“It’s Time for Catholics to Face the Truth About the Papal Confusion”

Over at OnePeterFive, Steve Skojec is a provocative observer.  I do not agree with all he writes, but he is right when he notes there the persistent denial concerning Pope Francis:

Although the number of Catholics vocal about their concerns with the pontificate of Pope Francis has grown in recent months, a strange phenomenon nevertheless continues to assert itself: a kind of cognitive dissonance in which the faithful seek to find any explanation, no matter how far-fetched, to reassure themselves that what is happening can’t really be as troubling as it seems.

And the same can be said about many Anglicans.  Yes, I understand that important public figures can be misquoted.  But again and again we have this pattern:

1. Pope Francis says something or is quoted to say something out of line with orthodoxy. 

2. The Vatican issues a denial/non-denial somewhat along the lines of the Pope didn’t mean what he said.

3. Those who cannot deal with the possibility of the Pope being a Jesuit heretic engage in their usual denial and pour scorn on those open to said possibility.

Now I do not know if the Pope is a heretic.  But I sure as Hell know there is something seriously wrong with the man.

Just how much is wrong with the man I do not presume to know.  I do know he is a Lib/Left Jesuit (But I repeat myself.) who should never had been made Pope, and I am not about to engage in denial about it.

Skojec posits that the influence of Peronism explains much about Francis.  I am unsure of that.  But it gives me an excuse to repost this fun anecdote about Juan Peron:

The story is told that Perón, in his days of glory, once proposed to induct a nephew in the mysteries of politics. He first brought the young man with him when he received a deputation of communists; after hearing their views, he told them, “You’re quite right.” The next day he received a deputation of fascists and replied again to their arguments, “You’re quite right.” Then he asked his nephew what he thought and the young man said, “You’ve spoken with two groups with diametrically opposite opinions and you told them both that you agreed with them. This is completely unacceptable.” Perón replied, “You’re quite right too.”

And that sounds too much like Francis, does it not?  Perhaps that explains much of the denial about him.  His defenders hear just enough affirmation of their views from him to keep defending him – no matter what else he says or does not say to others.