Nigerian Caritas: New Muslim Dictator Can Lead Moral Reformation

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FrancisChurch Caritas Getting Political Again

FrancisChurch Caritas Getting Political Again

Boko Haram-plagued Nigeria has a new Muslim President, the ‘reformed dictator,’ Muhammadu Buhari.  It’s somewhat encouraging that the country’s bishops feel he is more qualified to lead a moral reformation than the outgoing Christian President Jonathan.

President Muhammadu Buhari has been called upon to lead a moral revolution that will restore the dignity of the Nigerian nation and ensure the prudent management of the country’s resources for the common good of all Nigerians.

The admonition is contained in a statement issued by Caritas Nigeria and the Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) to congratulate Buhari on his inauguration as the new President of the country.

Why do bishops always equate ‘dignity’ with ‘resources’ and ‘the common good?’  If humans are more important than things, why must they rely upon them to have dignity?  Why are presidents now in charge of distributing resources, and what does it all have to do with a ‘moral revolution?’

And what about Boko Haram?

The statement, signed by Fr. Evaristus Bassey, Executive Secretary of the two bodies noted that, “although infrastructural development is important, what is more important is to rebuild our national psyche and broken trust in government through prudent management, transparency and accountability and thereby restore the confidence of ordinary Nigerians in government,” the statement read.

While appreciating the inaugural speech of the President which promised to address the challenges of the country, Fr. Bassey urged the President to “rescue the ordinary Nigerian from the emperors called Governors, who usually take it as their pride of place to plunder at will the resources meant for the common good of all,” he said.

So the imperious governors during the previous administration plundered all the resources meant for the common good?  I thought Buhari was a ‘reformed’ dictator.  Is he now supposed to tighten his grip over all the Nigerian governors?

The Caritas Nigeria head notes that although the governors of various Nigerian states cannot be prosecuted while in office because of their immunity, they should be constantly investigated by the security services, “and the outcome (of investigations) used as basis for a ‘regular chat’ between the President and the Governors,” Fr. Bassey said. The statement further calls upon the President to act in a proactive manner and to constantly remind the state governors to direct the resources of states to the common good.

So the gentle Catholic Caritas umbrella charity is calling for the newly reformed dictator to constantly investigate Nigerian governors, who are unfortunately immune from prosecution while in office,  until they care much more about the common good.

They sound fairly cozy and onboard with the new Muslim ex-dictator.  I wonder how much Caritas liked the old Christian?

 

 

 

 

 

Francis: Don’t Be One of Those Medjugorje Catholics

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Insipid ethereal gnostics full of prayers and ideas and only seeking God?

Insipid ethereal gnostics, full of prayers and ideas and only seeking God?

Zenit News Reports:

During his daily Mass at Casa Santa Marta this morning, Pope Francis called on Christians to contemplate what exactly is our Christian identity, and warned against ways it can be weakened, reported Vatican Radio.

It is true that we are sinners, Francis acknowledged. Yet, he added, when we fall down, God’s strength enables us to get up again and continue our journey.

While sin is part of our identity, the Holy Father said, we are sinners with faith in God “who has anointed us, put his seal upon us” and given us the Holy Spirit as a pledge in our hearts.

How many times is Pope Francis going to remind us that we are all sinners?  Some may find that encouraging.  I find it de-motivating.

So I’m a sinner but I’m anointed.  I’m a sinner but the Holy Spirit is a pledge in my heart.  It was just yesterday that the Holy Eucharist was also a pledge!  How can God be a pledge?

Christians, the Pope said, are those who remain faithful to this God-given identity as the anointed ones who let the Spirit into their hearts, rather than those who follow a particular philosophy.

So although I’m a sinner, I’m a Christian so long as I remain faithful to my ‘identity’ and let the Spirit into my heart.  Well that’s easy.  Spirit c’mon in!  I don’t have to follow a particular philosophy.  Well that’s good too.  What about a particular theology?  No mention.

The Argentine Pontiff went on to warn of three ways in which this witness can be weakened.

The first applies to those who move for a concrete faith in Christ to “a kind of insipid religion of just prayers and ideas,”  a type which could be compared to the Gnostics in the ancient world.

A Gnostic was a particularly proud sort of heretic.  “Insipid” is an insulting word for people who pray and think, as if prayers and ideas were dull, dead or boring.  This is the Pope’s continual straw man.

Who are these terrible people that only pray but never love, who only have ideas but never act upon them?  Hint: None of them are liberals and none of them are dissenters.

These “modern Gnostics,” Francis said, are tempted to avoid the scandal of the Cross. Through their “rather ethereal Christian spirituality,” they are content to seek God, Francis said.

Second, there are those who always are searching for some “novelty” in their Christian identity since they have forgotten they have been anointed and given the guarantee of the Spirit. Francis joked that they say: “Where are the visionaries who can tell us exactly what message Our Lady will be sending at 4 o’clock this afternoon?”

Why has Medjugorje been allowed to persist?  It has always been what it is.  There must be a great deal of money involved.

The Pope is right to speak against it, but why now?  Might it perhaps have something to do with the fact that most of its followers are faithful Catholics?  Doesn’t it perhaps put devotional Catholics in a bad light, and make those who are attentive to Marian visions look bad?  It certainly does, as it always has, but is the Pope saying that all visionaries have that sort of ‘ethereal spirituality’ that ‘only seeks God?’  I hope not but it sounds like it.

It’s clear that Pope Francis is willing to use Church scandals against faithful Catholics.  Look at Kansas City Bishop Finn, Bishop Livieres in Paraguay, and now Cardinal Pell.  All three of these situations came from overhyped scandals.  Medjugorje is just another opportunity to exploit weaknesses.

 

 

 

Vatican Climate Monster-Gurus: If We Hardly Move, Maybe They’ll Let Us Live

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One of the minds behind FrancisChurch

One of the minds behind FrancisChurch

Rorate Caeli reports:

The Vatican has just revealed in today’s Bollettino the line-up of speakers for the official presentation of the “Environment Encyclical”, Laudato Si, on June 18 at the New Synod Hall.

Of most of our readership would be the presence of Prof. John Schellnhuber on the panel. The father of the “two-degree target” to stave off global warming, he is the founding director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany (which is funded by the German government), Chair of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU), and a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He was one of the experts (alongside Jeffrey Sachs) tapped by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences to write their joint statement on climate change published in April of this year, titled “Climate change and the common good: a statement of the problem and the demand for transformative solutions”. A description of the final document’s call for a “zero-carbon world” can be found here; the final published version seems to have been removed from the official website Pontifical Academy of Sciences, but to our knowledge has never been retracted.

A ‘zero carbon world?’  Doesn’t that mean we’d all have to be dead?  Who placed this anti-human German ‘scientist’ on the schedule?

In the words of the New York Times, Schellnhuber is “known for his aggressive stance on climate policy” and famously declared in 2009 that the “carrying capacity” of the Earth is less than one billion people.

A scientist known for his aggressive stance on climate policy made an apocalyptic prediction on Thursday.

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, said that if the buildup of greenhouse gases and its consequences pushed global temperatures 9 degrees Fahrenheit higher than today — well below the upper temperature range that scientists project could occur from global warming — Earth’s population would be devastated.

That’s interesting.  It was over a billion before I got here and it’s been carrying me around pretty well for years.  I hope I get to be one of the ones that stays.  You know, the good ones.