No-shows for papal audience.
Leave it to the maestro of stats to pick up on it ...
Fr. Z notes that fewer people are attending the Wednesday General Audience:
Benedict’s audiences exceeded those of John Paul II at times.
The square is emptier and emptier.
And it’s not because of the general secularization.
Romans aren’t going either, so it isn’t the economic slump. - Fr. Z
What does it all mean?
“It must be a sign from heaven,” others hastened to add, and their opinion was adopted at once without protest.
[...]
“His teaching was false; he taught that life is a great joy and not a vale of tears,” said some of the more unreasonable. “He followed the fashionable belief, he did not recognise material fire in hell,” others, still more unreasonable, added. “He was not strict in fasting, allowed himself sweet things, ate cherry jam with his tea, ladies used to send it to him. Is it for a monk of strict rule to drink tea?” could be heard among some of the envious. “He sat in pride,” the most malignant declared vindictively; “he considered himself a saint and he took it as his due when people knelt before him.” “He abused the sacrament of confession.” - The Breath of Corruption, Brothers Karamazov, Part III, Bk. VII
I blame the riff-raff.
Homeless people drive away business.
What?
I say it's like a child who is bored with a new toy already and wants a new one. The weak spirited laity and the world has already seen he is adhering to Matt 16:18 and infallibility, so they've moved onto other things.
ReplyDeleteI think another consideration could be he is accessible - he shows up here and there and his daily homilies are usually available. I wonder if terror threats against the Vatican could play a roll as well? In any event, I don't believe he cares about that type of popularity poll.
DeleteWho has time to look in the mirror while the world burns? I suppose only those who might secretly chuckle and snicker with delight that the Argentine pope is losing the people.
DeleteI agree with you Terry that Papa Panchito cares not and if he does well, one would never know as he presses onward to preach the good news come good or bad stats. Let those who fret and speculate waste their time doing so while Papa Francis prepares his trips before the year ends.
Cuba
USA
Africa
One of my friends is going to see him in Philly.
ReplyDeleteTerry, Sadly I must disagree with you on two points:
ReplyDelete1. I don't think his popularity is down. For every Cardinal Burke there are- 10 septuagenarian nuns who think His Holiness is really cool AND 100 prochoice politicians like the vice president AND 1million Catholic young people who don't see anything wrong with sodomy, breeding humans in petri dishes, etc.
2. I think his Holiness' pontificate has relied heavily on PR stunts..his much touted foot washing, his moving to Santa Marta hotel, his impromptu phone calls, his interviews geared to tickle the ears of secularists, to name just a few. Why hasn't he commented on the USSupreme Court' s redefinition of Matrimony? If you say that he doesn't want to offend the masses of pro-sodomy people within and without then you are just making my point :-(
Yeah let's demonize the gays (those filthy sinners) and the secularists who probably don't know any better. Terry, I'm with you: I blame the homeless. Who wants all that filth around when you're trying to listen the Holy Father between Limoncello and biscotti runs?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI think he was replying to "Kneeling Catholic,"...who is blaming the "Sodomites," (wherever that came from) who he mentioned twice in his ramble.
DeletePoor old Fr Z. Didn't his "stats," as in web traffic fall once Francis was elected? (I could be wrong, I thought I read that somewhere.) If true, less traffic means less things bought at his store..less donations for his trips and his dinners with opera singers, and less money in the pocket, and for a man who doesn't have a job but seems to live very high on the hog, that has to hurt.
Thanks Mack - my mistake. I changed the label anyway just in case.
DeleteI'm not sure if Z's stats took a hit - he doesn't seem to be traveling as much - or at least not posting on it as often. I wish he was still at the farm - he entertained more back then.
Wait..Fr. Z used to live on a farm????? LOL...that sounds like a sitcom..."How does a priest used to the good life feel about pastoring in Hooterville...watch as the Fleckle Specked Nutties, and laughs.... grow ....on Fr.Z's Acres!"
DeleteYes. It was beautiful too. He had a private chapel and everything. He stayed there - lived there. had a great internet set up and everything. It was near Green Bay. Idyllic actually. His posts were definitely entertaining - he did some great cooking posts and casual shots of the place. He called it the Sabine Farm.
DeleteWhat ?! He isn't there anymore ? when did that happen ? who is feeding those little birds, who were dependent upon the feeders ? That was actually what drew me initially: the photos and information about the birds.....I thought the appeals for money for bird-food was lovely....*sigh*.
DeleteThe good-old-days.
so, where does Fr. Z now live ? I can imagine him somewhere in Madison, enjoying the odd nightlife there. I used to live there.....the winter, however, was ... most discouraging.
That's right - the feeder feed was fun too.
DeleteHaha! Sadly, I think his accommodations are a bit more confined now. I also doubt he does the nightlife.
You lived there? It doesn't get as cold there as it does in Minneapolis.
I have heard hair-raising tales of the cold there from my relatives in Montevideo and The Cities. The last time I was in Minneapolis....was October, perhaps 4 years ago: I got out Just Before the first Real Snow. a close call. When my mom was young, surviving the cold there was a real challenge. much suffering. but: Ah, the happy introductions to Lutefisk and sapsago !
DeleteThe time I lived in Madison I had not yet returned to the Catholic Church: unknowing, I walked by the campus church on State Street nearly every day: right next to the bookstore. some years later, having reverted, I would make it to the mid-day Mass there: barely found it originally, as it was So Entirely Inconspicuous: and the interior....rather Kafkaesque - it was on Father Z's spot I first heard that there are plans to replace it Entirely.
It is so wonderful to hear about large population of young University students who are so Catholic ! finally a turn around from my '60s generation....we sure missed a lot, didn't we....
Since free floating priests are an abomination, he had to be attached to something. I think he resides in the chancery dungeon and has work release.
ReplyDeleteWhat?