Pope Francis? A sexual revolutionary? Surely not?
We know he’s not good but isn’t that going a bit far?
Well, judge for yourselves.
A very revolutionary change, sneaked in by Pope Francis during the Covid-19 lockdown, was his Apostolic Letter Spiritus Domini of 10 January 2021, universally changing canon law for the whole Church regarding the so-called “lay institutes” of Acolyte and Lector that Paul VI first introduced (in his Ministeria quaedam of January 1973) to replace “First Tonsure,” the minor clerical Orders of Porter, Lector, Exorcist and Acolyte and the major Order of Sub-deacon.
The lay institutes were just that – “lay” and not clerical.
For the first time, ancillary service at the altar, one of the principal tasks of the clergy, was to be handed over to the laity and the minor Orders sidelined, if not, indeed, abolished.
That immediately raised questions in the minds of many.
For example, if the roles of acolyte and lector were now open to the laity, did that also mean they were now to be open to women?
Oh, no, no, no, said numerous Curial officials, at the time, rapidly attempting to re-assure traditionalists who feared that the change was a very serious break with Catholic tradition (which, of course, it was!).
No, no, that could never happen. The Pope would not allow it.
And so it was… at least up until the pontificate of Pope Francis.
But it did not need a divinely-inspired prophet to be able to tell that, once service at the altar was opened up to the laity, that soon enough “Catholic” Feminists would be clamouring to fulfil the roles. And using all the manipulation, devious wiles, dishonest tricks and emotional blackmail for which Feminists are famous, they commenced a classic Marxist-style campaign and “long march” through the institutions in order to get their way until, obligingly, the right pope came along and capitulated to their shrill and self-worshipping demands.
Pope Paul VI had made it law that only men could serve in the lay institutes but only a naïve self-deluder like Pope Paul VI could have imagined that, once he opened up service at the altar to the laity, that he could keep women out permanently from these new lay roles.
It began soon enough with the so-called “extraordinary ministers” of Holy Communion, who sprang up everywhere with the regularity of mushrooms after summer rain and most of them were women. Seeing a gap through which they could rush to begin to unravel the special vocation of clergy to serve at the altar, many women, bent upon revolutionising the Church, chose to exploit the situation.
In no time women were everywhere and have since come to dominate in churches where the Novus Ordo mass – the Pauline-Bugninian rite of Pope Paul VI and the late, unlamented Archbishop Annibale Bugnini, the principal agent of the liturgical revolution of the 1970s – predominates.
But it was not until the pontificate of Pope Francis that their revolutionary efforts paid off. Here is a pope ready to go along with any revolutionary change that might overturn the traditions of the Catholic Church.
Cleverly, he did so during the world-wide pre-occupation with Covid-19 and the near-universal lockdown that shut down half the world for some 2 years.
So it was that most people did not notice this deeply revolutionary piece of legislation passed by Pope Francis – done by motu proprio, of his own motion.
And those that did notice were mostly liberal Modernists and heterodox Catholics who were, of course, delighted at this revolutionary change instigated by, of all people, the Pope.
Most traditionalists and orthodox Catholic did not notice or, if they did, failed to see the revolutionary significance of the legislation.
It is short but sharp and the key passage is this:
…a doctrinal development has taken place in recent years which has highlighted how certain ministries instituted by the Church are based on the common condition of being baptised and the royal priesthood received in the Sacrament of Baptism; they are essentially distinct from the ordained ministry received in the Sacrament of Orders. A consolidated practice in the Latin Church has also confirmed, in fact, that these lay ministries, since they are based on the Sacrament of Baptism, may be entrusted to all suitable faithful, whether male or female, in accordance with what is already implicitly provided for by Canon 230 § 2.
Consequently, after having heard the opinion of the competent Dicasteries, I have decided to modify canon 230 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law. I therefore decree that Canon 230 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law shall in future have the following formulation:
‘Lay persons who possess the age and qualifications established by decree of the conference of bishops can be admitted on a stable basis through the prescribed liturgical rite to the ministries of lector and acolyte. Nevertheless, the conferral of these ministries does not grant them the right to obtain support or remuneration from the Church.’
Pope Francis goes so far as to claim that he is implementing a “doctrinal development” and yet no doctrinal development can ever contradict the teaching of the past, or the perennial practice of the past, least of all on an issue so central as service at the altar.
Far from being a “doctrinal development,” this latest rupture authorised by Pope Francis is a serious blasphemy.
Apparently, Pope Francis thinks that his own eccentric wishes are now to be called a “doctrinal development.” Once again, he uses the singular “I” and not the traditional pontifical “we” and the result is that the change looks like nothing more than giving way to the spirit of the age against the whole weight of Catholic tradition.
It would be farcical if it were not so tragic.
