A Southward Papacy

In this blogger's opinion, this papacy is not headed northward toward Heaven but in the opposite direction.

Recently, the pope dispatched over a thousand "new hand-picked 'super confessors' to forgive those who have sinned so badly that they can only normally be pardoned by the pontiff himself." [1]

"In a bid to win back the hearts of people who have left the Catholic Church, the 'missionaries of mercy' will hear the confessions of the worst of all sins - from attempting to assassinate the pope to spitting out blessed bread and wine in Church [or anywhere else].

"Since the 12th century, those guilty of these so-called 'reserved sins' had their cases evaluated by a secret tribunal in the tiny Vatican city state before they were sent before the pope, who would determine an appropriate penance.

"Now, 1,142 priests and monks from around the world have be [sic] given the power, for the Vatican's Jubilee Year, to forgive sinners in their flocks - and possibly fellow priests as one of the special sins is breaking the seal of confession." [2]

One can view this as a charitable act by a forgiving pope, but this blogger sees a pope who is full of himself and who has overstepped his bounds by delegating a serious responsibility, including the forgiveness of sins of desecration, that has been in place since the 12th century to 1,142 priests and monks.  The fact that for some 800 years such sins are only to be evaluated by the pope underscores the weight and magnitude of their gravity.

Expanding the power to forgive such grave sins, even if it is for a limited time, to 1,142 priests and monks when the power to do so ought to be vested in the pope alone would appear to dilute the degree of their seriousness 1,142 times. Satan must be ecstatic.

To add to Satan's delight, "[t]he Catholic church is telling newly appointed bishops that it is 'not necessarily' their duty to report accusations of clerical child abuse and that only victims or their families should make the decision to report abuse to police." [3]  So now the Catholic church is officially an accessory after the fact [4] to priests and monks who have abused children sexually [5].

How can this pope be considered as the Vicar of Christ when his actions serve Satan's interests?  This blogger believes that he cannot be the Vicar of Christ and that whoever he truly is, he is leading the papacy to Hell.


[1]  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3441058/Pope-Francis-sends-1-000-new-hand-picked-super-confessors-forgive-sinned-badly-normally-pardoned-pontiff-himself.html
[2] Ibid.
[3] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/10/catholic-bishops-not-obliged-report-clerical-child-abuse-vatican-says
[4] https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/accessory_after_the_fact
[5] "In most states [in the United States], child abuse [including child sexual abuse] may be charged as either a felony or a less serious offense depending on the circumstances."  See http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/child-abuse-penalties-and-sentencing.html