MALTA
Times of Malta
by Fr Joe Borg
The Bristol Comic Expo in 2005 brought with it the publication by Michael Molcher of the semi-annual fanzine titled The End Is Nigh. Each issue deals with themed Apocalypses foretelling the end of the world.
Judging from a number of media coverages throughout the Synod of bishops on the family currently in its final phase at the Vatican one might be led to think that a similar magazine proclaiming the end of Church would be so popular that it would fill the coffers of its publishers with easy money.
Damian Thompson’s blog in The Spectator (13 October) was titled: “This week the Catholic Church is in chaos.” And true to his ultra-conservative colours, Thompson told us that the “Pope Francis is to blame.” The article is followed by the anti-Francis vitriolic comments of those brave Catholics who hide behind a pseudonym.
Similar comments are common posts in Crux, a website purporting to cover all things Catholics. A certain Tanyi Tanyi wrote that “Francis thanks he can manipulate the whole Church and govern in an authoritarian fashion” while proposing a cherry on the cake with the statement “May God protect this Church from Francis.”
Another conservative blog said that the Synod was about “blasphemy, Heresy, Schism and the “Collapse” of the Church (but, hey, at least the bishops will get to vote).” Others predicted that Pope Francis would become an Anglican.
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