Confinement Does Not Mean Being Excluded
The Unconventional Pope Francis, Mercy and Church Teachings
Author: Neil Day
Pope Francis is being manipulated by the secular press and related organisations in such a way as to present him as the first pope who will change key teachings of the Catholic Church on issues such as the family, marriage and abortion. How do we know this? One only has to compare the banner headlines of the press to the actual statements of the Pope through his papal audiences, homilies and ‘Papal Bull of Indiction’ such as the Jubilee of Mercy to see how he is being misrepresented. Why does the media do this? What is the purpose of this misrepresentation? One of the intended aims and major results of this ‘dirty tricks’ campaign is to cause disarray among the Catholic faithful that alienates the Pope from his flock. The overall intention is to dismantle the Catholic Church. Note, the press does not target the Pope only but also any comments made by prelates, church leaders and celebrities that can be used to undermine the Church are also trumpeted across the world. Genuine Catholics feel isolated, alone in their battles for righteousness and even paralyzed by the perceived lack of Catholic leadership. But there is plenty of reason to take heart from the Pope especially in light of his recent trip to the United States (US).
Pope Francis Speaks the Truth
Let us be clear and certain. The Pope has indeed spoken in support of traditional marriage, family and the need to protect life in all its forms from conception to old age. He has done so consistently, both verbally and textually. One only has to review the number of times he highlighted these issues while he was in the US. There, the Pope spoke to the President of the US, the Joint session of the US Congress, the United Nations General Assembly, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the World Meeting of Families, Catholic Seminarians and through his homilies to mass numbers of people. In his words you will find his repeated and urgent calls to protect life, traditional marriage and family. When the Pope speaks of the vital relationship between man and woman, that family is the cornerstone of society and that life must be safeguarded in all its forms, we can be sure that the Pope does not mean we should accept secular society’s demands for changing Church dogma. The Pope’s statements are exactly that and it is precisely this that the press in general will not highlight. Imagine what would be the reaction if Pope John Paul II or Pope Benedict had said these very same statements in the US? It is certain they would have been mocked and branded as old traditionalists who were out of step with society. And as we know, that is in fact how both Popes were treated for their support of traditional Catholic teachings. Pope Francis’s position is no different yet this is downplayed and under-reported. Is there evidence for this?
One clear example can be seen even on his trip back to Rome, Pope Francis was questioned on another controversial issue regarding the ordination of women to the priesthood. Here he directly answered that there should be no change to Church teachings and directly referred to the decision of Pope John Paul II as the definitive reason for this. This is significant for two reasons. It shows firstly that Pope Francis is directly stating his position in support of traditional Catholic teachings, that he is in fact orthodox, and secondly, that he is hugely influenced by Pope John Paul II, a true champion of the Catholic Church, who himself was attacked and ridiculed by abortion advocates, for example. Has the secular press given this any significant coverage? So far, it seems almost negligible. This is the very orthodox side of Pope Francis that the press surgically remove from their banner headlines when it comes to statements from him that they do not like. And so Catholics on the ground, with this type of massaged reporting, can feel disconnected from the Pope.
The bottom line is that Catholics cannot rely on the secular press, we must do our own homework and research. Thankfully there is plenty of evidence that can easily be found which shows our Pope to be orthodox. One needs only browse the Internet to access the statements of the Pope.
The Unconventional Pope and Mercy
Many are continually astounded at our Lord’s handling of the crowd who wanted to kill the adulteress. Christ’s response is breathtaking. An angry emotional mob not only wanted to stone this woman to death but certain members wanted to test and trap Christ. Would He support the law that allowed for the execution of the adulteress or would He offer mercy as he had been publicly preaching and thereby contravene the law? In either case, they sought to undermine our Lord. Christ took a moment and responded, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” [John 8:7]. The mob, as we know, were completely disarmed by these powerful words and slowly one by one left the scene and the adulteress was saved. Christ saved the woman. Two observations to note, the woman was now transformed by the mercy Christ had shown her. She was forgiven and redeemed with the parting words of Christ when He asked her if anyone had condemned her, “She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more.” [John 8:11]. As Pope Francis said of the ‘golden rule, in his speech to Congress, ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. To receive mercy, knowing we don’t deserve it, is perhaps one of the greatest gifts Christ has made available to us. To know we can start again and can break free from our bonds of sin and error is certainly a source of great joy. And what of the angry mob, their blood boiling, ready to kill a human being? How was it that Christ could defeat them? He could have agreed with them, He could have run away, He could have struck down the mob with ‘miraculous’ weapons of fire, or reproached them with some external rebuke. But instead, He, incredibly, was able to get the mob to rebuke itself. Christ’s words forced the mob to look within itself, to compare its own standards of righteousness with that of the adulteress, and, as we know, they realised they were like her, sinners too. Christ showed mercy to the angry mob too by having them reflect upon themselves, an internal reflection initiated by Christ. He did not need to convince them by some fearful external response nor condemnation. They condemned themselves when Christ confronted them with Truth. We are humbled by Christ’s patience and understanding of human nature.
And so it is with Pope Francis. The very fact that the Pope came to the US and spoke, as we have seen, to so many from the highest positions in the land to the lowly, has enabled the Pope to offer sinners the opportunity to look into themselves, to reflect on their own sinfulness and to therefore repent with the mercy being offered to them by God. Pope Francis, in is heart, knows he must make this effort to give sinners a chance to repent. He does so in ways that may seem unconventional but Christ Himself is the definition of ‘unconventional’. Pope Francis is doing no different to Christ. Put it another way, Pope Francis knows he will meet God one day and that he will be asked if he showed mercy to sinners. How can he answer? He himself said to the prisoners in Philadelphia that he is the number one sinner. If the Pope’s answer to God is that he did not show mercy, do you think he can expect mercy from God for his own sins? And so we have a Pope who by the example of Christ must be the embodiment of mercy. Advocates of abortion and all those who deny the right to life or who have sought abortions are being invited by God to look into themselves, into their hearts and to repent their sins. This is important. That the Pope has made statements supporting PRO-LIFE, traditional family and marriage will have caused sinners to confront themselves and to question their actions. People are intelligent, they will be acutely aware that the Pope has spoken to them, to you, to me in fact. People can allow themselves to be transformed, to seek redemption, and to repent as did St. Paul, who at one time was one of the most infamous persecutors of Christians in his day. Yet St. Paul was transformed. Today in the US and across the world, people, sinners, with the encouragement of the Pope can be turned around to God or they can choose to remain ignorant. But the Pope must first make the conditions possible for this conversion. This he has done now for people in the US. Additionally, the Jubilee of Mercy begins shortly from December 8th where the Pope has opened the doors to all and made certain special provisions that offer great encouragement to people to repent. We may say that the Pope’s words have already spoken to the heart of some of the most powerful people in the US when we just witnessed the resignation of congressman John Boehner from his position of Speaker of the US House of Representatives. Whatever the reasons may be, we can surmise that the Pope’s words gave him the impetus to reflect deeply on himself and on his role relative to controversial issues facing congress. It is certain that there are many others in society, both in the US and internationally, who are now deeply reflecting upon themselves and their actions. And indeed there are those who have already come out and mocked Pope Francis for his support of PRO-LIFE. The Pope is unconventional but he is not silent.
On the Battlefront for Life
American Life League (ALL) is, like many other PRO-LIFE groups, on the front lines, in the battle for life. It is akin to the allies who made a beachhead on Normandy on D-Day, June 6th 1944. The enemy’s response was ferocious, unrelenting, and merciless. It seemed like everything was perilously in danger of failure, defeat was a real option facing the ‘Greatest Generation’. Today, those fighting again for life are the reawakening, re-emergence and embodiment of that lost ‘Greatest Generation’ from World War II. The Pope is our general and is fully supporting us at the front lines. The enemy is indulging in ferocious frontal assaults but also in clandestine warfare. We have to keep vigilant and fully alert. But we know that the allies, with superior courage, determination and force, finally broke out and won the day, gaining freedom from tyranny for the world and saving humanity. We must know and believe that today those fighting for the right to life in all its forms have a superior force behind them and working through them. That is Truth and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Our Pope and the Church is the embodiment of this for us. No matter how many losses and defeats we may initially incur, the superiority of Truth will prevail over the lies and deception of the enemy. It is inevitable as inevitable as the falling of the Berlin Wall in the 1989 where Truth finally prevailed.
To those fighting in the front lines, the Pope, (taking up from where Saint Paul exhorts us ‘to put on the armour of God’ [Ephesians 6:13]), asks us to further add “mercy’ to our arsenal of weapons. For there are those on the side of the enemy who may be seeking to surrender and repent but do not know how or feel they are too far gone beyond the saving grace of redemption. It is akin to the allies allowing the enemy to surrender when faced with a superior force. Let us therefore watch for those of the enemy who wish to surrender and to come over to the side of justice and life. However, be wary that the battle can have setbacks, can be costly, and demoralizing. The closer the allies approached Hitler’s bunker (a human who embodied the culture of death and destruction), the more ferociously bitter the resistance from his forces became. We are at this point now. Planned Parenthood and its ilk are preparing now a counter-attack, their ‘Battle of the Bulge’ you might say. The ‘allies’ today, (ALL is so appropriately named with its fellow battle groups) will be subjected to heavy resistance with bombardments of lies, deception and rogue attempts to defame and humiliate people who fight for PRO-LIFE. Efforts to massage comments from the Pope will be used again to try and subvert and derail the mission to save the lives of the unborn. In spite of this, the Pope asks us to be prepared to offer the ‘olive branch’ of mercy to our enemies. The Pope reminds us of Christ on the cross when Christ cried out to God “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” [Luke 23:34]. So great was Christ’s capacity for mercy that no matter how atrocious the evil committed against Him and God, He was still willing to forgive and offer the opportunity to repent. This is what motivates our Pope. He is reminding us that mercy is still open to everyone no matter how great the sin. The Pope is absolutely obligated to be the example of mercy since he knows that Christ expects this of him. Like Christ though the way he offers this gospel of hope is often unconventional and it is precisely this unconventional approach that the enemy tries to usurp for their own evil intentions. Yet they cannot report any instant of the Pope breaking Church dogma, the Commandments nor the transcendental truth being taught by the Catholic Church. Here we can remember Chesterton’s prophetic words when he said that ‘big laws’ (the Commandments) are the most important and unconventional ways of upholding those laws are not wrong. What is wrong is the creation of smaller laws that attempt fix the big laws when they are broken, [The Complete Thinker, Dale Ahlquist]. The Commandment ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’ was broken in 1973 with Wade vs. Roe and since then we have seen a growth of smaller laws that allow for even more sin to be practiced. Pope Francis in offering mercy is asking sinners to return to God and by doing so to become obedient again to Him and the ‘big laws’.
Conclusion
In the US Pope Francis met and spoke to the inmates at a prison correctional facility in Philadelphia. There he offered hope, mercy and brotherly union with the inmates. He said all of us are sinners with him being the number one sinner. But the good news is that God loves us so much that the door is always open on His side and all we have to do is allow God’s love and words to transform us, to repent and turn back to Him. The inmates are physically confined by the walls of the prison but by no means are they excluded from God’s offer of mercy and salvation. That was why the Pope visited them so that not only them, but all of us, can be reminded of the great depth of God’s mercy and love and furthermore we too are asked to be examples of love and mercy to our fellow brothers and sisters. But in truth this is only part of the message. There is more.
Imagine the Pope now giving the same inmates’ address to another set of people, the abortion advocates and those responsible for the killing of the unborn. Though we know such people are not physically in prison nor confined by walls, to the Pope such people are still enslaved and bound up in sin. They have allowed themselves to be chained by sin. They may be physically free to move about but the truth is they have put up walls between themselves and God. They have spiritually barricaded themselves against God with their grave sinful actions. In spite of their disobedience to God, He still comes knocking on their door to offer them forgiveness and the opportunity to repent. He wants them to know that He still loves them and hopes that they can stop their evil ways and turn to Him. God is at their door, knocking and asking them to invite Him into their lives. However, the door is locked from the inside. It is up to those who have imprisoned themselves with sin to open the door from the inside and welcome God into their lives. This is how to view our Pope’s words, example and actions. He is providing the olive branch of mercy and hoping those involved in sin whether small or grave will respond and return to God. The same analogy can be applied to all of us. All humans sin, we can be enslaved by our own sinfulness. But the joy of the gospel is that there is mercy to those who allow God to enter into and become part of their lives. We are all spiritually imprisoned by sin. The Pope tells us that we can be set free from our captivity. These are the very same words that Christ spoke two thousand years ago. Let those who have ears listen. It is up to us to accept God. Abortion advocates have, again been offered the olive branch of mercy, by the Pope. In the Jubilee of Mercy, we shall see if they remain in their ignorance. Should they choose to remain so in spite of the offer of mercy, the Pope may decide to react differently. The Pope is anything but silent.
