How much do those of us in the English-speaking world owe Sandro Magister. For years now, this blogger has frequently linked and quoted him. He is true in faith and erudite in his analysis. He has suffered for it at the hands of Vatican apparatchiks.

Once again, we see the villains that have taken over Rome

http://magister.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/2017/02/16/communion-for-all-catholics-and-protestants-words-of-kasper-or-rather-of-the-pope/

Remain true friend. Do not despair. Pray your Rosary, pray the Divine Office linked to the right above, or if need be, the modern Liturgy of the Hours, also linked above. I cannot stress enough the importance of attending the traditional Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. 

16 Feb

Communion For All, Catholics and Protestants. Words of Kasper, Or Rather of the Pope

The obscurity with which Pope Francis loves to speak and write on the most controversial questions is one of the constants of his magisterium, an obscurity that reached its summit in the response that he gave on November 15, 2015 to a Lutheran woman married to a Catholic, who was asking him if she too could receive communion at Mass:

http://magister.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/2017/02/16/communion-for-all-catholics-and-protestants-words-of-kasper-or-rather-of-the-pope/

This Bergoglio thinks Martin Luther is a "Witness to the Gospel?" How does this sit with his Zionist friends? Is Bergoglio really a closet anti-semite?

What a hypocrite this Bergoglio and the heretical and the scandalous minions he has around him continue to be.

Praising the filthy, immoral and heretical apostate, Martin Luther. Do these Romans have no faith left?

"Catholics are now able to hear Luther’s challenge for the Church of today, recognising him as a “witness to the gospel” (From Conflict to Communion 29).

On one hand, he refuses to state that Jews must be converted, defying Our Blessed Lord, and in keeping with his globalist one world, one religion masonic machinations and then he praises the pathetic, monstrous, heretical devilish anti-Semite, Martin Luther as a "witness to the Gospel."

Well, George, which is it?

Can you suck and blow at the same time?

From "On the Jews and Their Lies" Luther deplores Christendom's failure to expel them. Moreover, he proposed, "What shall we Christians do with this rejected and condemned people, the Jews?"

•                    "First, to set fire to their synagogues or schools … This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians …"

•                    "Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed.”

•                    "Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing, and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them."            

•                    "Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb …"            

•                    "Fifth, I advise that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews. For they have no business in the countryside …"         

•                    "Sixth, I advise that usury be prohibited to them, and that all cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them …"      

•                    "Seventh, I recommend putting a flail, an ax, a hoe, a spade, a distaff, or a spindle into the hands of young, strong Jews and Jewesses and letting them earn their bread in the sweat of their brow … But if we are afraid that they might harm us or our wives, children, servants, cattle, etc., … then let us emulate the common sense of other nations such as France, Spain, Bohemia, etc., … then eject them forever from the country …"

What a pathetic group of miscreants and malefactors who have set their hands and filthy lusts on the Church of Christ. To praise a filthy monster such as Luther and at the same time to condemn our Jewish brethren to suffer in darkness away from the Light of Christ.

In my mind, Jorge Bergoglio and his whole band are a bunch of Anti-Semites. The most charitable and loving thing one could do to a Jew is to bring him to fulfillment in their Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.

The Church must be rid of these antichrists!

Common Witness and Service are the watchwords. Unity in Christ and His Church is still not possible. Lutherans simply don't believe what we believe! Luther's errors long ago refuted by the Catholic Church and Bergoglio cannot change that!

Egbert II van Heemskerck - Calvin and Luther in Hell

The "Reformation" has brought no "gifts." It has lead millions of souls to Hell. No gifts, unless you call the uncrowning of Our Lord Jesus Christ as King over society, "a gift." This Reformation created a "religion of man," and of self, out of which came Illuminism, Freemasonry, sexual libertinism, marxism, globalism and radical secularism. Some gifts Jorge, some gifts.

Luther was a liar and a deceiver and his work has long ago been condemned.

This malefactor, this heretical priest tore Europe apart and it has never recovered. He tore the Holy Mass and Holy Sacraments apart and Holy Scripture. He tore seven books out the Old Testament and called the Epistle of St. James the Apostle, "straw." Had he been able, he would have removed it.

Yet, what does our Bishop of Rome, Jorge Bergoglio say?

"Luther took a great step by putting the Word of God into the hands of the people."

Is he just ignorant of the truth, facts and logic, or is he trying to deceive?

Cost and access to Holy Scripture

The Holy Bible was already available in German and the first bible in English was produced in 1380 by John Wycliffe, an Oxford Professor. It was hand-written. Why? Because there was no printing press invented until 1450! 

Then as now, the cost of producing a book, in this case the Holy Bible, was comprised of two things, the material with which to construct it and the time and labour associated with that production. Now think about this for a moment. In Ontario, from where I write this, a generally low skilled clerical wage is about $20.00 per hour. It would take ten months, -- ten months to hand write the Holy Bible. That would equal a total of $36,000 in labour costs, plus benefits and I am not even considering any artistic illumination. While a monk would not have been paid, we can begin to appreciate the cost of production of a bible. Consider the time. It would then need to be bound. Is it fair to conclude that a Holy Bible anytime prior to the inventing of the printing press would have been in today's equivalent of $50,000 or more? Is it any wonder that churches and universities and libraries chained the bible and other books? How many Protestants accused Catholics of doing that to keep Catholic from reading it? 

Medieval literacy 

According to Bergoglio, Luther put the bible in the hands of the people to read. Who could damn well read? The literacy rate in 1500 ranged from as low as 5% in rural Germany to a high approaching 40% in England thanks to the Monastery system. These rates plummeted after Henry VIII's dissolution, a man who was ironically granted the title, "Defender of the Faith" by the Pope for his treatise on the Seven Sacraments and his condemnation of Martin Luther as a heretic whom, Henry wanted executed for heresy!

So, if bibles were available, they were unaffordable and most people could not read. The printing press, of course, began to change this. The very Council of Trent also used the printing press to codify and unify the Mass in 1570, the Mass we still have today according to the 1962 Missal. Before that, Missals were handwritten. You can imagine again how few there were and how they may have varied from place to place.

But Francis buys in, he buys in to the Protestant lie.Good grief, if we wanted pulp like this we could read a cartoon tract from the late Jack Chick, instead, we get it regurgitated from the Bishop of Rome himself. Are we that stupid, that ignorant of history to think that there was public education throughout history and the Internet? Do these churchmen think that we are that ignorant and stupid as Hillary Clinton thinks Americans are?

Today's headlines.

From Reuters: Pope, in Sweden, says Reformation had positive aspects

From Crux: Pope in Sweden heaps praise on Martin Luther

We must desire that those who follow this heretic come home to the Catholic Church. All "Christians" have this obligation, all Catholics have the duty to pray for them and for unity and reconciliation and to teach them the truth. Some people, such as Jorge Bergoglio, call that "proselytising." He goes further to call it a "sin" against oecumenism. One cannot sin against a word or an act. One sins against God.

True oecumenism will come from clarity

We must speak with clarity and indeed, charity to our Lutheran, Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist, Evangelical brothers and sisters and those others such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Seventh-Day Adventists and more. It is our duty to proclaim the fullness of the Jews' Judaism is found in Jesus Christ and His Church and to Muslims that their Jesus is not the real Jesus and to Hindus, Buddhists and other pagans that they too, must come to Jesus Christ and His Church. 

We must never force or coerce, we cannot and we do not. Why does this Bergoglio think that we do? We must propose but we must do so with clear and unambiguous teaching and proclamation.

In reference to those who follow the heretical Lutheran sect, this "prayer" below, by the Bishop of Rome fails them. He fails us as Catholics.

Church has refuted Luther

Luther's death mask 

Martin Luther's errors have long been refuted by the Catholic Church. Try as he might, Bergoglio cannot ever refute them or overturn them.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/bishop-schneider-church-has-already-addressed-errors-of-luther?utm_content=bufferfb53c

The followers of the heretic Luther do not believe in Transubstantiation. They do not believe in the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ truly present. Their doctrine is a false doctrine. Christ is "spiritually" present above, around, as long as we want him to be. When their "service" is over, the wine is poured down the drain and the bread back in the box for next time. They have openly "gay" so-called "bishops." They have women dressed up as "bishops." Their "bishops" do not even pretend to believe in apostolic succession.

How can you have a "common eucharist" with people who do not accept what It is!

https://cruxnow.com/papal-visit/2016/10/31/catholic-lutheran-churches-pledge-work-shared-eucharist/

Now, I would rather be accused of wearing a tin-foiled hat than being naive. Do we know see the link between the gutting of the Congregation for Divine Worship? Will the Novus Ordo Missae, which was very subtle in its Lutherenesque influence now be reformed for a something more formal? Are these men hand-picked by Francis, which of course is his juridical right, about to foist upon the Catholic world, another new liturgy that will be without doubt, the "abomination of desolation?"

This prayer spoken by Bergoglio is for unity of heart and mind. It is not a prayer of a restoration of faith.  It calls instead for "common witness and service in the world" and continues to leave people, individual followers of the heretic Luther, without the Sacraments of Confirmation, Penance and the Holy Eucharist, it leaves them without Extreme Unction, it leaves their clergy without validity, uneducated and without grace of office to fall into more error. 

What a tragedy, that the Bishop of Rome should visit baptised Christians and not tell them the truth, but leave them wanting.

O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us for failing to proclaim your Truth.

Bergoglio embarrassed by Catholics - prefers false ecumenism to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass! Praises Luther's bastard bible!

In an interview with the Jesuitical publication the Bishop of Rome, Jorge Bergoglio praised Martin Luther for his bible and putting it in the hands of people and expressed his regret at being scheduled to offer Mass in Lund.

Luther, you will recall, removed seven books from the Old Testament and attempted to gut the New, particularly the Book of James as it would not support his heresy.

Bergoglio wanted to only experience an ecumencal "prayer" with the heresiarch's descendants and intended to neglect the few Catholics in Lund.

Yes, you read that correctly, 

The man is an abomination. A disgrace to the Church. A danger to Catholics. A betrayer of  Christ. 

He is an egotistical arrogant man, only relenting to offer Mass because he was badgered and did not want to disappoint them.

What a disgrace.

ROME - At first, Pope Francis did not want to celebrate a Catholic Mass in Sweden in order to preserve Monday’s ecumenical witness at the joint Catholic-Lutheran commemoration of the Reformation in Lund, he revealed in an interview released today.

He later changed his mind after reflecting on his role as pastor of the Catholic community, and in response to a request from the local Church. But he put the Mass on the following day, Tuesday, in order to “avoid confusing” the ecumenical event with the Catholic one.

The pope revealed his decision-making process in an interview with the Swedish Jesuit journal Signum released in English October 28 on the website of Civiltà Cattolica magazine.

In the interview with Father Ulf Jonsson, a fellow Jesuit, the pope also discusses his relationships with Lutherans from his days as a Jesuit and later archbishop in Buenos Aires, and said Catholics could learn from the Lutheran tradition in the areas of church reform and Scripture.

Noting how the words “Catholic” and “sectarian” were in contradiction, he said: “This is why at the beginning I wasn’t planning to celebrate a Mass for the Catholics on this trip. I wanted to insist on an ecumenical witness.”

“Then I reflected well on my role as pastor of a flock of Catholics who will also come from other countries, like Norway and Denmark,” he said. “So, responding to the fervent request of the Catholic community, I decided to celebrate a Mass, lengthening the trip by a day.”

By celebrating the Mass on Tuesday, rather than Monday, “the ecumenical encounter is preserved in its profound significance according to a spirit of unity - that is my desire,” the pope said.

“This has created organizational issues, I know, because I will be in Sweden for All Saints Day, which is important here in Rome. But in order to avoid misunderstanding, I wanted it to be so.”

The future pope first stepped inside a Lutheran church aged 17 in Buenos Aires for the wedding of a Lutheran colleague at the laboratory where he worked part-time. Years later, while teaching as a Jesuit at the Colegio Máximo, he became close to a Lutheran professor of spiritual theology, Anders Ruuth, after he invited him to lecture there.
“That was a truly difficult time for my soul,” he recalled. “But I had a lot of trust in him and opened my heart to him. He helped me a lot in that moment.”

Pope Francis also described attending the so-called Swedish church in Buenos Aires while an auxiliary bishop in the early 1990s, and later - as cardinal-archbishop - having what he describes as a “good relationship” with the pastor of the Danish Lutheran church in Buenos Aires, with whom he had a disagreement over “a law concerning religious issues in Argentina.”

Asked what the Catholic Church could learn from the Lutheran tradition, Pope Francis said Martin Luther “wanted to remedy a complex situation” but his reform ended up splitting the Church because of the confusion of temporal and spiritual.

But he said reform in the Church was “fundamental, because the Church is semper reformanda (always to be reformed),” adding that prior to the 2013 conclave “the request for a reform was alive” in the cardinals’ discussions about the state of the Church.

He said Catholics could also learn from Luther’s emphasis on Scripture.

“Luther took a great step by putting the Word of God into the hands of the people,” he said.

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2016/10/28/pope-explains-reluctance-celebrate-mass-sweden/

The Protestant Pope!

“On October 31, Jorge Mario Bergoglio will fly to Lund, Sweden, where he will be met by the local female bishop, to celebrate together with the Lutheran World Federation the five hundredth anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. And the closer that date gets, the more sympathy the pope manifests for the great heretic.” Sandro Magister

ROME, July 22, 2016 - In the alarmed letter that thirteen cardinals from five continents were preparing to deliver to Pope Francis at the beginning of the last synod, they were warning him against leading the Catholic Church as well to “the collapse of liberal Protestant churches in the modern era, accelerated by their abandonment of key elements of Christian belief and practice in the name of pastoral adaptation:"

> Thirteen Cardinals Have Written to the Pope. Here’s the Letter (12.10.2015)

Then at the last moment the thirteen deleted these two lines from the letter that was actually put into the hands of the pope. But today they would put them back in word for word, seeing the ever more pronounced idyll that is developing between Francis and the followers of Luther.

On October 31, Jorge Mario Bergoglio will fly to Lund, Sweden, where he will be met by the local female bishop, to celebrate together with the Lutheran World Federation the five hundredth anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. And the closer that date gets, the more sympathy the pope manifests for the great heretic.

http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1351342?eng=y&refresh_ce

Let's all go ta Sveden, ya! Boot vy voud ve meet vit Katoliks?

The Catholic of Sweden are on the real "periphery." Persecuted for centuries by the Lutheran heretics, their cathedrals and churches, stolen! 

The Bishop of Rome will visit Lund to praise Luther and Malmo to kiss the feet of migrant Mohammedans and what the heck, he just found time to meet with Catholics and have a little mess, I mean Mass.

I suggest we all get ready for the asteroids.



http://www.mondayvatican.com/vatican/pope-francis-new-peripheries

Pope Francis: New Peripheries?

by ANDREA GAGLIARDUCCI on 6 GIUGNO 2016 · 1 COMMENT · in VATICAN

Pope Francis' decision to extend by an additional day his visit to Sweden in order to celebrate a Mass with the Swedish Catholic community explains a lot about how decision making in the Domus Sanctae Marthae takes place. And it also shows that there are collaborators around Pope Francis able to intercept certain kinds of sensitive issues.

Pope Francis’ trip to Lund (Sweden) on October 31 for a commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation was announced some time back. However, it was immediately noticed that he was planning to stay just one day, with no meeting scheduled with the Catholic community. And just as immediately, the Church in Sweden started working behind the scenes to have the Pope meet with Catholics at least for a Mass. The effort was grounded in the fact the Catholics in Sweden are a real existential periphery – to use Pope Francis’ words – placed as they are in the minority by the increasing wave of secularization that is affecting Sweden.

...

In the end, there would have been a severe papal gaffe if he were not to meet the Catholics of Sweden, who for centuries suffered persecution because of the Lutheran Church, and who now see these two freedoms at risk in their society once again.

Once this argument was won, Pope Francis decided to go. Malmoe is not far from Lund, and is home for many migrants and refugees coming from the Middle East. The Pope will go there after the commemoration in Lund, while Catholics would have preferred it if he had met with them and celebrated Mass with them first, before the joint meeting with Lutherans.

Lutheran heretic "bishop" declares Pope has Catholic "enemies" limiting his freedom to speak - Bishop Kiss Me is back at work!

In Edward Pentin's National Catholic Register report on the scandalous provision of Holy Communion to Lutheran heretics there was a paragraph that seems to have escaped attention:

Mr. Salmi

What does Mr. Salmi mean by "unity between different denominations?" He states that the Bishop of Rome "repeatedly indicated" it. Is Salmi a liar or is it true? If it is true, what does the occupant on the Seat of Peter think about the Church, that She is just one of many "denominations?" That those who separated from Her need to returning? Is this not true ecumenism? 

More concerning of course is the homosexualist Salmi's next disclosure, that "Pope Francis has theological enemies" and that he "may be limited in how freely he can speak."

Should we presume that this is something that the Pope indicated to Salmi in a private conversation? as that is the take-away from such a statement - "Help, they're keeping me prisoner." 

Does Mr. Salmi think that it is Catholics against the Pope? One would have to assume that since he mentions "theological enemies in the Vatican" one must conclude, based on the evidence in front of us, that it is the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith or other "Catholics" who Francis who seem to intimidated the Pope into not speaking his mind.

Well, either Mr. Salmi is a liar or he is right based upon his report of his meetings with Francis. If he is right, and this is what the Pope thinks, then the Pope must reassess what it is he thinks about Catholic Theology.  

Frankly, (pardon the pun) Pope Francis seems to have no fear or limit to what he says.

One cannot be at war with oneself unless you are suffering under a serious mental defect or condition, and that may very well be the case. It is against the Law of Non-contradiction. You are either Catholic or you are not and that goes for laity and Pope alike.

Read now what Victor Manuel Fernandez had to say. If that is not someone you recall, this will help. He is the Pope's "ghostwriter" of Evangelii Gaudium, Laudato Si and presumably the Apostolic Exhortation on the Family, now moving back and forth between Francis and the CDF. He is also the author The Art of Kissing. 

This warped prelate is also suspected to be writing the Apostolic Exhortation expected soon according to Rorate. How bad will it be given what we've seen already from this errant cleric.

So, where is the truth? Is it as Mr. Salmi states or Archbishop Kissing? And who was that "powerful and influential man" that McCarrick spoke about who said, "Bergoglio can put us back on track." 

For those who say there is no crisis, I have some ice to sell in Nunavut.

Trusted theologian says Francis is stronger than adversaries inside the curia

Robert Mickens, Rome

The theologian widely acknowledged as the principal ghostwriter of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, says the Jesuit pontiff has already begun changing the Church in ways that cannot be reversed.

Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernandez, rector of the Catholic University of Argentina, said that, even if the pope’s adversaries tried to turn back the clock in the next pontificate, the People of God would not stand for it.

“The people are with (Francis) and not with his few adversaries,” he said in an exclusive published Sunday in the Italian daily, Corriere della Sera.

The 52-year-old Fernandez is one of the pope’s principal theological advisers. Francis, who had to fight Vatican opposition to name his fellow countryman university rector in 2009, appointed the theologian titular archbishop only two months after he became pope.

The archbishop said the 78-year-old Jesuit pope is patiently laying the groundwork for reforms that cannot be undone. 

“No, there’s no turning back,” he told the paper’s highly respected political analyst, Massimo Franco.

“If and when Francis is no longer pope, his legacy will remain strong,” the archbishop said.

“For example, the pope is convinced that the things he’s already written or said cannot be condemned as an error. Therefore, in the future anyone can repeat those things without fear of being sanctioned,” he added.

Archbishop Fernandez is one of the leading theological aides to the pope, who last year was appointed to a special commission inside the Synod of Bishops.

Below is our English translation of the bulk of his interview in the May 10 edition of Corriere della Sera.

*********

Archbishop Fernandez, in the two years since the pontificate began has resistance to the pope inside the Vatican increased or diminished?

“I don’t live in Rome and I can only talk about what I see when I go there. You have to make distinctions. I saw that some people in Rome were shocked at first, but now they understand the meaning of what Francis is calling for and they’re happy to be part of this path (he’s set out) for the Church, and they are helping the pope. Others tend to say: we’ll do what we can, go along with him as long as he’s here, because in the end he’s the pope. This group seems to be in the majority, even though I can’t confirm that. Others — really just a few — are, instead, going their own way. And from what one can see, they tend to ignore Francis’ teachings.”

Could you give us an example?

“I’ve read that some people say the Roman Curia is an essential part of the Church’s mission, or that a Vatican prefect is the sure compass that prevents the Church from falling into ‘light’ thought; or that this prefect ensures the unity of the faith and guarantees a serious theology for the pope. But Catholics, reading the Gospel, know that Christ assured special guidance and enlightenment for the pope and bishops all together, but not for a prefect or another structure. When you hear such things it almost seems as if the pope were their representative, or was someone who came to cause trouble and needs to be controlled.”

It doesn’t seem like that’s a line that’s being followed, though.

“It’s not, because most of the People of God love Francis. Maybe the council of nine cardinals could help to better clarify how far the jurisdiction of the most important prefects extends. But the thing that worries me most is that theologians are not offering new analyses on the Church, the theological reasons for its structures, the jurisdiction of national and regional episcopal conferences and the proper place of the Roman Curia in relation to the pope and the College of Bishops.

Some say Francis is isolated. Do you think that’s true?

“Not at all. The people are with him and not with his few adversaries. This pope first filled St. Peter’s Square with crowds and then began changing the Church. Above all, for this reason he is not isolated. The people sense in him the fragrance of the Gospel, the joy of the Spirit, the closeness of Christ and thus they feel the Church is like their home. But I would also say that he has a wide circle of people from whom he asks advice on various issues. He listens to more people than just those in the dicasteries of the curia, and in this way he is closer to the different voices in the Church and in society. I’m referring to those people he receives at Casa Santa Marta, to the requests that arrive in letters, to the encounters in the squares. It’s exactly for this reason that today the Church is listened to more in the international debates and world leaders look at her with great respect.”

No doubt, and in a deep and clear way, especially at the beginning. And yet, more recently, there’s a certain anxiety. Thing are proceeding more slowly. The reform of the curia seems to be stalled.

“The pope goes slow because he wants to be sure that the changes have a deep impact. The slow pace is necessary to ensure the effectiveness of the changes. He knows there are those hoping that the next pope will be turn everything back around. If you go slowly it’s more difficult to turn things back. He makes this clear when he says ‘time is greater than space.’”

When Francis says he will have a short pontificate doesn’t this help his adversaries?

“The pope must have his reasons, because he knows very well what he’s doing. He must have an objective that we don’t understand yet. You have to realize that he is aiming at a reform that is irreversible. If one day he should intuit that he’s running out of time and he doesn’t have enough time to do what the Spirit is asking him, you can be sure he will speed up.”

Would it be possible to have a pope without Vatican or away from the Vatican?

“The Roman Curia is not an essential structure. The pope could even go and live away from Rome, have a dicastery in Rome and another one in Bogota, and perhaps link-up by teleconference with liturgical experts that live in Germany. Gathered around the pope, in a theological sense, is the College of Bishops in order to serve the people.”

Aren’t you worried that his pontificate will quickly be tossed aside after he’s no longer pope?

“No, there’s no turning back. If and when Francis is no longer pope, his legacy will remain strong. For example, the pope is convinced that the things he’s already written or said cannot be condemned as an error. Therefore, in the future anyone can repeat those things without fear of being sanctioned. And then the majority of the People of God with their special sense will not easily accept turning back on certain things.”

Don’t you see the risk of “two Churches”?

“No. There’s a schism when a group of important people share the same sensibilities that reflect those of a vast section of society. Luther and Protestantism came about that way. But now the overwhelming majority of the people are with Francis and they love him. His opponents are weaker than what you think. Not pleasing everyone does not mean provoking a schism.”

Isn’t this idea of the pope having a direct rapport with the people something risky, while the Church’s ecclesiastical class feels marginalized?

“But the Church is the People of God guided by their pastors. Cardinals could disappear, in the sense that they are not essential. The pope and the bishops are essential. Then again, it is impossible that everything a pope does and says will please everyone. Did everyone like Benedict XVI? Unity does not depend on unanimity.

Do you think a conclave would re-elect Francis today?

“I don’t know, possibly not. But it happened, and everything one could image before or after the conclave is not important. The only thing that matters and that’s important is that the voting is done in the conclave, with the special assistance of the Spirit. We believe the Holy Spirit guides the conclave and you cannot contradict the Holy Spirit. If some (cardinals) now have regrets it doesn’t change anything.”

Do you think Francis could be forced to leave Casa Santa Marta for security reasons, because of a terrorist attack by Islamic fundamentalists?

“He doesn’t think like that. And I haven’t found any decisive arguments for that to happen. Then again, I think those that organize these big attacks have a certain intelligence and are able to distinguish between the United States of Bush and the Vatican. Certainly, there could be an isolated fanatic … No, I think Francis will remain at Casa Santa Marta, strong and with great confidence.