Fr. Z's Blog

The analogy has been offered before.  Once upon a time there were only a few news outlets which had a strangle hold on news, which was pitched from only one, liberal, view.   Then came talk radio and after that cable. There was a whole new world of possibilities.   In the Catholic sphere, there were very few news outlets.  Then came EWTN and the internet and the whole scene changed.

Liberal hate this. They fear conservative voices in the new Catholic media and the power of the blogs.

This is a prelude to a quick romp and stomp through the befuddled head of Robert Mickens lately of La Croix International.   This is his latest platform, ultra-liberal, wherein he exercises his role as cadre in the New catholic Red Guards, attacking the Four Olds in defense of Francis Thought.

Here’s his latest piece.

Supporting the pope and his vision for reform

Reform-minded Catholics should ask God to bless Francis with good health and Benedict XVI with continued long life.

[…]

LOL!  Mickens hates Benedict, frequently insults him, and got fired from The Tablet because he publicly wished for his death.  HERE  The reason why he now says their ilk should hope for a long-life for Benedict XVI is because Francis shouldn’t resign while he is still alive.  As Mickens wrote: “But privately he’s also told aides that it would probably not be wise to resign as long as Benedict XVI is still alive.” Mickens’ hypocrisy has no bounds.

Going on…

Follow the logic.

There is another element regarding the perceived state of the Church. It is the myth of a Catholicism deeply divided, something that is being perpetuated by a very small minority within the Church, but which also includes a few of the voting members in the College of Cardinals.

It is becoming much clearer by the day that one of the main aims of this tiny group and its false narrative that Pope Francis is causing confusion and doctrinal uncertainty among ordinary Catholics is precisely to influence the next Conclave.

But it is a strategy based on a bogus hypothesis – that the Church is fractured into more or less equally opposing camps; or at least that those in the disaffected one are numerous. There is absolutely no evidence to support this beyond the rhetoric of a small cabal of bloggers and the presence of, in comparison to the worldwide Church, a minuscule number of neo-Tridentinist communities.

They are like shell companies. They look and sound like they are vibrant and growing, but they are actually quite hollow and unsustainable.  [A clever simile, but the traditional seminaries are growing and the families that frequent them have lots of kids.]

If a significant number of voting cardinals are swayed by this pressure group’s unsubstantiated narrative they will, in turn, try to convince the rest of the electors of the need to choose a “unifying” or “reconciling” pope. But this is a trap that, hopefully, most of the cardinals will see for what it is.

So… let me get this straight.   There is no confusion or doctrinal uncertainty in the Church.  Those who say there is confusion are a tiny minority.  There are traditionalists and bloggers who are pushing “fake news”.   They are hollow and unsustainable.

But apparently Mickens is pretty damn scared of them.

It seems that these bloggers have more power than he will openly admit, if they can sway the next CONCLAVE.

Does that sound hollow to you?

How scared is Mickens of these bloggers who are pushing fake news in an environment in which, as he claims, there really is no confusion?

If Francis wants to help make it more likely that the next Bishop of Rome is someone who will continue the “missionary and pastoral conversion” and vision for the Church he has begun, then the current pope might consider raising the number of electors. He could then fill those slots with new cardinals unwaveringly committed to his vision.

He is so terrified right now that he thinks the Pope should raise the number of Cardinal electors and then stack the College to stuff the ballot box.

Ecclesiastical gerrymandering?  Yep, he’s a liberal, alright.  What a hoot.

As far as his fear of bloggers is concerned, I am reminded of the story St. Augustine tells in City of God IV.  Alexander the Great captured some pirates.  Alexander asked the pirate chief how he dared to maraud on the seas.  The pirate responded, “How do you dare to seize the whole earth? Because I have a little ship, I am called a pirate. But because you have a great fleet you are styled an emperor.”

To Mickens and his kind, I respond:

Because I have a blog, I write “fake news”.  But because you have a magazine behind a paywall you are “journalist”.

Be afraid.  Be very afraid.