{"id":677,"date":"2018-09-15T11:12:26","date_gmt":"2018-09-15T01:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pbw.id.au\/blog\/?p=677"},"modified":"2021-07-27T16:34:38","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T06:34:38","slug":"the-popes-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/2018\/09\/the-popes-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pope\u2019s Commission"},"content":{"rendered":"

[First published at The Orthosphere<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

Faithful Catholics are expected to accept that, although the Pope is elected by the Conclave of (eligible) Cardinals, the One who really selects the Pope is the Holy Ghost Himself: the cardinals are His catspaws, so to speak. It is a grave offence to leak the proceedings of the Conclave (which is why such leaking is so rare), but\u00a0if the preceding is to be accepted,\u00a0the machinations in the Conclave are\u00a0irrelevant.\u00a0Therefore, I can appreciate both the smile and the squirm of\u00a0orthodox<\/em>\u00a0Catholics who, in these very pages, see the so-ordained Pope described as \u2026 ahem \u2026 Pope Fruit Loops I.<\/p>\n

Events resulting from the airing of dirty linen belonging to the bishop formerly known as Cardinal McCarrick have dramatically rearranged the lighting around Francis and the logic of the succession. The stress fractures of this pontificate are no longer associated with\u00a0Laudato si\u2019\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0Amoris Laetitia<\/em>, but with the widening vortex swirling around McCarrick. It is sucking in, innocent and guilty, the US cardinalate and episcopate, the Chilean episcopate, the Roman Curia, and now the Papacy itself.<\/p>\n

In this imbroglio, the media\u2019s most urgent role will be to quarantine homosexuality, as a laudable way of life, from the sexual abuse of young men and adolescents by older men.\u00a0Prima facie<\/em>, that is a considerable challenge, demanding Olympic-level logical gymnastics of a media caste suckled on homosexual apologetics and visceral detestation of any principle of chastity, let alone supernatural faith.\u00a0 Oh me, oh my.\u00a0 How to gore the Church with one horn of this dilemma, while keeping the other spotless?\u00a0 Some initial tests have been run with the concept of\u00a0clericalism<\/em>.\u00a0It\u2019s promising. In particular, it suggests that the problem is with outmoded clerical practice and thinking; you know, like adherence to millennial teaching on faith and morals.\u00a0If this crisis were not so broad and deep, it might carry the weight. But the piers are flimsy, and a perfect storm is raging, with no sign of abating.<\/p>\n

That the homosexual networks to which Archbishop Vigan\u00f2 and others refer must be dismantled is essential if the Church is to be restored to health. That on its own, if it is realised to a significant degree, will be a mighty achievement; but that achievement would send shock waves through the surrounding culture borne of, yet alienated from, Christianity.\u00a0Similar networks are established in secular realms of influence and power.\u00a0A restored and cleansed Church would be a mesmerising sign of contradiction.<\/p>\n

Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.<\/em><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the paradox. Should this renewal come to pass, it will inarguably have been a work of the Holy Spirit, and that work will have been done, one way or another, through Francis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[First published at The Orthosphere.] Faithful Catholics are expected to accept that, although the Pope is elected by the Conclave of (eligible) Cardinals, the One who really selects the Pope is the Holy Ghost Himself: the cardinals are His catspaws, so to speak. It is a grave offence to leak the proceedings of the Conclave … Continue reading “The Pope\u2019s Commission”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18,27,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-observations","category-orthosphere"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8SCfl-aV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1000,"url":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/2021\/04\/the-long-weekend\/","url_meta":{"origin":677,"position":0},"title":"The Long Weekend","author":"admin","date":"Wed 7th Apr '21","format":false,"excerpt":"Published at The Orthosphere on Easter Saturday, 2021. It\u2019s Saturday. As Friday waned, the old world died. All of the old certainties were bound up with aloes and myrrh in linen, and laid to restlessness. Now we wait. There are rumours of Sunday. I have heard, and I believe \u2013\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Belief & knowledge"","block_context":{"text":"Belief & knowledge","link":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/category\/belief\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67,"url":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/2012\/03\/resurrection-denialism\/","url_meta":{"origin":677,"position":1},"title":"Resurrection Denialism","author":"pbw","date":"Mon 12th Mar '12","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 On the evening of that day, \u00a0the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, \"Peace be with you.\" When he had said this, he showed them his hands\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/category\/belief\/faith\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":946,"url":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/2020\/12\/living-by-lies\/","url_meta":{"origin":677,"position":2},"title":"The Father of Lies","author":"admin","date":"Fri 11th Dec '20","format":false,"excerpt":"[Published at The Orthosphere, 20\/12\/2010] You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Belief & knowledge"","block_context":{"text":"Belief & knowledge","link":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/category\/belief\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":998,"url":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/2021\/04\/the-virgin-birth\/","url_meta":{"origin":677,"position":3},"title":"The Virgin Birth","author":"admin","date":"Wed 7th Apr '21","format":false,"excerpt":"Published at The Orthosphere on the Solemnity of the Annunciation. Nothing is impossible to God. Occam\u2019s Razor cannot separate the works of God according to any principle of economy. What economy is evident in a cell, a tree, the biosphere, the galaxy, the farthest reaches of the universe? Irrespective of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Belief & knowledge"","block_context":{"text":"Belief & knowledge","link":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/category\/belief\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1250,"url":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/2025\/06\/on-the-peculiar-difficulty-of-the-ascension\/","url_meta":{"origin":677,"position":4},"title":"On the Peculiar Difficulty of the\u00a0Ascension","author":"Me","date":"Mon 2nd Jun '25","format":false,"excerpt":"First published at The Orthosphere on 23rd August 2022, and not republished here by an oversight. I I had a lot of trouble with the Ascension. Every time I recite the Rosary, to take the most frequent example, I start with a declaration of belief\u2014The Apostles\u2019 Creed. In saying the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Belief & knowledge"","block_context":{"text":"Belief & knowledge","link":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/category\/belief\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":506,"url":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/2018\/04\/consciousness-time-part-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":677,"position":5},"title":"Consciousness & Time: Part 1","author":"admin","date":"Sun 29th Apr '18","format":false,"excerpt":"Vulcans, zombies, and desert islands Imagine, for the moment, that at some time in the 1850s a Royal Navy vessel, operating to the south of Samoa, in running from a cyclone, finds a large uncharted desert isle.\u00a0 Inhabitants are nowhere to be found, but inhabitants there were, at least the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/category\/all\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=677"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":763,"href":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677\/revisions\/763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}