“for your penance, pray five decades of the Holy Rosary”. . .
Commonly, priest-confessors give penitents the penance of praying the Rosary – either in full or partial. Penance is a prayer or an action that we do in order to atone for the sins that we have committed. We may say that it is God’s bitter medicine that although unpleasant, would cure us.
We are supposed to feel uncomfortable with our penance because it reminds us that sin is ugly and we have transgressed against God and our brethren. It is a corrective measure to purify our souls.
Going back to the subject of decades, in another context, a decade can also mean ten years. Ten long years.
For indeed, we are now commemorating the tenth-year anniversary of the election of Pope Francis. Ten years ago to this day, after the abrupt resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, of happy and blessed memory, the Cardinalitial College elected the Cardinal-Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, as the Successor of the Apostle Peter, who took on the name FRANCIS.
His election was supported and lobbied by Cardinal Godfried Danneels, a leading Belgian prelate and head of the so called S. Gallen Group. In turn, perhaps as an act of thanksgiving or gratitude, the new Pope invited Danneels to be at his side when he appeared at the Central Loggia of S. Peter’s.
The S. Gallen Mafia is a faction comprised of high-ranking liberal and reformist clerics within the Church. This same coalition tried to prevent the election of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger during the 2005 Conclave, and to achieve that, they stacked their votes to Cardinal Bergoglio. After the eight years of Pope Benedict XVI, they were finally able to enthrone their candidate to the Throne of Peter during the 2013 Conclave. Since that fateful day, the Church has changed much- for good or for worse.
In the span of ten years, Pope Francis was able to cause chaos within the Church. His ambiguity is leading the Church to question herself: what does she believe in, really. Before, it was “Roma locuta, causa finita est”. Rome has already spoken, the matter is settled. Now, instead of clarity, we receive confusing statements from the Roman See. He shows himself as “keeper of Tradition” and yet, he sends away clerics leaning with the Tradition of the Church and condemns them as rigid. Those who were deviant and were leaning towards heresy, he gifts with the red hat.
There are many excellent pieces written about the ten years of Pope Francis; I would just add this note: Perhaps, this pontificate is not really bad at all, for it exposed the real colors of most of our clergy: those who stood with Peter when he was in the person of Benedict XVI are now actively defending Peter in the person of Francis, who undermines the legacy of his predecessor. Prelates change sides when it benefits them. We see too, the problem of ultra-ultramontanism, almost the worship of the person of the Pope. It is a wake up call that we should stand by the Faith, and not by the Pope, because popes only come and go. Only Christ and His Truth are eternal.
My point now here is this: perhaps, the permissive will of God allowed the election of Pope Francis in order to show us that at the end, everything is in God’s hands: that even though disastrous men hold the keys of Peter, weak as they are, the Holy Church always triumphs. This just adds credence to the words of Our Lord: ‘non praevalebunt”. Perhaps, this pontificate is a penance for us: a bitter but healing medicine.
The only thing I would say is this: whether we like him or not, he is the current holder of the keys. Not everything he does – or says – is infallible, but we are still bound to pray for him. He is our universal pastor. It is also a “penance” for me to pray “Oremus pro beatissimo Papa nostro Francisco” during the preces of the traditional Divine Office, but we must, and we ought to. We must pray for him, however he might have hurt us.
Again, let us pray for the Supreme Pontiff, Francis:
O God, shepherd and ruler of all the faithful,
look favorably on your servant Francis,
whom you have set at the head of your Church as her shepherd;
Grant, we pray, that by word and example
he may be of service to those over whom he presides
so that, together with the flock entrusted to his care,
he may come to everlasting life. Amen.
Before I end, here’s a little tip for my readers: Sometimes we need to read between the lines – to read the finer print; see the bigger picture: the greater scheme of things. Focus on the message. Look for the words that were said those that weren’t said. There are things that are put together specifically to send subtle messages. 😉 Don’t assume to know everything by looking at it’s face value.
TIBI SE COR MEUM TOTUM SUBJICIT 