INTERESTING UPDATE – Pope Francis phones Gianni Vattimo, philosopher of “weak thought”

UPDATE 11 July:

I received a fascinating email from a priest:

In [Vattimo’s] book Credo di credere (his spiritual autobiography (reads like someone re-wrote Augustine’s Confessions after a healthy dose of laudanum), Vattimo writes that he prays the 1961 Breviarium Romanum every day and, when he bothers to go, he attends Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form.

Even better – he doesn’t take Holy Communion because he knows that his lifestyle prevents it.

How interesting the world in which we live – bishops want everyone to receive Communion while a secular, Communist, nihilist philosopher knows that his lifestyle excludes his reception of the Blessed Sacrament!

Originally Published on: Jul 9, 2018

I saw the strangest story at La Stampa.

From Italian:

Pope Francis phones Gianni Vattimo, philosopher of “weak thought”

The Italian scholar sends a copy of his last book to Francis who calls to thank him.  A a short and pleasing conversation about the Church and philosophy: “With this Pope I am not ashamed to call myself Catholic”.

Perhaps someone will translate the whole thing.

This seems so very strange to me.  It leaves me a little confused, frankly.   I’ve written about this guy back in 2013.  HERE  Vattimo, if memory serves, is openly homosexual.  He had his … partner… euthanized in Holland.   Vattimo, who is pretty much against any truth claim and set against just about every moral teaching of the Church, has also spoken of Pope Francis.

I’ve gotten a couple notes asking me what this is all about.  I don’t know.  However, after a little digging around, I found once again a fascinating post that connected Vattimo with Pope Francis, as well as Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.  Have a look at THIS.

Sorondo applauded with obvious satisfaction, as the radical left, gay, Italian philosopher, Gianni Vattimo on 13 March 2015 Teatro Cervantes in Buenos Aires in front of all the prominent left radical figures, to form a new Communist International, which he dubbed the “Papal International” because was supposed to be led by Pope Francis. Vattimo said at the time:

“Pope Francis is the only one who is capable of a political, cultural and religious revolution to lead against the superior power of money in the Civil War, which is already raging in the world, and is disguised as ‘the fight against terrorism’ , but in reality is the class struggle of the 21st century against the large number of the critics of capitalism.”

You will recall that Sorondo was the one who said that Catholic social teaching is exemplified in Communist China. HERE

Vattimo has thought about the Pope quite a bit, it seems.  I wonder if any of this is connected to what I mused about back in 2014.  HERE  Alejandro Bermudez wrote about influences on Pope Francis’ thought.  It is worth a review.

Here is the video.  Conference also with Leonardo Boff.  If you have Italian and/or Spanish, you will be pretty much horrified by this fellow.  Take note at 15:00-51:00.

Pope as point of reference for an international Communism at 24:00.
Mentions ¡Hagan lío! at 49:45.

One wonders if there is a connection between “weak thought” and “weak theology”.  HERE

UPDATE 10 July:

Popes meet with and reach out to all sorts of people. I recall that, early in his pontificate, Pope Benedict reached out to loony Hans Küng and to the brilliant but jaded Oriana Fallaci. I can’t shake the sense, however, that the motives for doing so may have been different from those of Pope Francis in reaching out to Vattimo and some of those others and that the conversations were rather different. Then again, they are very different men, that Pope and this Pope, aren’t they.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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10 Comments

  1. tho says:

    We are surrounded by people like him.

  2. mepoindexter says:

    Still waiting for my phone call from His Holiness.

    I don’t have any real claim to fame, just raising a family, trying to keep the kids Catholic. That kinda stuff. Making a mess if you will.

  3. Eonwe says:

    There is a solid Thomistic Institute podcasts where Vattimo is brought up. His philosophy is thoroughly shellacked. I can try to find the link if people want.

  4. Malta says:

    Nice: http://lgbt.wikia.com/wiki/Gianni_Vattimo I’m sure this Pope will read it in one day.

  5. Fallibilissimo says:

    “I saw the strangest story at La Stampa.”

    Everything involving Gianni Vattimo is strange.

  6. Malta says:

    I think Pope Francis should call to congratulate this woman/man for being both the mother and father of this baby: https://fox61.com/2018/06/18/he-gave-birth-he-breastfed-now-he-wants-his-son-to-see-him-as-a-man/

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  8. Malta says:

    “Vattimo writes that he prays the 1961 Breviarium Romanum every day and, when he bothers to go, he attends Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form.” Wow! He’s pushing 80; so, hopefully he can make a full confession before it’s too late.

  9. Malta says:

    On a similar note most know Oscar Wilde’s journey to the Church (cf. http://catholicherald.co.uk/issues/april-27th-2018/oscar-wildes-long-journey-to-catholicism/)

    Most also know the parable in the Bible of the workers who started in the morning and those who started late were given the same reward. The early workers thought it was unfair, but that’s just the point: in life it is never too late to turn to fully turn to Christ.

  10. Antonin says:

    Just goes to show that the TLM doesn’t automatically produce clarity of thought or moral character – much more is needed in terms of education and upbringing and culture. [Your non sequiturs are rapidly becoming tedious.]

    It also shows how the decline of morals and postmodern thoughts and trends would not have been curtailed had VII not happened. VII encouraged us to engage with the modern world and in this sense, Vattimo, is doing that. Problem is that he doesn’t support or use the metaphysical foundation of Thomism.

    So, the sexual revolution would have still happened, the loosening of morals in the world would still have happened, we would just have the same number of Vattimo’s of the world praying and attending mass but with no change in behavior. [You can’t know that.]

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