Reports of the foul-mouthed heresy of Pope Francis

Francis and the Barcelona seminarians, the draft of the changed speech

The case of the words spoken by the Pope at the 10 December meeting with the Barcelona seminarians is mounting. Instead of reading the beautiful speech published on the Vatican website, Bergoglio is said to have spoken off the cuff, denying (again) the need for repentance in order to grant absolution. And pronouncing, according to testimonies collected by Germinans Germinabit, even vulgar expressions. Urgent clarification from the Vatican Press Office.

The first to report the news was the Catalan blog Germinans Germinabit, edited by a lawyer from Barcelona, very attentive to the facts of the Church, especially in Catalonia, then taken up and translated by Aldo Maria Valli (see here). In the article Lo que dijo (y lo que no) el Papa a los seminaristas de Barcelona, dated 12 December, some rather worrying statements and expressions by Pope Francis are reported. Let us take them in order.

On Saturday, 10 December, the Pope met with the community of seminarians of Barcelona, together with the auxiliary Bishop of the diocese, Msgr. Javier Vilanova Pellisa. On the Vatican website, the speech that the Holy Father would have addressed to the seminarians is reported; a beautiful reflection centred on the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries of priestly life, inspired by the luminous figure of Saint Manuel González García (1877-1940), zealous pastor of the Eucharist, known as the "bishop of the abandoned Tabernacles", and author of a book that has become a classic of Spanish-speaking seminaries, Lo que puede un cura hoy.

However, this speech was never delivered by the Holy Father; and it was never officially known what the Pope would have actually said in his place: no hint from the official Vatican press office. This was revealed by the Spanish blog, after receiving testimonies from seminarians present. We contacted the source and ascertained that it is in possession of the testimonial evidence of seminarians and teachers who were more than perplexed by the Pope's utterances. So, according to their testimony, Francis took the text that had been prepared and set it aside, saying that "it would have been boring" and he would have preferred to have been asked questions instead. The most problematic answer as to content was the one in which he invited future priests never to deny absolution. According to one seminarian, the Pope is reported to have invited them "not to be clerical, to forgive everything". More precisely, he would have added that "if we see that there is no intention to repent, we must forgive all. We can never deny absolution, because we become a vehicle for an evil, unjust and moralistic judgement".

The Pope's alleged statement of his belief would confirm what he had already told the Rectors and teachers of Latin American seminaries, a month before the encore offered to Catalan seminarians, calling priests who deny absolution "delinquents". Even then, Francis had set aside a 12-page speech, justifying that it was "a heavy thing" and had spoken off the cuff. And, even then, the Pope had used some unhappy expressions: 'The priest, the seminarian, the priest must be "close". Close to whom? To the girls of the parish? And some of them are, they are close, then they get married, that's fine'. With the Barcelona seminarians, however, it seems that the joke with an inappropriate double meaning has turned into language that would embarrass a docker. From what some of the seminarians report, the Pope is said to have spoken of "those who climb only to show their own a**e", of "f***ing careerists who screw the lives of others", and other such pleasantries. Then the insistence not to be rigid, not to be clerical, another leitmotif of Francis' speeches. Again, the 'examples' the Pope is said to have pointed out to the seminarians: 'Priests who have fallen into grave sins but have acknowledged them, priests who do not dress as priests but are with people, a transsexual and a gay man'.

One can legitimately wonder whether the testimony of these seminarians is credible. The editor of the website, Germinans Germinabit also wondered this in another article, dated 1 January. Are we facing yet another case of alleged accounts of personal conversations with the Pope, such as those made several times by Eugenio Scalfari? Or of summary reports of brief telephone conversations with the Pontiff, as has often happened? Statements about which it is more than legitimate to wonder whether they are credible or not, especially in the absence of third parties. Here, however, the reality appears different: "What we have is an oral account that has been collected in writing in numerous testimonies. Just the day after the audience, a friend read to me on his mobile phone the account sent by a teacher. A fairly extensive account in which the words spoken by the Pope were captured with total rawness. It is a fact that, as many more stories written by as many informants have circulated, the coincidence with respect to the most shocking words spoken by the Pope is almost precise to the millimetre'.

It is important for the Vatican Press Office to intervene to clarify and perhaps even offer the actual text of the Pope's words of 10 December. The entire Church has a right to know, since these are extremely serious statements. First of all, because affirming that absolution can never be denied, even if there is no repentance and intention to amend on the part of the penitent, goes diametrically against the Council of Trent, which teaches that contrition, that is, "the sorrow of the soul and the reprobation of the sin committed, accompanied by the intention not to sin again in the future [...] has always been necessary to ask for the remission of sins" (Denzinger 1676). Which is rather obvious, if we do not want to make the Sacrament of Reconciliation a farce and God's mercy a pass for sin.

And then there is the problem of dealing with a Pope who no longer holds himself in content and expression within the bounds of grace. It would be good to clarify whether we are dealing with a psychological-behavioural problem or a moral problem; no irony is being made about this, nor is any disrespect being shown to the Pope but the problem must be identified and curbed, for the good of the Church. Because it is the duty of every Christian to avoid behaviour and words that may scandalise their neighbour, all the more so if the 'Christian' in question is the Pope himself. Finally, as has been pointed out in the blog, these words to seminarians and formators make it very clear what kind of clergy Francis has in mind and intends to 'select': clergy who are in the midst of the people, no matter in which was they are there and no matter what he tells them.

Source

The Catechism of the Council of Trent on Contrition

Contrition 

As the faithful require instruction on the nature and efficacy of the parts of Penance, we must begin with contrition. This subject demands careful explanation; for as often as we call to mind our past transgressions, or offend God anew, so often should our hearts be pierced with contrition. 

The Meaning Of Contrition 

By the Fathers of the Council of Trent, contrition is defined: A sorrow and detestation for sin committed, with a purpose of sinning no more. and a little further on the Council, speaking of the motion of the will to contrition, adds: If joined with a confidence in the mercy of God and an earnest desire of per forming whatever is necessary to the proper reception of the Sacrament, it thus prepares us for the remission of sin. 

Contrition Is A Detestation Of Sin 

From this definition, therefore, the faithful will perceive that the efficacy of contrition does not simply consist in ceasing to sin, or in resolving to begin, or having actually begun a new life; it supposes first of all a hatred of one's ill-spent life and a desire of atoning for past transgressions. This is especially confirmed by those cries of the holy Fathers,. which we so frequently meet with in Holy Scripture. I have laboured in my groaning, says David; every night I will wash my bed; and again, The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. I will recount to thee all my years, says another, in the bitterness of my soul. These and many like expressions were called forth by an intense hatred and a lively detestation of past transgressions. 

Contrition Produces Sorrow 

But although contrition is defined as sorrow, the faithful are not thence to conclude that this sorrow consists in sensible feeling; for contrition is an act of the will, and, as St. Augustine observes, grief is not penance but the accompaniment of penance. By sorrow the Fathers understood a hatred and detestation of sin; in the first place, because the Sacred Scriptures frequently use the word in this sense. How long, says David, shall I take counsels in my soul, sorrow in my heart all the day. And secondly, because from contrition arises sorrow in the inferior part of the soul which is called the seat of concupiscence. With propriety, therefore, is contrition defined a sorrow, because it produces sorrow; hence penitents, in order to express it, used to change their garments. Our Lord alludes to this custom when He says: Woe to thee, Corozain, woe to thee, Bethsaida: for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in sack-cloth and ashes.