Short facts about Bergoglio (so-called "Pope Francis")

Here are some facts about Jorge Bergoglio (“Pope Francis”), which are not talked about much in the media.

The c-virus

Much of the following material is based on the very good articles of the canon lawyer Cathi Caridi over at https://canonlawmadeeasy.com.

First, let’s look at canon law. John Paul II commissioned the 1983 Code of Canon Law still valid today. Can. 843.1 declares categorically: “Sacred ministers cannot deny the sacraments to those who seek them at appropriate times, are properly disposed, and are not prohibited by law from receiving them.” In other words, the faithful have a right to receive the sacraments. (link)

Other relevant canons are:

“With special solicitude, a diocesan bishop is to attend to presbyters […]. He is to protect their rights and take care that they correctly fulfill the obligations proper to their state […].” (384) If administering the sacraments isn’t part of the “obligations proper to their state”, then what is?

“The pastor is to see to it that the Most Holy Eucharist is the center of the parish assembly of the faithful. He is to work so that the Christian faithful are nourished through the devout celebration of the sacraments and, in a special way, that they frequently approach the sacraments of the Most Holy Eucharist and penance. […]” (528.2)

So, the faithful have a right to be at Mass, to go to confession, to get married etc. Neither Bergoglio nor anyone else can take that right from them, under no pretext whatsoever!

Let’s look briefly at how saints handled epidemics in the past.

Saint Charles Borromeo (1538-1584) was archbishop of Milan. During his term, there was an outbreak of the plague. He did not simply cancel Masses! Instead: “[h]e arranged for Masses to be celebrated outdoors (where tents had been erected to care for the thousands of sick), initiated Eucharistic Adoration throughout the archdiocese, and led processions through the streets.” (quote)

Another example of caring for the sick, even against the wishes of one’s superiors (!) is Saint Damien De Veuster (1840-1889). He ministered to lepers on Moloka’i, which is one of the Hawaiian islands. He built a church for them, and set up a hospital and a school. Both his bishop and his superior in his order were displeased at his efforts and made him look bad. He kept working among them anyway, eventually caught leprosy and died. Who got canonized in 2009, his unsupportive bishop or he? Saint Damien is now the patron saint of Hawaii.

In my opinion, the best example is Saint Henry Morse (1595-1644), one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. He was a Jesuit priest who ministered in London, working, together with St. John Southworth, among plague victims. He gave them last rites, as well as helping them get a decent burial. He got the plague, but recovered. His heroic efforts won him sympathy and some Protestants converted. (see e.g. Catholic Encyclopedia about him here)

So on the one hand, he faced a deadly disease, on the other, execution. But he still worked as a priest. In fact, St. John admonished him at the start to be less fearful! Here is a little documentary about his life.

There never ever was anything similar to what happened in the Catholic Church with the c-virus and it was only made possible due to Bergoglio.

As an aside, the faithful have the universal right to receive Communion on the tongue. This was the universal practice of the Church for centuries and de facto banning it during the c-virus was completely illegal. Redemptionis Sacramentum, a document by the Congregation for Divine Worship (CDW) from 2004 still in force, says this: “[…] each of the faithful always has the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue […]” (Redemptionis Sacramentum 92) In fact, Caridi mentions that during swine flu in 2009, the congregation issued a letter to a private person reiterating these rules.

Small tip: Here is an archive.org link to the Code of Canon Law in English on March 2, 2013: https://web.archive.org/web/20130302215153/http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_INDEX.HTM

St. Charles Borromeo, in a contemporary portrait.

St. Charles Borromeo (contemporary portrait), St. Henry Morse and St. Father Damien: true shepherds in time of real epidemics. From left to right: public domain, here; CC-BY-SA 4.0 upload by Singhson67 to Wikimedia, here; and public domain, here

Bergoglio insults the faithful

In 2017, the Catholic blogger Laurence English released the “Pope Francis Little Book of Insults”, which a collection of the different insults Bergoglio has called faithful and priests. Some examples:

He talked about “liquid Christianity”, “religious who have hearts that are as sour as vinegar”, “Christians in a pastry shop”, “Christians with a grimace”, “spiritual sclerosis”, “pathology of indifference”, “the corrosive disease of being ‘spiritual orphans’”, “one who considers himself a prince has a ‘clericalist attitude’”, “[l]iving in the fridge”, “lazy, ‘parked’ Christians”, “professionals of the sacred”, “[s]laves of duty, but not love”, “spiritual asphyxia”, “Mr. or Mrs. Whiner”, and “spiritual mummies”.

He called seminarians “little monsters”, bishops “airport bishops”, and priests “worshippers of the god Narcissus”.

In his speech to the Curia on December 22, 2014, he listed 15 “curial diseases”, like “mental and spiritual ‘petrification’”, “spiritual Alzheimer’s disease” and “existential schizophrenia”. He also mentioned the “terrorism of gossip”.

Bergoglio openly honors Judas

On April 11, 2016, Bergoglio stated in his morning sermon in the Casa Santa Marta the following: “It hurts when I read that small passage from the Gospel of Matthew, when Judas, who has repented, goes to the priests and says: ‘I have sinned’ and wants to give… and gives them the coins. ‘Who cares! – they say to him: it’s none of our business!’ They closed their hearts before this poor, repentant man.” (link)

The Catholic Church believed for over 2000 years that Judas was impenitent until his death, and went to hell for all eternity as a consequence.

Bergoglio stated in an interview with Corriere della Sera that he keeps a picture of the top of a column depicting Judas, in his office. That column is in the medieval Basilica of St. Mary Magdalen in Vézelay, Burgundy in France. On one side, Judas is hanging naked, and on the right, someone is carrying Judas’ corpse on his shoulders. Bergoglio claims that that figure is the Good Shepherd, but, as the site Tradition in Action explains, Jesus was depicted in the Middle Ages with a halo, a beard and a long robe. That man is simply a worker carrying of the corpse of Judas. (link, link)

Bergoglio mentioned Judas again in a homily on the Wednesday of Holy Week in 2020: “Jesus said He will be betrayed, but Jesus didn’t say [to Judas] ‘traitor.’ He never says, ’Go away, traitor.’ Never. In fact, he calls him ‘friend,’ and he kisses him.” (L’Osservatore Romano, April 9, 2020, p. 10, quoted here)

The Judas column, a picture of which Bergoglio keeps in his office.

Bergoglio and Luther

Bergoglio seems to have an admiration for the German “reformer”. As I already quoted Bergoglio in my article “Quotes from Bergoglio”, he said this on one of his infamous airplane press conferences:

“I think that the intentions of Martin Luther were not mistaken. He was a reformer. Perhaps some methods were not correct. […] There was corruption in the Church, there was worldliness, attachment to money, to power…and this he protested. […] And today Lutherans and Catholics, Protestants, all of us agree on the doctrine of justification. On this point, which is very important, he did not err.” (full text, Lifesite article)

That Catholics and Protestants agree on the doctrine of justification is factually false, and the claim that Luther was right on this point, is plain heresy.

Bergoglio also brought a statue of Luther into the audience hall on October 13, 2016, at a meeting with a thousand German Lutherans and Catholics. (link)

In 2017, the Vatican issued a stamp commemorating the 500-year anniversary of the reformation, depicting Jesus on the cross with Luther on one side, Melanchton on the other, and Wittenberg in the background.

Bergoglio renewed his Argentinian passport and ID card in 2014 – under his original name

In 2014, the Argentine Ministry of the Interior announced that Bergoglio applied for a renewal of his Argentinian ID card and passport. According to the then-minister of the interior, Florencio Randazzo, Bergoglio contacted the Argentine ambassador at the Vatican and told him “that he wanted to keep traveling around the world with the Argentinian passport”. According to the minister, Bergoglio wants to travel around the world as “any Argentinian citizen”. (news article)

On the pictures provided by the Ministry of the Interior, it can be clearly seen, that his surname is “Bergoglio” and his name “Jorge Mario”. Not “Francisco”.

Here‘s a video on Argentinian state TV in Spanish, and here is a report on Rome reports in English.

Photo of Bergoglio’s ID card published by the ministry of interior in Argentina.

Christianfaith.info

Short facts about Bergoglio (so-called “Pope Francis”)

The c-virus

Bergoglio insults the faithful

Bergoglio openly honors Judas

Bergoglio and Luther

Bergoglio renewed his Argentinian passport and ID card in 2014 – under his original name

Resources

Articles by the canon lawyer Cathi Caridi on the c-virus