"And I beheld, and heard the voice of one eagle flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice: Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth.... [Apocalypse (Revelation) 8:13]
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
PRIEST TALKS ABOUT FORCED RESIGNATION OF POPE BENEDICT XVI
PRIEST TALKS ABOUT FORCED RESIGNATION OF POPE BENEDICT XVI
Transcript and video
Not intended to paint BXVI as a Saint. This is just more support for BXVI being "run out". I do not agree with everything said
TRANSCRIPT---Father Santiago Martin
"Benedict XVI, the Man Who Hinders Them" March 3, 2013
"We are on the third Sunday of Lent naturally I want to make a
meditation about the Gospel that I have read but it is evident that we
can't take a reflection about the Third Sunday of Lent as we did for the
last year. Why? Because the Pope has just resigned. And, logically if
we don't take this moment to explain a little and make some catechesis,
when are we going to do it? So, you have to be patient because I'm
going to do two little homilies - one, about the Gospel, and the other
one about the actual situation of the Church.
I can't go into each
detail. I have already explained in the last conference, not long ago,
and it was an hour conference, explaining the most that I can say or the
most that I truly know to explain what is going on - what is behind all
this. But, at least this short mediation about that...Now, I'd like to
talk about the situation that we are living, and I want to start by
opening my heart, describing how I feel. I feel very bad. This is the
first thing that I want to tell you. It hurts even more, especially
watching everybody looking happy all around. What I perceive is that
the majority is happy about the resignation, as if the Pope has resigned
to a Caribbean beach, or as if the Pope has left in a natural way.
Well, listen, he is almost 86. He could have an advanced Parkinson
disease, a dimentia, alzheimers, he could have a serious kidney problem,
which really makes it imposible. But this is not what happened. This
has nothing to do with what happened. If the Pope has left because of
sheer exhaustion related to age, well, it would be something different,
as if the Pope died. That goes with natural law, but this has nothing to
do with what happened. The Pope has been crucified for the eight years
that he has been leading the Church, and we have seen it. It has been a
crucifixion, a martyrdom in front of the eyes of everyone. We, at
least me and many others, we have suffered, watching how they go for him
- how they overwhelmed him - the enemies from the outside with the
collaboration of some enemies which are inside, the garbage of the
inside, aerated, promotioned during years from those enemies of the
outside. This is what happened.
God's people who see how other kill the
Pastor and they just don't realize it is terrible. The Pope is a
martyr. And, now he didn't come down from the cross. He effectively
resigned for the good of the Church. But, the thing is, he has been
martyred. This week a Peruvian writer, Vargas Llosa, published an
article, in which the content I only half agree with, the title is
perfect. I haven't seen a better title to summarize what is happening
in the Church now, about what is 'the move' of, what is happening
inside, from just a short time ago. He titled his article "The Man Who
Hinders Them". Of course, Benedict XVI has been the man in the middle
of their ways from the first moment. He has a unique, enormous capacity
to define just with a phrase or idea a treatise of theology. When he
celebrated the Mass before to start of the conclave two days after he
was Pope, he defined the situation of today: 'the dictatorship of
relativism'. Not the regular relativism that we know, it's rather a
dictatorship now, meaning a real persecution for all those who stand
firm saying that truth is objective and lies are objective, meaning the
good exists and the bad exists. In any context, they don't want the
truth, they want relativism. You can't say abortion is wrong. You
can't say killing your mother by euthanasia is wrong. Today, many
people can say as much, "I think that could be wrong", because when
somebody stays firm and ares to say "That is wrong", that one is
persecuted. Because of that, this Pope was like a hindrance for them.
Or, don't you remember what happened in 2011 when they, taking
advantage of a circumstance which at the end was a lie, they accused him
as an accomplice of pedophilia and they constantly pushed him, forcing
him to resign - the ferocious advertising campaigns in 2011 of The New
York Times, BBC, and allies in Spain. This was horrible. The enemies
on the outside and the enemies in the inside which created this
Vatileaks scandal, with their sins, I repeat, promotioned for the
outside enemies keeping silence while they were interested, until the
moment to put a big light on the garbage. They combined took him to a
point to say "I can't anymore". This is so hard and grave that other
has to come. This is a tragedy. A resignation of a Pope is a tragedy.
This is not a vacation trip. This is a tragedy. They twist his hand
and he couldn't anymore. I have had the gift of being a collaborator
for him, as I also was for John Paul II. Being with him, as I was with
John Paul, I can tell you this very clear. He is a saint (not hardly). He is a
child, a child of 86 years because he is a kid, shy, humble, until you
say, oh no enough, also wise, and when you see how they treated him,
humiliated him, crushed. What I feel is a deep compassion. I don't
know if you saw the scene on Thursday when he was coming out of his
apartment. My soul shrank watching how he put his face, about the
circumstance, going out from his house, his secretary crying, the driver
kneeling down, crying, do you think this is "happy" retired? They went
for him until they got him. They twisted his hand. He did it because
there was not any other option.
But, listen, there is something
terrible happening inside the Church and inside the society against the
Church, and we all should know about it. If we think we are in an
angelical world when all the things happen by chance - this is not true.
Here, there is a scheduled plan deliberately against the Church.
Cardinals, Bishops, naturally they left him alone. I don't say all of
them, but many they left him alone after the incident when the ex
communion to a Lefebrian was removed, a denier of the Holocaust. How
they crushed him. It was not his fault. They didn't inform him. As he
said after in a public letter to Bishops, "I have been alone in this."
This is the first thing we have to discern, of course "they", but also
us. Priests? Have we been always praying for the Holy Father? The
laity? In 2011, when they publicly went for him, crushing him, we, The
Franciscans of Mary and a group of lay, paid 6,000 Euros to publish an
announcement in the country on ABC in the world and in the Reason, a
half-page announcement: "Holy Father we are with you". How many others
did something? When the Bishops wanted to help him, he already was
crucified. We collected many forms of support in this parish and in the
world to send them to the Nuncitures. How many did something? We
organized vigils of prayer for the Pope once a month. How many have
been doing for the Pope?
The big majority saw the crucifixion of this
man and have turned their face to the other side. Nobody supported him
with prayers or gave their faces to him. And, this is the first thing
that we have to do - examination of conscience. Did I defend the Pope
in my house when somebody insulted him? In my job, friends? Did I pray
for him? Do I know the real meaning behind the fall - for me, for the
family, for the Church, for humanity? Then, many people will say "Oh,
look, he was just good. He was not attached to the office and he just
resigned." This is how many will take it, as an ordinary, common event.
The Pope, put by God, can't be alone. He has to be defended with the
support of all of us. I repeat, we all have to examine the conscience,
asking ourselves how we took it while we watched them crucify this holy
martyr."
Father Santiago Martin, Madrid, Spain, is the founder of The Franciscans
of Mary which is present in nineteen countries, including Spain, the
US, Canada, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina,
Chile, Poland, Holland and Italy, and even in Asia where they are
present in Sri Lanka.
