The way this blogger sees it, the Vatican has only one new year's resolution for 2018: it is the rapid secularization of the Catholic Church. This conclusion is based on two published articles. The first is entitled Pope Francis urges world to jettison 'banality of consumerism' and avoid 'empty chatter' in New Year's Day message published by The Telegraph on January 1, 2018, quoted in part [1]:
Pope Francis has recommended jettisoning life's "useless baggage" in 2018, including what he called "empty chatter" and banal consumerism, and focusing instead on building a peaceful and welcoming world, particularly for refugees and migrants.
...
His advice included setting aside a moment of silence daily to be with God. Doing so would help "keep our freedom from being corroded by the banality of consumerism, the blare of commercials, the stream of empty words and the overpowering waves of empty chatter and loud shouting," Francis said.
This blogger's translation follows:
The first part of the quoted paragraph above sounds like good advice from a sage, and a most sagacious politician he is, speaking the language of the secular but not of the Catholic faithful. The latter part of the same paragraph pivots to matters that are in this blogger opinion, "empty chatter," resorting to trite phrases in describing the building of "a peaceful and welcoming world" from the perspective of a social charitable institution, "for refugees and migrants." Migrants and refugees are not the only ones suffering, even though their sufferings are visible and palpable; those who are truly suffering are those whose faith in Christ remain shallow and uncertain, and at worst, non-existent and hypocritical.
Even so translated, the first quoted paragraph appears fine. It is harmless enough on its face but deceitful in truth. It sets up a person's expectation that the speaker is speaking the words of Christ but in actuality they are not, not the words of Christ in this blogger's opinion. His opinion is confirmed by the second paragraph quoted above, which states that "[h]is advice included setting aside a moment of silence daily to be with God." The operative words here are "setting aside a moment of silence daily to be with God." [Emphasis added.]
Is spending "a moment of silence daily" with God enough? What happened to the prayers of the Rosary? Quoting in part from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops quoting another source: "'With the Rosary, the Christian people sits at the school of Mary and is led to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love. Through the Rosary the faithful receive abundant grace, as though from the very hands of the Mother of the Redeemer.'" [2]
To be sure, this was what Bergoglio had done and he had done it craftily and nearly imperceptibly: he replaced the graces of saying the Rosary with his own "secular graces" [3] which are as empty as Satan's promises by having people perform his recommended daily moment of silence with God. People who are fans and supporters of Bergoglio, including all his appointed cardinals, ought to try his daily moment of silence every day for at least a full year (365 days consecutively) to see if his promise of "secular graces" are reliable to the degree that Satan's promise to Eve was not: "'You certainly will not die!'" [4]
It would be difficult to believe that anyone would actually do this for even a week without skipping a day, let alone every single day for a year or longer. If nobody is actually going to do this, then is this daily moment of silence Bergoglio talked about merely a symbolic and an empty gesture, and his mention of it a "useless baggage" with no value whatsoever?
Will this daily moment of silence satisfy Christ and His Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary? Did any of the visionaries who saw apparitions of the Blessed Mother and Her Son who had received the Vatican stamp of approval ever reported that they had been told that a moment of silence daily with God is enough? If so, please educate this ignorant blogger.
Even if Bergoglio's fans and supporters were to set aside this daily "moment" consistently to be with God, it seems to this blogger that it could be a "pretend" moment of silence with God when the mind can easily draw an absolute blank, a silent meditational moment without the presence of God anywhere. If this is so and if it suffices for Bergoglio's purposes, then does this silent "moment" become a paganistic ritual, and would this not be plain heresy? If it is not, then what is? Perhaps it is not heresy, perhaps it is only a "stream of empty words" and part of an "overpowering wave of empty chatter," "shouted out loud" by Bergoglio for which he himself had created an antidote: a daily moment of silence, one which perhaps God would attend every time, for a moment, every day.
What is a moment? Dictionary.com defines a moment to be "an indefinitely short period of time; instant." [5] Based on this definition, spending a moment with God once a day is certainly appealing to the busy "faithful" masses who would occupy their many other hours that would be left (24 hours minus "a moment" to be exact) with politics and technologies of the day, food, drinks and entertainment, and other repetitive routines, vices and deliberate sins in addition to work, rest, friends and family.
The trend toward secularization does not end here.
The second article being relied upon for the conclusion that the Catholic Church is rapidly secularizing was published on January 1, 2018, by RomeReports entitled Pope Francis and Vatican's challenges in 2018. It is quoted below in its entirety [6] :
A crucial year begins for the Holy Father, who will celebrate his fifth year as pope in March.
In the coming months, apart from the surprises, he will need a big energy boost to face these five looming issues.
WORLD PEACE
The pope is worried about the increase in worldwide tension, especially in Korea and the Middle East.
Without a doubt, Pope Francis will have to make an extra effort to propose solutions, build bridges and avoid conflicts.
PAPAL TRIPS
In January, the pope will travel to Chile and Peru; and in August, to Ireland, where he will not have it easy. The Catholic Church there finds itself plagued by a string of abuse scandals.
In addition, Pope Francis may travel to the Baltic countries and India this year.
SYNOD ON YOUTH
In October, bishops from around the world met at the Vatican to search for ways to help young people practice the faith.
To develop a plan, bishops in Rome and throughout the globe are gathering opinions from thousands of people, whether Catholic or not.
CURIA REFORM
In 2018, the pope could finish the new constitution on Vatican Curia reform, which he has been working on since the first months of his papacy.
The reorganization intends to make the structure more simple and allow the voices of those far from Rome to be heard.
BENEDICT XVI'S HEALTH
February 11 marks five years since the announcement of the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, who will turn 91 in April.
Despite being reasonably healthy and continuing to welcome daily visitors, he appears frail in photos from recent months.
Thus, his health will continue to be a topic in the news and one that causes rumors.
On "WORLD PEACE," the one effective thing that a pope can do is to ask all the Catholics around the world to pray for world peace, to say the Rosary daily, not for a moment, but for as long as it takes to pray and say the Rosary with devotion and without distraction. All the worldly things that Bergoglio thinks he can do to bring about world peace are in totality "excess baggage" that is useless, amounting to "idle chatter" that is a waste of time and completely ineffective, except to bring attention to himself upon the world political stage. In this respect, Bergoglio excels.
On "PAPAL TRIPS," if they are going to be as productive as his 2017 trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh to help the Rohingya refugees (since his departure "[c]onditions in the camps of Cox’s Bazar [are] continu[ing] to deteriorate as more Rohingya arrive" [7]), he may as well stay in bed, rest, eat well and be served to preserve his longevity, and from time to time, assume the role of pope within the walls of the Vatican for which he was elected and is expected to do.
On "SYNOD ON YOUTH," "bishops in Rome and throughout the globe are gathering opinions from thousands of people, whether Catholic or not" [8] "to search for ways to help young people practice the faith." [9] Is Christ no longer the sole and central authority in the ways His disciples ought to "practice the faith"? Is every Catholic not a disciple of Christ? Is the gathering of opinions by bishops in Rome and around the world from "thousands of people whether Catholic or not" (which means "whether atheistic or not" and "whether Satanic or not") a step toward or away from God? Does this mean that Christ's delegation of authority to Peter's successors to lead His flock has been annulled (just as a marriage entered into before God can be annulled) and is no longer relevant?
On "CURIA REFORM," it will be interesting to see what this reform will look like after it has been finalized. Making the structure "more simple" is a lie. What can be simpler than to follow the footsteps of Christ? He already walked the path. All one needs to do is to step on his lasting footprints. To be sure, "the new constitution" will not be a shock; it will be more secular than what has been established, and if Catholicism continues to be a religion, it will likely be a very different one from before when it was under Bergoglio's predecessor, Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI.
On "BENEDICT XVI'S HEALTH," while this blogger misses Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI even though he is part of and a pillar upholding the not-so-holy establishment, it is not his health that is of note but the health of the Catholic Church that has been overcome by the disease of secularization that is spreading rapidly worldwide and the spiritual health of those who profess to be faithful Catholics who may not have absolute faith in Christ or at all that are of concern.
[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/01/pope-francis-urges-world-jettison-banality-consumerism-avoid/
[2] http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/prayers-and-devotions/rosaries/
[3] Bergoglio's "secular graces" arise from "'setting aside a moment of silence daily to be with God," which permits one to be free "from being corroded by the banality of consumerism, the blare of commercials, the stream of empty words and the overpowering waves of empty chatter and loud shouting.'" See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/01/pope-francis-urges-world-jettison-banality-consumerism-avoid/
[4] http://www.usccb.org/bible/genesis/3, at 4.
[5] http://www.dictionary.com/browse/moment
[6] https://www.romereports.com/en/2018/01/01/pope-francis-and-vaticans-challenges-in-2018/
[7] See article by Independent entitled Rohingya Muslim refugees face fresh misery as Bangladesh welcome runs out at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/rohingya-muslims-myanmar-burma-bangladesh-refugees-local-clashes-workers-food-border-a8121231.html, published on December 30, 2017.
[8] https://www.romereports.com/en/2018/01/01/pope-francis-and-vaticans-challenges-in-2018/
[9] Ibid.
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