Gaslighting
Gaslighting is defined as “psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories”. Its name comes from the play “Gas Light” by Patrick Hamilton from 1938. In the play, a man tries to convince his wife that she is insane, to steal her money. One of his tricks is that he manipulates things in their house, causing the gas lights to dim. When his wife notices this, he claims that she is crazy.
The best example of gaslighting during Bergoglio’s “pontificate” was when Tucho (“Cardinal” Víctor Manuel Fernández, the “prefect” of the “Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith”) published his document Fiducia Supplicans, which allowed the “blessing” of homosexual couples. Tucho then published a document called “Press release concerning the reception of Fiducia supplicans”. It claimed that Fiducia supplicans “contains a proposal for short and simple pastoral blessings (neither liturgical nor ritualised) of couples in irregular situations (but not of their unions)”.
Here, the “Vatican” was trying to make people believe they are stupid if they don’t recognize the non-existing difference between “couple” and “union”. Blessing the couple necessarily entails blessing their union.
Strawman
A strawman argument is a logical fallacy where someone deliberately falsifies the argument of one’s opponent and attacks that instead of the actual argument. During his “pontificate”, Bergoglio has often tried to downplay sin. One example of using a strawman argument was during his speech to a group of priests on April 10, 2018.
He said: “Recognizing the repentance of the sinner is tantamount to welcoming him with open arms, to imitate the father of the parable who welcomes his son when he returns home (cf. Lk 15: 20 [sic]); it means not letting him even finish his words. This has always struck me: the father did not even let him finish the words, he hugged him. He had the prepared speech, but [the father] hugged him. It means not letting him finish even the words he had prepared in order to apologize (see verse 22), because the confessor has already understood everything, strengthened by the experience of being a sinner too. There is no need to be ashamed to those who have already recognized their sin and know they have been wrong; it is not necessary to inquire – those confessors who ask, ask, ten, twenty, thirty, forty minutes … ‘And how was it done? And how? …’ – it is not necessary to inquire where the grace of the Father has already intervened; it is not permitted to violate a person’s sacred space in his relationship with God.”
It goes without saying that the priest who questions the penitent for 40 minutes is a fiction made up by Bergoglio to make the priests feel guilty in order to give absolution quickly.
Diversion
One recent example is the “Synod on Synodality”. Many of the bishops and Catholic media focused on topics like homosexuality or women deacons. The X account of the “synod” has published artwork featuring a woman in priestly vestments and a man in a “Pride” T-shirt. The working document of the first session (2023), even mentions “people in polygamous marriages”.
All of this was to distract Catholics from the real goal of the “synod”: namely redefining what the Church is. I have already written about it in my last article. The “synod” got away from the Catholic teaching that the bishop governs his diocese and the pope governs the Church in a sovereign manner to the new teaching that the bishops and the pope cannot “ignore” the decisions of “participatory bodies”.