Okay, that’s it. I posted this within a different post, but it deserves its own place, for the record.
Chicago’s Card. Cupich, who surely owes his rise to a certain someone, has reacted to The Present Crisis and the Viganò Testimony. He gave an interview to NBC. HERE
You won’t believe this.
The Pope has better things to do, like global warming. People are against him because he’s from S. America. Racists! He calls the whole thing a “rabbit hole”.
You might get a POLITICAL AD before the video story runs. BLECH.
What Archbp. Viganò wrote in his Testimony about Card. Cupich:
The appointments of Blase Cupich to Chicago and Joseph W. Tobin to Newark were orchestrated by McCarrick, Maradiaga and Wuerl, united by a wicked pact of abuses by the first, and at least of coverup of abuses by the other two. Their names were not among those presented by the Nunciature for Chicago and Newark.
Regarding Cupich, one cannot fail to note his ostentatious arrogance, and the insolence with which he denies the evidence that is now obvious to all: that 80% of the abuses found were committed against young adults by homosexuals who were in a relationship of authority over their victims.
You know what we need?
We need, oh please, even more interviews with Card. Cupich, as well as with Cards. Tobin and Farrell and Wuerl….
And does NOBODY in the press know how to pronounce the name properly?
Vi-gah-NOH!
Not vi-GAH-no.
Fr. Z, reading the transcript of this interview with Cardinal Cupich reminds me of this Babylon Bee (a satirical page akin to The Onion or The Eye of the Tiber):
https://babylonbee.com/news/pope-says-he-will-address-sex-abuse-scandal-once-hes-finished-talking-about-climate-change/
“The head of the Roman Catholic Church claimed he is deeply concerned with the tragic report [from the grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania], but is “just too swamped” with work fighting climate change, criticizing capitalism, and advocating for other issues of social justice to talk about the repulsive report at the moment.”
Ahh, he nailed on the head: all of this because Francis is a “Latino”. I don’t think anybody even uses that word any more!
Must…move…out…of…this…Archdiocese….
This (and Pope Francis’ preflight interview) comes across as giving tge media their talking points.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
“People are against him because he’s from S. America. Racists!”
What?! Pope Francis is more Italian than the previous two popes!
When you run out of a legitimate defense, The Race Card™ to the rescue!
Also, when viewed on the NBC Chicago page, the ad prior to the bit on His Eminence was for kitty litter. Seems pretty appropriate…
Oh Yes Francis has better things to do. Talk about speaking out of both sides of you mouth at once.
The liberals are yelling and screaming again, poor things.
Cupich arrogance is a good start to describe him, never have felt this way about the hiarchy in the Church. Jesus Mary and Joseph, Pray for us!
You know, there’s media bias and media deception, but am I the only one to point out here that the only people they interviewed were the ones who have been implicated as either guilty or benefiting from the guilty? And that their only retort is the equivalent of whining “liar, liar, pants on fire”?
When the grand jury report in PA came out, did they run to the priests who had been accused and give them air time to talk about how un-guilty they are?
When any of these other abuse cases have surfaced, did they run to the perpetrators and ask for a sound bite?
While we’re at it, when anyone at all is accused of a heinous crime, do they interview them on the nightly news?
Yet their ONLY talking points are from the accused. The rest is just some dirty scandalmongering that the mean old ARCHconservatives (you see what they did there, that’s like ARCHenemies!) are trying to raise in order to throw mud at everybody’s favorite fluffy pope.
Now they’re even trying to talk down what McCarrick did because, well, after all, MOST of his abuse was with men who were at the age of consent. So gee, guys, it wasn’t really all that bad, after all. Tempest in a teapot. Nothing to see here, folks, move on.
Gag me.
Does his Eminence know Who he’s supposed to be working for? Abp. Vigano was clear he’s speaking now because of concern for his eternal fate, do ANY of the rest of the bishops have similar concerns? Does Our Lord figure into any of the statements made by the usual suspects
What we might finally be seeing here is a genuine separation of the managers from the shepherds, and the number of true shepherds seems to be terrifyingly few.
What an avalanche of caca.
Did it take the Cardinal a few days to consult with the Evil one(s) before commenting? Also, check out the hatchet job the Reuters did to ArchBishop Viganò:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-abuse-escalation/defenders-rally-around-pope-fear-conservatives-escalating-war-idUSKCN1LD27Y
There is ample bait for comment, but my favorite line was “…I just didn’t fall out of the sky.” Indeed you did not. And the rabbit hole reference … emerge from it. There is no sense of what is transpiring but that they are being attacked.
WE — the faithful, laity and clergy, are the ones under assault, from secular materialists within and without the Church. When this bold reality is not recognized it bespeaks one’s position on the battlefield.
Here was exhibit “A.”
Does Cardinal Cupich say anything about the fact that McCarrick got him the cardinal’s hat?
I doubt he fooled even the people who want to be fooled. What a slippery worm this man obviously is. He’s not in my geographic realm, thank God, but I have never heard him speak. What an odious sort. That chattering Marxism, “He has more important things to worry about…like…uh…the environment…and migrants…”. Could these men be more out of touch?
Yes, Cardinal Cupich, ordinary Catholic here, please allow me to enlighten you. The environment and immigration issue is so yesterday, so played. We know you guys are all over it, but not us, in fact, you are causing an exodus with your little obsessions. But by the way, we very much DO care about prelates who sodomize boys and seminarians, in fact, we categorically REFUSE to support them one minute more. You cannot ignore us, because those Resettlement Funds, we’re working on them. When the people leave, and the federal funds dry up, then what will political appointees do. Just then comes the state AG, and he wants to see alllll your records. :)
That was a very uncharacteristic flub on Cupich’s part. Usually he is a very calculated speaker, but all those snippets from that interview had a very different tone. He was agitated, lashing out recklessly. I haven’t seen a ton of interviews with him, but he seemed different here. It’s almost like he knows the gig is up, and he’s flailing about trying to get the attention deflected.
I have noticed in news interviews/interrogations/court rooms with criminals of various kinds pleading: “I would not be so stupid as to {leave that kind of evidence etc.}”. Here Cupich pleads the same. It turns out such pleas are not indicators of innocence. Cupich stupid?
The only thing that surprises me is that he would be so blatantly dismissive. Bishops are usually more subtle when they want to bury a story.
Also, this is exactly what real clericalism looks like.
I am in the Newark diocese with Tobin, and last week on the Catholic Herald site was an article with the following headline:
Cardinal Tobin tells priests not to speak to press after ‘gay sub-culture’ claims
This article goes more in depth about this and priests in the diocese who were under investigation and moved and so on.
Reading these Cardinal’s responses speaks for itself.
Keep your eyes on the Cross and stay close to Our Lady like St. John did.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.
So, instead of going down the rabbit hole of meaningfully addressing child abuse in the Church, let’s go down that of defaming Vigano’s character instead of asking whether or not his allegations are true…
Lately I’ve been singing to myself “Que Será, Será” ….. or is it “Que Sarah, Sarah.”
Throughout Church history there has been one holy man or one holy women whom Our Lord calls
To Step Up to the Plate to face evil.
Hopefully the line behind Archbishop Viganò will increase by the hour.
Please pray that Our Blessed Mother and St Michael will crush this scourge.
Fr. Z writes, “Vi-gah-NOH! Not vi-GAH-no.”
It reminds me of those at Mass who pray about their “most gree-vee-ous fault.” But then I wonder if they’re just being mis-chee-vee-ous.
Here in Belgium the official Church website stayed silent about the Nuntio’s statement. Today, they posted a link to the article on National Catholic Reporter in wich they trash the Nuntio. We are talking about Danneels country. Danneels covered up the abuse of former bishop Vangheluwe of Ghent and got away with it. He also got his protégé Mgr De Kesel installed as archbishop of Mechelen/Brussels and a few months after that he got the Cardinal’s hat. Mgr De Kesel has been in the news three times for giving pedophile priests a new Parish. When asked why he said: out of mercy and forgiveness. Both Cardinal Danneels and Cardinal De Kesel are good friends of the pope. There is a pattern of covering up abuse that surrounds the current Pontiff…
Shameful on many fronts: That Cupich is unaware that the pope’s parents were both Italian, meaning he’s not “Latino” by any stretch of the word (and one doubts very much he’s referring to the old Latium region of Italia); that he would conflate ethnicity with nationality; and resort to such a tired and banal political canard.
Let’s pull out the racist card. Sounds like something Saul Alinsky would say.
MSM talking heads trying to pronounce Italian names always seem to fall back on their high-school Spanish and accent the penult (viz. the earthquake in L’Aquila).
Cupich has just a new standard for over the top clericalism. Francis has better things to do than respond to rampant sexual misconduct in the Church.
The only sensible thing His Eminence said is that every organization for youths should have an abuse investigation. People conflate the priesthood with pedophilia because priests are weird and different compared to society at large. People are much more comfortable conflating that weirdness with sexual abuse than accepting that anyone could be a pedophile, even “normal” people. Truly Satan has influence in all reaches of society.
Cdl Cupich must not read your blog otherwise he would know that you don’t permit “rabbit holes.”
BBC News has a bit on their website that says that Vigano’s gone into hiding out of concern for his safety. Whether that’s true or not, I think it’s safe to say he’s going to need some prayers.
1. Let us pretend that Archbishop Viganò has decided upon a course of mortal sin via baseless calumny, out of sheer spite. Were this the case, those deeply scandalized by these allegations may lose their faith and thereby their souls. Also, numerous contributions towards archdiocesan causes for social justice will not be given. Even more, those who leave because of the scandal won’t be able to hear the saving gospel of Global Warming from the pulpit. Of course, anyone who could possibly believe that Pope Francis is anything but the best pope ever is certainly a conservative, and thus unworthy of salvation.
2. This kind of smugness usually means that the time for persuasion is over, now is the time for brute force.
His Eminence certainly seems to have chosen this day whom he shall serve.
The Church has a problem with bishops who bury sex abuse down a hole and the solution is …. bury the problem down a hole! Brilliant!
I thought Liberals thought “White Hispanics” were a bad thing? It’s impossible to keep up with their toxic identity politics when it shifts from day to day…
I notice with sadness and relief that none of these accused prelates are calling on God for help. Not even Pope Francis. They demonstrate a profound lack of concern for Him as well as us. God is so far from their thoughts that they don’t even bother to blaspheme.
During 2014 (or it may have been 2013), Bishop Cupich said Mass at our parish. Because they were getting ready to print our directory, someone decided we should take a group photo in the sanctuary with the bishop. I was talking with him as everything was set up and ended up standing right behind him for the photo. I was really tempted to give him “horns” for one of the shots, but decided it wasn’t quite right to do. Maybe it would have been.
Racism is so vile and evil that when that charge against someone is made i take notice. This prince of thr church needs to name names if he is going to throw that word against the wall. If cdl. Cupich is saying Vigano is racist then vigano needs to show up at his door.
So that is why Pope Francis does not like cassocks. All that black fabric absorbing solar radiation, contributing to “global warming”.
Well if Francis falls, Cupich just made it a lot more likely he’ll fall with him.
@teomatteo – Considering the tens of millions of dollars that Archbishop Viganò has prevented from going into the hands of unsavory folks (the Mafia proper), I’m pretty sure that being within 100 miles of Chicago is not on his to-do list. Add in now that he’s probably marked with a bounty by said unsavory folks with absolutely no protection, and meeting Cupich would be a death sentence.
@mburn16 – What earthly mechanism exists to force a pope to resign peacefully? He isn’t up for any election, as that ship has sailed. There is no impeachment process. Prayers are our only recourse.
One can hope that the worse that will be said about Cupich’s part in all this mess is that he didn’t deserve his position.
But it must be disconcerting to have the whole world know you got your position because of a disgraced sex abuser.
When Cardinal George of happy memory predicted his successor would die in prison. I don’t think this is what he had in mind…
@JonathanTX
unfortunately I’ve had the same thought recently
As more and more of this comes to light, and as the Wormtongues twist it all, I simply focus on how cool Heaven will be, populated by the God fearing, Bride of Christ loving, Our Lady of Victory focussed author of and commenters on this blog (and other blogs in the ether).
Nothing can beat that. Deus lo vult!
“The pope has a bigger agenda. He’s gotta get on with other things, of talking about the environment and protecting migrants and carrying on the work of the Church”
What a lovely attempt at deflection away from this hideous scourge engulfing our Church today. Comments like these are quite revealing of the serious illness infecting many in the Church hierarchy. For you see, sexual sins aren’t sins at all to those who are in the progressive movement. No no, these progressives keep telling us that the Church must be more pastoral! They tell us that God loves us just the way we are, and that He made us with these various perversions which we must embrace and celebrate in special LGBTQLMNOP Masses. They say that the Church must reexamine these sexual matters, in the hopes of changing Catholic doctrine.
Homosexuality? “Who am I to judge?” (Pope Francis).
Contraception? “Let’s not make it just about…sins of the flesh” (Cupich)
Sexual abuse of minors? “I don’t thinks this is some massive, massive crisis” (Wuerl)
So many leaders in the Church today refuse to preach on these subjects, and in the rare instances that they actually do, it’s in clear defiance of Catholic teaching. No wonder this crisis is viewed as no big deal to the Wuerls, Cupiches, and Francises of the Church…. they’ve practically neutered Catholic teaching on sexuality to the point that what’s going on is perfectly acceptable in their eyes! Or at the very least, it’s not sinful.
But the one hundred thousand dollar question is: WHY? Why have so many leaders in our Church so viciously and repeatedly attacked Church teaching on sexuality? What is their reason for doing so? Are they engaging in sins against the flesh themselves and want to remove the burden on their consciences by telling themselves, and us, that sexual immorality is OK? Are they non-Catholics who infiltrated the Church and are working to bring down the Church from within? Are they otherwise good people who have been possessed by demons? I don’t know the answer, but it seems that this whole mess can be traced back to the progressives disrespect for Church teaching on sexual morality.
Francis is from Argentina, but he is not Latino. His parents were both Italian. At my parish there are two women from Argentina. One whose parents are Hungarian, the other whose parents are Ukrainian. By Cupich’s asinine illogic, I guess they would both be Latina, if Francis is Latino. Lol
“God made you like that and loves you like this and I don’t care,” Francis told Juan Carlos Cruz, who said he was “thrilled” by the encounter.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/pope-francis-homosexuality-gay-children-psychiatry-vatican-catholic-church-a8510721.html
I guess you could take that argument further, and say, “God makes murderers, pederasts, pedophiles, rapists, etc, and loves you like that.” This “pope” is something else.
Not surprised by this in the least. Typical Chicago Democrat politics.
At Sunday Mass, we are called upon to “pray for the Pope’s intentions.”
It is going to take some time for reflection before this Sunday…
Cupich didn’t seem very concerned about climate change when he took down Fr. Phillips of St. John Cantius on what seemed to be made-up accusations of long-ago improper behavior, did he?
And his statement about Latinos…..wow.
Francis’ parents were immigrants from Italy. Francis was born in Argentina. In Cupich’s Chicago, the American-born children of Mexican immigrants are called (and call themselves) Mexican. But that doesn’t matter in the instantly created rules of diversion.
The official intentions are usually milquetoast enough to grit through, currently. 2019? Who knows?
“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead EXPOSE THEM.” (emphasis added) – Asian man.
Are his words being ignored by racists?
Given enough rope….
Has he not seen the #Sarah4Pope hashtag?
This idea of “anti-Latino” racism seems a very USA-centric one. The word “Latino” is not often heard or used here in the UK, and I think most people would assume it simply meant southern European (e.g. Spanish or Italian); I believe it’s only in the Americas that it has connotations of a distinct, non-white ethnic group. The concern over here (and around the world) surely can’t be put down to “racism”?
@BrionyB Rhetoric in the US breaks everyone down to “Us vs. THEM,” so all non-whites in North, Central, and South America get tossed into the generic basket of “Latinx” (don’cha know gendered language is bad???) and are catered to as a monolithic block. You’ll see “black and brown” or “poc” used a lot with the same groups, and again it’s to erase the individual.
Cupich? More like Ostrich. Or Supine.
Given the admission that the St Gallen Mafia “bought” PF’s papacy and that McCarrick “bought” Cupich’s episcopacy through his influence on PF, Cupich may be channeling Dante’s Inferno (Canto XIX) where Simonists were eternally condemned to being shoved head-first in a hole (“rabbit hole”?) with fiery oil burning their feet—worse than “pants-on-fire”!
I wonder which bishops and auxiliary bishops were passed over for Sees such as Chicago and Newark. Perry was most likely passed over – I have heard he is a strong auxiliary. Paprocki would have been a good choice too – same with Morlino and Foys.
Doesn’t Cupich se habla espanol? En la inglesia de Catolica en anos 2018, espanol en la Ciudad de Chicago es ayuda. Y vive en Tejas – y hablar espanol pequeno, y Padres hablar espanol por la Misa. The last 20 years, many priests and seminarians learn Spanish- the Archdiocese of San Antonio for one has made it mandatory that prior to ordination a seminarian must show proficiency in Spanish.
Cupich should get a stern talking to at the very least for talking down to the Latinos who live in the Archdiocese of Chicago. No wonder he only has three seminarians.
If his Excellency intended by these remarks to make himself and the Holy Father look quite guilty, then he has succeeded admirably.
Huh.
* scratches noggin *
I ain’t so good with Theologicking, or the Mathematicks, but my Bible and Catechism and Our Genial Host tell me that souls are more important than shrubbery.
Given his concern for the planet, one wonders if Cardinal Cupich first filed an Environmental Impact Statement before tipping over his barrel of sludge.
JonathanTX: Yep.