August 26, 2018
Canon212.com headlines
Above, the attendance at the pope's closing Mass for the Dublin WMF- an estimated 130,000 showed up of 500,000 tickets distributed. Below, the 'crowd' of 2000 that showed up for Archbishop Vincent Nichols's keynote address to open the Dublin WMF - just a few more than the 1,500 that showed up for Fr Martin's much-publicized lecture which turned out to be a rant against 'homophobic' priests.
And you have to see this video entitled 'Pope Francis rides through the streets of Dublin waving to no one"? [Actually there was one woman in the video clip.] An eloquent testimonial of how suddenly, miserably abject this 'most popular person ever to walk the earth' has become!
www.gloria.tv/f9f36659-c0dd-4175-8822-eecd1ab94158
Let the Bergoglians explain away this pathetic non-response to 'the most popular pope there has ever been". They'll say this is post-abortion law Ireland, etc, and they were realistic enough not to expect the 2.7 million who turned out for John Paul II because they only gave out 500,000 tickets for the closing Mass, but still...
Meanwhile, here's papal obfuscation and wrong-headed obstinacy at its most outrageous really the equivalent of saying "I refuse to say anything on the grounds that it may incriminate me"....
VIDEO: Pope tells media
he’s ‘not going to say a word’
about McCarrick cover-up
August 26, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis sidestepped questions today about explosive allegations that he knew of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s abuse, and nevertheless lifted sanctions that Pope Benedict XVI had imposed against the cardinal.
[Bergoglio has never been 'transparent' about his most sinister words and actions. How difficult is it for him to have simply said, "NO, Mons. Vigano did not talk to me at all about McCarrick", which would have done away with the most directly damning statement in the Vigano testimony, but could he have said that without lying? (Though what's one more lie for Bergoglio at this point?) With that out of the way, he could have gone on to the self-righteous lecture/non-answer he did give - the equivalent of an accused person citing the Fifth Amendment - of which Fr Z has a most interesting and thoroughly plausible interpretation (below).]
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who served as apostolic nuncio in Washington D.C. from 2011-2016, wrote in a letter published last night that, after Pope Francis’ election, he had communicated the problems about McCarrick to the Pope, but rather than continue the sanctions, Pope Francis made McCarrick “his trusted counsellor.”
The Pope was questioned about the allegation aboard the papal plane this evening on the way back to Rome after his visit to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families.
“Read the statement carefully yourselves and make your own judgment. I am not going to say a word about this,” Pope Francis said.
“I believe that the statement speaks for itself, and you all have sufficient journalistic ability to draw conclusions. It is an act of trust. When a little time goes by, and you have drawn conclusions, perhaps I will speak about it, but I would like your professional maturity to do this work. It will do you all good, really.”
[Fr Z's comment: In my cynicism – please forgive me for being a little cynical right now? – what the Pope said is along the lines of:
“You, the press, have been on my side till now. If you think about it for a while, you should still be on my side. If you weigh the alternatives you will remember that I am your guy.”
This is not a happy man. But that’s not much of a conclusion. Listen to, however, what he is trying to say.
Here is what I think he said, without saying it.
The Pope is calling on the press to do the necessary work to make this go away.
I dunno. Have I read that wrong? Sincerely… do you get something else from that?
In comments to LifeSite today, Cardinal Raymond Burke insisted Vigano’s charges must be taken seriously and also called for a thorough investigation of every allegation.
“The corruption and filth which have entered into the life of the Church must be purified at their roots,” Burke said.
“The declarations made by a prelate of the authority of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò must be totally taken to heart by those responsible in the Church. Each declaration must be subject to investigation, according to the Church’s time-tried procedural law.”
Cardinal Burke called on “all good Catholics” to “insist upon knowing the truth” and added that they “must pray and sacrifice for the Church at this tumultous time.”
A purification, he said, “can only take place with the full and uncompromised respect for the truth.”
We present below a LifeSite translation of the relevant section from today’s press conference on the papal plane.
Pope’s response to testimony by
former U.S. Nuncio Archbishop Viganò
CBS: Good evening, Holy Father. I’ll return to the subject of [sexual abuse]. Very early this morning a document by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò was published. In it, he says that, in 2013, he had a personal conversation with you at the Vatican, and that during that conversation he spoke with you explicitly about the behaviour of, and sexual abuse by, the former Cardinal McCarrick, and I wanted to ask you if this was true.
I would also like to ask something else. The Archbishop also said that Pope Benedict had sanctioned McCarrick, that he told him he couldn’t live in a seminary, he couldn’t celebrate the Mass publicly, that he couldn’t travel, he was sanctioned by the Church. May I ask you whether these two things are true?
Pope Francis: I will respond to your question. But I would prefer that we first speak about the trip, and then other topics. I got distracted with Stefania and now … but I will respond.
This morning I read that statement. I read it, and I will say sincerely that I must tell you all this — you [CBS] and all of you who are interested: Read the statement carefully yourselves and make your own judgment. I am not going to say a word about this. I believe that the statement speaks for itself, and you all have sufficient journalistic ability to draw conclusions. It is an act of trust. When a little time goes by, and you have drawn conclusions, perhaps I will speak about it, but I would like your professional maturity to do this work. It will do you all good, really.
[CBS makes an inaudible comment as the mic wasn’t on …
CBS requests to ask another question.]
Marie Collins said, after she met you during the encounter with the victims, that she spoke with you directly about the former Cardinal McCarrick. She said that you were very tough in your condemnation of McCarrick. I wanted to ask you when was the first time you heard about the abuses that the former Cardinal had committed?
This is part of the statement on McCarrick. Study and then I will say something.
Changing the subject, the Pope turned to his meeting with Marie Collins and the abuse victims on Saturday, and his act of forgiveness at today’s Mass. He said:
But yesterday, I hadn’t read it and I allowed myself to speak clearly with Marie Collins and the group, which was bitter, something I suffered greatly from. But I believe we had to listen to these eight people, and from this meeting the proposal came out. I made it, but they accepted it, they helped me to formulate it, to ask for forgiveness today in the Mass but about concrete things. For example, the last one that I had never heard about, those mothers ... it was called “the cleansing of women,” when a woman became pregnant, I don’t know, and she wasn’t married, and she went to the hospital, […] the sisters ran it, and then they gave the children up for adoption to people. There were two children, at that time, and they were trying to find their mothers, to see if they were alive, they didn’t know. They told them that it was a mortal sin to do this, and they told the mothers who called for their children, that it was a mortal sin. That is why I ended up saying today, that this is not a mortal sin but the fourth commandment. And the things I said today, some of which I did not know about. It was painful for me, but I also had the consolation of being able to help clarify these things.
And I await your comment on the document. I would like it. Thank you.
Translated by Diane Montagna of LifeSiteNews
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 28/08/2018 07:03]