All the latest reports coming from the Vatican reveal a seriously ill Pope Francis, whose time on this earth might be nearing an end. Allow me for a moment to separate the man from the activist. I pray for Pope Francis, I pray for God’s forgiveness of his sins, I pray he’s judged by God with an emphasis on his virtues, and I pray that God accepts him into His everlasting kingdom as a parent would embrace a son returning home.
I’ve written extensively about what are, in my opinion, Francis’s shortcomings, abandonments, and downright betrayals as leader of the Roman Catholic Church. But now is not the time to chortle and sneer. Should Pope Francis soon depart this world, we should all advocate for the salvation of his soul, not as moral superiors fit to observe the speck in others’ eyes, but as fellow travelers mired in the same world of sin and death, all of us groping blindly in the dark for a better path.
Having said that, it’s no secret to anybody paying attention that Pope Francis’s tenure has been an absolute disaster not only for Catholicism but for the entire Christian world. Now that his term is nearing its conclusion (or, at least in the functional sense), the overriding question is whether his papacy was an accidental fluke or a sign of a darker permanency. Will the College of Cardinals correct this mistake, or will it double down?
That question will only be answered with the next papal election. The Cardinals have two clear, distinct, and incompatible paths to choose from. I hope they choose wisely. I don’t think it’s hyperbole to suggest that millions of Catholics, across the world but especially in the West, will use this election to determine whether or not to stay with the Church.
But if New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan is an accurate weathervane of the direction the Church is headed, then things don’t look good. This Lenten season, he posted a video not about Lent, but about the start of Ramadan for our “Islamic brothers and sisters,” and how our Ash Wednesday is “kind of like our Ramadan.” […]
— Read More: pjmedia.com
