of Peace, in Sobradinho, Brasília / DF, April 29, 2019
Dear children, the Great Vessel will face an immense storm and great suffering will come for My poor children. From agreement, death; from truth, victory. Draw near to My Son Jesus and let Him transform your lives. You are important for the Lord. You are free in order to be of the Lord. Do not stray from the path of truth. Do not allow the weight of trials to distract you from God. I have come from Heaven to help you. Listen to Me. You will yet have long years of hard trials, but do not retreat. The Victory of God will also be your victory. Courage. In your hands the Holy Rosary and Sacred Scripture - in your hearts, the love of truth. Open your hearts and give the Lord your very existence. Help me. I need you. Seek strength in the Gospel of My Jesus and in the Eucharist. There is no victory without a cross. Onward without fear. This is the message I give you today in the name of the Most Holy Trinity. Thank you for having allowed Me to gather you here once more. I bless you, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Be at peace.

4786 - Message of Our Lady Queen of Peace on Holy Thursday, April 18, 2019
Dear children, remember today the Institution of the Eucharist and of the Priesthood, precious treasures left by My Son Jesus. He remains among you, manifesting His Mercy and offering to you His precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. In these difficult times when the Church of My Jesus is going towards Calvary, I invite you to be defenders of the truth. Do not fold your arms.

 

https://gloria.tv/article/4hgUQtSRjacA4BEb44ghYc3DB

I does seems as though Pope Emeritus Benedict's prediction of a smaller Church is occurring now by many different means.

The Church has gone through so many things in the past and we know it will survive this too no matter how small it may become in the process but I pray that we don't loose some good clergy in the process.

Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich also told that the Church would be rebuilt better than before. The following prophecy is very hopeful,

September 10, 1820. "I saw the Church of St. Peter: it had been destroyed but for the Sanctuary and the main Altar. St. Michael came down into the church, clad in his suit of armor, and he paused, threatening with his sword a number of unworthy pastors who wanted to enter. That part of the Church which had been destroyed was promptly fenced in with light timber so that the Divine office might be celebrated as it should. Then, from all over the world came priests and laymen, and they rebuilt the stone walls, since the wreckers had been unable to move the heavy foundation stones."​

 

Yes I have been looking and I cannot find any infomation stating that Jimmy Akin has any degrees at all. Very strange for someone who is nationally known and makes their living based off of their mind. Even stranger that he would say the signers are not qualified to speak because they lacked doctorate level degrees in the very specialized area he cited. I think people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

 

Yes it is very curious. It reminds me of Fr Thomas Rossica who at one point claimed that Pope Francis was more to be listened to than scripture, the teachings of the Church and all previous Pontiffs and who has now done a vanishing act in disgrace.

I wonder if there might be a breed of sell out mercenaries out there. Bought and paid for. At one point I would have made allowances for people who were deceived by what is outright filth. But not now.

There are a lot of bad, bad people hovering about out there. Acting in bad faith.

https://nationalpost.com/news/canad...ial-priest-resigns-from-toronto-college-board

 

In his defense, I don't think Akin is acting in bad faith, just simple pride and ignorance.

Rosica? That's another story...

 

I am lost as to how anyone could defend the goings on in the Vatican at the moment in good Faith.
Lost, lost lost, for how could they not know that they are defending a huge evil that is so obvious?

 

You have a point there.

 

Padraig,

Here is an extreme case of "defending the goings on in the Vatican". I haven't read the whole article yet but the videos contained in it made me feel a little sick.


BlogsCatholic Church, Faith Tue May 7, 2019 - 6:48 am EST
Clergy who condemn the faithful see Pope Francis as a model to follow
By Steve Jalsevac

 

Well it's hard to know what to say here. I remember a famous quote from a French writer, 'Beware that in fighting the dragon that you do not become the dragon'. The fact that other people want to climb down into the gutter does not attract me into climbing into the gutter myself.

I do understand ordinary Catholic lay people being confused and misled. That's fine. But to people to whom much has been giving much may be expected. I would hold, for instance a Catholic priest , Bishop or Cardinal to a much, much higher standard than an ordinary lay person. Also of course it is reasonable to suppose that a very prominent Catholic Apologist like, say, Jimmy Akin, would actually know what he is talking about. That to me is not unreasonable.
Heresy is the very, very worst of all the sins we can commit. A murderer, for instance kills only the body. A heretic, on the other hand kills the soul. He or she drags souls off to hell, just as the devil does.

This is no small thing.

Someone who acts as an apologist for heresy is just as guilty of heresy as the people who outright proclaim it. Just as someone who aids a murderer is as guilty of murder as the killer himself.

We should be tolerant of many things. But I think as Catholics we should be very,very intolerant of heretics and those who aid them.

Very,very intolerant. I don't mean by being uncharitable, I simply mean calling them out. Telling the truth.

 

You know as far as Fr Richards is concerned, I really don't mean this unkindly, but listening to him gives me grave concerns for his mental health. I think he needs help. So I am inclined to make allowances for this, poor man.

 

I don't find it that strange that Akin does not hold any formal degrees at all. We are in an age where a person with a relatively keen mind and a little savvy can have their voice be heard. Akin has managed to do this.
I actually do think that Akin is correct to invoke their qualifications (although it does seem downright hypocritical at first blush) if not for their simply making such a profound opening accusation and plea for action. This is a formal and serious accusation and they themselves want it to be treated as such so then the authority of the accuser to make such claims should be well understood. We are talking about the accusation of formal heresy and the plea for action to be taken.

Your Eminence, Your Beatitude, Your Excellency,
We are addressing this letter to you for two reasons: first, to accuse Pope Francis of the
canonical delict of heresy, and second, to request that you take the steps necessary to deal with the
grave situation of a heretical pope.

Akin IMO has a very valid, reasoned, common sense point here. The burden in it's entirety is on the accusers and they should provide evidence of their actual authority to level this accusation. Otherwise, we might as well be Protestants.

 

Padraig, Absolutely, telling the truth and sharing the Truth should be the goal.

The priest in the videos in that article, Fr. Richards, appears to be more concerned with shutting people down than spreading the Truth/truth. It is very sad and maybe you are correct that something is not right with this priest.

In comparison, every analysis that I have read of the Open Letter suggests a clarification. I also think I understand the frustration of the signatories realizing that requesting a clarification from Pope Francis has not been effective and all requests for clarification that have been put forth have been ignored for the most part.

That LifeSiteNews article mentions a few clergymen who almost appear to be henchmen for the Vatican:

Clergy who condemn the faithful see Pope Francis as a model to follow
by Steve Jalsevac
May 7, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – The increasingly condemning and accusatory behaviour of Fr. Richards, Fr. Thomas Rosica, Fr. Martin, Cardinal Cupich, Bishop McElroy, Cardinal Tobin and many other clerical Pope Francis papologists has been a unique phenomenon related to the Francis papacy.

These harsh critics of orthodox Catholics have thrived under the pope that Henry Sire calls “The Dictator Pope,” Phil Lawler calls the Lost Shepherd and George Neumayr calls “The Political Pope.”

The following 84-second video excerpt from a 2017 talk by Fr. Richards, just two months after my encounter with him, explains why Fr. Richards is so merciless with anyone who questions anything about Pope Francis.



His characterization that they “don’t like this pope,” is a belittling diversion away from the real issues. The expressed concerns about Francis have instead overwhelmingly been about fidelity to the doctrines, teachings and firm traditions of Christ’s Church – rather than this pope’s Church.

The fidelity of all Catholics must first and foremost be to Jesus Christ Himself as should also, and above all, be the fidelity of his Vicar on earth.

The questioning of this particular “Peter” are about him causing what many now say is catastrophic confusion with his numerous ambiguities, harmful silences, many contradictions between statements and actions, terrible appointments and worldly top priorities such as climate change, open borders and the UN Sustainable Development goals.

Fr. Richards inaccurately pronounces, with selective quotes, that Catholics must assent to all that a pope says and does. That has never been true. This is where he fails on orthodoxy.

...

Almost every one of the current rampaging accusers of the outspoken faithful, is intolerant of any questioning of Francis. They are conversely very tolerant of the notorious Fr. James Martin or others who openly call for changes to unchangeable Catholic moral teachings.

More than that, it has become obvious that none of them, including Fr. Martin, fears they will be held accountable for saying and doing things that under previous popes would have resulted in strong rebukes or worse from their bishop or from Rome.

...

Finally, the faithful Catholics who are reeling from the terrible disorientation that has been rocking their beloved Church during the Francis papacy need the shepherds to take their concerns seriously and to respond as loving fathers would respond.

[Please click the link below to read the entire article.]
https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/...ope-francis-effect-of-chastising-the-faithful
​

This is could be and you would be right.

Of course, I don't know this Father Larry Richards and therefore, I don't have too much to say about him.

I like the above article because imo it is sort of summarizes what the signatories (and us) are up against.

***

Here is another article about Father Larry Richards.

Blogs Catholic Church, Faith Mon May 6, 2019 - 5:55 pm EST
Members of ‘very, very Catholic family’ speak out after Fr. Larry Richards condemned them​

 

But the point is that Akin is wrong. These men have qualifications and degrees up the wazoo. Certainly the top tiers of education. If they are not qualified then really no one is.

I am not qualified to judge the weight of the case they have put forward, but the fact that Josef Seifert has now signed the letter should give us all pause. No one can portray him as a lightweight (although they probably will).

You are right this is an accusation of the most grave nature and my point is not that the letter is right or wrong. Again I am not qualified to judge even the letter, much less the Pope, but to be as dismissive as Akin is, in my opinion, ridiculous.

One writer, examining the extreme limitations Akin put on determining heresy, noted that denying the Resurrection would not even qualify according to him.

 

Just to put the nail in this coffin, because many have asked for his credentials, Jimmy Akin admitted today that he has no real credentials to speak of and is self-taught.

From the horses mouth:
"The need to consider the merits is something that I’m very aware of. As an autodidact, most of my own expertise in different subjects is through independent study..."

 

I think that many members are familiar with Dr. Joseph Shaw, he was instrumental in regard to the filial correction.

Can Pope Francis really be accused of committing heresy?

By Dr. Joseph Shaw
catholic, heresy, open letter to bishops, pope francis
May 7, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – For any Catholic of the last two or three centuries, the idea that one might accuse the Pope of heresy seems almost unthinkable: almost a contradiction in terms. The Holy Father is the guarantor of the Faith, the recipient of the gift of infallibility; union with the Pope is union with the Church.

Nevertheless, it is not quite unthinkable.

When Jesus Christ gave St Peter the Keys, to bind and loose, and the guarantee that the gates of Hell would not prevail over the Church which would be built upon the ‘rock’ of Peter (Matthew 16:18-19), the very next thing he said to him was to call him ‘Satan’ (Matthew 16:23), for trying to divert Christ’s mission in a worldly direction. When the Risen Christ gave St Peter the mission of feeding his sheep, he did so in the context of a thrice-repeated question, ‘Do you love me?’ (John 21:15-17), a question recalling, and undoing, St Peter’s thrice-repeated denial of Christ in the house of the High Priest (John 18:17, 25-27).

We are called to accept this painful paradox, of the Pope’s supreme spiritual authority, and his infallibility in solemn acts of teaching, along with his limitations as a member of the fallen human race. History tells us that popes have been guilty of all kinds of sins, including sins against the Faith. It is unsurprising that popes have tended to be theologically sound, politically astute, and morally upright. But there is no supernatural guarantee that they must be.

The recently published letter accusing Pope Francis of the crime of heresy makes for uncomfortable reading. Most readers will know that Pope Francis’ Post-Synodal Exhortation Amoris Laetitia (2016) contained passages which were troubling to many orthodox theologians. Many people, including me, thought that those passages could be explained in an orthodox sense. The difficulty with this approach, as time has worn on, is that Pope Francis has given no indication that such orthodox readings are correct. On the contrary, the whole tenor of papal remarks, documents of varying levels of official status, and the guidance given to and conclusions drawn from bishops’ synods in Rome, has tended to undermine those orthodox readings.

It is this complex situation which is addressed in the letter. The signatories, who include a number of extremely distinguished Catholic academics, such as Fr Aidan Nichols OP, Professor Claudio Pierantoni and Professor John Rist, make the case that, taken as a whole, Amoris Laetitia and the subsequent verbal and practical papal commentary, so to speak, upon it, constitute a set of claims which are, in the last analysis, clearly heretical.

Thus, for example, Amoris suggests that a couple in an irregular union might undermine their relationship by abstaining from adulterous sex, and that this might be bad for the children: a claim backed up by a bizarre misquotation from Vatican II. This appears to be the kind of consideration behind the Buenos Aires ‘guidelines’ about who can receive Holy Communion, which itself received the official approbation of the Pope. Taken together, this suggests the mind-boggling idea that people can do right by committing adultery, and be in a state of grace without repenting of it, and that those who habitually commit adultery would sin by obeying God’s command not to commit adultery. If you’re not confused at this point, you’ve not been paying attention.

In order to uncover the Pope’s intentions, the letter has to make what its authors think are reasonable interpretations of different documents and papal actions, such as of promoting or praising individuals known to have certain views. If this is a promulgation of heresy, it is promulgation by drift: it is the drift of papal works, papal actions, and papal policy, which is the problem.

The lack of clarity here is one reason why I, and no doubt others, have not signed this letter, although I signed earlier documents (and here) calling on Pope Francis to clarify his teaching. It seems to me to go beyond what can be clearly and simply stated about Pope Francis’ teaching. And yet, I have to admit, first, the lack of clarity is evidently an intentional feature of Pope Francis’ style, and no unfortunate accident, and, second, that this makes the situation more, rather than less, dangerous. Pastoral policies all over the Catholic world are being based on a reading of Amoris which are out of line with the Faith, and they are not being corrected. As time goes on, it is becoming harder and harder to say something as simple as ‘the Church teaches that adultery is always wrong’, without fear of contradiction.

I would like, therefore, to thank those who created and have signed this letter, even if I do not feel able to join them, for contributing to a debate which is urgently necessary in the Church, and for urging the bishops of the world to consider what is their duty at a time of confusion.
​