[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Strickland: Pope Francis ‘does not love the truth and seeks to reshape it in the image of man’

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Posted on 11/18/2024 12:57:16 PM PST by ebb tide

On this week’s episode of Faith & Reason, John Henry-Westen, Deacon Keith Fournier, and Frank Wright discuss Bishop Joseph Strickland’s historic open letter urging his brother bishops to call out Pope Francis as he abandons the Church’s teaching.

On this week’s episode of Faith & Reason, John Henry-Westen, Deacon Keith Fournier, and Frank Wright discuss Bishop Joseph Strickland’s historic open letter urging his brother bishops to call out Pope Francis as he abandons the Church’s teaching, Cardinal Joseph Zen’s article criticizing the recent Synod on Synodality as a means to change Church doctrine, Pope Francis meeting with “transgender” hermit Nicole Madsen, and more.

The panel began the episode by looking at Bishop Strickland’s powerful open letter to his fellow bishops, which he read outside of the annual USCCB last week, entitled “What Will it Take?” The open letter urged every bishop and cardinal to publicly and unequivocally state that Pope Francis no longer teaches the Catholic faith.

Westen read a few lines from the letter: “Many people have asked what it will take for more than a few bishops to finally speak up against the false messages constantly flowing from the Vatican under the leadership of Pope Francis, and I ask myself the same question over and over: what will it take?” Strickland’s letter stated.

The host read two more key points from the letter: “A rudimentary understanding of the papacy leaves us with the reality that Pope Francis has abdicated his responsibility to serve as the primary guardian of the Deposit of Faith,” the bishop wrote.

“There can be no bishop who is unaware of statements that Pope Francis has made that are unambiguous denials of the Catholic faith,” Strickland added a few lines later.

“Stunning words that leave me speechless. But again, something to study, to pray about, to go and read in its fullness,” Westen said.

The host turned to Deacon Keith, who was serving with Strickland as in the Diocese of Tyler when the bishop was removed last year.

The deacon emphasized that he’s proud of Strickland, expressing that his work with the bishop has been the greatest privilege of his nearly 30-year diaconal ministry. The deacon then dove into the great work Strickland did for the Church as bishop of Tyler.

“What he was doing in that diocese was wonderful, just wonderful. Churches were packed, in fact, overflowing. There were people lining up to go to seminary. It was exactly what I had prayed for because I love the Catholic Church. I’m a revert of 52 years. I love the Catholic Church, and it was exactly what I had prayed for could happen in every diocese,” Deacon Keith said.

Turning to Strickland’s removal, the deacon said there was no reason for it, because this was a successful diocese by every metric.

“People were growing closer and closer to the Lord. … There was no reason to remove him, but they removed him. Now you know what? He’s so humble; he submitted to it. And as I say, and I mean this, I think they took his diocese and gave him the nation because he continued to do what he has been called to do,” he said.  

Deacon Keith also underscored that he hopes that the clarity of this letter helps inspire the other prelates to speak out against the Roman Pontiff.

“The Church teaches clarity, but we’re hearing nothing but confusion. So while I honor the man who sits in the Chair of Peter, which I do, I think the most loving thing you can do is to speak to the problem so that it can be changed, and to pray for him. And it is time for the bishops, the successors of the apostles, to stand with Bishop Strickland and the other bishops who are doing just that, because this Church is God’s plan for the whole human race,” the deacon said.  

Wright noted that the last Catholic prelate who questioned whether the Pope was a Catholic – Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò – wound up being accused of schism and excommunicated by the Vatican. He predicted the same would likely happen to Strickland in the near future. The journalist then went into why the bishop’s letter is so significant.

“Now why on earth would Bishop Strickland say such a thing? Some people may ask, ‘How could you say such a thing about the Pope?’ Well, as Strickland explains, there can be no bishop who is unaware of statements that Pope Francis has made that are an unambiguous denial of the Catholic faith, such as his universalism or indifferentism,” Wright said.

“And what’s important here to mention is that Strickland stresses that souls are at stake. This is not a political question; it’s not a question of personality. It’s a question of the salvation of souls,” he added. “And I think this is what obviously motivates Bishop Strickland’s extremely brave letter, knowing full well that the hammer of judgment is going to fall upon him as a result.”

Later in the episode, the panel discussed Cardinal Joseph Zen’s recent article criticizing the recently concluded Synod on Synodality, saying the Pope uses Synods to attempt to change the Church’s doctrines. Westen reminded listeners that Zen worked closely with Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI as a leading voice on Vatican relations with China, but under Francis’s Vatican was not even shown the Sino-Vatican deal or initially allowed to meet with the Pontiff at the Vatican. The host then read from part of the prelate’s article:

[Pope Francis] used the Synod on the Family (2004-2005) to try to let the divorced and remarried Catholics receive Holy Communion. He wanted to use the Synod of Amazon to introduce “the ordination of highly respected married laymen (viri probati) as priests. And for the Synod this time, from the two leading figures he appointed and the documents issued by the secretariat, we can see that he has some broader goals: to change the hierarchical system of the Church (replace with a democratic group of baptized people); to establish female deacons (opening way for female priests); to abolish priestly celibacy; and to change the traditional doctrine on “sexual” ethics (beginning with the blessings the homosexual couples).

Deacon Keith called Zen a “hero” who has suffered greatly for the Church, calling the way the Vatican has treated him “reprehensible.” The deacon also agreed with the cardinal’s assessment that each of the Pope’s synods are meant to change the unchangeable Church doctrine.

“I think there was an effort to use the Synod inappropriately to undermine clerical celibacy. I think worse was the Pachamama event, because I think that was outright idolatry. And I think there has been an effort to use synods to change unchangeable doctrine. But back to Cardinal Zen, and I think when the history books are written, he will be given the place of honor he deserves,” Deacon Keith said.

Wright said the changes the Pope is attempting to make at these synods all coincide with what he calls a “wider liberal global agenda.”

Now, I think when [Archbishop] Fulton Sheen talked about this attempt to produce a religion absent God, he was referring in part to projects as early as the early 20th century, 1920s.

But people like John Dewey and Walter Lippmann, who talked about creating a common faith, that’s just one example in the secular world where you’ve seen a kind of global aspirant managerialism attempt to use the architecture of religion, but just subtract Christ from it in order to better dominate the people that they view. Now in order to do this, you do have to infuse ideological ideas such as environmentalism, homosexualism, women’s liberation, and yes, the horrid, inverted sacrament of abortion with a kind of religious fervor, which is what we’re seeing now.

Now this is the pattern of the changes that you see in this Synod or Church. They are not random; they very much match that pattern. And I believe that that pattern is what you might describe, a little globalist pattern whose intention, as I said, is to supplant and thereby remove the explanatory power of the one true faith, the Church of Christ, which is the Catholic faith.

For more discussion on Bishop Strickland’s letter, Cardinal Zen’s critique of the Pope’s synods, and much more, tune in to this week’s episode of Faith & Reason.

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1 posted on 11/18/2024 12:57:16 PM PST by ebb tide

To: Al Hitan; Fedora; irishjuggler; Jaded; kalee; markomalley; miele man; Mrs. Don-o; ...

2 posted on 11/18/2024 12:57:49 PM PST by ebb tide ("The Spirit of Vatican II" is nothing more than a wicked "ideology" of the modernists.)

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