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| Denied! |
[Jesus] does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them
Yep. Take that George Washington. Take that Founding Fathers. Take that FDR. Take that Eisenhower. Take that Pope Urban II. Take that Joan of Arc. Take that - any leader who has ever waged war in or out of the Bible. Apparently God has ignored every prayer by these and others because - of course He does.
He's the God of Love and Peace. Not right or wrong. Not defending the innocent against evil. Not justice. Not good or bad. Not anything really. Just the assurance that as long as we don't wage war against evil, whatever evil does is small beans. Barney the Dinosaur never said it so well.
Of course I'm reading into this. It was likely just a swipe against Trump and the war against Iran. Likely without much thought about the larger, yet entirely logical, ramifications of what he just said. A lazy, sloppy, social media era postmodern dig. Like most of our postmodern leadership and scholarship. It's true now because it jabs Trump. It tells us what we want and owns the other guy. Later it will be revised for obvious reasons that a modicum of historical studies will reveal. Such is post-Truth modernity. We won't even get into the Protestant anti-Catholic talking point that Catholics believe popes and God merely swap nameplates. Which is why, apparently, popes can always say just what prayers God is and isn't listening to.
Like his predecessor, I'm getting the feeling that Pope Leo will speak the words beloved of modern post-Western globalism, whether or not it stands up to common sense scrutiny, much less historical Catholicism. Like Pope Francis, he speaks the words the modern World wants to hear. The impact it has on the faithful, the faithless, or the Faith in general, increasingly seeming to be of little concern.
The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name.
ReplyDelete-Exodus 15:3
Sometimes the "Catholics don't read the Bible" jokes almost write themselves...
The Pope isn't helping that impression.
If it was only the Bible it would be bad enough. But just consider the swipe against everyone in history. It's one thing to say we don't need to be like those military idiots and fight stupid wars anymore. It's another to say nobody should ever have fought a war to begin with, no questions asked. Since sorry Moses and Judas Maccabeus, God never heard your prayers. I mean, that's like saying 'All women hate trains.' It's nonsensical. I wonder if those on the Left, though, really are dancing in the street, or are they trying to sweep it under the carpet before people think too much about it.
DeleteAnother pope with nothing in his head but conventional liberal platitudes. Please, God give us an actual Christian next time, will you? Preferably one with a brain in his head. --- G. Poulin
DeleteThat is harsh, but unfortunately, I'm having a hard time justifying calling it out, given the utterly jaw dropping level of context missing for that to be true. As I told Nate, it's like saying all women hate trains. There is nothing close to any reality or anything close to historical Christianity in that, unless I'm really missing something. It also makes me sad because this is why many Protestants become Catholic, to avoid this sort of thing. Not that we imagine we won't run into the odd Catholic who says such things. But we generally don't think it will come from the papacy.
DeleteThis, and worse, has been coming from the papacy for some time now. It is high time for Catholics to start re-thinking a few things... there is no magic cloak that a pope can put on that will prevent him from teaching stupid and false things. Too many Catholics imagine that the existence of the magisterium relieves them of the responsibility for discernment. And that is why so many non-Catholics see the Church as little more than a cult, in the pejorative sense. --- G. Poulin
DeleteThat was something I assumed to be true. Back when I entered the Church in 2006, many on St. Blogs made sure we didn't live up to the old anti-Catholic stereotype that all Catholics must remove brains and mindlessly accept that squares are round if the pope says so. In a typical dose of double standard irony, that went out the window with Pope Francis, where suddenly you hung on every syllable he uttered, or you were a Francis hating bad Catholic. I've said few things have done more to live up to anti-Catholic rhetoric than the last dozen years of the Church.
DeleteMaybe he meant all those war wagers who slaughter for the sake of slaughter… because that would actually make sense 😜
ReplyDeleteHeh. And yet, not funny, because there might be some truth behind it. One of the things I noticed with Pope Francis is how he would condemn or exonerate motives, rather than actions. With sins to the left, even ones he strongly condemned, he nonetheless gave a pass based on circumstances or best of intentions. But those sins on the right that largely were composed of questioning leftwing narratives and activism, he would ascribe the worst conceivable motives behind why they took such positions. I don't see Pope Leo doing that here, however. I could be wrong, but I don't think so. It just seems a sloppy and historically vacant thing to say in order to not say what he's clearly saying - and that's going after Trump without doing so. Some have suggested that it's because he doesn't want to lock horns with Trump. Because unlike Pope Francis, who often acted like a papal version of Trump, he at least wasn't afraid to go toe to toe with him.
DeleteLook, we were promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church and that the Holy Spirit would protect her. If either one of those promises fails then Christ was a liar and we were duped. But we weren't, for as we learned last Sunday, Palm Sunday Christ is King, the King of Kings. Any of us that is remotely devout in our faith know what our Church teaches or can easily find out especially in this day and age and statements such as the one by the Holy Father is so far off the rails that it is to be ignored. Jesus promised to be with us forever and protect His Church, but NOwhere did he promise that popes would not utter stupid things. I've a feeling this whole thing came out because Hegseth prayed something along the lines of "Let every round find it's mark against enemies of righteousness and of this nation." I do have to ask one question however...Who did Pope Francis have and who does Pope Leo have as advisors to screen his utterances? They couldn't have done any worse if James Carville had appointed as advisor. You see? This is why I am convinced of the divine foundation of our Church. How on Earth could our Church have survived without the intervention of heaven.
ReplyDeleteThat could have been what set him off, but then he should have said such, instead of this version of - I'm not sure what. The worst, of course, has been watching those Catholic on the Left praising it, and even calling those criticizing it blasphemers or at least idiots. But you're right. This is something that appears to have emerged since the time of Pope Francis. Before I became a Catholic, I've said the harshest critics of Pope John Paul II I knew were Catholics. When I entered the Church, St. Blogs was often sensitive about making sure we understood there is defaulting to following the Church's teaching and its leadership, and then there's the wrong idea that we must blindly listen to any word spoken. Hence those criticizing Popes JPII or Benedict weren't necessarily bad Catholics. But that went out the window with Pope Francis. Virtually any and all criticism or or questioning of his latest statements became wrapped in 'Francis hate' and 'bad Catholic.' It looks like it's continuing in that direction. Like you, I'm hoping we can get back to some sane and reality based approaches to the subject of following Church teaching versus having to agree with anything the pope says that I want to hear.
DeleteJesus said His church would endure - but He did NOT say in what form or method.
DeleteI can't help but notice reading through a lot of the Bible, people seemed to get into trouble assuming what God "must" do or how things "must" be. What was Jesus' reply when Peter rebuked Him for saying He would die? He is not bound by our assumptions or expectations.
He can show up as a humble carpenter born in a manger if He wants to.
There is another sentiment I hear so many times from people. that is how the Church is being destroyed little by little by some popes and those who defy Tradition. They are convince that left to the evil devices of the left the Church will be annihilated. Church has been attacked and wounded and injured soooo many times through 2000 years and yet? I know one thing for certain, if the Church falls, it will be by God's hand not man's. Are we so prideful into believing we can destroy the Church Christ instituted? That's about as true as the mere speck of man can manipulate and destroy global climate. We need to put on our big boy pants and realize we cannot do anything without God. Everything is contingent on God.
Delete