By CHRISTOPHER MANION
Robert Royal, a Catholic author always worth reading, recently made an observation that clears the air with its candor and acumen. “It’s usually thought that the only Christians who forsake reason are impossible-to-reason-with fundamentalists.” he writes. “In the current moment, we have a progressive group in Rome and beyond that seems to think that Reason in any strong sense distorts or even blocks Faith.”
“They know the outcomes they want and aren’t about to let the logical contradictions theologians, philosophers, or ordinary believers notice, stop them,” Royal continues. “It’s an old philosophical truth that that once you abandon the principle of non-contradiction, you can prove anything,” he adds.
Speaking of Pope Francis and his Jesuit adviser, Fr, Antonio Spadaro, Royal observes, “I do know that beyond the short radius of their ideas lie consequences they may find unwelcome. Because neither is a serious theologian nor even a serious thinker, they regard anyone who raises questions about consequences as an irrational enemy.”
Royal’s views address specifically the problematic consequences of Amoris Laetitia regarding people who are divorced and remarried without an annulment, but he has put a finger on a virus infecting the broader moral life of the Church. That virus beats with the pulse of Liberation Theology, and its self-verifying assertion that anything is possible, if one defies reality and embraces the radical politics of the Social Justice Warrior brigades who now control a majority of the chanceries in America and the West.
Last week Pope Francis provided a shining example of this vapid vision when he urged countries to welcome all migrants and cease expelling those who enter illegally. “The principle of the centrality of the human person obliges us to always prioritize personal safety over national security,” he said.
Now, this defies the Catechism of the Catholic Church (“political authorities” are charged with the responsibility to write immigration laws and enforce them [n. 2241.2]). But Pope Francis cites as his authority for ignoring the Catechism “my beloved Predecessor, Benedict XVI.”
But wait. The footnote refers to Benedict’s encyclical Caritas in Veritate (n. 47). But Pope Francis apparently hasn’t read that passage, because in it Benedict addresses the rights of people to build a life in their own country. Moreover, Benedict goes on to insist on the principle of subsidiarity, where the human person is indeed central, and he thus criticizes the “bureaucratic and administrative machinery, which is often excessively costly,” of international development programs — precisely those programs that Pope Francis insists be governed by the most bureaucratic machine in the world, the United Nations!
Pope Francis then delineates a wish list which he insists is morally mandatory — immigrants should have free entry, and access to all welfare programs, including health care, education, financial support, and pension plans. He encourages chain migration for extended family reunification, “including grandparents, grandchildren, and siblings.”
But while the country must honor the immigrant, Pope Francis ignores the Catechism once more and insists that all of the above does not mean the newcomer should assimilate into the society that is obliged to care for him. Instead, he glowingly observes, “the meeting with migrants and refugees from other confessions and religions is a fertile ground for the development of a genuine and enriching ecumenical and interreligious dialogue.”
Dialogue. Tell that to the families of those who died on 9-11.
Assimilation “leads migrants to suppress or to forget their own cultural identity,” he insists. “Rather, contact with others leads to discovering their ‘secret,’ to being open to them in order to welcome their valid aspects and thus contribute to knowing each one better. This is a lengthy process that aims to shape societies and cultures, making them more and more a reflection of the multifaceted gifts of God to human beings.”
Behold the citizen of Pope Francis’ world. Giddy and oblivious to reality, infatuated with the Zeitgeist, and demanding that the U.S., Poland, and Hungary (but not Saudi Arabia, Qatar, or Japan) conform to his multicultural dream.
Reality Breaks In
In an address before the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors on September 21 in Rome, Pope Francis admitted that he once “opted to impose a more lenient sentence on a priest[-abuser] who subsequently re-offended [abused again].”
“It was the only time I did it, and never again,” he said. “Perhaps the old practice of moving people around, not confronting the problem, lulled consciences to sleep. When the consciousness arrives late, the means to solve the problem arrive late.” He added, “I am aware of this difficulty, but it is the reality: We have arrived late.”
OK, let’s hit the “pause” button.
The Holy Father has just described, in the most charitable fashion possible, the situation that prevailed among bishops in the United States for decades.
Now, as Pope Francis suggests, how about let’s have some consciousness-raising of our own?
In June 2002, America’s bishops met in Dallas to confront the widespread outrage caused by revelations of their widespread cover-ups of sex abuse of minors — cover-ups that in some cases had gone on for decades.
When they got off their flights, the bishops were met with a special edition of The Dallas Morning News that described with particulars how over half of the bishops had engaged in such cover-ups (in fact, the number was closer to two-thirds).
Paul Likoudis, The Wanderer’s intrepid investigator, had already documented many of those cases, but his reports were met with rancor, denials, defiance, and even threats of lawsuits from major chanceries.
Like Pope Francis, the bishops in Dallas had known about these cover-ups for years. But when they passed their “charter” that came down hard on every priest or deacon who was accused — however flimsy the evidence — they exempted themselves.
And since then, not one of them has quit. But dozens have spent billions of the faithful’s money to stay out of court and out of jail. And they were all successful.
Our purpose here is not to recount the particulars, but to ask a simple question.
The consciousness arrived late, says the Holy Father.
Well, if our shepherds’ collective “consciousness” took decades to arrive at the realization that they’d been covering up for felony rape and abuse all these years, how could they possibly expect us to take them seriously when they pour forth their radical political agenda, pretending that their opinions are Gospel, to the point of branding those who disagree as “hypocrites,” “Pharisees,” “xenophobes,” “racists,” and “bigots”?
As Robert Royal puts it, they consider “anyone who raises questions about consequences as an irrational enemy.”
In fact, some of our bishops appear actually to have been emboldened, rather than humbled, by their success in escaping punishment for what in many cases was out-and-out criminal conduct that many carried on for years.
Donations have collapsed, one leader complains, so they turn to the government for funding. Their credibility is “shredded,” admits another, so they’re too ashamed to preach the truths of the Gospel that this generation so desperately needs. They’ve had “laryngitis” on Humanae Vitae for fifty years, moans another — however hungry the young are to hear it.
Our bishops suffer from the Seitz Syndrome writ large. If Pope Francis won’t answer cardinals with the Dubia, why should they bother to answer the laity?
True to form, this week the USCCB is celebrating “Share the Journey,” their program to “Welcome the Migrant and the Refugee,” and make a reality of Pope Francis’ impossible dream. We know that they are well-intentioned. But is it fair to observe that, in the words of Pope Francis, “their consciousness has arrived late”?
Pope Francis says, “Never again!” May our beloved bishops take his cue and finally confront reality, instead of condemning it and blaming their incorrigible and backward sheep for the problems they themselves have caused.
Pray that their consciousness arrives. Better late than never.
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