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Vote Created Equal's avatar

Just as there will likely be a weapons check before entry to the conclave, there should be a lie detector station, barring entry to any homosex cleric.

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Gene Thomas Gomulka's avatar

If there were such a discriminating test, the gathering would probably be around the size of The Last Supper.

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Vote Created Equal's avatar

If they remember the consequence to Ananias, they might not even present themselves to the test.

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J.M. BLIGHT's avatar

By the time Eastern Orthodox commemorates Ananias on October 1, Pope Francis I soul will already have entered oblivion & be eternally burning in it. Thanks VCE for the information. May the good Lord have mercy on the souls of those martyred in Damascus.

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William Murphy's avatar

Very true, Father. Don't forget that there was at least one traitor at the Last Supper...plus the guy who denied Jesus three times.

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Augustinus's avatar

The problem is, who's administering the lie detector test? If it's a fellow homosexual, he could easily say they passed with flying (pride) colors.

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Vote Created Equal's avatar

He could, and that would be the ultimate sin against the Holy Spirit, earning him Ananias squared.

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Celeste Phelan's avatar

Fantastic idea!!!

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John Hochstedt's avatar

Thank you & bless you, Fr Gomulka, for this unvarnished article, in the face of all the horrible white-washing of this criminal and all his accomplices.

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RONALD STEVENSON's avatar

Perhaps many Catholics woke up on Easter Monday morning and felt the same way that many Russian people did when they woke up to learn the news that Joseph Stalin had died?

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Augustinus's avatar

I have often asked how many current prelates, all the way down to parish priests, believe in the existence of God, particularly homosexuals. The salvation of one's soul rarely, if ever, comes up in their public communications or homilies.

When I discerned briefly with the Jesuits, I heard endlessly about "building new structures," "social justice," "the margins," but rarely about the leading of souls to God through personal growth in holiness. I recall the vocations director at the time for my region; when homosexual "marriage" was being debated in our state legislature (in the USA), the archbishop circulated a letter articulating the Catholic teachings on the sacrament. The vocations director (also a parish priest), when asked about the letter, said "Yeah, we just kind of leave that at the back of the church." I'm afraid he left a lot more behind than just sheets of paper.

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William Murphy's avatar

Very thought provoking point, Augustinus. You might also ask in what sense some priests "believe" in God, even if they mechanically recite the Creed at every Mass.

Other Catholics have been inevitably been asking about the belief of their clergy. Like this article on non believing priests:

https://onepeterfive.com/how-many-priests-lost-faith/

Or this rare inside confession from a gay ex-priest in the west of England. Note how his bishop knew about his boyfriend....

https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/5119/leaving-the-priesthood-a-personal-story

I recall all the local priests who, like ex Father Barton, have quietly disappeared "for personal reasons". Or, sadly, one local priest weeping at his last Mass after his collapse of faith. At least he had the courage to admit it and leave for a whole new way of life, rather than carry on in comfort as a fraud.

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TruthSeeker's avatar

I have learned a lot about Jesuits this week whereas before now I have only read this or that dismissive comment about them not being truly Catholic. Now I understand.

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Mary Suddath's avatar

I have been waiting for your commentary about him. Do we still dare hope and pray for a good and holy Pope?

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Gia Yan's avatar

Hope springs eternal….

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TruthSeeker's avatar

We must pray. 🙏🏻

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William Murphy's avatar

I am on holiday in Sofia. Obviously most of the Bulgarian churches are Orthodox. So a modern church without an onion dome caught my eye. Statue of Pope outside? Statue of St Joseph holding the Christ Child? Rainbow coloured poster above the door? Yes, we are definitely in the One, True Church.

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Gia Yan's avatar

I refused to stay for more than a minute inside a very modern Jesuit circular chapel…with an All Gender bathroom in Connecticut.

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William Murphy's avatar

Thanks, Father, for an appropriate response to the overwhelming adulation for Pope Francis. The last time I saw such concentrated drivel was the insane week after the demise of Princess Diana in 1997. At least no one ever claimed that she was Catholic.

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A Concerned Catholic's avatar

Very informative read. Thank you. This can only be read by people given the grace of courage. Average Catholics will not survive reading this article; which explains the state of Catholicism today - the average Catholic is unwilling to accept the bitter truth,unwilling to see the lies, unwilling to take the narrow path while closing their eyes on the broad path, like the pharisees and saducees who ignored the samaritan who was robbed and beaten, the sexually abused are ignored by the average Catholic, in their deliberate ignorance of pandering to the elite mafia of Bishop-Cardinal-Pope

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Aamikee's avatar

Excellent Title!!

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Martin T's avatar

Thank you for sharing these insights. It is interesting to see fellow parishioners and the media following the same message. When there is no dissent, you are right to start asking questions. The answer to many is a sort of symbiotic pact where the pope stays on message in return for a good press. Talk about refugees, climate change and 'reform' and don't talk about sex, hell or judgement and we will leave you alone. After all, look how Benedict was treated? I expect a majority of cardinals will be in similar positions and keep the Holy Spirit as far away as possible.

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William Murphy's avatar

Looking at the astonishing amount of coverage which the BBC has given to Pope Francis' death, lying in state, funeral arrangements, etc....you just know that he was the BBC's style of Pope. Fortunately I'm on holiday in Bulgaria, which is overwhelmingly Orthodox, and most of the lamentation should be over when I get home.

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Laura Noncomplier's avatar

So much suffering 💔

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Joseph Mulvey's avatar

On August 30, 1568, Pope St. Pius V issued the bull Horrendum Illud scelus

That horrible crime, for which corrupt and obscene cities were destroyed by fire through divine condemnation, causes us most bitter sorrow and shocks our mind, impelling us to repress such a crime with the greatest possible zeal.

§ 1. Quite opportunely the Fifth Lateran Council [1512-1517] issued this decree: “Let any member of the clergy caught in that vice against nature, given that the wrath of God falls over the sons of perfidy, be removed from the clerical order or forced to do penance in a monastery” (chap. 4, X, V, 31).

§ 2. So that the contagion of such a grave offense may not advance with greater audacity by taking advantage of impunity, which is the greatest incitement to sin, and so as to more severely punish the clerics who are guilty of this nefarious crime and who are not frightened by the death of their souls, we determine that they should be handed over to the severity of the secular authority, which enforces civil law.

§ 3. Therefore, wishing to pursue with greater rigor than we have exerted since the beginning of our pontificate, we establish that any priest or member of the clergy, either secular or regular, who commits such an execrable crime, by force of the present law be deprived of every clerical privilege, of every post, dignity and ecclesiastical benefice, and having been degraded by an ecclesiastical judge, let him be immediately delivered to the secular authority to be put to death, as mandated by law as the fitting punishment for laymen who have sunk into this abyss.

Nothing to the contrary withstanding, etc.

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Gene Thomas Gomulka's avatar

Thank you attorney Mulvey for your comment which will serve as the basis for a future article!

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Eugene Carpenter's avatar

Once again, awesome article. I hope some of the red hat wearing crowd read it, soon.

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Gene Thomas Gomulka's avatar

Thanks, Eugene!

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Jon Quixote's avatar

I'm sincerely sorry, if you suffered from abuse. If you should heal, please know that the majority of sexual abuse happened after the Second Vatican Council and it was never the policy to tolerate deviants of any kind prior to the council. Did abuses occur? Hell yes, but the offenders have to answer at their personal judgement and the higher the offender, the harsher the judgement. By the way, Father Girolamo Savonarola called out Pope Alexander VI and paid with his life. Fighting for God's Truth and Justice comes with a price. God bless you.

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Fr Joseph Pasquella's avatar

great article...

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Gene Thomas Gomulka's avatar

Thanks Father!!!

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