1. Contra Mundum

We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible. I have not spoken much about these things, and I was reprimanded for that. But when we speak about these issues, we have to talk about them in a context. The teaching of the church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time.  — His Holiness Francis I, “A Big Heart Open to God” (interview with Fr. Antonio Spadaro, S.J.), Civiltà Cattolica, 30 Sept 2013

I have always been a loyal supporter of the pope. Over the past thirteen years of my Catholic journey, I have looked at our pontiffs with respect, admiration, and even love. I have defended them fervently in arguments and backed them faithfully in unpopular stands.

But with our good Pope Francis’ recent pronouncements on the affability of the Almighty towards atheists, sodomites, abortionists, and those whose faith lies with persons other than Jesus Christ, I have lost all hope that the current bearer of the Fisherman’s Ring is going to champion the orthodox and Catholic faith I love. The more he speaks, the more I cringe, and the easier the work of those who hate the Papacy becomes.

And my Protestant, Evangelical, and Orthodox friends are right on the job. The instant the pope’s latest words hit the newswires, the pope-haters I know got straight to work.

“Behold your ‘first among equals!’” intone the Orthodox from behind their beards. “He openly denies what the Church has always taught. We have a word for that sort of person in Greek: hairetikos!”

“Antichrist, antichrist, antichrist!” screech the Evangelicals from the 72,000 seat JesusDome with retractable roof. “I told you I told you I told you! Whore of Babylon!”

“Martin Luther was right,” say the Protestants from the pulpits of their empty churches. “At least about Rome.”

Yes, Francis the Talking Pope has really done wonders for the credibility of our Church in the eyes of nonbelievers and of our separated brethren. He talks off the top of his head, you and I get to do the let’s-explain-what-he-really-meant dance. Thanks, your Holiness.

One of my friends summed it all up in one question. Paraphrasing:  “With all that has been said and done by this pope and others like him, “ he asked, “how can you still cling to the Church?”

Well, friend, here is my reply.

I cling to the Church because I have no choice. Unlike Team Jesus over in the J-Dome, and unlike the nice lady priestess facing the empty pews over at First Methbyterian, we Catholics must have the Body and Blood of Jesus to survive, we must have a single, authoritative, apostolic voice to speak the words handed down from Christ to us, and we must all be united in one holy Church.

The Catholic Church has the Sacraments. The Catholic Church has the apostolic succession. Yes, the Orthodox have them, too, but the Orthodox are not a Church, not an entity universal in character, but rather a loose and often contentious band of separate national churches — a sort of Warsaw Pact, only with Jesus in the big chair  instead of Leonid Brezhnev. Our bearded brothers of the East are holy and apostolic, but they are not one, and they lack the Rock, the Bishop of Rome, the one man appointed by Christ Himself to lead, guide, and unify the Church. And until they acknowledge that there is a Rock to which we must look for guidance, Eastern Orthodoxy is not an option for me.

And so I am stuck with the Catholic Church. Leaving it is not an option open to me.  I could no more walk away from the Body and Blood of Christ than I could walk away from gravity. I could no more abandon the Sovereign Pontiff than a baseball player could tell his manager to go to hell. I am married to the Bride of Christ, for better or for worse.

And that means I am stuck with our horrible, horrible pope.

Friends, it’s not as if we don’t deserve him. I am certainly a bad excuse for a Catholic. No, Ann Barnhardt said it best: Francis is a punishment. The Church has strayed, and now God is going to allow the Church to suffer. Thanks to Pope Evita and his yerba mate-fuelled theology, millions of confused Catholics will conclude that there’s no such thing as Right and Wrong. Thanks to Feel-good Francis the First, millions of conservative Catholics will lose faith in the Church, conclude that God has abandoned us, and wander away into the wilderness. Thanks to this pope, the Bark of Peter is now the Latin Love Boat, where baby killers, boy-lovers, and Buddhists can all get to Heaven as long as they’re, you know, nice.

And, over time, the real Church will be winnowed away to a tiny remnant.

As it has been before.

Bad popes are nothing new, gang. God often gives bad men great power. Saint Peter was chosen by the Lord Himself, and the first thing our first pope did was deny Christ three times. (He got better at being pope later.) Then of course there were all those morally bankrupt medieval popes we’ve all heard so much about. And even some of the good popes we’ve enjoyed over the last hundred years haven’t been — if you’ll pardon the expression — simon pure.

Over two thousand years we’ve had murderers, molesters, morons (and, lately, I suspect, Muslims) sitting on the Throne of Peter. Yet despite their many wicked deeds and erroneous opinions, not one of these evil men ever dogmatically taught error as truth.

That is why I continue to hold fast to the Catholic Church: because Jesus Christ  promised that the gates of Hell would not prevail against it. Now, in saying this, the Lord was either lying, He was mistaken, or He was telling the truth. If he was lying or mistaken, He was not God, and nothing matters. Let’s all get drunk, get naked, and get down, for tomorrow w die.

But if He was telling the truth..!

I believe he was telling the truth. I believe the teaching magisterium of the Church, subsisting in the pope and in the bishops in union with him, is maintained infallible by the Holy Spirit. But please note that an infallible magisterium does not imply an infallible man. Being pope does not make a man impeccable (incapable of sin). Nor does the Triple Tiara prevent the Vicar of Christ from being a bad theologian. And wearing the Big Shoes sure as sin doesn’t stop a guy from leading his fellow Catholics down the road to heresy. People love heresy. Whether Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, or Orthodox, Do-It-Yourself Christianity is always the most popular brand. There have been many occasions during which heretics both papal and otherwise have led many, even most—of the Catholic Church into error, leaving only a few hated losers to tread the lonely path of orthodoxy. Hell, during the worst of the Arian heresy the true Church was pretty much down to Saint Athanasius and his followers. For several decades, he stood alone against heretical popes, heretical emperors, and the majority of the Church, which had fallen into Arianism. They called him Athanasius contra mundum -- “Athanasius Against The World”.

But it was never Athanasius against the world. He did not fight alone. He had the Holy Spirit on his side. And in the end, thanks to the Holy Spirit, Athanasius won. One man -- and the Holy Spirit -- was more than a match for the Church, the pope, and the Empire!

We traditional Catholics now face the situation that Athanasius faced. The pope, while not dogmatically teaching error, is opining falsehoods that will lead many souls to Hell. The majority of the Church agrees with him. And soon the secular, revolutionary Empire will use the new, sin-friendly Church to bludgeon those few of us who dare cling to the true Catholic Faith.

Well, here I am—the last of the bitter clingers. I’m ready for the bludgeon. And while it may be true that God will put no longer His nail-scarred Hand over the mouth of his Vicar on Earth, I have to believe the Holy Spirit will prevent our pope from teaching error as truth in a dogmatic way,

And that is why I cling to the Church: because I trust the Holy Spirit, as Athanasius did. I stand with Athanasius, and against the Emperor, the pope, the fallen majority of the Church, and the world.

Bring on the pain.

O Holy father Athanasius,
like a pillar of orthodoxy
you refuted the heretical nonsense of Arius
by insisting that the Father and the Son are equal in essence.
O venerable father, beg Christ our God to save our souls.