Petition to His Holiness, Pope Francis: INVESTIGATE!

Some interesting petitions are being created and posted online.  There is one at popefrancispetition.com

The petition does not ask for Francis to resign.   However, those of you who strongly favor his resignation should still at least have a look at the petition.   In essence the petition assumes the best of Francis and, in that spirit, calls upon him to initiate a full investigation into the allegations made in The Viganò Testimony (which would call on Francis to investigate himself).

At this point, some 4000 people have signed.  It will be sent to Francis through the office of the papal nuncio to these USA.

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28 Comments

  1. HvonBlumenthal says:

    I hesitate because “investigations” notoriously turn into “cover ups”

  2. rdb says:

    I signed it because I do not expect Pope Francis to resign. By the way, there is a story at the NcR about Marie Collins and her frustration at the pope for not creating a tribunal in Rome to try bishops for abuse cover-up. Pope Francis accused her of being too fixated on a world-wide tribunal and says the local communities can make better decisions.
    It is reminiscent of the AL/dubia crisis. He thought the dubia Cardinals were also too fixated on their questions. There isn’t a Church wide teaching on Communion given to the adulterous and there isn’t a Church wide teaching that it is wrong to cover up sex abuse. First the universal teaching of faith is called into question and now the universal teaching of morals is called in to question.

  3. Eric says:

    While I don’t like saying this I don’t think a petition or an investigation is going to do any good. Suffocate the crisis by a committee invesigation. The very prelates responsible will not let the light shine on their doings. Who will do the investigation? There is no way the Vatican as a sovereign state will let some independent investigatory body have authority to dig where it needs to dig. What we do need is more whistleblowers with more corrboration, more documentation. Some very good and holy prelates know where the bodies are buried.

  4. jerome623 says:

    How can someone implicated conduct an investigation into himself?

  5. Ave Maria says:

    Sorry to say this but….has any petition, no matter how many sign it, made any difference to this present pontiff? He has his own agenda and no petition will change his direction. Only when civil authorities step in and he has no choice will he act, I am afraid.

  6. Benedict Joseph says:

    Infinitely milder than what I prefer but I put mine on it.
    Somehow we have to light a fire under these guys. If this is the comportment they employ in an EMERGENCY I never want to depend on them for anything practical. Apparently they believe they can employ this tactic because we are dealing with more ethereal realities.
    There is nothing ethereal about gross sexual misconduct, abuse of minors, the abuse of ecclesiastical office. The hideous nature of what is transpiring grows in my consciousness daily. Apparently that is not the case at the Vatican. They had best wake up because the absence of a robust responsible manly adult response IS eventually going to draw the ire of civil authorities in a magnitude that no one wants.
    They really do appear to believe they are accountable to no one — nothing gets on people’s nerves, robs you of your base and undermines anyone than that disposition.
    Wake up, Domus Sanctae Marthae.

  7. Prayerful says:

    Having the failed men or their servants investigate themselves is something PF might like to do. A lay investigation could be empaneled, but how can anyone have confidence in something under the authority of this atrocious man? Even if he were to retire as sometimes his acolytes or himself have mentioned, Catholics would face a Pope Tagle or that empty cassock of the Graf von Schönborn, who seamlessly transformed from a conservative supporter of JP2 and Benedict to a Bergoglian ultra.

  8. Malta says:

    For now this “pope” loves the liberal media adulation than to resign; but, if they turn on him, he might consider it.

  9. HvonBlumenthal says:

    This reminds me of the story of the tongue-tied subaltern who has given the order “forward march” and then watches in silent panic as his men march towards a cliff. His sergeant turns to him and says “for gawd’s sake sir, say something even if it’s only goodbye.”

  10. Sawyer says:

    The pope should make the McCarrick file open to journalists. That would be a start. Let the press do the investigating.

  11. JonathanTX says:

    All the attention has been on Pope Francis’s refusal to answer the question on the flight back from Ireland. But when asked about abortion in Ireland, he said:

    The issue of abortion is not a religious issue: we are not opposed to abortion for religious reasons. No. It is a human issue and has to be addressed as such. To consider abortion starting from religion is to step over [that realm of] thought. The abortion question has to be studied from an anthropological standpoint. There is always the anthropological question of how ethical it is to eliminate a living being in order to resolve a problem. This is the real issue. I would only emphasize this: I never allow the issue of abortion to be discussed starting with religion. No. It is an anthropological problem, a human problem. This is my thinking.

    What does it mean that abortion is an anthropological rather than religious question?

  12. Chuck Ludd says:

    I’d prefer a simpler petition that avoid the preambles and windy semi-commentary, something along the lines of the following:

    “We, the undersigned, who are Catholics regularly attending Mass, request the Holy Father authorize an investigation of the accusations set out in Archbishop Vigano’s testimony dated August 22, 2018. We request the results of the investigation be made public.”

    Nothing more than that is needed. I added the regular Mass-attending Catholics so as to put an important qualifier.

  13. arga says:

    A petition is pointless. It’s like writing a letter of protest to Josef Stalin. If you doubt me, read Spadaro channeling Stalin at https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/antonio-spadaro-speaks-vigano/

  14. Gerard Plourde says:

    Dear Chuck Ludt,

    I agree that your proposed petition is more to the point and one I could sign. (After all, it is an article of faith that the election of the Pope is guided by the Holy Spirit and therefore the choice of God.)

  15. AveMariaGratiaPlena says:

    I’ll sign it, as I signed the Catholic women’s letter, but I’m assuming it will do no good. The pope and his allies are mainly concerned with one thing: power. They want to use that power to try to bend Church teaching to their will (of course they will fail). For those of is who want to purify the Church, I reckon two things will be most effective: 1) Prayer, fasting, adoration, personal holiness; and 2) keep talking & agitating publicly about this catastrophe. Our ongoing public statements and actions will help bolster those good priests & bishops trying to fight the filth.

    If I lived near where it’s happening I would protest outside the November bishops’ meeting. Instead I’m going to request a meeting with my bishop, hopefully along with some other laypeople, to urge him to press for an independent, thorough investigation of the McCarrick scandal, for starters.

    I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time on Catholic Twitter the past couple weeks, and I’ve been rather impressed with the pushback agaisnt, Cupich, Tobin, the Fishwrap, Faggioli, the NY Times, Reuters, etc. If we can keep up the public pressure – on social media and elsewhere- it will at least keep them off their game and unable to fully focus on their SJW agenda.

  16. Toan says:

    I’ll probably sign these petitions, but I’m starting to think I should donate to National Catholic Register. They’re doing investigations and uncovering helpful information. Investigative journalism takes time and resources, and so I imagine they’d put the money to good use. Or would anyone suggest a bette ralternative?

  17. ChrisP says:

    I’ll sign any petition that prompts the publication of why Pope Francis hasn’t gone back to Argentina. The reason for that will certainly end his pontificate…..

  18. Pingback: Petition to His Holiness, Pope Francis: INVESTIGATE! | Fr. Z’s BlogFr. Z’s Blog – Trump:The American Years

  19. AveMariaGratiaPlena says:

    I’d say donating to the Register is a good idea; you really know they’re doing well when Maradiaga attacks them. I just threw some cash EWTN’s way to support Catholic News Agency.

  20. Pingback: Viganò Watch: Saturday Edition – Big Pulpit

  21. monstrance says:

    JonTX,
    I think the Holy Father is stating that abortion is anthropological regression.
    As opposed to evolutionary progression.
    He’s also on record referring to the adoption of children by same sex couples as anthropological regression.
    I guess he believes arguing a pro – life stance based on religion is not winnable with this generation.

  22. Chuck Ludd says:

    What do folks say about diverting my donations (I live in the Archdiocese of Chicago) to the National Catholic Register and EWTN (and of of course perhaps the Tridentine Mass Society of Madison)? [YAY!] Do I have an obligation to support, in some way, the Archdiocese and the church closest to my home (I am not registered with a parish and since we have so many in Chicago I tend to go where I believe there will be reverence)?

  23. BrionyB says:

    I thought the comment about abortion not being a religious issue might have been a reference to natural law, i.e., abortion is not wrong just because the Church says so, as evidenced by the fact that often non-religious people also feel innately that it is wrong or at least are somewhat uncomfortable about it; and a mother who has had a stillbirth doesn’t need to be Catholic to grieve the death of her baby (as opposed to simply regretting the loss of a clump of cells).

    At least that was my attempt at a charitable interpretation. As with most of his comments, though, it could be interpreted in a hundred different ways so it’s quite difficult to guess what he actually meant…

  24. teomatteo says:

    Some have said that petitions are pointless. I understand their pessimism. I sighed the petition to simply to go on record. The press i.e. journalist bias is on record constantly. Heck cdl. Weurl went on record to say that 1) Us bishops can take of the McCarrick thing. And 2) This whole McCarrick thing is not that widespread or not really much of a problem. Well i dont havr his bully pulpit (i think he lost his) but a petition is really all i have. It t’aint much but its all i have.

  25. Toan says:

    Chuck Ludd: while there is an obligation to support the Church, there isn’t specific instruction on how much to give, or what exactly consitutes giving to “the Church”. So there is great flexibility. There’s no rule that says you must give to your local parish/diocese instead of a different one.

    My approach is to take it to prayer and take it to the wife, and then decide.

    Thanks everybody for mentioning the CNA/EWTN connection…really, CNA has been doing the best work so far it seems.

  26. Mojoron says:

    I’m always for petitions, but they ARE another way of getting my email. No thanks.

  27. maternalView says:

    As I see it my obligation is to act as I expect Jesus wants me to act. If I fail that’s not on me. Thus letters or petitions may not result in anything but I can at least say I tried and was willing to put my name to it.

    As for donating I give to the place that has the most reverent Mass I can find. The rest of my money goes to the Catholic media apostolates either as donations or as purchases and to Catholic organizations promoting or protecting Catholic initiatives and activities.

    Not only should we be donating to worthy Catholic causes and cutting off unworthy ones including parishes of dioceses we should be cutting off the secular ones too. I don’t understand people who still buy secular media and never Catholic media. As if the bulletin and the diocesan paper is all they need.

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