Asking prayers for my friend Larry

My friend Larry Damico seems to be 'transitioning' in his last days. His daughter posted a note saying as much on his Caring Bridge site. Please pray for him - and his family of course. This is the summit of one's earthly life, so to speak. It's an awesome moment. It is an honor and a great act of charity to assist, to tend to the dying. I can only do so in prayer, and feeling inadequate at that, I ask my online friends who don't really know Larry to join me in prayer for him now, in these last days. Thank you.

Pope Francis visits St. Pio ...

A highlight of the visit of Pope Francis to Pietrelcina and San Giovanni Rotondo in southern Italy, 17 March, was when he entered the children's cancer ward of the “Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza” hospital that popular Italian saint Padre Pio founded. - VR

Padre Pio “loved the Church, with all its problems, its sins. We are all sinners, we are ashamed, but God’s Spirit gave us this Church, which is Holy. And Saint Pio loved this Church,” Francis said, adding in an off-the-cuff remark that the saint “never denied his country, remember, he never denied his origins, he never denied his family.” - Crux

What the missing paragraph of Benedict's letter really revealed.

What the Pope really said in The Letter.

As everyone knows now, the part about Benedict not having the time to read Pope Francis' books was withheld and the publicity photo was shopped, blurring out the rest of what the Pope Emeritus had to say...

The full text of Benedict XVI’s letter praising Pope Francis has been revealed, in which the Pope Emeritus says he has not read a series of books on Pope Francis’s theology. - CH

You can read the entire story at CH.

I think we know what this means however.  It's quite obvious.  This cry for help from the imprisoned Pope Emeritus will (hopefully) open the investigation into Fatima and the missing part of the Third Secret which tells us what has been going on:

In the Third Secret it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top. - Cardinal Ciappi

There is a huge conspiracy to discredit Fatima and the papacy... and Benedict was obviously trying to tell us something in his coded letter.

What?

[I'm just being facetious of course, but I noticed today that many seers and mystics are still at it with scheduled events popping up this year.  For example, Our Lady is scheduled to appear in Germany tomorrow, looks like the Garabandal miracle is schedule for May 10th this year, I can't recall when the Warning occurs though - it may have been photo-shopped out.  Anyway, this is my satirical  commentary on 'The Letter'.]


Song for this post here.

What?

Readers ask: "Who is Hillary White?"

She looks nice.

I answer, "She's friends with Steve Skojec."*

Actually she has a wide circle of friends, a sort of who's who in the Traditionalist-Restorationist faction of Catholics-not-yet-in-schism.  She used to write for LifeSiteNews and now contributes to The Remnant.  I wrote about her Remnant article yesterday.  She was writing about the continuity of the Ratzinger and Bergoglio papacy.  Most Catholics refer to the pontiffs as Pope Benedict and Pope Francis respectively, as well as respectfully.  Ms. White and others in her network seem to have dispensed with such expressions of honor and respect.

That said, for the curious who would like to know who she is, the following is her 'About me' bio:

Hilary White is an Anglo-Canadian, who started researching, writing and lobbying in the political end of the pro-life movement in 1999, moved to Rome in 2008 and covered Vatican and European news related to "life and family issues" from a Catholic perspective until May 2015. She lived for two blessed years with her three cats and garden in the Peaceable Kingdom of Norcia, in Umbria, until the terrible day when the world fell down. Now transferred to a farm house near Perugia, with a bit of land and a large tomato patch, she continues to chant Vespers in Latin every day, and refuses to go to Rome for any reason whatsoever. She hopes the world does not end before she can get the last of the tomatoes in. -  Hillary White

*She also has connections in the Vatican...

Hi Poodle!

The Anniversary

Viva il Papa!

A black comedy.

Many years ago a black comedy titled The Anniversary starring Bette Davis was in theaters.  It's about an emasculating woman whose husband, a successful building contractor, has been dead for ten years. Joining her for the traditional annual celebration of her wedding anniversary are her three sons.  I loved the film because it reminded me of my own dysfunctional family.

I was reminded of the film today, the anniversary of Pope Francis' election, after reading some of the crackpots online and their analysis of his papacy and surprisingly, editorials on Pope Benedict and a recent statement from the retired Pontiff in support of Pope Francis.

Commedia diabolica - indeed.

Within hours of it's release, conspiracy theories that Benedict wasn't the author circulated, and today, dear Fr. Z hints that it just doesn't fit his style.

What I find so odd is that phrase, that it’s a, “stupid (stolto… foolish, moronic, idiotic) prejudice by which Pope Francis would be only a practical man, without specific theological or philosophical formation, whereas I would merely a theoretician of theology who would little understand the concrete life of a Christian today.” First, the style of the language is … how to put this… looser than what one might expect from Ratzinger. Second, it is self-referential… which anyone who has read Ratzinger over the years will recognize as something which he would vigorously avoid. As a matter of fact, there is a full doctoral thesis available in the topic of “self-referentiality in the writings of Joseph Ratzinger”. He abhors it. He doesn’t abhor his own experience as a starting point. In the past, I would have opined that he would avoid such a self-defensive reference. - Fr. Z

So what does that say to crackpots who follow Fr. Z?  Doesn't that fuel the conspiracy accounts?  Yes, yes it does.  And doesn't it suggest the Pope(s) are lying to people?  Doesn't it lead to doubt?  Doesn't it bring into question the 'orthodoxy' of Benedict's pontificate?  Obviously it does for some 'Vaticanists'.  This is where the rejection of Pope Francis takes you.  You cannot go after Pope Francis without defaming Pope Benedict.

As Benedict stated, “there is an internal continuity between the two pontificates.”

All the 'traditionalist/restorationists' are busy editorializing that 'claim' of continuity.  One Vatican  'authority' - Hillary White says she takes Benedict at his word.  Sounds like a good thing - but she takes her readers down a very bizarre rabbit hole with a narrative which maligns the orthodoxy and credibility of the Ratzinger papacy.  One commenter on White's column for The Remnant wrote: "Thank you Hilary White and the Remnant for clarifying the position of Benedict XVI."  Wow.  What kind of parallel magisterium are these people creating?

These people cannot be called 'restorationists', they are protestants promoting a complete rejection of Vatican II and the post-conciliar Popes.  

Steve Skojec told me that our willingness to go along with the whole “emeritus pope” charade was an error: “I think the problem is that we all went along with their game of make believe, and we shouldn’t have.” In fact, I am starting to think that the willingness of most Catholics to go along with the entire charade of post-conciliar Catholicism has been a grave error. By playing along, by pretending that we could be “conservative Catholics” in this New Paradigm that also includes “liberal Catholics” we have helped them perpetrate one the most monstrous frauds in human history.

[...] 

One of the things I’ve been saying is a blessing in disguise, and an enormous relief, about the Bergoglian era is that we can finally leave behind us the absurd situation of the Wojtyla/Ratzinger era. We were expected for all those years to pretend we were in the “New Springtime of Vatican II,” while we watched these wolves in shepherds’ clothing eating the sheep.

Now we can, at least, finally stop pretending that everything is just dandy under the New Paradigm of Merciful Conciliar Wonderfulness. For those still wondering, Bergoglio isn’t a shock, he isn’t even a surprise; he’s just the logical end result. This pontificate isn’t an anomaly; it was the only possible outcome, and it was as much the work of Joseph Ratzinger as Walter Kasper. - Remnant

Bette Davis - The Anniversary

Hubert de Givenchy

20 February 1927 – 10 March 2018

A note on those Catholic watchdogs who serve the enemies of the Church.

Italian gigolo, Mangiacapra.

A week ago ...

Church Militant scored a headline on Drudge.

Male escort outs 40 gay priests in Italy...

Remember the story?

Re-former-gays can really hit hard, revealing the dark under belly of the beast of gay corruption, yet sometimes, they maybe protest too much.  They see them (gays) everywhere and believe every single rumor and accusation which comes along.  Because they've 'been there, done that' sort of credential.  Especially as it concerns the gay mafia-gay lobby in the Vatican.  In Italy these scandals are more about corruption and money than sin, yet the gigolo who wrote the book exposing the 'gay priests' claims he is speaking out of concern for the Church, "we are talking about sins, not about crimes.”

“I drafted this list of rotten apples not with the aim of digging up dirt on the Church, but rather with the aim of contributing to eradicate the rotten that would contaminate what is still good." - Mangiacapra

So what's the big deal?

Let's say Mangiacapra is sincere.  Even though he is selling his books and making the interview-radio-talk-show circuit, and we can't blame whistle blowers - but there is something about the guy which suggests he may be just as corrupt.  The Catholic Church in Italy is still a very powerful and influential entity.  And this is a classic scandal to discredit the Church, the bishops and the priests.   Then, when even faithful Catholics start bashing the Church over this, the enemies of the Church have gained another victory.

That said, Andrea Gagliarducci, writing for Catholic News Agency examines What's behind the sex scandal in the Italian Church.  It's a dispassionate look, untainted by what amounts to homophobic panic generated by the websites of watchdog re-formed-gay-Catholics.

Rome, Italy, Mar 10, 2018 / 05:04 pm (CNA).- The recent outing of gay priests by a male prostitute has shocked the Italian Church and prompted several dioceses to address the issue of homosexual activity among their clergy. 

Francesco Mangiacapra, a former lawyer who works as a prostitute, announced recently that in late February he forwarded to the Regional Ecclesiastical Tribunal of Campania a detailed record of his meetings and conversations with 34 priests and 6 seminarians. 

Was the Mangiacapra behaviour proper to tackle the issue? And what will happen in case these priests, whose names are now on newspapers, are found not guilty? 

These questions are floating in Rome, and it is not the first time. Similar scandals have previously used to attack the Church, though investigations have not let to much.
In 2010, an undercover investigation by an Italian magazine generated the same scandal. The article denounced the habits of some homosexual Roman priests filmed while having intercourse. 

The Vicariate of Rome, led at the time by Cardinal Agostino Vallini, delivered a strongly worded release condemning the behaviors of the involved priests and pledging to clean up the Church. 

However, the cardinal also noted that “the intent of the article is evident: generate a scandal, defame all priests on the basis of declarations from one of the people interviewed claiming that ’98 percent of priests’ he knows are homosexual.” - Finish reading at CNA

Avoid gossip.

I too used to jump on these stories, thinking, 'See!  It's a homo subculture infiltrating the Church.  Homos can't be priests, and so on.'  My stories would get attention, even get picked up by other bloggers, and help to reinforce the fears of a homosexual conspiracy in the Church.  I was often wrong in those posts.  I was also misled by many of the same voices influencing the panic today - which even attempts to discredit the Ordinary Form of Mass, Vatican II, and of course, the Holy Father.

Today, with Fr. Martin's, SJ help, we see clearly there is no hidden agenda or well organized conspiracy, neither is there any need for a covert 'gay lobby'.  It's all out in the open now.  Condemn him all you want, but Fr. Martin is pretty transparent about his work.  One has to give him credit for being honest.  Fr. Martin teams up with New Ways Ministry types and speaks publicly on what used to be called the gay 'agenda'.  Though he meets with hostile resistance, an underground network of homosexuals is less likely to exist in the Church, here or abroad, because of his work.  Therefore, corruption is even more unlikely to gain a foothold.

As Gagliarducci implies, though not all priests are homosexual and those who may be do not all engage in sexual acts:

"In the end, it is obvious that the Church is aware of homosexual behavior among its priests, and should be. But, in the Italian Church, it seems clear that other motives can be in play in the drama of public exposés."

I think the drama of public exposés plays out in other countries as well as our own - especially online and on Catholic television, in tell-all books, and magazine articles.  Making money on gossip and detraction and corruption - just seems to me like more corruption.

The fear mongers do not help anyone.

Busy on a project.

I can't even think of something funny to post.