"Il cretino gloriosamente regnante" [The gloriously reigning cretin]

Rorate caeli recently posted an insider report which purports to represent the present climate inside the Vatican walls.

The main inference of the report is that Pope Francis is not well liked by anyone; "neither by bishops, nor by priests, nor by the faithful."

Having lived through ten years of this papacy, Mandatums with Muslim prisoners, Pachamamma worship in the Vatican gardens, the numerous abuse scandals and now, especially, following Tradiones custodes and the subsequent clarifications and corrections, I must admit to having some sympathy with this idea. I honestly cannot believe that we are living in a time when the priority for the pope is to shut down liturgy and the sacraments, to kick faithful Catholics out of their churches.

Despite the awfulness of the situation, I find it hard to believe he doesn't have fans. There seem to be plenty of people who do really like him, even if, in my experience, these people are ignorant of the faith or looking to change it or wrestling with their own peccadilloes, or they are simply wilfully blind to the very real damage being done.

Fr. Antonio Spadaro on @Pontifex: "#PopeFrancis is a popular figure, but I would say, beyond popular, he’s perhaps the only global moral figure that there is right now in the world, so he’s recognized by everyone from a moral profile."https://t.co/Cx3UaTGTkX

— Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 (@MLJHaynes) March 6, 2023

I think Spadaro - you remember him - he's the bloke who thinks 2+2=5 - is being spectacularly optimistic here and it wouldn't surprise me to hear that Pope Francis is generally not liked among clergy, at least any that take the faith seriously and especially those in the Vatican who bear responsibilities and consequences for some of his bizarre decisions. I know that the huge consensus of clergy I know is that he is a disaster. Ten years in, we are really seeing the results of the pope's poor decisions.

But there is another reason clergy are not fans of Pope Francis. As the Rorate report points out, the Pope is very vocal about his apparent dislike of the clergy:

"What has astonished me is that the most progressive priests, who are generally also the oldest, have the same dislike for Bergoglio as that of their younger colleagues. It is no longer a doctrinal question in which traditionalists are pitted against progressives; it is something of a more basic level and has to do with the human and the institutional element. They cannot understand, for example, the Pope's permanent aggressiveness towards them; they affirm from both sides that they are astonished that whenever he refers to priests it is always in strongly negative terms: they are careerists, greedy, grumpy, proselytizers, criminals, they watch pornography, they have psychiatric problems, etc. Never a word of encouragement; never closeness. It is as if the enemy were speaking, and not the father who should confirm them in the faith."

However, probably the area where we are most clearly seeing the disastrous results of Pope Francis unorthodox decisions is within the cardinalate.

"Francis has appointed a swarm of bishops chosen from among the least trained and qualified priests for the episcopal ministry and as the years go by, the consequences of such decisions will be seen."

What clearer example could there be than Cardinal McElroy who as I have previously posted, is arguably not fit to be a priest, let alone a cardinal!

The Rorate report states:

"Finally, a group of American priests, moderate and by no means traditionalist, commented to me the enormous uneasiness caused in California by the cardinalatial appointment of the bishop of San Diego, a small and suffragan diocese, while the archbishop of Los Angeles, its metropolitan, is not. And the problem is not just who wears the purple; the problem is that Cardinal Robert McElroy is extremely progressive, too progressive even for his own folks."

The incompetence of this appointment is demonstrated in the chaos breaking out in the US. McElroy wasted no time in pronouncing all kinds of progressive nonsense. Well, I say progressive nonsense, it is just clear that he doesn't believe what the Church teaches and is proposing a number of novelties.

Fr Thomas Weinandy did warn us just how bad this appointment was back in June. He said it was a direct insult to the faithful.

Bishop Paprocki and Archbishop Naumann appeared on The World Over to discuss why they feel they have to speak out. Paprocki especially is scathing about Cardinal Roche towards the end of his interview segment and echoes what I have been hearing from far and wide: that bishops do not like this from Roche, it contradicts the principle of subsidiarity. Paprocki questions “the wisdom” of the rescript and suggested that it “seems to contradict what Pope Francis himself said when he issued the motu proprio,” - further evidence that Roche has been promoted far beyond his ability.