Thank you for being humble enough to share this wonderful Post.
I am so grateful that you shared your friend’s and Father’s words.
They were EXACTLY what I needed to hear. There words convicted me and gave me renewed hope. Most importantly I was reminded that God is God and the CHURCH and truth will prevail.
I had been struggling with Pope Francis for quite some time. Today it stuck me reading your blog that I had ceased praying for Pope Francis quite some time ago. Thanks to you I will “begin again” to pray daily for him.
Keep up the good work.
The first Substack blog I subscribed to was Diary of a Stumbling Saint. So glad I did.
Thank you so much for the kind words, Bice! Italy is my favorite country, by the way. :) I've been to rural Tuscany, the Flower Riviera, Venice, and Siena. Love it so much.
I'm sorry, but that kind of obedience shaming is dangerous. God gave us minds and hearts to discern the truth. So many of the problems in the Church today have been allowed to fester because of a false understanding of obedience which is used to try to justify turning a blind eye to harms being done...because it's uncomfortable. Truth should never be sacrificed for "safety". The worst of it is is that the innocent suffer, are shamed for voicing out loud what they know is happening, and go unheard, unsupported, & betrayed. This is a serious problem in the Church and I do not believe you should pay attention to the things you have posted above about what these people have been saying to you.
Just read your comment, and I’d have to respectfully disagree on point number two. :) obedience only goes so far as it does not go against God. I’ve read up on this quite a bit as well for the same reasons, wondering if maybe blind obedience is what Jesus wanted. Catechism says otherwise.
Padre Pio (my Italian paternal side of the family’s patron saint, he brought back my great grandfather from deaths door) and others were obedient to their superiors but not, I’m sure, if it came to heresy.
Francis can tell priests to scrub monastery floors with a toothbrush. Is it abusive? Sure. Is it anti biblical? No. Telling priests to bless same sex couples, not individuals, couples, the choice of words is telling, is un biblical. I doubt Padre Pio would have continued to be obedient to such things. Again my two cents.
And of course I stay engaged, just not as much as I would like. Your blogs give me a level of happiness and refreshment you can’t imagine. Especially after a long shift. Keep it up!
Something I wanted to mention is that “popesplainers”, those who like to blindly defend the popes actions regardless of how un biblical they may be, love to bring up the quote from Jesus when he tells Peter “you are the rock upon whom I will build my church”. Jesus never said “Peter you are the church”.
I have nothing but disdain for bergoglio for trying to destroy the church from within. What next? Female “deaconesses”? The only women who want that are feminazis and they only want that for one reason: power. And once they get their tentacles in the church, there’s no stopping them as we have seen in the secular world. It’ll be turned into a matriarchal circus. I’m sure Francis knows this and that’s exactly his plan.
Another is his synodal synodalities of synods or whatever, having the general public (of course they’ve been vetted to vote like he wants) voting on things that pertain to the church. The church is NOT a democracy. God is King and has the final say. And he already had the final say, so to go against Him is playing with literal fire. We don’t need a vote regarding gay lifestyle or female priests. Silly example of how I think Francis picked the laity: I’m going to hold a vote to see which is the best ice cream flavor in the world, chocolate or vanilla. I will then hold a meeting where I will invite 90% chocolate lovers and 10% pro vanilla (for good measure, you know, can’t make it obvious) and we will see what gets voted. ** eye roll**
Speaking of gay, the infamous FS document was penned by Tucho (of porn fame, what a surprise). If supposedly nothing has changed, then why even come out with such a divisive document and cause the uproar and confusion it caused? What was the necessity of it??
My take? He’s opening the door ever so slightly for a change in doctrine, whether through his papacy or the next (he’s chosen cardinals that align with his views.. again nothing suspicious there).
I once read a story about how to tame wild pigs, as a story on how people quietly lose their freedoms (or in this case, how they don’t notice how doctrine is slowly being changed) It went something like this: build one side of a fence around the wild pigs. Feed them corn. Eventually they get used to the fence and don’t mind it. Build side number two. Keep feeding them. Eventually they get used to that too. Before they know it, they’ve been corraled and are ready for the butcher. That’s how I see FS, and Francis tiptoeing around certain things. It is US who have to submit to God, not the other way around.
Regarding bashing bergoglio, I keep that to my Catholic audience only. The other denominations start talking about him and I walk away and don’t engage because then I will (I think) be found guilty of gossip. What’s the difference? I’ll tell you.
The Protestants (basically anyone non Catholic) are both right and wrong regarding the pope. They are wrong in not believing he is the leader of the one true church Jesus founded. He is. Whether he does what he is supposed to do is debatable (his job last I checked is to save souls, not worry about the weather but I digress).
They are, however, right in that he’s saying and doing things that any Christian would question, not just Catholics. And unfortunately I’m finding it harder and harder to defend him. He’s not making it easy.
(Add to that that now there is discord in the one true church between popesplainers and those of us who raise eyebrows and who’s blood pressure goes into hypertensive state every time he speaks, and we have a very serious dilemma. Granted I won’t leave Jesus because of Judas but heck, our fearless leader doesn’t help the situation. The world, Catholics in particular, need a strong leader, not one who leaves doubts)
However, I don’t engage with them because they have nothing good to say on any front and I’m not interested in their biased opinions. I discuss with other Catholics because they know (or I would hope they know) the predicament I find myself in regarding this particular pope.
I want some sort of guidance or explanation that makes sense and that I can reconcile. Can’t do it with the popesplainers who try to dismiss every erratic and heretical thing the pope does. Anyway, I went to confession a few weeks back because I ran my mouth with some colorful language to describe bergoglio. Like I said, I am NO fan of his. The priest gave me sound advice. Basically said to worry about what happens in my own home and follow the teachings of JESUS in the traditional Catholic Church. Have a relationship with Jesus. Don’t worry about what comes out of Rome and to have some charity. He’s right. So if I need to vent about Francis I do it in Catholic circles in the hopes that maybe I can be proven wrong with SOUND logic, not merely brushing heresies under the rug under the guise of “he’s pope”. So that’s how I reconciled some things. I like to stay informed of what’s coming out of Rome of course, but I refuse to let it affect me. He can answer for himself during his own final interview and I think I can say this with some certainty: I’d hate to be in his shoes.
Oh my goodness Valery...Thank You so much! You have articulated so well (in all of your replies) what I think and feel. As difficult as things are right now, I do believe that we must "call a spade a spade" when it comes to bergolio & other actors in the Church. Otherwise we, and the Church, stand to loose all credibility & integrity. The truth will prevail, the gates of hell shall not. In the meantime we must be honest & admit to what is wrong. Again, thank you so much for your courage & clarity. I feel like you filled in all the important details missing from my short little rant above. ;-) I could never have articulated things so well & I share your passion. The good of human persons / souls (in this life and the next) are at stake. And we should care. God Bless You & Shannara!!!
As I said, I do agree with you. And I think you do agree with me. Let me just put some pieces of your comment together, and then read them again: "The church is NOT a democracy. God is King and has the final say. It is US who have to submit to God, not the other way around. I won’t leave Jesus because of Judas. The priest gave me sound advice. Basically said to worry about what happens in my own home and follow the teachings of JESUS in the traditional Catholic Church. Have a relationship with Jesus. Don’t worry about what comes out of Rome and to have some charity. He’s right. I like to stay informed of what’s coming out of Rome of course, but I refuse to let it affect me."
Hi Ms. Shannara! Just finished working a night shift (nurse here) and the only thing that can keep me awake is one of your emails. Been meaning to write to you about some of them to get your perspective and just have intelligent Catholic dialogue with someone :)
I’ll write more when I have the time but I felt like I have to put my two cents here because I agree with you regarding “pope Francis”.
1. “The gates of hell will not prevail against the church”. Well the church is not the pope or a building, it’s the people. The people who use their God given intellect and common sense to detect when something is wrong. I’m sorry but the man has said and done enough to make me doubt his authenticity to the seat of Peter. Confusion does not come from God and the man is a master at confusing, almost to the point of making a mockery of the true faithful. He has also been quoted as saying he will go down as the one who divided the church. That does not sound like a benign innocent mistake to me, it sounds rather proud and arrogant and reeks of an ulterior motive and agenda not in line with Peter’s seat. That alone gave me caution, let alone everything else, with more coming out by the day.
2. Him picking Tucho Fernandez as his right hand man is also worrisome. The man wrote some nasty porn regarding our blessed mother and our savior. One thing is to be that sick in the head, something else is to go into graphic detail (meaning he marinated profusely on the ideas). And then have the nerve to publish it.
3. I’ve heard it said that priests and bishops can take souls to hell with them over false teachings. I’m sure the pope is not excluded. Martin Luther, Calvin, and everyone who has split from the Catholic Church I’m sure meant well. They thought they were doing the right thing. As a result, people who followed them in good faith probably ended up on the wrong side after this life. And if they didn’t, and ended up in heaven, then the words of Jesus weren’t true regarding the sacramentals. Can’t have it both ways.
All of this is to say, leader or not, I can’t follow blindly a man who has openly said and done things that go against my God. In the end it is Jesus who saves, not bergoglio. Not sure if during my final interview it’s ok to tell Jesus “I was obedient to him because you left him in charge even though your manual (the Bible) contradicted everything that man did.” Maybe Jesus will admonish me and tell me “then why did I give you an intelligence?”
Or maybe not. Maybe you and I are both wrong. But I’d rather play it safe and stick to traditional, unadulterated church teachings and the catechism according to tradition and not according to Francis.
One thing is a pope that says “do as I say and not as I do” (Borgias come to mind). Another is to say “screw what God wants. I’m in charge now!”
PS my family moved from Europe to Venezuela after the Second World War. We all know what happened to Venezuela and other South American countries. It happens when you put someone in power and it goes to their heads and they fancy themselves gods. It’s called a dictatorship. And Francis is behaving exactly like one. You don’t like him? He will defrock you if you’re a priest and close down anything even resembling tradition. Why is he so averse to what makes the heart of the faithful sing, such as the TLM and tradition of our ancestors? Why does it bother him so much? I prefer the novus or do masses myself, but if the TLM makes others feel closer to God, then it should be ok with him, but it’s not
Too many red flags for me…
Thanks for listening to my rant, hopefully it made some sense :) just my little opinion though
I agree with everything you said, Valery, and it certainly doesn't mean that I've suddenly become the pope's biggest fan. But just a few things:
1. I noticed (after it was pointed out to me) that things tend to get blown out of proportion on social media, sensationalized for the clicks, and when you read the actual Church documents, it's not quite as terrible as the influencers made it sound. No official Church teachings have been changed by Pope Francis, no matter what it looks like. The official teachings on homosexuality, marriage, etc. are still in place, and hopefully it will stay that way.
2. I didn't understand at first how obedience gives us safety. But then I looked at St. Padre Pio and other saints, who were horribly mistreated by their superiors and bishops, even popes, and yet they stayed obedient until the end, no matter what was thrown at them. One saint-in-the-making, Eileen George, who died in 2017, said, "No disobedient person will ever become a saint." So there's that. And then there are some really strange "teachings" and movements within the Church that, to me, range from worrisome to frightening. One example is the Divine Will Movement according to Luisa Piccareta. The only way to protect ourselves (the elect, if you will) from falling into such traps and heresies is to cling to traditional Church teachings and the Bible as closely as possible.
Thanks for being so engaged! Always love hearing your feedback. :)
WEDNESDAY THOUGHTS
Oh my!
Thank you for being humble enough to share this wonderful Post.
I am so grateful that you shared your friend’s and Father’s words.
They were EXACTLY what I needed to hear. There words convicted me and gave me renewed hope. Most importantly I was reminded that God is God and the CHURCH and truth will prevail.
I had been struggling with Pope Francis for quite some time. Today it stuck me reading your blog that I had ceased praying for Pope Francis quite some time ago. Thanks to you I will “begin again” to pray daily for him.
Keep up the good work.
The first Substack blog I subscribed to was Diary of a Stumbling Saint. So glad I did.
PS: YouTube video you suggested moved me tears.
From Bice
(pronunced Bee-Chay)
I am an Italian native.
Thank you so much for the kind words, Bice! Italy is my favorite country, by the way. :) I've been to rural Tuscany, the Flower Riviera, Venice, and Siena. Love it so much.
Yes! Beautiful places.
I'm sorry, but that kind of obedience shaming is dangerous. God gave us minds and hearts to discern the truth. So many of the problems in the Church today have been allowed to fester because of a false understanding of obedience which is used to try to justify turning a blind eye to harms being done...because it's uncomfortable. Truth should never be sacrificed for "safety". The worst of it is is that the innocent suffer, are shamed for voicing out loud what they know is happening, and go unheard, unsupported, & betrayed. This is a serious problem in the Church and I do not believe you should pay attention to the things you have posted above about what these people have been saying to you.
Just read your comment, and I’d have to respectfully disagree on point number two. :) obedience only goes so far as it does not go against God. I’ve read up on this quite a bit as well for the same reasons, wondering if maybe blind obedience is what Jesus wanted. Catechism says otherwise.
Padre Pio (my Italian paternal side of the family’s patron saint, he brought back my great grandfather from deaths door) and others were obedient to their superiors but not, I’m sure, if it came to heresy.
Francis can tell priests to scrub monastery floors with a toothbrush. Is it abusive? Sure. Is it anti biblical? No. Telling priests to bless same sex couples, not individuals, couples, the choice of words is telling, is un biblical. I doubt Padre Pio would have continued to be obedient to such things. Again my two cents.
And of course I stay engaged, just not as much as I would like. Your blogs give me a level of happiness and refreshment you can’t imagine. Especially after a long shift. Keep it up!
God bless!
Yes, I agree on that with you too. You don't want to be obedient to heresy.
Sorry I’m riled up and can’t sleep now.
Something I wanted to mention is that “popesplainers”, those who like to blindly defend the popes actions regardless of how un biblical they may be, love to bring up the quote from Jesus when he tells Peter “you are the rock upon whom I will build my church”. Jesus never said “Peter you are the church”.
I have nothing but disdain for bergoglio for trying to destroy the church from within. What next? Female “deaconesses”? The only women who want that are feminazis and they only want that for one reason: power. And once they get their tentacles in the church, there’s no stopping them as we have seen in the secular world. It’ll be turned into a matriarchal circus. I’m sure Francis knows this and that’s exactly his plan.
Another is his synodal synodalities of synods or whatever, having the general public (of course they’ve been vetted to vote like he wants) voting on things that pertain to the church. The church is NOT a democracy. God is King and has the final say. And he already had the final say, so to go against Him is playing with literal fire. We don’t need a vote regarding gay lifestyle or female priests. Silly example of how I think Francis picked the laity: I’m going to hold a vote to see which is the best ice cream flavor in the world, chocolate or vanilla. I will then hold a meeting where I will invite 90% chocolate lovers and 10% pro vanilla (for good measure, you know, can’t make it obvious) and we will see what gets voted. ** eye roll**
Speaking of gay, the infamous FS document was penned by Tucho (of porn fame, what a surprise). If supposedly nothing has changed, then why even come out with such a divisive document and cause the uproar and confusion it caused? What was the necessity of it??
My take? He’s opening the door ever so slightly for a change in doctrine, whether through his papacy or the next (he’s chosen cardinals that align with his views.. again nothing suspicious there).
I once read a story about how to tame wild pigs, as a story on how people quietly lose their freedoms (or in this case, how they don’t notice how doctrine is slowly being changed) It went something like this: build one side of a fence around the wild pigs. Feed them corn. Eventually they get used to the fence and don’t mind it. Build side number two. Keep feeding them. Eventually they get used to that too. Before they know it, they’ve been corraled and are ready for the butcher. That’s how I see FS, and Francis tiptoeing around certain things. It is US who have to submit to God, not the other way around.
Regarding bashing bergoglio, I keep that to my Catholic audience only. The other denominations start talking about him and I walk away and don’t engage because then I will (I think) be found guilty of gossip. What’s the difference? I’ll tell you.
The Protestants (basically anyone non Catholic) are both right and wrong regarding the pope. They are wrong in not believing he is the leader of the one true church Jesus founded. He is. Whether he does what he is supposed to do is debatable (his job last I checked is to save souls, not worry about the weather but I digress).
They are, however, right in that he’s saying and doing things that any Christian would question, not just Catholics. And unfortunately I’m finding it harder and harder to defend him. He’s not making it easy.
(Add to that that now there is discord in the one true church between popesplainers and those of us who raise eyebrows and who’s blood pressure goes into hypertensive state every time he speaks, and we have a very serious dilemma. Granted I won’t leave Jesus because of Judas but heck, our fearless leader doesn’t help the situation. The world, Catholics in particular, need a strong leader, not one who leaves doubts)
However, I don’t engage with them because they have nothing good to say on any front and I’m not interested in their biased opinions. I discuss with other Catholics because they know (or I would hope they know) the predicament I find myself in regarding this particular pope.
I want some sort of guidance or explanation that makes sense and that I can reconcile. Can’t do it with the popesplainers who try to dismiss every erratic and heretical thing the pope does. Anyway, I went to confession a few weeks back because I ran my mouth with some colorful language to describe bergoglio. Like I said, I am NO fan of his. The priest gave me sound advice. Basically said to worry about what happens in my own home and follow the teachings of JESUS in the traditional Catholic Church. Have a relationship with Jesus. Don’t worry about what comes out of Rome and to have some charity. He’s right. So if I need to vent about Francis I do it in Catholic circles in the hopes that maybe I can be proven wrong with SOUND logic, not merely brushing heresies under the rug under the guise of “he’s pope”. So that’s how I reconciled some things. I like to stay informed of what’s coming out of Rome of course, but I refuse to let it affect me. He can answer for himself during his own final interview and I think I can say this with some certainty: I’d hate to be in his shoes.
Oh my goodness Valery...Thank You so much! You have articulated so well (in all of your replies) what I think and feel. As difficult as things are right now, I do believe that we must "call a spade a spade" when it comes to bergolio & other actors in the Church. Otherwise we, and the Church, stand to loose all credibility & integrity. The truth will prevail, the gates of hell shall not. In the meantime we must be honest & admit to what is wrong. Again, thank you so much for your courage & clarity. I feel like you filled in all the important details missing from my short little rant above. ;-) I could never have articulated things so well & I share your passion. The good of human persons / souls (in this life and the next) are at stake. And we should care. God Bless You & Shannara!!!
As I said, I do agree with you. And I think you do agree with me. Let me just put some pieces of your comment together, and then read them again: "The church is NOT a democracy. God is King and has the final say. It is US who have to submit to God, not the other way around. I won’t leave Jesus because of Judas. The priest gave me sound advice. Basically said to worry about what happens in my own home and follow the teachings of JESUS in the traditional Catholic Church. Have a relationship with Jesus. Don’t worry about what comes out of Rome and to have some charity. He’s right. I like to stay informed of what’s coming out of Rome of course, but I refuse to let it affect me."
Hi Ms. Shannara! Just finished working a night shift (nurse here) and the only thing that can keep me awake is one of your emails. Been meaning to write to you about some of them to get your perspective and just have intelligent Catholic dialogue with someone :)
I’ll write more when I have the time but I felt like I have to put my two cents here because I agree with you regarding “pope Francis”.
1. “The gates of hell will not prevail against the church”. Well the church is not the pope or a building, it’s the people. The people who use their God given intellect and common sense to detect when something is wrong. I’m sorry but the man has said and done enough to make me doubt his authenticity to the seat of Peter. Confusion does not come from God and the man is a master at confusing, almost to the point of making a mockery of the true faithful. He has also been quoted as saying he will go down as the one who divided the church. That does not sound like a benign innocent mistake to me, it sounds rather proud and arrogant and reeks of an ulterior motive and agenda not in line with Peter’s seat. That alone gave me caution, let alone everything else, with more coming out by the day.
2. Him picking Tucho Fernandez as his right hand man is also worrisome. The man wrote some nasty porn regarding our blessed mother and our savior. One thing is to be that sick in the head, something else is to go into graphic detail (meaning he marinated profusely on the ideas). And then have the nerve to publish it.
3. I’ve heard it said that priests and bishops can take souls to hell with them over false teachings. I’m sure the pope is not excluded. Martin Luther, Calvin, and everyone who has split from the Catholic Church I’m sure meant well. They thought they were doing the right thing. As a result, people who followed them in good faith probably ended up on the wrong side after this life. And if they didn’t, and ended up in heaven, then the words of Jesus weren’t true regarding the sacramentals. Can’t have it both ways.
All of this is to say, leader or not, I can’t follow blindly a man who has openly said and done things that go against my God. In the end it is Jesus who saves, not bergoglio. Not sure if during my final interview it’s ok to tell Jesus “I was obedient to him because you left him in charge even though your manual (the Bible) contradicted everything that man did.” Maybe Jesus will admonish me and tell me “then why did I give you an intelligence?”
Or maybe not. Maybe you and I are both wrong. But I’d rather play it safe and stick to traditional, unadulterated church teachings and the catechism according to tradition and not according to Francis.
One thing is a pope that says “do as I say and not as I do” (Borgias come to mind). Another is to say “screw what God wants. I’m in charge now!”
PS my family moved from Europe to Venezuela after the Second World War. We all know what happened to Venezuela and other South American countries. It happens when you put someone in power and it goes to their heads and they fancy themselves gods. It’s called a dictatorship. And Francis is behaving exactly like one. You don’t like him? He will defrock you if you’re a priest and close down anything even resembling tradition. Why is he so averse to what makes the heart of the faithful sing, such as the TLM and tradition of our ancestors? Why does it bother him so much? I prefer the novus or do masses myself, but if the TLM makes others feel closer to God, then it should be ok with him, but it’s not
Too many red flags for me…
Thanks for listening to my rant, hopefully it made some sense :) just my little opinion though
I agree with everything you said, Valery, and it certainly doesn't mean that I've suddenly become the pope's biggest fan. But just a few things:
1. I noticed (after it was pointed out to me) that things tend to get blown out of proportion on social media, sensationalized for the clicks, and when you read the actual Church documents, it's not quite as terrible as the influencers made it sound. No official Church teachings have been changed by Pope Francis, no matter what it looks like. The official teachings on homosexuality, marriage, etc. are still in place, and hopefully it will stay that way.
2. I didn't understand at first how obedience gives us safety. But then I looked at St. Padre Pio and other saints, who were horribly mistreated by their superiors and bishops, even popes, and yet they stayed obedient until the end, no matter what was thrown at them. One saint-in-the-making, Eileen George, who died in 2017, said, "No disobedient person will ever become a saint." So there's that. And then there are some really strange "teachings" and movements within the Church that, to me, range from worrisome to frightening. One example is the Divine Will Movement according to Luisa Piccareta. The only way to protect ourselves (the elect, if you will) from falling into such traps and heresies is to cling to traditional Church teachings and the Bible as closely as possible.
Thanks for being so engaged! Always love hearing your feedback. :)