
A Sober Reflection on
“Laudato
si
”
a Deeply Defective Encyclical

It has become
a sad and painful realization that not all the popes of Holy
Mother the Church have been holy.
Only during the tumultuous and
deeply troubling pontificate of Francis did ordinary Catholics have
any motivation to question the personal sanctity or the competence of
any pope. In our efforts to find precedence, we have, of course, subsequently
come to learn that Pope Honorius was anathematized in 680 A.D.,
condemned as a heretic and excommunicated — forty years
after his death! If we looked further, we found the inexcusable moral
turpitude of the Borgia Pope Alexander VI which brought the papacy and
the administration of the Church into nothing less than disrepute. In
modern times we have the widespread dissension, division, and disaffection,
occasioned by Pope John XXIII in convening of the Second Vatican
Council for no pressing or apparent reason — and whose prescient
last words — which went unheeded — were: “Stop the
Council!” 1 The destructive aftermath, of course,
is clear to everyone, and the Church is still — after more than 50 years
— reverberating with that monumental collapse and everywhere we look
it is crumbling. It will not be destroyed, but it may be torn down to
its foundations.
In a climate of spiritual license we now find
current popes canonizing virtually all their immediate predecessors
— a scandalous state of affairs given the utter mediocrity of Paul VI
(who surrendered the sacred Papal Tiara — the Triregnum used
by all popes since the 8th century — and all it signified) to the Buddhist
U Thant who presided over the U.N. — and which was never to be
worn again), and the outrageously blasphemous
“ecumenical”
convergence of all the world’s
“spiritual”
leaders at Assisi in October 1986 called for by John-Paul II
in pursuit of the Second Vatican Council’s emphasis on the non-denominational
avenue to salvation open to every adherent of every religion,
however primitive and profane — whether or not it so much as acknowledged
Christ’s sole, unique, and absolutely necessary Sacrifice on the Cross.
In Francis, however, we find the papacy going
beyond
“ecumenism”
— even beyond religion itself. In his present
and deeply defective encyclical, “Laudato si”
we find the present Pope, Francis, issuing encyclicals
on the environment and economics!
Let us be frank: none of these
issues falls within the scope of Francis’s (quite limited) competency
or divinely invested power, nor are we able to reconcile them with the
Petrine Office which has been entrusted to him. When Christ said to
Saint Peter,
“Feed
my sheep.”
(Saint John 21.17) we do not believe that He had in mind “the
tragic effects of environmental degradation on the lives of
the world’s poorest” (Laudato si, 13) or “the intimate
relationship between the poor and the fragility of the planet”
(16). Yes, as Saint James is clear (St. James 2.16), we have a very
real individual responsibility for providing for those in need. This
matter is not in question in the least, nor has it ever been.
But it is imperative to understand that Christ
also recognized a greater and more pressing need still:
“Amen,
amen I say to you, you seek me, not because you have seen miracles,
but because you did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth
unto life everlasting, which the Son of man will give you.”
(Saint John 6.26-28). It was in this regard
that Christ told Saint Peter to
“Feed
My sheep.”
It was a spiritual command … not
an economic mandate.
If the Pope pontificates
on economics we must ask ourselves, can an economist pontificate
on Canon Law?
“Of course
not”, you say, “The province of
expertise embodied in an economist does not qualify him as a theologian.
It's not his job description. He may have opinions on the matter
but that is all they are: opinions.” By the same reasoning,
neither can a pope pontificate on economics. It's not
his job description. His job description is spiritual:
proclaiming the Gospel, retaining the Deposit of the Faith, leading
the Church faithfully in the ways of Christ, and saving souls. In fact,
his Master very clearly states, to avoid all confusion, that His Kingdom
is not of this world. ( “Regnum
Meum non est de hoc mundo.”
(Saint John 18.36)
An economist’s job description, on the other hand, is
explicitly temporal and material: to research and analyze
economic issues; it precisely pertains to the world, matter, money,
and financial assets. Pope Francis, by contrast, has an individual
right, as do all men, to an opinion on economic issues
— but even as Pontiff he possesses no authority in them since
he has no credentials for them.
To better understand the incongruity, let us ask: Would
you go to Warren Buffet for “spiritual
advice on moral matters?” And, conversely, “Would you go the pope for
“economic advice concerning your
retirement options?” Really? It is a matter of competency and invested
authority. Would you attend a seminar featuring Warren Buffett on the
topic of “saving your soul and going to Heaven”? Would you go to one
featuring Pope Francis on “efficiently organizing your work strategy
and finances”? You would cock your head in bewilderment and politely
decline both. Say it is not so! Or do we have a deal for you on ocean-front
property in Nebraska!
Until
the pontificate of Francis we, as Catholics, had two holy Mothers:
-
Our Holy Mother the Church
-
Our Holy Mother, Mary
-
... and now ... to our incredulity, a third
— we find foisted upon us, a third:
“our
holy Mother Earth”...?
Indeed, Pope Francis, in his
encyclical,
Laudato si, insists that we:
-
“Love the land as Mother
earth”
-
“Make alliance with Mother
Earth”
-
“This sister [Earth] now
cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her
by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods which God has
endowed her with. We have come to see ourselves as her lord and
masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present
in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the soil, in
the water, in the air, and in all forms of life.”
-
“We human beings are united as
brothers and sisters on a wonderful pilgrimage, woven together
by the love God has for each of his creatures and which also
unites us in fond affection with brother sun, sister moon,
brother river and mother earth.”
-
“One thing is certain: we can no
longer turn our backs on reality, on our brothers and sisters,
on Mother Earth.” (speech at the Pontifical
Catholic University of Ecuador)
Yes, Saint Francis of
Assisi wrote the beautiful Canticle of the Sun from
which Pope Francis
selectively draws in this encyclical — but he
egregiously neglects (with most “progressive” bishops and clerics,
to say nothing of the stultified laity) to mention even once
Saint Francis’s stern
admonition in closing that same Canticle:
“Woe to those who die in mortal sin!
Happy those she finds doing Your most
holy will.
The second death can do no harm to them.”
Pope Francis, on the other hand, absurdly asserts
that ,“to commit a crime against the natural world is a sin against
ourselves and a sin against God”
It is worthwhile noting that he is quoting — ecumenically
of course — “His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew” (On
Earth as in Heaven: Ecological Vision and Initiatives of Ecumenical
Patriarch Bartholomew) the worldwide leader of the Orthodox
Churches — which are not in communion with Rome.
Prior to the Second Vatican Council, popes quoted from Christ, His Apostles
and His Saints within the Catholic Church.)
Let us be Clear:
One Cannot
Sin
against “Mother Earth”
It is not only a
ridiculous but a blasphemous notion. We cannot sin against
“Mother Earth” any more than we can sin against a stone: it is not a
person created in imago Dei, and it certainly is not a
deity, except in pagan religions, New Age Theology, and Wicca — and,
it would appear, the present papacy.
How far Saint Francis’s spiritual vision is ...
from Pope Francis’s economic vision: With great urgency,
he insists that “The system of production and distribution of
food must be radically rethought.” (We do not know what school
of theology this derives from; very likely Jesuit in origin,
for the Jesuits, once so fiercely loyal to the Church and the papacy
are now, by and large, today’s modern apostates within the Post-Modern
Church that Pope Francis appears intent on constructing, even as he
“deconstructs” the Church of the Ages). The Holy Father is not
aptly named, after all. “Francis: re-build my Church, which as you
can see is falling into ruin.” Thus Christ spoke to Francis of Assisi
in 1206. He did not direct Francis to reform feudal economics.
If much of this is reminiscent of New Age thought and the culture of
the 60's, we are at least inclined to wonder at the correspondence,
yes?
We pray for Pope Francis, that God lead him and guide him in His
ways — and not the ways of the world, for we have
greater authority to which to appeal than “His All Holiness Ecumenical
Patriarch Bartholomew.” As Catholics we have the unimpeachable
witness and admonishment of two:
“Love
not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any
man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
(1 St. John 2.15)
Saint Paul:
“The
world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
(Gal. 6.14)
In our humble — and perhaps even mistaken opinion
— the last truly holy and absolutely faithful Pontiff was Pope Pius
X (the veritable bane of the liberal and “progressive” mind-set
that permeates our Post-Modern Church) . We do not assert that
the Seat of Peter expired after his death. We are not Sedevacantists
— yet. Whether or not it has been heroically Catholic in the last
50 years is, in our opinion, very questionable. The Church has suffered
much and terribly as a consequence of Vatican II. But just as Pope Pius
X sat upon the Cathedra that Honorius and Alexander stained,
another Pope of heroic Catholic sanctity may await us and restore what
had been — once again, in our opinion — illicitly expropriated from
us. In that sense we are, indeed, Faithful to the Sacred Deposit of
Faith entrusted to the Holy see in Rome when it is exercised as such
in conspectu Dei, and in complete continuity and agreement with
that 2000 year Deposit of Faith — which is susceptible to being
(illicitly) ignored or prescinded from to the ends of man, but from
which no one can deprive Catholics, and which none can abolish.
Remember the admonition of Saint Paul to Saint Timothy:
“For
there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but,
according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers,
having itching ears: And will indeed turn away their hearing from the
truth, but will be turned unto fables.”
( 2 Tim. 4:3-4)
May we humbly ask that you pray for us, and for all who contend against
“the
deceits of the devil. “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood;
but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world
of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.”
(Eph. 6.11-12)
_______________________
1
http://www.ewtn.com/v/experts/showmessage.asp?number=296979
Printable PDF File
Geoffrey K.
Mondello
Editor
editor@boston-catholic-journal.com
Boston Catholic Journal

Totally Faithful to the
Sacred
Deposit of Faith
entrusted to the Holy See in Rome
“Scio
opera tua ... quia modicum habes virtutem, et servasti verbum
Meum, nec non negasti Nomen Meum”
“I
know your works ... that you have but little power, and
yet you have kept My word, and have not denied My Name.”
(Apocalypse
3.8)
Copyright © 2004 - 2023 Boston Catholic Journal. All rights reserved. Unless otherwise stated, permission
is granted by the Boston Catholic Journal for the copying
and distribution of the
articles and audio files under the following conditions:
No additions, deletions, or changes are to be made to the
text or audio files in any way, and the copies may not be
sold for a profit.
In the reproduction, in any format of any image, graphic,
text, or audio file, attribution must be given to the Boston
Catholic Journal.
|
|