28 Jan 2017

Nigerian clergy following a manifestly heretical anti-pope, “Francis”!


by Jonathan Ekene Ifeanyi

Francis
February 11, 2013, the day we all woke up to hear Pope Benedict XVI announcing his intention to “resign”, remains historic. It’s historic because the papacy—office of the pope—is monarchical and the very idea of a pope resigning, let alone doing so falsely, is simply abnormal. (For my father’s interesting reaction to the news, an article on the FALSE “resignation”, see: How Pope Ratzinger messed up the papacy!).
  
On February 28, 2013, to the immense consternation of conscious Catholics, Pope Benedict XVI actually did “resign” and subsequently, a papal conclave “elected” a new pope as his successor on 13 March, 2013.  The original name of the new “pope” is Jorge Mario Bergoglio, but his “papal” name is Francis. Just within some months, however, Francis intentionally began to scandalise Catholics. For instance on Holy Thursday of 2013 Francis adamantly ignored the normal traditional practice of washing the feet of 12 men—a practice originated by Jesus Christ Himself who washed the feet of His 12 apostles, ALL MEN—choosing instead to include women in the washing! Conscious Catholics had no doubt that the action was a real scandal, and they were still discussing it when the man began to manifest his main true colours. Apart from innumerable terribly blasphemous statements which he began to dish out almost on daily basis, such as saying that the cross of Jesus was a “failure”, all of which are simply impossible to document here, it may suffice to mention only the following:

First, shortly after the so-called resignation of Pope Benedict XVI a thunder struck the Vatican. (And something similar was to happen a year later when “Pope” Francis visited Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity and days later, a fire broke out at the scene).

Then shortly after “Pope” Francis’ “election” in March (2013) the
Grand Master Gustavo Raffi of the Grand Orient Masonic Lodge of Italy—a very powerful Secret Society—praised the “election”, writing, “With Pope Francis, nothing will be as it was before”. Later, Francis himself “joked” with the cardinals who “elected” him, saying: “May God forgive you for what you have done”.

On March 16, 2013, “Pope” Francis reportedly said, “Carnival time is over!” when offered the traditional papal red cape after his “election”.

On May 22, 2013, “Pope” Francis said that atheists who do good are redeemed. In other words don’t just bother about believing in God—just do good and that’s enough. “We all have the duty to do good”, he said. “For Atheists: Just do good and we’ll find a meeting point”.

On September 04, 2013, “Pope” Francis vomited a similar error, saying: “The issue for those who do not believe in God is in obeying their own conscience”. (Of course he was defended by many who argued that he wasn’t really saying that atheists shouldn’t be converted to the Catholic Faith). Then on October 01, 2013 “Pope” Francis contradicted his defenders by stating clearly that “Proselytism (the idea of converting unbelievers to the Christian or Catholic Faith) is solemn nonsense”. “...It makes no sense”, he said. “We need to get to know each other, listen to each other and improve our knowledge of the world around us”. (See: Pope Solemn Nonsense ). 

On October 9, 2014, “Pope” Francis said, in an interview: “But God does not exist: Do not be shocked! So God does not exist! There is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, they are persons, they are not some vague idea in the clouds … This God spray does not exist! The three persons exist!” Again, he said: “I believe in God, not in a Catholic God. There is no Catholic God...You know what I think about this? Heads of the Church have often been narcissists, flattered and thrilled by their courtiers. The court is the leprosy of the papacy”. Francis further stated on the same day that “The most serious of the evils that afflict the world these days are youth unemployment and the loneliness of the old.” (See: Pope Francis: The ‘most serious’ evils are ‘youth unemployment and the loneliness of the old’).

On July 29, 2013, when asked about the scandals of homosexual “priests”, Francis replied: “Who am I to judge?” Again, as usual, some—including Anthony Cardinal Okogie of Nigeria—defended him, arguing that his words should be studied in their “context”. Then again, on March 10, 2014, “Pope” Francis contradicted his defenders by stating that “the Catholic Church should not dismiss gay marriage, but should study it”. He was still defended by some, in fact, even after demonstrating to his dumb defenders what he really meant on the day he visited the United States, in 2015, when—AMONG ALL American Catholics—only a notorious homosexual man, named Morocca, was found worthy to serve as a “lector” during his diabolical “Papal Holy Mass”.

Morocca (middle)
Of course it should be noted that Bergoglio, as the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, had been championing the so-called gay-rights—that is, even before he invaded the Vatican. He was quoted in favour of “gay rights” while he was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires. And don't just take my word for it—read it yourself. (See: EL PAPA APOYÓ LA UNIÓN CIVIL ENTRE HOMOSEXUALES: ACTIVISTAS ARGENTINOS).
           
Bergoglio’s words: “estoy a favor de los derechos de los homosexuales y en cualquier caso, también apoyo las uniones civiles de los homosexuales, pero creo que Argentina no está lista para el matrimonio legal.”

Translated: “I'm in favour of gay rights and in any case, also support civil unions for homosexuals, but I think Argentina is not ready for legal marriage”. And the Cardinals who pioneered his “election” as pope were perfectly aware of all these; in fact they “elected” him because he holds all these beliefs.
           
On September 11, 2013, “Pope” Francis implied that the sinless Blessed Virgin Mary has ‘defects’, saying, “The Church and the Virgin Mary are mothers…All mothers have defects, we all have defects, but when we speak of our mother’s defects we gloss over them”.  (Note that this is a blatant heresy because it simply contradicts the Church’s defined dogma of the Immaculate Conception and Francis was perfectly aware of that). On December 20, 2013, “Pope” Francis, again speaking of the sinless Blessed Virgin Mary, said: “Our Lady was human! And perhaps she even had the desire to say: ‘Lies! I was deceived!’ ”

On September 13, 2013, “Pope” Francis said that the Catholic Church “is obsessed with gays, abortion, and birth control”“It is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time”, he said “...We have to find a new balance”. To really prove what he meant, in 2015—at a time when America under corrupt Barrack Obama legalised homosexuality, abortion and the like—Francis visited the United States, where he spoke to all those responsible for all the legalisations. Judy Meisner, my FB friend (a professor of psychology), made the following interesting observation on Francis’ speech before the Congress—those championing the evils—in the United States:

“ISSUES COVERED IN FRANCIS' SPEECH BEFORE CONGRESS (In numbers):
Number of times Francis referred to himself: 43
Number of times Francis attacked the death penalty: 2
Number of times Francis condemned the Christian Holocaust in the Middle East: ZERO!
Number of times Francis condemned the crime of abortion: ZERO!
Number of times Francis condemned the crime of adoption of abandoned and orphaned by homosexuals: ZERO!
Number of times Francis mentioned Marriage as the union of a husband and a wife: ZERO!
Now for the REAL CLINCHER: Number of times Francis mentioned Jesus Christ: ZERO! 

Whose Vicar is he? Am I missing something?”

Francis and Obama
Similarly, in July 2014, “Pope” Francis gave his Top 10 List on how to be happy—he never mentioned Jesus Christ even once. (Reported by NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER, July 27, 2014).

On April 23, 2014, “Pope” Francis phoned a woman in invalid marriage, telling her it’s okay to take Holy Communion. “A little Bread and Wine does no harm”, he said. The woman’s diocesan priest protested and Francis replied saying: There are some priests who are more papist than the Pope” (April 24, 2014).

On May 27, 2014, “Pope” Francis said: “Since it is not dogma, the door is always open to rethink priestly celibacy”. Already, as I write, there are now some married “Catholic priests” around the world. In the United States alone, for instance, there are currently about 125 married “priests”, all recognised by Rome. (See for instance: I’m a Married Man. I’m also a Catholic Priest; see also: Pope Francis: Married priests "on my agenda"--"reform of the reform" not so much, and The new push to end priestly celibacy ).   

Carefully note that Francis’ support of “married priests” is not a news. Before he invaded the Vatican, he had been notorious for encouraging priests to leave the priesthood if they fall in love, and divorce as well. For instance in a private conversation with his longtime friend from Buenos Aires, Oscar Crespo, Francis reportedly revealed his plans to change important “archaic” parts of the Catholic rules. Crespo says “the Pope” intends to overturn the “centuries-old ban” on Catholic priests from getting married and to lift the banishment of divorcees from the Catholic Church. Crespo claims Francis told him “six years ago”, when “the Pope” was archbishop of Buenos Aires, that the ban on priests getting married was not “doctrine”. (See: Pope Francis wants to change two major Catholic laws he sees as 'archaic' ).

As Bergoglio himself, before invading the Vatican, said in “Conversations”, (pp. 118-119): “There are times when a priest does fall in love and must reassess his vocation and his life. Then he must go to the bishop and tell him, ‘I’ve made up my mind… I didn’t know I was going to feel something so beautiful… I truly love this woman’, and he asks to leave the priesthood”.

And what do you do in these cases?

Bergoglio (“Pope” Francis) says: “I stay with him; I accompany him on his spiritual journey. If he is sure of his decision, I even help him find work… We request what is called ‘dispensation,’ permission from Rome, and then he would be allowed to receive the sacrament of marriage.”

So Francis will help a man who took a permanent vow of chastity before God to break his vow and leave the priesthood! (Of course he will, since he doesn’t believe in a Catholic God). The Catholic Church has never allowed a priest to leave the priesthood and get married. This is a heretical invention promoted after Vatican II. Celibacy, in fact, has existed in one form or another throughout history and in virtually all the major religions of the world. It was common in the ancient world—when men were really religious and pious—to view sexual power as a rival to religious power, and the sexuality of the opposite sex as a polluting factor, especially in sacred or crisis situations. Even in the Old Testament times, there were prescribed periods of sexual abstinence in connection with rituals and sacrifices and the prosecution of holy wars. Hence we learn that King David—at a time when a war was going on between Israel and Rabba—after committing adultery with Urias’ wife, Bethsabee, and learning that she had become pregnant, sent for her husband, Urias, who was among those fighting the war, and tried different means of sending him to his house to sleep with his wife but in vain. “And Urias said to David: “The ark of God and Israel and Juda dwell in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord abide upon the face of the earth: and shall I go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to sleep with my wife? By thy welfare and by the welfare of thy soul I will not do this thing”. (2 Kings 11: 1-11). In post-Old Testament times, some members of the Essenes, according to the Jewish historian Josephus, rejected marriage, and the medieval Talmudic scholar Ben Azzai remained celibate. Our Lord Himself, speaking of celibacy, said, “...there are eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. He that can take, let him take it”. (Matthew 19:12). The origin of priestly celibacy goes back to the first apostles of Christ who, for the sake of God’s kingdom, gave up marriage. As we read in the Gospel: “Then Peter answering, said to him: Behold we have left all things, and have followed thee: what therefore shall we have? And Jesus said to them: Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, OR WIFE, or children, or lands for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possesses life everlasting”. (Matthew 19:27-29). St. Paul, who was celibate, writes: “…It is good for a man not to touch a woman…For I would that all men were even as myself: but every one hath his proper gift from God; one after this manner, and another after that.” (1 Corinthians 9:1&7).  

“A priest”, says the Encyclopaedia Britannica, “may be defined as one who, as a mediator, performs the sacred function of communicating through rites the needs of the people to heaven and the sacred power and presence from heaven to the congregation. His function is objective. Its efficacy is assured if the priest conducts the proper rite and has the proper qualifications of ordination and, perhaps, of ritual purity, regardless of whether he is particularly moral or fervent. Celibacy serves as such an objective mark of special state and ritual purity.” The point to note here is that the main purpose of priestly celibacy is ritual purity required for sacerdotal rites—this is different from another type of celibacy associated with monasticism, the main purpose of which is moral and spiritual advancement. Today we are often given the false impression (by some perverts among the clergy who, like Martin Luther who renounced his vow of celibacy and married the former nun Katherina von Bora, are intoxicated with sex) that “Well, celibacy is not a dogma. Priests in the early centuries were married and priests today can still marry.” But the fact is that, even at the so-called “time when priests were married”, it was common for ordained men to give up sexual relations with their wives. In fact the reason why some of them had wives in the first place was because they had been married before they took the decision to become priests—so having become priests, some gave up their wives. (Matthew 19:12; 27-29). (Such actions are unthinkable today only become modern men and women have become extraordinarily canal—intoxicated with sex!). These perverts will never mention the regional Council of Elvira in Spain (c. AD 306) which decreed that all priests and bishops, married or not, should abstain from sexual relations—or the ecumenical Council of Nicaea (AD 325) which forbade priests to live with women other than their mothers, sisters, or aunts.

Note that all I’ve been describing took place between the apostolic times and the fourth century. Thus when Pope St. Gregory VII championed the compulsory clerical celibacy in the 11th century, it wasn’t really seen as something new. Celibacy, then, was only made a part of church law—at the first and second Lateran Councils (1123 and 1139) which abolished clerical marriage and thus established the official and still-existing position of the Roman Catholic Church.

Cardinal Onaiyekan
Nigerian Novus Ordo priests and bishops have unanimously condemned the current push to abolish priestly celibacy—which they describe as a “selfish and parochial idea”. (See: ANTI-CELIBACY PUSH: NIGERIAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS KICK ). But that is not enough—if they don’t stop behaving like cowards and condemn the originator of the scandal himself, namely “Pope” Francis, they are in no way free.
                                         
As for Crespo’s testimony that “the Pope” intends to lift the banishment of divorcees from the Catholic church, we have already seen that in action—in Francis’ latest scandalous Amoris Laetitia which champions reception of Holy Communion by divorcees, and we have also seen his championing of divorce in his 2015 Motu Proprio which “allows” local bishops to grant uncontested divorce (deceptively called annulments) to married couples within 45 days!

On June 6, 2013, in a private audience with the board of The Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women, “Pope” Francis said: “There are some restorationist groups. I know some. It fell upon me to receive them in Buenos Aires. And one feels as if one goes back 60 years! Before the Council… One feels in 1940… An anecdote, just to illustrate this, it is not to laugh at it, I took it with respect, but it concerns me; when I was elected, I received a letter from one of these groups, and they said: “Your Holiness, we offer you this spiritual treasure: 3,525 rosaries.” Why don't they say, ‘we pray for you, we ask…’, but this thing of counting… And these groups return to practices and to disciplines that I lived through – not you, because you are not old – to disciplines, to things that in that moment took place, but not now, they do not exist today…”

So here is a “pope” who not only doesn’t believe in praying the Rosary—the greatest Catholic prayer after the Holy Mass—but makes a mockery of those who pray it.

Francis also doesn’t believe in the Bible—but he fanatically believes in evolution. On October 27, 2014, “Pope” Francis said, in a speech to members of the Pontifical Academy of the Sciences, that Evolution and the Big Bang are real. (See: Pope Francis declares Evolution and the Big Bang theory are real and God is not a magician with a magic wand ).

“…Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve,” he said. But on the Bible: On June 29, 2014, when asked about misogyny and women in the Church, Francis—referring to the biblical account of God’s creation of woman, Gen. 2: 21-23, said: “The fact is that woman was taken from a rib … (he laughed strongly). I’m kidding, that’s a joke. I agree that the question of women must be explored more deeply, otherwise one cannot understand the Church herself.” (IL MESSAGGERO). Similarly, on June 2, 2013, “Pope” Francis, speaking about Jesus multiplying the bread and fish, said: “Here’s the miracle, that it is more a sharing than a multiplying”!

Carefully note that even when Francis talks about “Jesus”, it is NOT the Jesus of Scripture we all know but a radically different one. His “Jesus” is not God but man. For example on October 28, 2014, “Pope” Francis said: Jesus prays to the Father for us”. (NEWS.VA). This statement is subtly blasphemous. Jesus is God, so He doesn’t pray for anybody, rather we humans pray to Him, and the saints and the Virgin Mary pray to the Father, to Jesus, and to the Holy Spirit for us.

On June 13, 2014, Francis said, on Pope Benedict XVI’s “Resignation”:

“Pope Benedict has made a very significant act. He has opened the door, has created an institution, that of the eventual popes emeritus. 70 years ago, there were no emeritus bishops. Today how many are there? Well, as we live longer, we arrive to an age where we cannot go on with things. I will do the same as him, asking the Lord to enlighten me when the time comes and that he tell me what I have to do, and he will tell me for sure.”    (Reported by CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY).

On July 9, 2014, at a private lunch “Pope” Francis told Brian Stiller of World Evangelical Alliance: “I’m not interested in converting evangelicals to Catholicism. I want people to find Jesus in their own community. There are so many doctrines we will never agree on. Let’s not spend our time on those. Rather, let’s be about showing the love of Jesus.”   (Reported by WORLD EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE). (The Nigerian Novus Ordo clergy who promote FALSE ECUMENISM will of course have no problem with this!) Hence we have seen “Pope” Francis canonising the arch-heretic and blasphemer Martin Luther—Martin Luther who broke away from the Catholic Church in a schism 500 years ago. Just early this month Francis’ Satanic Vatican declared that Catholics should now see Martin Luther as “a witness to the Gospel”. Martin Luther, the demon-possessed Monster who pioneered the Protestant revolt that led to the division of Christianity in the sixteenth century and consequently the fragmentation of “churches” we see everywhere in today’s world, a disgraceful fragmentation which causes so many unbelievers in our time not to take the Christian Faith seriously and to scorn the very idea of being converted to the Faith; Martin Luther who declared that the papacy (office of the pope) was “founded by the devil” and that the pope himself is the “antichrist”—as he wrote: “Seeing the pope is antichrist, I believe him to be a devil incarnate...”; Martin Luther who not only condemned the papacy, but also condemned Catholicism completely—he referred to Catholics as the “papists”, and condemned them together with the entire Church: ‘‘They that do not hold the sacrament as Christ instituted it, have no sacrament. All papists do not, therefore they have no sacrament; for they receive not the sacrament, but offer it...The sacrament is God's work and ordinance, and not man's,’’ he wrote. This Martin Luther, says current Satanic Vatican, should now be recognised by Catholics as a “Witness to the Gospel”!

In a similar development, the Vatican office charged with issuing stamps, known as the Philatelic and Numismatic Office, confirmed Tuesday, January 17, to LifeSiteNews that Martin Luther will be celebrated with a postage stamp in 2017. The office is in charge of the annual commission of stamps, coins, and other commemorative medals. Please note that usually if individuals are commemorated on stamps they are saints, so Francis is indeed canonising Martin Luther. This is not a mere joke. Francis believes that anybody—Catholic or non-Catholic—can be canonised a saint. For instance on October 13, 2016, a day Catholics were supposed to commemorate the 99th anniversary of the Fatima apparition, “Pope” Francis intentionally ignored the event but rather went to Sweden to honour the Arch-heretic and blasphemer, Martin Luther. Now during in his speech at Sweden Francis said (referring to “St.” Martin Luther): “Both in the Lutheran and Catholic Churches there are saints, men and women with a holy heart who follow the Gospel: they are the Church’s reformers.” Francis’ honouring of Martin Luther—both last year and this year—is indeed “special”, trumping even significant events in the Catholic Church such as the 100-year anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima and the 300-year anniversary of our Lady of Aparecida, Brazil. (See: Yesterday, Francis managed to spit into the faces: of Our Lord, of the Blessed Ever Virgin Mary, of past popes, and of the entire Church)

Kindly note that Novus Ordo priests usually don’t see anything wrong in this canonising of Luther. This is because these priests were taught in the Protestantised seminaries where they were trained that Luther was indeed a great theologian. As one Protestant historian (lecturing in a Catholic seminary) who read my book ‘Telling The Truth’ remarked when we met in the university some years ago: “Oh your book is good....except I’m surprised to hear that Martin Luther is a heretic!” When I responded he said, “See, Mr Jonathan Ifeanyi, I have a lot of friends who are Catholic priests. They don’t say things like these.”

What many dumb “Catholics” don’t understand is that these priests are being trained almost like the Protestant “clergy”, and that’s why they all have a FALSE UNDERSTANDING of Catholicism and in fact are even worse than Protestants in their behaviours. You will always observe this in the way many of them pray (screaming and shouting, “speaking in tongues”...“in Jesus’ name, Amen”, “it will be well with you!”, all about God’s blessings and prosperity for infidel “Catholics”,...no asking of God’s forgiveness for their massive sins and those of their victims, etc.), and in their purely Protestant understanding of the Holy Mass (Rev. Sisters can also give Holy Communion, altar girls and women lay readers are excellent achievements of Vatican II, etc.). And it seems the Nigerian situation is simply the worst. Hence while “Pope” Francis is busy demolishing the Church, these priests are equally busy telling their poor victims that all is well. In several places—particularly in this January—many of them are busy organising “prayer seminars” where they pray and “prophesy” to their poor victims that they will prosper in this new year 2017.
"Catholics" the world over have advanced more than the Pentecostals, the Nigerian situation being the worst!
The errors and blatant heresies of “Pope” Francis go on and on and are quite impossible to document here. For the first time in history, the world has seen this “pope of mercy” who blasphemes as he likes; a “pope of mercy” who keeps advancing the “gospel of mercy” through deception, dishonesty, manipulation, and lies; a “pope of mercy” who blesses public sinners such as homosexuals and the abortionists—a “pope of mercy” who does not judge them, but who, at the same time, never hesitates to drive away from the Vatican conservative churchmen who dare to uphold the true Catholic Faith, and in fact, who has sacked many others, and so on.  

Cardinal Burke
Conscious Catholics have been discussing the scandals of this “pope of mercy” since 2013 when he was “elected”, wondering what was actually the real intention of the cardinals who pioneered his “election”, and what the hell some good Cardinals in Rome are doing right now even while the man is really CONSCIOUSLY destroying the Catholic Faith. As US Cardinal, Raymond Cardinal Burke, was forced to testify in an interview recently:

“...everywhere I go — and I travel a lot now — everywhere I go people are saying: 'What's wrong with you Cardinals? There are these serious questions, and yet you remain silent. You don't say anything.' And they’re correct. If we were to remain silent, it would most definitely give the idea to the faithful that everything is fine. But everything is not fine.”

Tragically, it is only in Nigeria—where “Catholics” worship money and the personalities instead of God—that such questions are not being asked.

Conscious Catholics outside Nigeria have been asking these questions until the issue of Amoris Laetitia came up just last year. Amoris Laetitia (Latin: “The Joy of Love”), is a post-synodal “apostolic exhortation” written by “Pope” Francis, dated 19 March 2016, which was released on 8 April 2016. The document follows the so-called Synods on the Family (called by Francis himself and held in 2014 and 2015). It focuses on several of the issues of contemporary morality and church practice that had proved contentious during the third extraordinary and the fourteenth ordinary synods’ presentations and discussions, surrounding access to communion, divorce, sexual mores, and “pastoral practice”. Major controversy erupted at the end of 2016 when four courageous Cardinals formally asked “Pope” Francis for clarifications, particularly on the issue of giving Holy Communion (Body of Christ) to Catholics living in a state of adultery—the so-called “divorced and civilly remarried Catholics”—which the document champions. The four Cardinals initially wrote the letter to “Pope” Francis privately in September 2016 asking the supposed “pope” to clarify grave errors in his document but they were ignored by him. Consequently—after waiting for Francis’ response for about two months but in vain—they courageously decided to make the matter public by releasing their letter with an explanatory note giving the faithful the opportunity to see their grave concerns. The Cardinals are: Raymond Cardinal Burke (quoted above, from the United States), Walter Cardinal Brandmüller (from Germany), Carlo Cardinal Caffarra (from Italy), and Joachim Cardinal Meisner (from Germany). The letter is called “Dubia”. “Dubia” (from the Latin: “doubts”) are formal questions brought before the Pope and to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith asking for clarifications on particular issues concerning doctrine or practice. What is peculiar about these inquiries is that they are worded in a way that requires a “yes” or “no” answer, without theological argumentation. This way of addressing the Apostolic See is not an invention of the cardinals, but an age-old practice in the Church. (For the Letter, see: On the "Open Letter" to Francis by the four cardinals).

On why they wrote the letter, Raymond Cardinal Burke explains in an interview:

“To understand the present publication, we need to consider what has led up to it.

“Just after his election, in his first Sunday Angelus message, Pope Francis praised Cardinal Walter Kasper’s understanding of mercy, which is a fundamental theme in Amoris Laetitia. Only a few months later, the Vatican announced an Extraordinary Synod about Marriage and Family for October 2014.

“In preparation for the Synod, I, along with four other Cardinals, an Archbishop, and three theologians, published a book, Remaining in the Truth of Christ. As a member of the Synod, I noted that the mid-term report lacked a solid foundation in Sacred Scripture and the Tradition of the Church. Later, I agreed with other Cardinals that there was manipulation in the running of the Synod itself, and in the writing of the final report of the Synod.

“Prior to the 2015 Synod, to which I was not invited, eleven Cardinals contributed to a book about marriage and the family. Although I did not contribute to this book, I read it with a great interest. Also prior to the 2015 Ordinary Synod on the Family, over 790,000 Catholics signed a “Filial Appeal” to Pope Francis about the future of the family, asking him to say “a clarifying word” to dissipate the “widespread confusion” about Church teaching. Along with other Cardinals, I was a signatory. During the 2015 session of the Synod, thirteen Cardinal-participants signed a letter to the Pope indicating their concern about the manipulation of the process of the Synod.

“In April 2016, Pope Francis published Amoris Laetitia as the fruit of the 2014 and 2015 sessions of the Synod of Bishops. In the summer of 2016, forty-five academics, including some prelates, wrote to the Holy Father and to the College of Cardinals, asking the Pope to repudiate a list of erroneous propositions that can be drawn from portions of Amoris Laetitia. This received no public response.
                                                
“On 29 August, 2016, I joined many bishops, priests, and lay faithful in signing a Declaration of Fidelity to the Church’s Teaching on Marriage and to Her Uninterrupted Discipline. This also has received no public response.

“My position is that Amoris Laetitia is not Magisterial because it contains serious ambiguities that confuse people and can lead them into error and grave sin. A document with these defects cannot be part of the Church’s perennial teaching. Because that is the case, the Church needs absolute clarity regarding what Pope Francis is teaching and encouraging.”


And what has been the response of “outspoken” clerics in Nigeria such as Cardinal Okogie, Bishop Kukah and others?

Recently, I stated the following in one of my online articles in which I tried comparing the beliefs of Cardinal Okogie and Cardinal Burke (one of the Dubia Cardinals just quoted):  

“Cardinal Okogie, like “Pope Francis”, believes in giving Holy Communion to public sinners. I’m not saying merely what I heard, but what I actually witnessed—like the case of a notorious homosexual receiving Holy Communion regularly in his own parish some years back. Anyone who doesn’t see any “big deal” in giving Holy Communion to a homosexual will equally not be embarrassed if a “pope” gives the same Communion to public adulterers. Cardinal Burke, on the contrary, is opposed to this evil practice—which is why he participated in writing the Dubia anyway.  Burke is also famously known to have refused Communion to the abortionist presidential candidate John Kerry, in 2004.

“Cardinal Okogie usually doesn’t care when the Church is suffering, as we can see in the case of “Pope” Francis who has tormented the Church for over three years now. But the same Cardinal has criticised virtually ALL Nigerian Presidents—from Babangida in the 1980s to Abacha in the ’90s, then Obasanjo, Yar’adua, Jonathan, and now Buhari in the 2000s—just to mention those I can easily recall. He is always one of the firsts to find faults in any administration. His 2016 Open Letter to President Mohammadu Buhari is just an example of what I’m talking about. (See: Cardinal Anthony Okogie writes open letter to President Buhari

Cardinal Okogie
“So why has the same Cardinal, who is always the first to see the evil in any government in Nigeria, never seen any evil in “Pope” Francis and his disastrous “pontificate”? Why is Cardinal Okogie, a Prince of the Church, busy writing an open letter (on hunger and bad leadership!) to the Nigeria’s President even while his own house (the Church) is on fire? Which is more evil—Buhari’s bad leadership which only results to temporal hunger affecting the body, or “Pope” Francis’ poisonous pontificate of disaster which kills both body and soul?”

Read the Cardinal’s old article in defence of “Pope” Francis: Anthony Cardinal Okogie: On Homosexuality: Nothing has Changed in the Church.

Tell me, after the reading, if you still doubt why a critic like the Cardinal never bothers to condemn any of the monumental evils in “Pope” Francis’ pontificate of disaster. For my humble response to that article, see: No, Cardinal Okogie, Homosexuals Deserve No Respect!

On Bishop Kukah who is also a “critic” and one of the famous Catholic bishops in Nigeria, I wrote, in the same online article:

Kukah
“Bishop Kukah—one of the worst enemies of Catholicism in Nigeria—who goes about criticising Buhari’s government even while rejoicing over “Pope” Francis who “has opened to the world the real face of the Catholic Church”, is indeed a source of temptation. I can’t waste my time on him because he is simply annoying. For Kukah’s lauding of Francis, see (online): ‘Pope Francis: A Pope For All Seasons’; and for his political jargon, see: POPE FRANCIS VS BISHOP KUKAH ON CORRUPTION, written by a non-Catholic observer!”

Just like Kukah and Okogie, almost all other Novus Ordo priests and bishops in Nigeria also follow the teachings of “Pope” Francis—confusing their poor victims with these teachings. This attitude—the blind leading the blind—is, indeed, a tragedy for the Catholic Faith in Nigeria.

Recently, in a Novus Ordo Mass celebrated in a Catholic Church in Lagos State, (Church of the Assumption in Falomo), a lady said the following during their Protestant “Prayer of the Faithful”:

“Let us pray for all the new changes that are being introduced into the Church right now, that we may not feel hurtful about these changes but see God’s hand in them, and accept them as new means of spreading God’s kingdom. We pray oh Lord!”  And the congregation answered: “Lord hear our prayer!”


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