Maureen Mullarkey, "Where Did Pope Francis’s Extravagant Rant Come From?" (The Federalist, June 24, 2015). What, First Things wouldn't publish this? Heads will explode, if not roll:
Subversion of Christianity by the spirit of the age has been a hazard down the centuries. The significance of “Laudato Si” lies beyond its stated concern for the climate. Discount obfuscating religious language. The encyclical lays ground to legitimize global government and makes the church an instrument of propaganda—a herald for the upcoming United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference in Paris.[Hat tip to M.G.]
... Take no comfort from “Laudato Si’s” restatements of the Catholic Church’s traditional positions on the sanctity of life, the primacy of the family, and rejection of abortion. In this context, orthodoxy and pious expression serve a rancid purpose. They are a Trojan horse, a vehicle for insinuating surrender to pseudo-science and the eco-fascism that requires it.
... Replete with cooing reference to Francis of Assisi, “Laudato Si” ignores the single aspect of Assisi’s “Il Poverello” most relevant to our time. It is not the fey proto-hippie of high-fructose legend that speaks best to us now. It is the would-be martyr who sailed to Egypt alongside Crusaders to preach the gospel to a Muslim sultan.
Resurgent Islam and the spread of Sharia are the church’s enemies, not oil, coal, and gas. None are poorer than those who live, despised, in the path of ISIS. Where, then, is the encyclical calling for the conversion of Islam away from its murderous climate of hatred? Instead, the Vicar of Christ calls all the world—intending primarily the West—to “ecological conversion.”
Intellectual and moral confusion of such magnitude is a judgment on the ecclesial culture that produced it and the popular culture that consents to it.
3 comments:
The irony is such pieces will prompt people to accuse you of being out of fellowship, whereas Cardinal Schonborn -- chief architect o the CCC -- can happily allow non repentant homosexuals on his parish committees while his star burns ever more brightly in the Catholic author stratosphere. Meanwhile taking exception to a statement of 180 pages in length is decried as Tea Party fear mongering. It gets old.
The excerpt omits, what is for me, the most telling portion of Ms. Mullarkey's article -- the Encyclical's meretricious use of scripture:
Gospel quotations are bent to serve. In the chapter “The Gaze of Jesus,” we read this: “98. Jesus lived in full harmony with creation, and others were amazed: ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’ (Mt 8:27).”
That passage from Matthew has not a thing to do with harmony. Rather, it tells of Jesus’ dominion over nature. It is a statement of authority, of lordship over the natural order. The verse complements one from John: “He that cometh from above is above all.” By abolishing the scriptural intuition of power and might, the truncated quotation makes Jesus a screen on which to project a chimera of cosmic equality.
...
Luke is similarly falsified by omission: “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.” Jesus’ intention lies in the sweetness of the verse that follows—his assurance that man is more than the sparrows. But “Laudato Si” suggests otherwise by leaving out the fulfillment of its own quotation.
If this is how scripture is treated, woe for the upcoming Synod on the Family.
I like Pope Francis as something else but not as Pope. Loved the Federalist piece. Francis lacks gravitas which is good in many occupations like kindergarden teacher but as Pope it leads to sins of the tongue like calling all those in the weapons industry " hypocrites".
They saved us from Hitler inter alia. It's chaos...the Synod with it's idea " irreversible cohabitation" ( what of the Samaritan woman at the well...she could have debated Christ with that idea).....Francis using scriptures in service of his goals....appointing an endorser of sodomy to Justice and Peace. And it's constant month after month. And the world government thing was also in Benedict's Caritas in Veritate....so Francis is not alone in that lemon. Catholics must retreat into the Scriptures, prayer, and their work for God and stay there until God sends a Pope who is quiet mostly....and who notices that these last three Popes will get many human beings ( murder victims) killed through non deterrence and through their anti death penalty developement which is really brand spanking new....developements are gradual as Newman noted. Catholic largely no death penalty Central America has a murder rate 93 times greater than Japan by UN numbers....but more relevantly...31 times China's which also has majority poor people which is untrue of Japan.
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