Francis has ushered in a new Ultramontane Gnosticism and Rosica is its prophet!

Twitter is buzzing this morning with the latest heretical out-pouring from professional papal tailgater, Fr. Thomas Rosica. You may remember this is the the Vatican spokesman & CEO of Canadian Salt & Light TV, who seems unable to avoid embroiling himself in what can best be described as embarrassing polemics. He infamously made a legal threat against a small part-time blogger who wants to defend Church teaching. He has a long record of dodgy pronouncements and quasi-theology (for another example see here) but these are the men Pope Francis chooses to speak for him. This is something which has puzzled me since the inception of this Pontificate.

Who is Rosica?

Get it now?

This morning's fuss is about a typically sycophantic article written about Pope Francis by Fr. Rosica, entitled The Ignatian Qualities of the Petrine Ministry of Pope Francis and posted on his smoke & litigation Salt & Light blog here and re-posted by Zenit here (although the particularly heretical quote below now appears to have been removed from Zenit who have replaced the two relevant sentences with “[…]” however it IS still there in the  smoke & litigation Salt & Light blog (for the minute, anyway). There's a lot of verbiage, but amongst it is this bit:

Now explain to me, given this man's position of influence in the Church, how we are NOT living through a major doctrinal crisis? This is the exact opposite of what is taught by the Second Vatican Council which states:

It is clear, therefore, that sacred tradition, Sacred Scripture and the teaching authority of the Church, in accord with God's most wise design, are so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others, and that all together and each in its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit contribute effectively to the salvation of souls.

~Dei Verbum n.10

It also has to be said about this article that you would be forgiven for asking whose founder? Which Ignatius? If you read the letters of St. Ignatius, or a classic portrait of the (400 year) traditional interpretation of his charism (as in Joseph de Guibert), you would conclude that Fr. Rosica is talking about a completely different figure and spirit. But that won't be any surprise to anyone following what is going on at present.

This verbiage (it's not Catholic by any measure I recognise) is both sycophantic & unhinged. We should also remember that it takes place amidst the renewed, growing anger at Church leaders over the abuse crises, too! One wonders just why Zenit published it? Rosica relates everything back to Francis though, and if anyone raises problems, he just sees it like this:

I mean this is so brazen - this man is publicly claiming the Church has become a personality cult and that Scripture, Tradition & the Magisterium no longer count for anything. As Nick Donnelly pointed out:

Our Lord established a three-fold lock on the Church to ensure that his teaching is not corrupted

Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium

Sacred Scripture is the measure of this three-fold lock

But according to @fatherrosica Francis is beyond all three.

Totally bonkers.

— Nick Donnelly (@ProtecttheFaith) August 13, 2018

Rorate caeli also remind us:

Let us go back to what the Church actually teaches about the Roman Pontiff in her quite authoritative words in Vatican I (Pastor aeternus):

The Holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by his revelation, make known some new doctrine, but that, by his assistance, they might religiously guard and faithfully expound the revelation or deposit of faith transmitted by the apostles. Indeed, their apostolic teaching was embraced by all the venerable fathers and reverenced and followed by all the holy orthodox doctors, for they knew very well that this See of St. Peter always remains unblemished by any error, in accordance with the divine promise of our Lord and Savior to the prince of his disciples: "I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren."

***

Pope Saint Pius X also appropriately warned the Church:

But for Catholics the second Council of Nicea will always have the force of law, where it condemns those who dare, after the impious fashion of heretics, to deride the ecclesiastical traditions, to invent novelties of some kind . . . or endeavour by malice or craft to overthrow any one of the legitimate traditions of the Catholic Church; and Catholics will hold for law, also, the profession of the fourth Council of Constantinople: We therefore profess to conserve and guard the rules bequeathed to the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church by the Holy and most illustrious Apostles, by the orthodox Councils, both general and local, and by every one of those divine interpreters the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. Wherefore the Roman Pontiffs, Pius IV. and Pius IX., ordered the insertion in the profession of faith of the following declaration: I most firmly admit and embrace the apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions and other observances and constitutions of the Church.

Saint Pius X

Pascendi Dominici Gregis, 42

@FrDavidPalmer Zenit originally re-published the entire article. Now as you can see below, they have only included excerpts. This change just happened in the last few hours. Original article is still re-published here. https://t.co/yIMf80NwdZ pic.twitter.com/nvFqGubjMT

— Michael Giedraitis (@mjgiedraitis) August 14, 2018

...Clearly Zenit have recognised the explosive nature of these comments.

The real problem here is the credibility these men have by virtue of the Vatican, and the respect we are bound to hold them in by virtue of their ordination. However they are only able to get away with such outlandish and contrary behaviour because so many Catholics do not know their faith at all.

For anyone with a passing acquaintance with Dei verbum, those two sentences are like a red light; a Satanic parody of the actual document which seeks to elevate one man, Pope Francis to the position of Christ. Indeed, Rosica has said something similar to that in the past:

So does anyone remember when Fr. Rosica called Francis "The Prince of Peace"? Pepperidge Farms remembers.https://t.co/dRhn6uPvdg

— Steve Skojec (@SteveSkojec) August 14, 2018

What really gets me is that these men were ordained into a Church that they hate and seek to undermine and actually corrupt. Then there is the fact that they are promoted to prominent positions despite constantly repeating positions that are at odds with the Church - AND NO ONE CAN DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT! Yesterday's post provided a solid example of that phenomenon, but it really is something I have grown up with. If you believe what the Church teaches, you are considered to be a bit of a nutter. If you voice dissent, you are considered to be right on.

This has to stop because it is what is killing vocations and leading to the clear hypocrisy of ignorant Catholics which leads to apathy and their abandoning of the faith.

I suppose the only silver lining for Rosica is that because he has blocked nearly everyone on the internet, he's likely completely oblivious to the furore he has caused with this article #RosicaBlockParty.

Almighty & Everlasting God, have mercy on Thy servant Francis, our Supreme Pontiff, & direct him, according to Thy loving kindness, in the way of eternal salvation, that with Thy help he may ever desire that which is pleasing to Thee & accomplish it with all his strength. Through Christ our Lord

Amen

Hat tip to Fr. Ray Blake for the title of this blog.