Yes Francis is a conondrum. I don't know., but Our Lady is always requesting that we pray for the Holy Father that he will make good decisions. He has not been good for the church but he has allowed the rotten bones to come out and be seen by all of us. This is necessary for purification to happen. He is the Pope of these times and he has set the stage for an antichrist. I pray for his salvation. I would not like to be in his shoes.
Things have been very bad of course for a long time. But it is as though suddenly everything has speeded up. It is as if we can see the Church decay and rot right before our very eyes from day to day. One of the Great Mysteries of today as with the time of Jesus is why so many do not see? At the time of Jesus a few Jews recognised Jesus as the Christ. The few. The Faithful Remnant, the Anawem So too in our present day only the few the Faithful Remnant , recognise the Fall of the Church to the Power of Satan. Why is this? Why so few? I think it is a bit like a mother with her baby. A mother knows her baby's every need. She knows when it is hungry, when it is in pain, when it is sleepy and so. What teaches her this? Eyes of love. Loves teaches her. John 10:14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—
Alas Schoenborn was indeed close in theology to Ratzinger and contributed to the new Catechism but he's gone over to the dark side. Very sad. Balloon Masses etc. I wish it was going to be Sarah but the college of cardinals is being stuffed with PF's favourites. Only God can save us now. I like Padraig's phrase 'Rome is under new management'. Says it all.
Years and years ago not so long after my conversion a strange thing started to happen to me when I used to walk about saying the Rosary. Suddenly as I considered each mystery I was given huge understandings of Our Faith starting with the Blessed Trinity and the essential Mystery of God Himself and moving on from there. It was as if I had been plugged into a kind of great mystical online Theology course, but one not so much printed on the mind but upon my heart. This changed me in many ways. My eyes got suddenly opened. So if I went to Church and in a homily and the priest said something that was false I knew it at once and was filled with a sense of horror at it. This very much surprised me at once as this had never happened before; but it has always stayed with me. It also opened my eyes not only to what people said but what they were. So I could see not only if they said what was false but if they were something false themselves. This has never left me. It seems to me that all humble little souls have something of this to one degree or other. We can smell when something is sheer rotten. A bit like Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, said in Shakespeare.
Its a great gift. I know that when I became (re-) converted in my late 20's I had an instantaneous horror of idolatry--fortune telling and astrology and seances etc. As if I were touching a red hot stove. I had previously been quite new age. But anything smelling of occult or new age even though disguised immediately sent my "spidey-senses" tingling.And falsity in Church teaching flashed like a neon sign. I was shocked at some of the heterodox things said by nuns and priests and/or other Catholics. Somehow in my conversion I had been given back "the whole package" of the truths I learned in childhood. I just knew when others were off track. Like you, it has never left me. But not nearly as dramatic as your experience.
I think you know that it is not only we that can sense evil and 'know', things about people and places and events and so on. But they who walk on the Dark Side can , 'know' things about those who walk in the Light without being told. We can see this when they they start acting like a cat on a hot tin roof in our presence. Somehow they just ,' Know'. It's good to be aware of this through letting the eyes of our heart, our soul, see that which our eyes may not. Sadly our times have become so materialistic we are often blinded to grand parents may have 'seen', as naturally as they breathed. We have lost that inner knack.
Oh yes. I have seen this. Cat on a hot tin roof describes it for sure. Also unexplainable animosity from someone for no reason. Discernment is a gift of the Holy Spirit but I suspect the dark side has their own discernment.
???!!!!!!! https://spiritdaily.org/blog/news/pelosi-receives-communion-at-vatican Pelosi Receives Communion At Vatican June 29, 2022 by sd From Associated Press: U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with Pope Francis on Wednesday and received Communion during a papal Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, witnesses said, despite her position in support of abortion rights. Pelosi attended the morning Mass marking the feasts of St. Peter and St. Paul, during which Francis bestowed the woolen pallium stole on newly consecrated archbishops. She was seated in a VIP diplomatic section and received Communion along with the rest of the congregants, according to two people who witnessed the moment.
One time I was invited into a talk given by a lady who was one of the ones in charge of a large lay Catholic community. There was about 70 people present, I was a total stranger to them all apart from the two who took me. The lady giving the talk stared directly down at me stamped her feet on the ground angrily and shouted, 'There is a bad spirit of suspicion and questioning present! We should all beware!' I had kept my face totally neutral but inside I was horrified at her dictatorial spirit. I was sitting quite some distance from her but she knew me and what I thinking right away. I did not go back.
I have had a similar gift since childhood. Purely from God, as I was not baptized until age 20 and lived in a non-religious household.
I think perhaps most have forgotten about him but 73-year-old Peter Turkson is also a strong candidate if the cardinals are looking for a compromise between conservatives and liberals.
I am afraid Luan, that you are regarding current events in Secular/ Political/ Human sense. It is not a matter between Liberal and Conservative. It is a struggle between Good and Evil, the Forces of Darkness and the Forces of Light. There can be no compromise between Good And Evil. Between that which is right and that which is wrong. Ephesians 6:10-18 10 Finally, become strong in the Lord and in the might of his strength. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil, 12 because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Because of this, take up the full armor of God, in order that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, girding your waist with truth, and putting on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and binding shoes under your feet with the preparation of the good news of peace, 16 in everything taking up the shield of faith, with which you are able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one, 17 and receive the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
I agree, but ideological, political and managerial issues can inevitably interfere in the process of choosing the next pope: international diplomacy, the state of the Holy See's finances, reform of the curia and church interference in electoral processes around the world (cardinals faithful to the doctrine can having a hard time electing someone who doesn't blatantly favor left-wing political parties around the world).
I was thinking about this overnight and it may be far, far worse than it initially appears. How come Nanci Pelosi suddenly decided to take a trip to Italy/Rome just at this particular time? I believe it was prearranged so that Our Holy Father could gave her aid and support at the time US Bishops refused her Communion. In other words it is a fix to show the Pope supports her. This is why she went to Rome in the first place. Pelosi/ the Vatican/ The White House are working together on this. The Pope/ Biden/ Pelosi are all batting on the same team. They are all singing from the same hymn sheet. NOTIFICATION To the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress Nancy Pelosi The Second Vatican Council, in its Decree on the Church in the Modem World, Gaudium et spes, reiterated the Church's ancient and consistent teaching that “from the first moment of conception life must be guarded with the greatest care while abortion and infanticide are unspeakable crimes” (n. 51). Christians have, indeed, always upheld the dignity of human life in every stage, especially the most vulnerable, beginning with life in the womb. His Holiness, Pope Francis, in keeping with his predecessors, has likewise been quite clear and emphatic in teaching on the dignity of human life in the womb. This fundamental moral truth has consequences for Catholics in how they live their lives, especially those entrusted with promoting and protecting the public good of society. Pope St. John Paul II was also quite consistent in upholding this constant teaching of the Church, and frequently reminded us that “those who are directly involved in lawmaking bodies have a ‘grave and clear obligation to oppose’ any law that attacks human life. For them, as for every Catholic, it is impossible to promote such laws or to vote for them” (cf. Doctrinal Note on some questions regarding the participation of Catholics in political life [November 24, 2002], n. 4, §1). A Catholic legislator who supports procured abortion, after knowing the teaching of the Church, commits a manifestly grave sin which is a cause of most serious scandal to others. Therefore, universal Church law provides that such persons “are not to be admitted to Holy Communion” (Code of Canon Law, can. 915). With regard to the application of these principles to Catholics in political life, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote to the U.S. bishops in 2004 explaining the approach to be taken: “... when a person's formal cooperation becomes manifest (understood, in the case of a Catholic politician, as his consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws), his Pastor should meet with him, instructing him about the Church's teaching, informing him that he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin, and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist. When ‘these precautionary measures have not had their effect ... ,’ and the person in question, with obstinate persistence, still presents himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, ‘the minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it.’” In striving to follow this direction, I am grateful to you for the time you have given me in the past to speak about these matters. Unfortunately, I have not received such an accommodation to my many requests to speak with you again since you vowed to codify the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in federal law following upon passage of Texas Senate Bill 8 last September. That is why I communicated my concerns to you via letter on April 7, 2022, and informed you there that, should you not publicly repudiate your advocacy for abortion “rights” or else refrain from referring to your Catholic faith in public and receiving Holy Communion, I would have no choice but to make a declaration, in keeping with canon 915, that you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.
Thanks, all. Interesting discussion. But as per an update, it looks like the Pope has said he will not be resigning. So looks like we may not have a New Pope for a few years, maybe 3 to 5 or even more. Can't hurt to start praying for the right candidate, though. But probably some may cross the 80 age limit by the time the next conclave comes. Source: https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2022/06/22/pope-francis-resignation-rumors-243208
