Pope Francis: The Degenerate neo-Pelagian Pontiff Exalting Himself

From Call the Patriot
By Joseph Andrew Settanni

But, is it really worth the price of the ecclesiastical civil war called schism?

Admittedly, it is difficult trying to properly grasp the full nature of a pop culture figure who happens to be a widely known religious leader of many hundreds of millions of people, the presumed believers. Popularity, as a result, can often so obscure the true image of such a public figure, a dramatic character, who looms rather large upon the world stage.

As is known (or should be), Francis, an egoist, is the first pope of his kind by being a Jesuit pope and coming from Latin America, from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first non-European Vicar of Christ since the days of that Syrian Pope Gregory III who had reigned from 731 to 741 AD.   His unique nature inordinately bolsters his expansive pride of self and disproportionate sense of historical importance, besides, e. g., existential or phenomenological considerations as to the Papacy itself.

Necessarily, misjudgments are, on average, not just simply possible but fairly predictable as a direct consequence of not fully appreciating and seriously analyzing the weighty reality of the person being confronted, intellectually and otherwise. The indicative matter to be most clearly and significantly focused upon concerns what appears to be a totally neglected issue, namely, the great horror of degeneracy, both theological and religious being here entirely inclusive.  How is this critically meant?

A Frightening Sight to Behold: Medusa

Most (deficient) analyses of the current Vicar of Christ either wish to charge him with some degrees of Communist influence or, alternately, deny fundamentally such influence. Both miss the deeper reality, the true moral ugliness, involved.  The man is a confirmed heretic, not just a neo-Marxist.  The best way, thus, to intellectually and honestly approach Francis is to understand that his central religious view is a neo-Pelagian one, and it has had negative consequences; this is meaning as to the ultimate heresy he so prefers, while it is true, in addition, that he has congenially embraced other heresies as well no doubt.

In brief, the original heresy goes back to its basis in Pelagianism; in essence, it is the haughty denial of the pernicious results of the existence of Original Sin, though other features were, of course, attendant to the theologically radical, heterodox, thinking of the heretic priest Pelagius (354 – 420 AD).   This British troublemaker, also called a moralist, had made a name for himself in Rome with his God-defiant thinking seen in his so terribly perverse soteriological speculations, especially that Jesus Christ was not really important concerning salvation.

He openly rejected the Augustinian idea of predestination and, instead, declared adamantly in favor of an absolutist version of the doctrine of free will.  People, he preached, can simply attain their salvation by, in effect, pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, the exaltation of the self. Pelagius had totally denied the need for the requirement of divine aid, meaning grace, in the performance of any good works.

Human nature was not, therefore, ever corrupted by Original Sin and, thus, people could, by their mere will, fulfill the entire law of moral conduct and attain spiritual perfection, moreover, without any need for divine grace whatsoever. Metaphysical order, for Pelagius, was made basically superfluous as to the possibilities of Man, when the orthodox theocentric viewpoint is rejected in favor of a seemingly vibrant anthropocentricism.

Father Christopher Smith: Refashioned or True Religion?

In New York, Virginia, New Jersey and South Carolina, I have been extraordinarily blessed in my pastors.  They could not be more different in their personalities, yet each one is an alter Christus, carrying out the Church's salvific mission, building the Kingdom and serving all that is good, true and beautiful.  The following is the weekly parish bulletin letter written by my current pastor, Father Christopher Smith, Ph.D, S.T.D.

Father Smith

As a young theology student, I once stated that the Church is divided, because there are so many different denominations.  Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the new Prefect of the Congregation for the New Evangelization, corrected me:  "The Church is one.  It is Christians who are divided."  Every Sunday we say, I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.  For Catholics, we know that means us, the Church founded by Jesus Christ.  But there are millions of other Christians who say the same Creed every Sunday, yet are not Catholic.  And there are countless more who say no Creed at all when they come to worship.

The Catholic Church has remained one, the original Christians since the beginning.  We "do" Church as it were together.  But from time to time individuals convince themselves that they can "do" it better.  So while there is 1 Catholic Church, there are over 33,000 different groups of Christians protesting our claim to hand on the apostolic faith.  And because the only thing they all agree on is that they are not Catholic, they divide on and on.  There used to be denominations, like the Anglicans or the Presbyterians or the Lutherans, but they too have split into all sorts of splinter groups.  And many Christians are just opting out entirely of denominations, opening shop in a coffee shop or a house or a warehouse.  Some of these grow into megachurches and others never go very far, and many of those megachurches implode and divide too.

I find it interesting that the vast majority of these sects are found in the USA or funded by American missionaries.  There is something about our culture which is very individualistic and entrepreneurial.  And here, the customer is always right.  I am always coming across people who say, "I haven't found  a Church home yet."  What they mean is they haven't found a Church that reflects their own image and likeness.  That consumerist mentality is not just something Protestant, though.  Once upon a time, people went to the Catholic parish closest to them.  Now, people shop around for what they think will fulfill them, for the image of the Church they like.  Parishes are pressured to market themselves to cater to what people like.

There is one place where all of this comes from: Pride.  And it created division among Christians.  It hampers our efforts at evangelization, apologetics and ecumenism.  The consumer mentality has a way of filling up churches for a little while, whose members then float away and cease to practice the faith when they don't get the high they have been expecting.

We have a motive for rejoicing today though on this Gaudete Sunday.  There are Catholic Christians who seek to serve God and His Truth and not themselves.  They resist the attempt to remake the Church and the Gospel in their own image and likeness.  Our task is to be faithful to the Church handed down from Jesus to the Apostles down to our own day.  It is time to repent from the pride which leads us to make up our own religions or refashion the true religion as we see fit.  GK Chesterton once asked, "Do you want a Church that is moved by the world, or a Church that moves the world?"  I know which one I've got, and I am blessed and highly favoured to have it right here in my Catholic Church and our Prince of Peace family.