the emperor has no clothes — the Irish Edition

long live the emperor!

Francis riding through the streets of Dublin waving to no one.

Everyone in Ireland must have been waiting for him at Croke Park. 

And when Francis did get a crowd...

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Aren’t tickets to Francis’ general audiences free?

Where then, are the people?

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😂 An empty square today for story time with Chaos Frank, crowd must have been in line to buy his new book ‘Dio è giovane’.

A few drops of rain cannot keep ‘crowd’ away from Francis’ general audience

Francis set another record low for attendance, this time on Ash Wednesday.

or

Francis gets no love on St. Valentine’s Day.

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Where are the people?

Even the press corp cannot crop out the lack of people.

‘I can’t wait any longer. Don’t they know my general audience is today?’

All those #EmptySeats — must have been in line for ashes. 


Maybe they gave Francis up for Lent?

Francis breaks last week’s new record set for crowd at a general audience

...for lack of people

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Turns out that Francis was just getting warmed up in Chile with apathetic attendance at his events.  Upon returning to the Vatican he absolutely smashed attendance records at last’s week general audience.  Well, last week’s audience appeared overflowing compared to today’s.  The emperor or ‘Humble’ Francis indeed has no clothes and no matter how hard his public relations team tries to cover it up they can’t.  Compare today’s crowd to the number of Talmudic Jews who showed up yesterday at the Vatican for its celebration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day — not too different.  2018 is off to a most terrible start for ‘his humbleness’.  How long until the Swiss Guards send the embarrassment packing back to Argentina?

 ‘Where’s the people?’

‘Let’s pick up six children for the media to focus on.’

‘This ride isn’t free. Smile like you are enjoying yourselves!’

‘Mmmm... nothing like matte’ and a camera.

‘Did you get a good photo?’

 #EmptySeats Must be the Roman city traffic.

‘Oh, goody! The crowd finally showed up!’

‘Blah, blah, blah, blah, heresy, blah, blah, blah...’

Francis sets new record for attendance at general audience

Or lack thereof.

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The crowd at Francis’ general audience 
continues to dwindle away...

the emperor has no clothes

long live the emperor!

Francis went to the peripheries on January 18th in Lobito Beach (Playa Labito) in Iquique, Chile, home to nearly two dozen migrant slums to celebrate his mess.  Preparations were made for over 300,000 fawning fans but according to television reports only 90,000 (if it was that many) were in attendance. 

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Here’s a screenshot of the January 17th meeting Francis had with the youth of Chile at the Shrine of Maipù at the Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Carmen in Santiago, Chile.  As one can see the turnout wasn’t very good.

*Thanks to Antonio Socci for pointing this out on his facebook page.

So the question is: 

Do the citizens of Chile not like Argentinians very much?

or 

Are the medias covering up Francis’ unpopularity?

The attendance at Francis’ Urbi et Orbi is flat compared to last year’s

Some blame it on terrorism, others that Christmas day fell on a Sunday but we at Call Me Jorge... believe it is Francis fatigue.  Since the reign of Francis has begun he has managed to alienate most of the Vatican bureaucracy and to burn out several reporters.  The crowds have never really shown up for Francis as they did for Benedict XVI.  His ‘Urbi et Obi’ had seen a marked decline until this year when attendance was flat even though the Jubilee Year of Mercy had just recently finished.  According to Vatican reporter, Rocco Palmo, “Thanks to Jubilee, attendance at 2016 Pope events in Rome was 3.95mil – up from 3.2m in 2015, but still marked decline from 5.9m in 2014.”  Could it be that people think the man is irrelevant?  Looking at the social media and mainstream media that’s been crafted by Opus (ju)Dei’s Greg Burke it’s little wonder why he is thought of in this manner. 

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 The crowd looks a bit sparse.

 People are still trickling in.

 Still a lot of empty space.

As full as St. Peter’s Square gets these days.

About as many in attendance as last year’s Urbi et Orbi.

screenshots taken from Vatican’s official youtube channel video, 2016.12.25 Christmas Message and Urbi et Orbi blessing

The ‘Humble’ Francis Show plays to a lackluster crowd

Blue skies and empty seats at the Mikheil Meskhi stadium in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Francis shared this gem about ecumenism,

“There is a big sin against ecumenism: proselytism.  You must never proselytize the Orthodox.  They are our brothers and sisters, disciples of Jesus Christ.”

Francis offered a few new beatitudes as well;

“Blessed are those Christian communities who live this authentic Gospel simplicity!  Poor in means, they are rich in God.”

“Blessed are the Shepherds who do not ride the logic of worldly success, but follow the law of love: welcoming, listening, serving.”

“Blessed is the church who does not entrust herself to the criteria of functionalism and organizational efficiency, nor worries about her image.”

What a farce!

Here's the entire mess.

A brief Reuters news story covering his visit.

or watch by clicking here

Rome Reports playing Three-card Monte with Francis’ lastest Angelus Address

How many were really in attendance?

On Monday 15 August 2016, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Francis gave a special Angelus Address. 

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Compare this image...

Screenshot of the crowd from Rome Reports’ video on Monday’s Angelus

 source: RomeReports, Pope at Angelus of the Assumption addresses women subjected to sexual and labor exploitation

to this image...

Screenshot of the actual crowd from the Vatican live feed of Monday’s Angelus

source: Vatican, Angelus Domini 2016.08.15

One would think that with a claimed 13 million plus pilgrims to the Vatican since the Jubilee of Mercy was declared, that Rome Reports wouldn’t have to pull shenanigans like this to bolster the numbers attending an Angelus Address.

The fruits of Francis' “Who am I to judge?” Jubilee of Mercy

First, the attendance was down at Francis' general audiences.

Next, the Holy Door's numbers turned out to be a flub.  

Now, the confessionals are empty for the year of mercy.

“Who are you to judge me?” The confessions of a confessor

(an anonymous letter from a priest)

“The facts are these. Since the opening of the Holy Year backed by Pope Francis and on the occasion of the Christmas festivities of 2015 - as also since Jorge Mario Bergoglio has been sitting on the throne of Peter - the number of faithful who approach the confessional has not increased, neither in ordinary time nor in festive. The trend of a progressive, rapid diminution of the frequency of sacramental reconciliation that has characterized recent decades has not stopped. On the contrary: the confessionals of my church have been largely deserted.”

For more information read:

• Sandro Magister, Jubilee of Mercy, But With the Confessionals Empty & “Who are you to judge me?” The confessions of a confessor

Rome Reports spins the declining attendance at Francis' general audiences

...not enough Vatican II saints in 2015

About that Holy Door of 'Mercy'...

The Vatican (as of 24 December 2015) is claiming more than 400,000 pilgrims have already passed through the Holy Door in St. Peter's Basilica since it was opened on December 8th, 2015.





400,000 pilgrims in 16 days equals 25,000 per day. According to the Vatican's Jubilee of Mercy website, the Holy Door is open from 07:00 to 17:00.  That's 10 hours per day divided into 25,000 which means roughly 2,500 people per hour walk through the doors.  This equates to 41.66 people per minute.


Here's a recent photo we found tweeted by a respected German journalist, Armin Schwibach, of the line for the Holy Door.  Have any readers of Call Me Jorge... seen any other photos of the line?

source: twitter, Armin Schwibach , posted at 12:34 AM - 24 Dec 2015

Looks like the Holy Door is less popular than Francis' general audiences!

 Francis' latest general audience on 16 December 2015.

 Another shot of 16 December 2015 general audience.

Here's the link to the Vatican's webcam of St. Peter's Square, where one can see the line for the Holy Door in this Francis' Jubilee Year of Mercy.

A screen capture of St. Peter's Square webcam.