“The evasive coverage of this scandal by Team Francis hardliners is impossible to justify.”

Damian Thompson has a good commentary at The Spectator.

He adds a wrinkle I had not thought about:

The evasive coverage of this scandal by Team Francis hardliners is impossible to justify. Certain ‘reporters’ should ask themselves whether they have become complicit in concealing sexual abuse.

Meanwhile, most of the secular media – now almost bereft of religion specialists – are lazily clinging to the narrative of Francis as a ‘Great Reformer’.

He is nothing of the sort. He’s a man whose ruthless and cynical modus operandi was well known in Argentina before he was elected pope. (I urge everyone to read the book The Dictator Pope by Henry Sire, which gives chapter and verse.) Note that Francis has not set foot in his home country since leaving for the 2013 conclave. He dare not: he has too many enemies there.

Henry Sire’s  book could be supplemental reading to The Present Crisis:

US HERE – UK HERE

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9 Comments

  1. maternalView says:

    Looks like I need to get this book.

    I’ve also noticed that no one has rushed to the defense of the others named by Vigano. I find that curious. Either those men can’t be defended or certain people want it known they’re on Pope Francis’ side and don’t care about the others.

  2. Kathleen10 says:

    This is what is maddening, that his MO is so well documented, yet he is still defended.
    I am not surprised in the least that the secular and religious media cover for him. After watching Donald Trump’s campaign and his presidency, it is obvious there is a side fighting good, and a side fighting evil, with not much in the middle. We have the same exact thing here, with sharp demarcations. Both sides are convinced they are right, but how odd it is to see people defend by default the sodomy of boys, even though Christ said anyone who corrupted one of these little ones was going to wear a millstone necklace. I don’t understand why anyone would bother to be a Catholic at all if they don’t take Jesus seriously. These people who defend this are hard core materialists, they have no faith in a God that presents objective Truth and an objective moral order. Clearly they have no fear of God at all. That being the case, why bother with any of this? Is destroying the moral order that much fun? What kind of weird, pagan god except Satan would look the other way when his priests kiss the penis of boys, such as Cardinal McCarrick did to “James”? Or when he told James that “God only hears your prayers when you are with me”, as he kissed the boy’s penis. Is this ugly? Too ugly to mention? Yes, it is ugly, but there are Catholics who do not want to be disturbed by what these Catholic priests and bishops do to boys and seminarians, and they deserve to be unsettled with reality, as these boys and young men were unsettled by their own priests sexually molesting them and destroying their peace and their lives. Catholics who continue to defend this pope and these men deserve to have their peace destroyed. I’m grateful, entirely grateful, to anyone who does not pick up the rug and try to sweep this demonic affair under it. We will not forget nor let it go! No Catholic should.

  3. AveMariaGratiaPlena says:

    I’d avoided reading the book before this catastrophe hit, but just bought the kindle version yesterday. Hoo boy. Sire’s description of the pope’s duplicity really jibes with the just-released Viganò letter re: Francis’ meeting with Kim Davis.

  4. Hugh says:

    One aspect of the current dark time I think notable is the dogs that aren’t barking.

    I mean the lack of gasps from the Pope, his allies and much of the mainstream press at the well reported fact that, immediately on posting his letter, Viganò felt obliged for his own safety’s sake to switch off his cell phone and flee into hiding.

    We’ve all read about the deplorable state of the Church at the end of the “Dark Ages” – murdering popes such as John XII (955-964) and Sergius III (904-911).

    Well, how different is the situation under this papacy?

    Who is Viganò afraid of? The mafia isn’t after him … they could easily have picked him off a few years back when he was investigating finances in the Vatican. He’s only gone into hiding for directly challenging the moral legitimacy of many in the hierarchy, including the Pope himself.

    Yet to this point, Pope Transparency the First hasn’t exactly expressed shock and dismay that a distinguished churchman, speaking out candidly for transparency, is in fear of his life as a consequence.

    Nor have I heard His Holiness convey his concern and prayers for Viganò’s physical safety.

    Nup. That’s all just “ho hum” to the Pope and his allies (and the mainstream secular media).

    Hmmm …

  5. Malta says:

    There is a great storm coming; I believe it (and I am a published writer), my Spiritual Adviser believes it (and he’s a brilliant lawyer-priest who knows five languages), and another famous Catholic writer I know believes it. Our belief is all based off our Lady’s message at Akita, Japan. Oil your guns, folks.

  6. The Astronomer says:

    “There is a great storm coming; I believe it (and I am a published writer), my Spiritual Adviser believes it (and he’s a brilliant lawyer-priest who knows five languages), and another famous Catholic writer I know believes it. Our belief is all based off our Lady’s message at Akita, Japan. Oil your guns, folks.”

    …this

  7. Kerry says:

    The mass of a black hole is so great, no light escapes its gravity. Similarly, the gravity of the question, “Should men copulate with young boys?”, cannot be spun. Evasion and silence.

    Malta: Frodo, “I should like to save the Shire, if I could – though there have been times when I thought the inhabitants too stupid and dull for words, and have felt that an earthquake or an invasion of dragons might be good for them….”

  8. e.e. says:

    Michael Sean Winters has all sorts of tweets about the Vigano letter. I commented on one of his tweets with a link to an AP story from 2017 about Pope Francis’ record on reducing abusers’ canonical penalties. Whereupon I promptly found my tweet reported (by whom, I don’t know) and my Twitter account frozen. I read all the Twitter rules; I did not violate any of them. Go figure.

  9. maternalView says:

    Why are these folks Catholic? Well I’ve read narcissists tend to favor careers where they can gain power–law, medicine, clergy etc. It’s not so much the subject as the position.

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