VATICAN CITY (VATICAN CITY)
Sky News Australia [AU]
October 14, 2023
By Rocco Loiacono
Stewards of Pope Francis’ Catholic church lean more towards “neo-Marxism” than its roots in biblical doctrine, writes Rocco Loiacono.
A scathing article written by the late Cardinal George Pell was published a day after his passing in January, which described a key Catholic Church leadership group as a “toxic nightmare”.
The Synod on Synodality is where mostly bishops from the religion conduct a series of meetings with Pope Francis to forge a direction for the church.
But Cardinal Pell said documents from the gatherings were “couched in neo-Marxist jargon”.
Moreover, in his Campion College lecture in August last year Cardinal Pell said the Synod was “largely irrelevant to the preaching of the gospel and the threat of decline, being more concerned with redistribution of power”.
In opening the Synod process in 2021, Pope Francis called for the Catholic Church to “encounter, listen and discern”.
But the meeting avoided any mention of being guided by doctrine and the church’s God-given mission of teaching the faith: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28: 19-20).
All the while Francis condemns those who resist this project as “reactionaries,” stigmatising them as nostalgic, if not unbalanced, “backwardists” who suffer from an unhealthy attachment to an ideology.
The Pope himself has picked 120 delegates to participate in the Synod.
These include three American cardinals – Blase Cupich of Chicago, Wilton Gregory of Washington D.C., and Robert McElroy of San Diego – as well as Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle, all of whom publicly share and advocate his vision of a “synodal church”, and who have enforced Francis’ cruel, enthusiastic crackdown on tradition.
There have been allegations Cardinal Cupich banned the praying of the Hail Mary and prayer to St Michael publicly after Mass in churches in his diocese, while at the same time being openly supportive of the LGBT+ agenda.
Father Martin, a major activist for this group within the church, has been appointed by the Pope personally as a synodal delegate, as well as being one of his key communications advisers.
Another of the Pope’s hand-picked delegates, Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, is one of his closest confidants.
Once dubbed the ‘vice-pope’, Cardinal Maradiaga was finally forced to resign as Archbishop of Tegucigalpa in Honduras in February after years of allegations of financial and sexual misconduct, for which he has refused to answer.
The stench of a cover-up is hard to ignore.
One bishop who has not been invited to the Synod is Joseph Strickland, the Bishop of Tyler, Texas.
Like Cardinal Pell, Bishop Strickland has constantly warned the Synod is likely to lead to greater confusion and division within the church.
He has stated that the Pope is engaged in a “program of undermining the Deposit of Faith,” and has been vocal in condemning Father James Martin.
In a recent video message, Bishop Strickland urged faithful Catholics to stand firm and “be wary of any attempt to present an alternative to the gospel of Jesus Christ, or to push for a faith that speaks of dialogue and brotherhood while attempting to remove the fatherhood of God.”.
Bishop Strickland stated further: “Regrettably, it may be that some will label as schismatics those who disagree with the changes being proposed.”
“However,” Strickland declared, “instead those who would propose changes to that which cannot be changed, seek to commandeer Christ’s church are indeed the true schismatics.”
For his stance, Bishop Strickland recently received a visitation from the Vatican, and reports have emerged that Francis will ask Strickland to resign.
The Synod might also serve as a useful distraction for Pope Francis from the scandal surrounding his friend Father Marko Rupnik, a celebrity mosaic artist.
He set up an art school in Rome and has received commissions from shrines and chapels across the world, including one in Queensland.
However, the allegations against Father Rupnik are alarming.
It is alleged he sexually abused nuns in a Slovenian convent he had founded.
He is also accused of one of the most serious infringements against the church a priest can commit: offering sacramental absolution of sin to his own sexual partner and co-conspirator.
The Jesuits have since confirmed that Father Rupnik was excommunicated in 2019, only for that to be lifted in 2021.
There are reports Francis was involved in lifting the excommunication.
The Diocese of Rome recently conducted an investigation into Father Rupnik and on September 18 issued a report which was very favourable to him, despite the Jesuits conducting their own investigation previously which led to his expulsion from the order.
This attempt to rehabilitate Father Rupnik prompted an open letter published the next day , in which various women allegedly abused by him accused Pope Francis of running a shallow “publicity campaign” for his supposed “zero tolerance” of abuse.
The letter added that “they have been waiting for a definitive, clear, maternal answer for more than a year. But they have only received silence.”
Their open letter comes after receiving no reply from Pope Francis to four earlier letters.
Following the Father Rupnik report, the former Apostolic Nuncio (Vatican Ambassador) to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Viganò, had this to say on X (formerly Twitter):
“It is clear: if you are a heretic, corrupt, pervert, thief, sacrilegious, and serial predator, but you are Bergoglio’s friend, you enjoy total impunity.”
“If you are Catholic, live consistently with the Faith and do not follow the Argentine tyrant, persecution is certain, cruel and merciless.”
At this time, the words of probably the greatest American Catholic of the 20th century, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, seem prophetic.
“Who is going to save our church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes and ears to save the Church,” Bishop Sheen wrote.
“Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops and your religious act like religious.”
Young Catholics are heeding these words.
Pope Francis has called for the church to “listen” to youth and they have spoken.
The Synod’s Twitter/X account shows young people are calling for a return to a Christ-centred Church of orthodoxy and tradition, not a ‘synodal church’ that is a protection racket for those who abuse their power.