Why doesn’t Francis just go ahead and declare Judas a saint?

The man in sneakers and the clothes of a layman interviewing 

Francis is Marco Pozza and he is a priest.

Francis is back at it again with one of his favorite pet projects, the rehabilitation of Judas.  We previously covered Francis and Judas in two posts on Call Me Jorge... :

• Did Judas Iscariot repent?

• Francis’ first interview with a German language publication

This book, Padre Nostro (Our Father), contains 

Francis’ blasphemies and anti-Catholic ideas.

Francis has a soon to be released book, Padre Nostro, with Don Marco Pozza that is being published simultaneously with a television series also titled, Padre Nostro, airing on TV2000it.  Here’s part of the excerpt published by Il Corriere della Sera newspaper on 23 November 2017 and translated into English by Aleteia.

The third case, “the one that moves me most, is Judas’ shame,” the pope said.

“Judas is a difficult character to understand; there have been so many interpretations of his personality. In the end, however, when he sees what he has done, he turns to the ‘righteous,’ to the priests: ‘I have sinned: I handed over an innocent man to be killed.’ They answer him: ‘What does that matter to us? That’s your affair.’ (Matthew 27:3-10) Then he goes away with that guilt that suffocates him.”

The Pontiff invites us to imagine a different fate for Judas: “Perhaps if he had met the Virgin Mary, things would have gone differently, but the poor man goes away, doesn’t find a way out of his situation, and he went to hang himself.”

“But, there’s one thing that makes me think that Judas’ story doesn’t end there … Perhaps someone might think, ‘this pope is a heretic…’ But, no! They should go see a particular medieval capital of a column in the Basilica of St. Mary Magdalen in Vézelay, Burgundy [in France],” he said.

The Successor of Peter describes how people in the Middle Ages taught the Gospel through sculptures and paintings. “On that capital, on one side there is Judas, hanged; but on the other is the Good Shepherd who is carrying him on his shoulders and is carrying him away.”

He revealed that he has a photograph of that two-part capital behind his desk, because it helps him meditate. “There is a smile on the lips of the Good Shepherd, which I wouldn’t say is ironic, but a little bit complicit,” he describes.

“There are many ways of reacting to shame; one is to despair, but we must try to help despairing people to find the true path of shame, so they don’t go down the path that put an end to Judas’ life.”

 

Francis has a photo of this column behind his desk.

First off Francis is projecting the profane ideas of Fr. Primo Mazzolari onto this pillar of Basilica Sainte-Marie-Madeleine in Vézelay, Burgundy, France.  The late Fr. Primo Mazzolari gave a sermon on Holy Thursday in 1958 titled, Nostro Fratello Guida (Our Brother Judas) and Francis in the above quoted interview is regurgitating blasphemous ideas from it.  In our research and also according to the University of Pittsburgh’s Vézelay Abbey website one reads, “On the left side of the capital a man carries Judas's body over his shoulder.”  No mention about Jesus the Christ being the man carrying Judas!

Next in the interview Francis says, “There is a smile on the lips of the Good Shepherd, which I wouldn’t say is ironic, but a little bit complicit.”  What!?  Complicit is defined by Merriam-Webster as, “helping to commit a crime or do wrong in some way”.  Not only has Francis projected Christ onto the pillar falsely, now he is implicitly stating that Our Lord, Jesus the Christ is a sinner!

What are the words of Jesus the Christ concerning Judas?

“The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but wo to that man, by whom the Son of man shall be betrayed: It were better for that man if he had not been born. And Judas, that betrayed him, answering, said: Is it I, Rabbi? he saith to him: Thou hast said it.” (Matthew 26, 24-25)

Doesn’t sound as if Judas was receptive to the Mercy Our Lord had for him does it?

Why is Francis trying to rehabilitate Judas then?

Keep in mind, Francis meditates on this blasphemy when he is in his office.

Does Francis remind you of anyone as he nullifies the words of God?

To us at Call Me Jorge..., he is most definitely sounding and behaving like a Talmudic rabbi.

Not to worry though as Francis assures you he isn’t a heretic! 

Even though Call Me Jorge... has asked this question before, we ask
it again — Does Francis see himself as a modern day Judas Iscariot?


A video in Italian of Francis addressing the priests of his diocese where he discusses Judas, the column, Fr. Primo Mazzolari, and how Jesus is dirty. (click here for English transcript)

Did Judas Iscariot repent?

Francis seems to think so!

(underlines are Call Me Jorge...’s for emphasis)

“Judas is the most perfect lost sheep in the Gospel: a man with a bitter heart, someone who always had something to criticize in others, he was always ‘detached’. He did not know the sweetness that comes of living without second ends with others. He was an unsatisfied man!” he said.

The Pope said that because of the darkness in his heart Judas was separated from the herd. He said – more in general - that darkness can lead to living a double life: “a double life that, perhaps painfully, many Christians, even priests and bishops lead...”

Pointing out that Judas himself was one of the first bishops, the Pope recalled a beautiful sermon given by Father Mazzolari in which he described Judas as a lost sheep: “Brother Judas, he said, what was happening in your heart?” Francis said we need to understand lost sheep: each and every one of us has something in us of the lost sheep.

The Repentance of Judas

The Pope went on to explain that is not so much a mistake but a disease of the heart that makes a sheep wander and he said it is something the devil exploits.

Just as it was with Judas whose heart was ‘divided’. And finally when Judas saw what harm his double life had wreaked in the community, when he saw the evil he had sown because of the darkness in his heart that caused him to run away, looking for a light that was not the light of the Lord, but artificial lights like Christmas decorations, he was thrown into despair:

The Pope said that the Bible tells us that “the Lord is good, he never stops looking for the lost sheep” and it tells us that when Judas hanged himself he had repented.

“I believe that the Lord will take that word [repentance] and bring it with Him” he said. And it tells us that right until the end God’s love was working in that soul.

source: Radio Vatican, Pope: "God's tenderness is our salvation"

The priest whom Francis mentioned above was the late Fr. Primo Mazzolari.  This wasn’t the first time Francis has mentioned him or one of his sermons.  Mazzolari was known as a revolutionary and often in trouble with Church authorities until the Archbishop of Milan, Giovanni Montini (the future Paul VI), extended him his protection.  Mazzolari had to withdraw books he had written from circulation due to their radical anti-Catholic ideas.  Besides preaching about Judas Iscariot, he preached about the “Church of the Poor”, attacked the doctrine of just war, believed in religious freedom, and pluralism.  Many of his ideas were incorporated into the documents of the Second Vatican Council, one could say he was one of the spiritual fathers of it.  Below is a link to the homily (in Italian) Francis is so fond of mentioning which was given by Fr. Primo Mazzolari on Holy Thursday (1958) and was titled “Our Brother Judas”.

• Nostro fratello Giuda di don Primo Mazzolari Giovedì Santo del 1958

Does Francis see himself as a modern day Judas Iscariot?

Addendum to Easter 1996, Bergoglio style

Above Fr. Taborda recounts his witnessing Jorge Bergoglio steal his confessor's crucifix. He then relates how he encouraged him to do it, saying it was OK to Bergoglio because he was the bishop.  Fr. Taborda and Francis would do well to read a good (pre-Vatican II) Catholic catechism and take its lessons to heart.


More:

• Easter 1996, Bergoglio style

Easter 1996, Bergoglio style

"Father Taborda remembers well that Easter evening 18 years ago. "We are there in the crypt beside the coffin of Father Aristi",  recounts the priest, and I can still see the ascetic figure of Bergoglio, who was then very skinny.  I remember he said: "He was my confessor, this rosary in his hand forgave many sinners (and) can not possibly go with him to the grave ..." '. And so, the future pope decided to take it (the crucifix) and ask the deceased Father Aristi for some mercy."
- La Stampa/Vatican Insider, 21 March 2014 -

(Francis boasting of his theft to the priests of Rome on 6 March 2014.)

Article below from the Associated Press reporter, Nicole Winfield, Pope reveals he took his late confessor's cross.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis confessed Thursday that he took the rosary cross of his late confessor from his casket and wears it to this day in a fabric pouch under his cassock. He said he did so telling the late priest, "Give me half your mercy."

Francis made the revelation Thursday during an informal chat with Roman priests about the need to be merciful to their flocks. He told the story of the "great confessor" of Buenos Aires who had heard confessions from most of the diocesan priests as well as from Pope John Paul II when he visited Argentina.

When the priest died, Francis went to pray by his open casket and was stunned that no one had brought any flowers.

"This man forgave the sins of all the priests of Buenos Aires, but not a single flower ...?" Francis recalled. So he went out and bought a bouquet of roses, and when he returned to arrange them around the casket, he saw the rosary the priest still held in his hand.

"And immediately there came to mind the thief we all have inside ourselves and while I arranged the flowers I took the cross and with just a bit of force I removed it," he said, showing with his hands how he pulled the cross off the rosary. "And in that moment I looked at him and I said 'Give me half your mercy.'"

Francis said he kept the cross in his shirt pocket for years, but that the cassock he wears now as pope doesn't have a pocket. He now keeps it in a little pouch underneath.

"And whenever a bad thought comes to mind about someone, my hand goes here, always," he said, gesturing to his heart. "And I feel the grace, and that makes me feel better.".

(Where Bergoglio's theft went down on Easter Sunday 1996.)

Another one from the you can't make this stuff up file.  Francis back when he was Bishop Bergoglio stole a the Crucifix from the rosary of his confessor.  It was in the crypt of the Basílica del Santísimo Sacramento de Buenos Aires so presumably there was a host in the building.  This theft was committed not only on Easter Sunday but in the presence of Christ!  Watch the video at the bottom of the page and see dear reader if Francis shows any remorse or contrition for his behavior.  Rather, he presents his theft as an act of humility.  He keeps this stolen Crucifix on his person tucked away and boasts about it with a hidden pride.  This speaks volumes of his aversion of Our Lord's Crucifixion.  Francis wears a pectoral cross which doesn't have a crucified Christ but instead has a representation of Him with a lamb.  His favorite painting is The White Crucifixion by Marc Chagall which portrays Christ as a Talmudic Jew.  He has used several croziers only one of which has a crucified Christ on it.  The one which does is the grotesque Broken Cross and we have intentions of writing an entry on it in the future; not to mention, his blasphemous jokes about Our Lord's Crucifixions.

While committing this theft Francis gives us another peak into his psyche.  See dear reader, Francis was so distraught his confessor didn't have any flowers by his coffin he went out and brought some.  This led him to see Fr. Aristi's rosary which he then proceeded to steal the Crucifix from while having the chutzpah to ask the deceased Fr. Aristi for half his mercy!  Why didn't Francis instead get on his knees and say a rosary for Fr. Aristi's soul?  St. Louis de Montfort writes every time a Hail Mary is recited a rose is offered to the Blessed Virgin Mary, presumably she would share a few with Fr. Aristi.  No, instead we have Francis offering things of the earth, flowers, and stealing the thing of God, the crucifix, on Easter Sunday!  Let this be a lesson, even when Francis has intentions of doing something kind, the result is sin.  The overused expression certainly comes to mind, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  This is a mirror-like reflection of the fruits of the Novus Ordo Missae & Vatican II.

Does the ends ever justify the means?  According to the behavior of Francis it does!  Is Francis blind to his own iniquities?  This man could have had any relic, within reason, of any Saint he wanted.  All he would have had to do was write Rome as Bishop Bergoglio.  Instead he commits desecration to a corpse and sacrilege to God by his theft. Is it any wonder he has repressed what he sees as the Traditional Latin Mass?  He smells the hint of sacrifice might still exist in  the '62 Missal so he snuffs it out.  Francis associates it with the old and being a modernist he wants new.  He has been hanging out too much with his rabbinical buddies and is performing tikkun olam on the Novus Ordo church, in the style of a modernist.  Again we couldn't in our most wildest imaginings make such a bizarre story up.  It confounds our minds to think he is the Vicar of Christ!  Better keep a close watch on your soul, else Francis might steal that too.  People in the modern world often lament that God doesn't speak to them any more... well this is the equivalent of shouting from the rooftops for all to hear!  He is a thief!  Beware!

So choose which Easter you like:

• Francis style - with Talmudic Rabbi Sergio Bergman praying Talmudic Seder/Passover prayers in St. Peter's Sepulchre at St. Peter's Basilica

- OR -

• Bergoglio style - committing theft in the Basilica of the Blessed Sacrament by stealing a Crucifix from his deceased confessor's body

(An infamous robber who stole from & betrayed his confessor.)

Francis recounting his theft to Rome's priests.

Selfie Sunday #2

What better way to open up the Holy Week than with Francis taking selfies with his fanatical fans.  It is all about the man and seldom about God in the man-centered Novus Ordo Missae.  The selfies took place after an impromptu homily in which he posed the following questions,

“Who am I? Who am I, before my Lord?”

“Who am I, who enters into Jerusalem in celebration?”

“Am I able to express my joy, to praise Him?”

“Or do I keep distant?”

“Who am I, before Jesus Who suffers?”

“Is my life asleep?”

“Am I like Judas, who pretended to love, and kissed the Master to give him over, to betray him? 

“Am I a traitor?”

We don't know about you but we recall Francis remarks to journalists soon after his election in which he said, "How I would love a church that is poor and for the poor."  This reminds us of Judas but "who are we to judge?"

Is he a Pope or a Rock Star?

Nothing like kicking off Holy Week with some Selfies!

Will his fans ever abandon him?

Francis pointing out a neo-pelagian to security?

It is all about Francis!

Is this someone who is humble? 

"The world loves me!"

Is Francis a hipster?

Did St. Francis ever take selfies?

Francis loves being the center of attention.

What a day Palm Sunday was Francis style!

Related :

• Selfie Sunday