Easter greetings! Many of you endured a difficult Lent. Perhaps now we know why.
As you know, the reign of Pope Francis ended earlier this morning. We have all been praying for him. Jesus Christ, through-with-and-in his priests, prayed for him during every Eucharistic Prayer at every Holy Mass. At the end of this message, I invite you to join me in praying for the repose of his soul.
A Troubling Papacy
It is not even controversial to characterize Francis' papacy as the most troubling in several centuries—and in some respects, the entire history of the Catholic Church.
Unsurprisingly, the mainstream news stories I reviewed summarized his legacy using worldly frameworks (his championing of unfettered "immigration," and so on), as if he were merely a political figure.
Like all modern popes, he was well-regarded—even beloved—by a large portion of the faithful, especially those who do not think much about the inner workings of the Vatican or its good or ill effects on the worldwide Church. I'm guessing most of you respect the office without regard for the fallible men who sit in that august chair.
From early in his reign, in terms of the duty to defend and promote the Sacred Deposit of the Faith, there has never been a pontiff over the span of two thousand years who was so publicly, consistently, and frequently questioned or accused of undermining, if not contradicting, the infallible teachings of Christ through his seemingly off-the-cuff statements, "optics," media interviews, governing practices, purges, spearheading of the worldwide Mass shutdowns, liturgical controversies, a corrupt secret treaty with China (negotiated by the internally-known pedophile Cardinal McCarrick), toleration of sexual scandal, odious appointments to high office and pontifical institutes, cashiering of faithful prelates, indirect signaling of possible compromise on abortion, a series of suspect synodal "innovations," looking the other way on Germany's "blessing" of sexually disordered "unions"—or other troubling developments in the delegated or direct exercise of his ruling authority.
The Francis controversy list goes on and was overwhelming. I personally considered him an underrated master of media as well as an agent of relentless change, unceasingly active despite his ill health and advanced age at the start of his papacy.
On the good side of the ledger, I was inspired initially by his rhetoric to reach out to lost souls "on the fringes" and for his concern for the poor. He declared the Year of Saint Joseph in 2021. In his zeal to prevent or stop the war in Ukraine, I believe he fulfilled Our Lady of Fatima's request for the total consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart of Mary in union with all the bishops throughout the world. He spoke consistently about the evil of abortion. He spoke publicly about the existence of the Devil. I could never figure out whether or not he was sincere, but I am grateful for these things.
As a general rule, beginning with the famous
Dubia, orthodox voices and efforts, however respectfully couched or delivered, were assiduously ignored by the regime, and these efforts were often soon forgotten (by even the laity who cared), given our recent era of rapid media cycles and disturbing national and geopolitical turmoil. Francis' most well-known critic,
Archbishop Viganó, was forced into hiding and eventually excommunicated.
In public and in private (primarily in the United States), beginning early into his reign, faithful Catholics (many of them intellectuals with spotless reputations if not international renown in their fields, along with certain well-known faithful cardinals and bishops), wrestled with the profoundly disturbing question of whether Bergoglio was a heretic, and to what degree—and if this was in fact the case—whether such a man could licitly retain occupancy of the Chair of Peter, at least in God's eyes.
This debate among the faithful was itself unprecedented.
I trust that you read me because I am frank and direct, whether you agree or not. I do not recall sharing my private conclusions about these matters. I still have not shared them. The above is merely a summary of what happened that you will not typically find in the mainstream media.
From my vantage point, as Saint Francis de Sales taught, we should "bloom where we are planted." We have a whole nation to convert, and time is running out, and I wake up every morning more painfully concerned about whether my loved ones, friends, and my neighbors go to heaven or hell—a concern I carry like a spiritual cross that extends individually to each living soul from the Pacific to the Atlantic oceans.
The great lengths which Francis' went to suppress of the traditional Latin Mass, including public demonizations of those who love it, in direct contravention of holy Pope Benedict XVI, hurt real people and families I know. I grieve this, even though I mostly attend the Novus Ordo. In the long run, the Mass of the Ages will prevail.
I am hoping and ardently praying, as are most of you, that the Holy Spirit guides the College of Cardinals to deliver to the Kingdom of God on earth a worthy successor to first bishop of Rome more in accord with the many holy men, able administrators, effective diplomats, theological geniuses, just rulers, and excellent evangelists who marked the last several of centuries after the reform of the medieval "pornocracies."
So buckle up, my friends, the Barc of Peter is buffeted in treacherously stormy waters because we live in the age of the great apostasy foretold by so many saints and approved and reliable heavenly apparitions.
Devious, perverse, and powerful human enemies and demonic entities, within and without her marbled halls, plague the visible Church on earth. This has not changed with the passing of Francis. The next pope, morally good or bad or mediocre, holy or lukewarm, effective or ineffective as a ruler, has a daunting challenge of reform ahead of him.
I just ache for reform in congruity with the Divine Will.
Remember, as Father Ripperger teaches, that the primarily problem for individual Christians (you and me) remains the lack of our love of God. You
can be a saint, starting tomorrow, even if the next pope isn't one.
