Pope Francis Settles for Three-Quarters of a Loaf, But Continues His Drive for the Whole Thing

Fatima Perspectives #1348

So, to no one’s great surprise, the “voice of the Spirit” (meaning the pre-written, predetermined final document of the Shamazon Synod) has announced that there will be married priests in the Amazon (meaning everywhere, sooner or later, if Francis has his way.) To quote the pertinent language from paragraph 111 of the document: 

  • “We appreciate celibacy as a gift of God (Sacerdotalis Caelibatus, 1)…”

The Modernist always “appreciates the gift” he is in the process of tossing aside.

  • “…to the extent that this gift enables the missionary disciple, ordained to the priesthood, to dedicate himself fully to the service of the Holy People of God….”

Ah, so the synod “appreciates the gift of celibacy” but only to the extent it enables full dedication to the priestly ministry. Nothing here about how this “gift” is not merely one of facilitating dedication but is also the configuration of the priest to the celibate Person of Christ. Indeed, celibacy in the latter sense is no mere “gift” but an obligation undertaken in imitation of Christ.

And now the drearily predictable conclusion:

“Considering that legitimate diversity does not harm the communion and unity of the Church, but expresses and serves it (LG 13; SO 6) which testifies to the plurality of existing rites and disciplines, we proposed to establish criteria and dispositions on the part of the competent authority, within the framework of Lumen Gentium 26, to ordain priests suitable and esteemed men of the community, who have had a fruitful permanent diaconate and receive [an] adequate formation for the priesthood, having a legitimately constituted and stable family to sustain the life of the Christian community through the preaching of the Word and the celebration of the Sacraments in the most remote areas of the Amazon region. In this regard, some were in favor of a more universal approach to the subject.”  

So, men with families are to be ordained in “the most remote regions of the Amazon,” which can only mean “indigenous” tribesmen with no seminary training who are first made deacons and then given some sort of unspecified “adequate” formation for the priesthood. Notice how having a “stable family” now seems to have become a qualification instead of an impediment to priestly ordination. And “some” favor making this abandonment of priestly celibacy “more universal.” “Some,” my foot. That’s the plan, and this is but Step One, as Francis will no doubt soon reveal.

What, then, of the threatened female “deacons”? Here Francis got only half of what he wanted. As the document states:

“We ask that you review the Motu Propio of St. Paul VI, Ministeria quaedam, so that appropriately trained and prepared women may also receive the ministries of Lector and Acolyte, among others to be developed.”

So, no female deacons… just yet. But right away there must be female Lectors, Acolytes and “other” female ministries to be “developed” — meaning invented.

The citation to Paul VI’s Ministeria quaedam is, like so many in the documents of this pontificate, misleading. Therein Paul VI — as one of his many reckless innovations — purported to abolish the minor orders of Porter, Reader, Exorcist and Acolyte but recasting them as “ministries.” All four minor orders were traditionally “considered as a training in preparation for the reception of sacred orders” — to quote Paul VI himself.

Nowhere in that document, however, did Paul VI indicate that these “ministries” were to be bestowed on any but men, with all references to the “ministers” being in the masculine. Quite the contrary, he stressed specifically that “In accordance with the ancient tradition of the Church, institution to the ministries of reader and acolyte is reserved to men.” That is, Francis and his stacked synod now flatly contradict Paul VI in Ministeria quaedam.

(Note that all four minor orders are still being conferred in traditional orders such as the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, putting the lie to their purported “abolition” by Pope Paul.)

Female exorcists, anyone? Good luck with that. I am sure the demons would find that hilarious. 

Now of course Francis has not given up on female “deacons.” Like the married priests with “stable families” in the remotest regions of the Amazon, this is only Step One. With supreme audacity (as my colleague Jim Hanisch notes), Francis has declared that he will “reopen” his 2016 commission on the subject which, as I note here, failed to give him the answer he wanted, having concluded that “there is no historical evidence that in the patristics women were ordained as deacons.”

Ouch. Perhaps, Francis says, the commission will “reopen with new members.” Count on it. The reopened commission will be stacked, like the Synods, to produce the result that Francis wants, which need not correspond to the truth.

In sum, Francis has gotten all that he wanted concerning married priests, and half of what he wanted on lady “deacons.” Three-quarters of a loaf is better than none, and the remaining quarter will soon be in hand if Francis continues to have his way.

Which means we can only wait, hope and pray for the day when God will have His way and this pontificate and all the other ecclesial aberrations of the past half-century are swept aside and the Church recovers everything that has been stolen or ruined by diabolically disoriented churchmen in the midst of the greatest crisis the Church has ever seen.

 

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