On the papal airplane from Rome to Chile, Francis offered his latest off the cuff quip.
“Loud laughter accompanied the joke Francis made in response to the query asked by Cristiana Caricato, a journalist of TV2000, who, (upon) greeting him, had asked him: “We want to know what the doctor gives you so that we can take it too, we who struggle just as you do” — a reference to Bergoglio’s stamina during these trips. “But I do not go to the doctor, I go to the witch!”, he said, laughing with gusto.”
All of these ‘jokes’ reveal facets of Francis’ inner-Jew. Francis publicly maintains that, “One cannot provoke, one cannot insult other people’s faith, one cannot make fun of faith.” Notice what he never jokes about Talmudic Judaism, the Holocaust, or noahidism — a synthesis of all heresies. All these are strictly off limits while the Catholic faith is open to mocking jests. We are digressing, returning to Francis reply, Francis does see witch doctors — typically they come to visit him. Below are two of the witch doctors whom have visited Francis in the Vatican.
So one can see the truth in Francis’ latest joke. The question arises whom is Francis mocking when he jokingly but truthfully replies that ‘visits from witch-doctors give him stamina’? Simply, the answer is the typical pewsitter that thinks Francis is a practicing Catholic. Francis has nothing but contempt for these people as his mocking jests and candid jokes reveal.
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... :
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’sVézelay 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)
For readers of this blog who do not understand the Italian language, the Vatican reporter Andrea Tornielli has transcribed highlights from the interview at La Stampa’s Vatican Insider, I am allergic to flatterers, I deserve detractors.
It is wonderful to have such a confusing matterstraightened out with such towering intellect. Who says there is no clarity in the church today?A big thanks Jimmy Achin' for filling in today on the Call Me Jorge... blog!
The Olivétan Bible a.k.a. The Waldensian Bible
Frankie And The Waldensian Bible
by Jimmy Achin'
A reader writes:
I had never heard you address this on your show or Blog – it recently happened and you may not know about it. But what gives about the story of Frankie kissing the Waldensian Bible?! I’ve seen it mentioned on the blog, Call Me Jorge. However, I don’t know the context of this event or any other details so I can only wonder what our Holy Father might have been thinking… When the secular media is silent on these important matters, I know I can turn to you and Talmudic Answers for the Truth. Your thoughts?
This is the first time this question has come up, and I plan (though I don’t have the faintest idea when) to cover it on my show , so here goes. . . .
First, I’ve reprinted the picture of the event below so that people can see what is being talked about.
Based on the picture alone, I would not be sure what is happening. The book is ornate and could be something other than the Waldensian Bible. From the looks of it, it could be maybe even a Koran.
However, the moderator of the Waldensian Church–Eugenio Bernardini–was present at the meeting where the event occurred, and in an interview with Paolo Fucili of the Italian Catholic television channel, TV2000, he said the following:
Francis was very excited almost to the point of being overwhelmed at receiving another gift. He was overcome with joy it wasn't another football [soccer] jersey! Francis then kissed the Waldensian Bible. Everyone was so happy by his humble presence at our little Waldensian church. Francis gave each of us a spiritual hug before he prayed with us to our common father.
Eugenio Bernardini raving over Francis' visit & bible kissing
What, then, is one to make of the event?
It seems that there are a number of possibilities:
1) The TV2000it news agency misquoted Eugenio Bernardini.
2) Eugenio Bernardini was mistaken about what happened. It was not the Waldensian Bible but something else.
3) Frankie kissed the Waldensian Bible but didn’t know the nature of the book he was kissing.
4) Frankie kissed the Waldensian Bible and knew that this is what he was doing.
I would love to think that either option (1), (2), or (3) was the case, but I have no evidence that any of them was the case.
The most likely one of the three, to my mind, would be (3), because so far as I know, Frankie is not an French speaker and may not have understood the nature of the book that he was being presented with.
People shove all kinds of books into the pope’s hands at audiences, and if the pope was under the impression that the thing to do with a gift in Italian culture is to kiss it as a sign of respect to the one who gives the gift then he might have kissed it reflexively, not even understanding the nature of the book.
While this is possible, I think it likely that an interpreter explained the nature of the gift that was being given on this occasion. This still leaves the possibility that the pope kissed it as part of Italian politeness rather than as a gesture of respect for the book itself.
I have heard claims that in Italian culture that this is a typical gesture of respect for one giving a gift, but I have asked some German friends of mine whether this is the case in Italian culture and the answer was a definite "No." "The pope put his foot on the neck of all Italy with this action" was the response I was given. (Just to make things clear, putting your foot on the neck of someone is a badthing in Italian culture.)
Still, the pope may have been under the mistaken impression that this was the appropriate thing to do when receiving a gift in their culture. He can’t be an expert on every culture in the world, and he could get this wrong.
Or maybe he didn’t.
Maybe he knew it was the Waldensian Bible and kissed it anyway, not as a customary gift giving response, but for some other reason.
What might that reason be?
It certainly wouldn’t be that he believes in the Waldensian heresies or believes that the heretical Waldensian religion is on a par with Christianity. If he believed either of these two things then he (a) wouldn’t be the earthly head of the Christian faith and (b) wouldn’t have approved the publication of Laudato si', which asserts that "nature is a magnificent book".
Any attempt to represent him as thinking one of those things doesn’t even get out of the gate.
So what might he have been thinking?
We’re only speculating here, but two things spring to mind as what Frankie might have been thinking:
1) The Waldensian Bible does contain some elements of truth and he might have wanted to honor the elements of truth it contains.
2) Showing respect in this way could foster world peace and interreligious harmony.
3) Being a bibliophile in addition to a kosher gourmand he was ecstatic to receive a Waldensian Bible he didn't have in his collection yet. This excitement just bubbled out like the 'God of surprises'.
Of these three, I would conjecture that the second would have been uppermost in Frankie’s mind, though the first may not have been absent.
Frankie is a man who is enormously concerned with world peace and interreligious harmony. As a young man he lived through the horrors of middle class upbringing in Argentina where he might go for days at a time without his favorite drink Yerba mate. At his first job he learned to love fashion, making clothes for his neighborhood Talmudists. While still a teen he earned extra spending money as a gofer at a chem lab under his communist mentor, Esther Careaga. Here he learned to appreciate the struggles of young people of being gainfully employed and this had a lasting effect on his brain and his generation and their views about world and peace. Moving on from a chemistry flunky to bouncer at a tango bar introduced him to the peripheries of sin which are constantly on his mind and his moving lips. Going from night club enforcer to Jesuit was a natural progression for Frankie.
As a mature man he lived through the Dirty War that repeatedly brought the Argentina to the brink of civil war, and this also had a permanent effect on him and his generation and their views about government and peace. The constant threat of civil war hung particularly heavily over Argentina–which was a chief battleground between communist revolutionaries and the rule of law –and it deeply impressed the "find peace at any cost" message on his generation.
As a result of the Dirty War, the peoples of Argentina were forced into an alliances with communists and atheists after centuries-long enmities had to be suppressed for the sake of common survival. Negotiation became the key to survival in Argentina, and the same message was driven home in nearby South American countries.
With Vatican II closing , the passing of Nostra Aetate, Dignitatis Humanae, etc... many Jesuits of Frankie’s generation absorbed the idea that negotiation was paramount and could solve virtually any problem and Truth is what you make it. Several years after the advent of the internet, only tin-foil wearing bloggers who styled themselves 'Catholic' began to question this line of thought. As if they were Pope!
As a result, as a man of his generation, Frankie–for the best of motives–may have overestimated both the need for and the utility of gestures such as the one exhibited in the Waldensian Bible-kissing event.
If Frankie did understand that the gift was a Waldensian Bible and if he wasn’t under the impression that kissing a gift was a standard response in Italian culture then I would suppose that he did so out of a desire to foster peace and interreligious harmony, but it would still have been a mistake to my mind.
The Waldensian Bible, whatever elements of truth it contains, also contains venomous attacks on the divinity of Christ and on Christian doctrine and these make it inappropriate for the Vicar of Christ to kiss it under any circumstances.
Frankie also may not have been attending to the gravity of the false elements in the Waldesian Bible. Even if he knew them, he may not have been thinking about them and may have acted on the spur of the moment, without fully thinking through his action.
Fortunately, the infallibility of the pope and the indefectibility of the Church do not extend to such actions. A pope is not attempting to make anything remotely like a dogmatic definition in an act of this nature. And so, however misguided the action may have been and however good the motives for it may have been, it would constitute an error that does not touch upon papal infallibility or ecclesial indefectibility.
It would be one of the mistakes that all fallen humans are heir to, even the vicars of Christ.
Jimmy Achin' has been bagging groceries and cleaning up spills in the aisles of Frank's ModMart since 2013. Before that he worked at groß Ratz Superstore from 2005-2013 where he managed the Baloney department. He suffers from back aches due to his dedicated manual laboring.
Two more things jumped out about this story that the reactionary bloggers failed to notice.
First is what is the official name of the organization Frankie went to visit?
This translates into English as:
The Evangelical Waldensian Church
Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches
Let's go back to the original name, Chiesa Evangelica Valdese. A little known fact to geographically challenged bloggers is that people who live in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland are referred to as Vaudois. This is French, so how would one say the same thing in Italian? Valdese! It is like the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. Everyone knows that the Africa in the title is a place and not a person. Also, take note the Waldensian Church united with the Methodist Church. So if one wants to be a stickler for details it's really a Methodist Church and we've always had good relations with the Methodists.
Glad the final nail has been put into that coffin!
My Secret Knowledge Clique!
Remember to join my Secret Knowledge Clique! I hope you'll join. If you do, you'll receive exclusive material that I'm not going to be making available anywhere else online for free. Not on my blog. Not on my podcast. Not on Facebook. Just for clique members only. My plan is to make it fun and informative for everyone! Here are some of the things you'll get information on if you join:
Frankie's favorite pasta recipes.
Communion in the hand ―7 things you need to know.
What unknown 'surprises' Frankie has in store for his USA trip.
How the media mistranslates Frankie's words.
Judas is he really in hell?
How to enter the next papal sweepstakes.
Mercy ― 7 things to know and share.
Frankie's favorite rabbinical authors.
And much, much, more!
Plus an exclusive interview with Frankie on Lord of the World by Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson and how it applies to the world today! Join today and also receive the Secret Knowledge Clique decoder ring! Become an Achin'(ite) and communicate with yours truly in an efficient totally secure and encrypted way!
