Again.
Yesterday the Holy Father apologized for the theft and disposal in the Tiber of three Pachamama images, which had been on display in a Church not far from St. Peter's Square.
According to a video of his remarks that made the rounds on social media, Francis said the statues had been displayed “without idolatry” in the Church of Santa Maria in Traspontina, located about halfway down the broad Via della Conciliazione that leads away from St. Peter’s Square.
Francis also added that Roman law enforcement officials have recovered the discarded statues and are holding them for the moment at a police station.
Friday’s apology caps what has been a month-long drama surrounding the statues, which first made an appearance during an Oct. 4 indigenous prayer service staged in the Vatican gardens in the presence of the pope. - CruxPeople are attacking and mocking the Pope for this. Many photo shopped memes have surfaced online, insulting the Holy Father and indigenous people.
The mocking by the "faithful" speaks more about them than it does about our Papa.
ReplyDeleteTruly, if one's heart is true and full of love for Christ and his Church should it not also be for his Vicar, the successor of Saint Peter, the first pope?
I remember what our Lord Jesus said:
"It is not what goes into a man's mouth but what comes out of it that defiles him."
What does one say of those who mock others especially the Vicar of Christ?
I know what it feels like to mock ... love and charity and respect reign not in one's heart when mocking others.
Yaya - worried for California - are you near the fires? Affected by black outs? I hope you are safe.
DeleteHi Terry,
DeleteSad to see California on fire again. Sonoma County and the Canyon Country area about an hour drive from where I live. We are safe gracias a Dios. The black outs affect the mountain cites of the San Gabriel area but not us. I read 50,000 have been evacuated so far.
Praying all are safe and accounted for.
May the fire fighters be protected as all of us pray for rain and cooler breezes.
It has been hot in So Cal of late ... in the nineties.
Fire update:
DeleteI read 90,000 are evacuated in the Kincade fire I believe in the Sonoma county area.
Then I read human remains found in the Tick fire here in So Cal.
Let's keep praying.
Yes, the mockery of the Successor of Peter is terrible.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think of the people who are not mocking the Holy Father or indigenous people (and indeed are horrified by such mockery), but who are genuinely concerned and confused by what is going on? No one seems to be able to give a clear explanation of what the statues are, yet we see images of people prostrating themselves before them (something Paolo Ruffini denied even though anyone can see the video and photographs!). When they ask, they are accused of being racist. I don't get it. I truly cannot understand why such people get no sympathy, much less "dialogue," from anyone in the Vatican or from Pope Francis's online "defenders." Polarization and demonization on all sides. Imputation of motives, on all sides.
Praying for the Holy Father, a lot, every day.
John
Hi John - I have friends who feel as you do and are concerned, so I really do care and I can empathize. I always try to renew my confidence and trust in the Lord. OL Undoer of Knots will take care of this and perhaps move the Holy Father to address these matters to everyone's satisfaction. That's all I can say, at least.
DeleteThe website - Where Peter Is - has done a fine job, imo, of trying to clear up and clarify what has been going on in Rome (without bias against our Holy Father or hyperbole).
DeleteThey are charitable, respectful and infinitely patient with some of the folks that comment on there who disagree with them.
I give them credit for what they are doing in helping me understand it all.
Thanks, both of you.
DeleteI'm glad you find Where Peter Is helpful, Yaya. I agree that they keep a charitable tone most of the time -- not easy to do online! Some of their articles are better than others. I cannot say I have found them persuasive all the time. I also get concerned when I see certain of their contributors, and others like them, making common cause with folks who are big "defenders" of Francis but who explicitly interpret him as bringing about rupture with Tradition -- like, hey, as long as we're both on "Team Francis," I'm not too worried whether you think the Church needs a radical revision of its moral teaching or not!
It is one thing to make the case that the Holy Father intends no such rupture. (For myself, I don't think he does, but I also think he consistently empowers men who do and marginalizes those who don't.) It is another to communicate that one values loyalty to the papacy more than loyalty to the deposit of faith the papacy was instituted to safeguard. (Let me be clear: I categorically reject the idea that I must make a choice between the pope and the faith.)
Terry, promoting devotion to Our Lady Undoer of Knots is one of the top ten things for which I'm most grateful to Pope Francis (yes, there are *at least* nine others!). A few years ago a novena to her basically saved my marriage -- still a work-in-progress, of course!
Anyway, I just see a lot of bruised reeds and smoldering wicks in the Church, and I see them too often being snapped, quenched -- by both "sides."
The emergence the other day of the explicit prayer to Pachamama promoted by the Italian Bishops Conference (https://cloud.3dissue.com/77366/77720/110027/Sussidi-Amazzonia/index.html?r=22# -- click over to p. 17) is not helping anything. This is distressing, period. But I was very grateful that the statues were not at the closing Mass, while an unambiguous(!) statue of Our Lady and the Holy Child was venerated by the Holy Father. That's something I was able to share with some of the bruised reeds / smoldering wicks at my parish that consoled them, I think, at least for now.
Blessings in Christ,
John
The world is so divided today I doubt we will ever see unified support for anyone again. This includes the Papacy.
ReplyDelete“What a state of affairs it is that not even bishops realize when the border to the old paganism has been crossed".
ReplyDelete-- Cardinal Mueller