The Pinoy Catholic: Anti-Popes and Dangers of a Parallel Magisterium

Very interesting article from Monsignor Giampaolo Crepaldi

This article appeared in Zenit.org

***

ROME, MARCH 22, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The attempt of the press to implicate Benedict XVI in the question of pedophilia is only the most recent sign of the aversion that many have for the Pope. [The Western media will stop at nothing to put down the Church! And I won't be surprised if you find one fingerprint of a Mason somewhere in the fray.]

It is necessary to ask oneself how this Pontiff, despite his evangelical meekness and honesty, the clarity of his words joined to the depth of his thought and of his teachings, arouses in some places sentiments of disgust and forms of anti-clericalism that it was believed had been surmounted. [I had a parallel experience. How come some people are so repulsive when they see you wearing an article of Faith like a Miraculous Medal, a Brown Scapular, St. Benedict Medal and a Crucifix? What is it in these items that ticks them off? Only the devil hates these items. I am not implying anything. Just asking. Same line of argument with the above, eh?] And this, it must be said, causes even greater astonishment and also distress when those who do not follow the Pope and criticize his alleged errors are men of the Church, whether theologians, priests or laymen. [Here goes the list! Hold on!]

The unheard of and clearly forced accusations of theologian Hans Kung [classic whack job!] against the person of Joseph Ratzinger, theologian, bishop, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and now Pontiff for having caused, according to him, the pedophilia of some ecclesiastics through his theology and magisterium on celibacy profoundly distress us. [This is the kind of theologians some priests I know sooo idolize! It's like if you are sick and you consult a veterinarian! That is his lot! Everybody is always wrong except himself. Why not just excommunicate this unrepentant loon! He refuses to be Catholic! He only owes his obedience towards his corrupted conscience!] It never happened before that the Church was attacked in this way. [Not since Martin Luther which is praised by Filipino liturgists Anscar Chupungco by the way!]

To the persecutions against many Christians, crucified in the literal sense in many parts of the world, [mostly Catholics!] to the many attempts to uproot Christianity in previously Christian societies with a devastating violence on the legislative and educational plane, and to customs that cannot be explained by good common sense, has been added for some time a fury against this Pope, whose providential greatness is before everyone's eyes.

These attacks are echoed sadly by those who do not listen to the Pope, also among ecclesiastics, professors of theology in seminaries, priests and laymen. [And most call themselves Catholics! Look at what is happening in the USA. Look at what is happening in a theology school in Quezon City! Breeding grounds of dissent!] Those who do not accuse the Pontiff openly, but are deaf to his teachings, who do not read the documents of his magisterium, who write and say exactly the contrary of what he says, give life to pastoral and cultural initiatives, for example in the area of bioethics or in that of the ecumenical dialogue, in open diverge with all that he teaches. The phenomenon is very grave as it is very widespread. [It is! You always here: "But that is so old!" "That is not the trend today!" "That is not what Vatican 2 did!" Oh, it's everywhere and priests, nuns, brothers and even bishops themselves are tearing down the Church from the inside!]

Benedict XVI has given teachings on the Second Vatican Council that many Catholics reject openly, promoting forms of counter-formation and of systematic parallel teaching, led by many "anti-popes"; [I like the term. You do not have to be a delusional Catholic claiming "to restore the Church" so to call a conclave of 12 people, some involving his own parents as cardinal-electors to be proclaimed a pope! Ever heard of Pope Michael or Pope Pius XIII? A Wikipedia search would give you something that Dan Brown would love to write and Tom Hanks would love to star in his new movie! These dissenters are the new anti-popes! These people tell you, "Don't listen to the pope. Listen to me!"] he has given teachings on "non-negotiable values" which very many Catholics minimize or reinterpret, and this also happens on the part of theologians and famous commentators guests of the Catholic press in addition to secular press; he has given teachings on the primacy of the apostolic faith in the wise reading of events and very many continue talking of the primacy of the situation, or of the practice, or of the data of human sciences; he has given teachings on conscience and on the dictatorship of relativism but very many put democracy or the Constitution before the Gospel. For many, "Dominus Iesus," the Note of 2002 on Catholics in politics, the 2006 Regensburg address, "Caritas in Veritate," is as if they had never been written.

The situation is serious, because the gap between the faithful who listen to the Pope and those who do not is spreading everywhere, even in diocesan seminaries and Institutes of Religious Sciences, and animates two pastoral programs that are very different in themselves, so that they almost no longer understand one another, as if they were the expression of two different Churches, causing insecurity and error in many faithful. [It is true. The battle lines are drawn! It is not about traditional and liberal. Not about pro-life and pro-choice! It is about BEING FAITHFUL and being DIY!]

In these very difficult times, our Observatory feels the duty to express our filial closeness to Benedict XVI. We pray for him and remain faithful in following him.

[Translation by ZENIT]

* * *
Here are my Horror Rolls of New Popes!