Love, Penance And The Pardon Of Sins

"God is love" [1] and based on this Truth, many think and lead others to believe that God is abound with unconditional love and therefore there is no wrong one can commit that God will not pardon.  If this were true, Satan could retire from its 24 hours, 7 days a week job seeking the ruin of souls since every soul, no matter how sinful, would be forgiven based on God's "mercy," borrowing a word favored by Bergoglio who knows Satan well.  He said, "'With Satan you can't argue.'" [2]  Did Satan tell him that?  Certainly, these words were not spoken by Christ.

One who follows Satan's dictates of course wants everyone to believe that these words are to live by, to not argue with Satan but follow blindly, but for those who are not yet under its dictates, there is at least some back and forth, much like the conversation the Serpent and Eve had before she succumbed under its temptational power.  Satan did not just tell Eve to eat the apple and Eve ate it without initially putting up a defense, telling it that she was not to touch it let alone eat it [3].  That is not what Bergoglio wants.  He does not people to argue to Satan but to be like him, to let Satan be the boss.

As the Gospel of John had already pointed out long ago, that "every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God.  This is the spirit of the antichrist that, as you heard, is to come, but in fact is already in the world." [4]  And in the Vatican.  Even Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican's "chief exorcist 'who banished 70,000 demons'" who died in 2016 at the age of 91 [5] had in 2010 said that "'[t]he Devil resides in the Vatican and you can see the consequences,'... and [who had] been the Holy See's chief exorcist for 25 years." [6]  This blogger believes that Satan's power has grown since 2010 and is now the dominant force in the Vatican, quite possibly occupying the papacy.

As an aside, a blog with the name The Eponymous Flower  on November 4, 2016, published a post stating that "[o]n September 16, [after] the internationally known exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth, died[, h]is successor complains that there are hardly any young priests who are ready to act as exorcists," and that "[o]n 18 October the BBC reported on another exorcist. What Father Amorth was on an international level, Father Vincenzo Taraborelli is at the Italian level.  Father Taraborelli had been an exorcist of the Diocese of Rome along with Father Amorth.  He has now followed Amorth's footsteps as a de facto chief priest of the Pope's diocese." [7]  The Eponymous Flower  further published as follows [8]:

"Padre Amorth lived to 91. Perhaps I will be so old, and may still have something to do." The words are not conceited. He has a concrete reason. In the BBC report, Father Taraborelli complained that there was no growth of  new exorcists. "Exorcism in Italy is a frightening job for young priests," the BBC said. "The exorcist of Rome, who does not have a successor," is the title of the Spanish BBC program. The young priests show little interest in the service of the exorcist, at any rate in Italy. "Young priests are not particularly attracted by the prospect of spending hours in windowless rooms to read the prayers of the exorcism ritual for those affected," said BBC.

Father Taraborelli says, "I have told the [auxiliary] bishop that I can not find anyone who is ready to take over. Many of them are afraid. Even priests can be afraid. It's a hard life. "

In this respect, the pope does not seem to care.  Why should he?  Exorcists only get in the way of what the Devil wants to do through its representatives on earth and in the Vatican.  Despite not having an upcoming replacement, "Father Taraborelli is always active, and he is already 79 years old." [9]

Many commented after reading the post, not liking Bergoglio.  One comment in particular that was unabashedly apt was left by Karl who wrote: "Who would want to be an exorcist when your boss adores Lucifer? Not me!"  This was dated "November 5, 2016 at 4:41 PM" during Bergoglio's papacy.

With Satan's unmistakable presence occupying the papal throne, a good antidote against Satan's influence is love, not God's love for man but love going the other way: man's love for God.  One has to love God to guard against Satan.  The Gospel of John said, "God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him." [10]  In other words, whoever does not remain in love and in God has no God and becomes vulnerable.  With God's constant protection and occasional admonishments, one can be sure that one would not be an easy prey for Satan, even though one would still likely fall for Satan's temptations from time to time.  In acknowledging past transgressions and possibly preventing future ones, doing penance would help.

Man's love for God must precede penance for what is the point of doing penance if it is done out of a sense of obligation, perhaps with even a slight tinge of resentment or rebelliousness within?  Penance is not a duty but rather a privilege so that when completed, one's past sins can be cleansed and pardoned.  In other words, penance is done for the love of God, for the renewal of one's spirit troubled and weighed down by deliberate sins so that one is able to face God with cleanliness of conscience, lightness of spirit and joy emanating from the heart with openness and transparency.  It is this absence of shamefulness before God, Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary and all of God's angels and saints that allows one to gain a small sense of what being in Heaven could be like.

It would be Heaven on earth if everyone is no longer a slave to sin and if everyone can consistently argue vehemently with and ultimately say no to Satan in contradiction to what Bergoglio wants, to say "yes" to Satan without argument, even when Satan puts into the mind all kinds of excuses, denials and rationalizations that would lead to deliberate sin which would please Satan and this present (and likely the last) pope [11], a mercy-without-penance pope [12], a "daily-moment-of-silence-with-God" pope [13], a political and secular pope, and getting close to becoming the anti-Christ pope if he is not already it.

[1] http://www.usccb.org/bible/1john/4, at 8
[2] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-francis-satan-devil-person-argue-smart-tv2000-catholic-broadcasting-network-a8110621.html
[3] http://www.usccb.org/bible/genesis/3, 1-6.
[4] http://www.usccb.org/bible/1john/4, at 3, quoted without footnotes.
[5] http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/popes-chief-exorcist-who-banished-8871079
[6] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/7416458/Chief-exorcist-says-Devil-is-in-Vatican.html
[7] http://eponymousflower.blogspot.com/2016/11/romes-new-exorcist-complains-few-young.html
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] http://www.usccb.org/bible/1john/4, at 16.
[11] See The Last Pope - Saint Malachy - Petrus Romanus - Peter The Roman Documentary  at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynitZR6NbtM
[12] http://www.thedivinemercy.org/news/Top-10-Mercy-Quotes-of-Pope-Francis-5380
[13] https://www.roundnews.com/world/international/6931-pope-francis-recommends-a-daily-moment-of-silence-to-be-with-god.html, and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/01/pope-francis-urges-world-jettison-banality-consumerism-avoid/,  keeping in mind that "moment" is defined as "an indefinitely short period of time; instant" by dictionary.com  at http://www.dictionary.com/browse/moment.