In what some are calling a display of divine displeasure at the pope\u2019s decision to resign, a bolt of lightening struck the Cross atop the dome of Peter\u2019s Basilica in Rome only hours after the Pope\u2019s shocking announcement. The pope\u2019s decision left Catholics confused and bewildered as to the direction in which the Church is now headed.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuo Vadis\u201d is a Latin phrase meaning \u201cWhere are you going\u201d. It refers to the encounter between St. Peter (the first pope) and Jesus Christ on the Appian Way. Peter, fleeing from the persecutions and likely crucifixion of the Emperor Nero had a vision of Christ whom he asked “Domine, quo vadis?” Jesus answered him, “Whither I go, thou can not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards” (John 13:36). Peter understood this to mean that Jesus was going back to Rome to be crucified again. Peter, following his own fate, returned to Rome and was crucified at the foot of the Vatican Hills where St Peter’s Basilica stands today.<\/p>\n
Is Pope Benedict XVI on the same Appian Way today fleeing the wolves? The last pope John Paul II suffered \u00a0from such physical disabilities \u00a0and spiritual tortures at the end of his papacy that he could no longer \u00a0hide them from public view. But he did not abandon the barque of Peter. Instead he allowed \u00a0his scourged body to be held up as a testament to his faith and trust in God – just as Christ did when he stood \u00a0before Pilate and the rebel crowd. Even when pressured several times to resign from those both inside and outside \u00a0the Church, Pope John Paul II did not cave in to the wolves\u2019 demands. Rather, he used their \u00a0taunts \u00a0as an opportunity to teach us \u00a0how \u201cChrist, [in his \u00a0hour of darkness], \u00a0did not come down from the cross.\u201d He taught us: \u201cNow is the time to work, heaven is the time to rest\u201d. So where is Benedict going at this late hour? Did he perhaps receive a vision altogether different from that of Peter?<\/p>\n
Many in the Church – especially \u00a0those who previously applauded Pope John Paul II\u2019s fortitude \u00a0in embracing his papacy – are now, in rather stark \u00a0reversal, \u00a0favorably comparing Pope Benedict XVI\u2019s \u00a0abdication with that of the abdications of Pope Celestine V and Pope Gregory XII. However, contrary to the pundits these were \u00a0exceptional cases. Celestine V, \u00a0resigned after having been snatched by force from his hermit\u2019s cell.<\/p>\n
Gregory XII, was forced to resign in order to resolve the very serious issue of the Great Western Schism. Where is the exception in \u00a0Benedict XVI\u2019s case? His intellectual faculties of fully intact. His health, according to Holy See Press Office director Fr. Federico Lombardi, \u00a0is \u201cgenerally good\u201d. Is there something more we are not being told? Every pontiff experiences a certain human inadequacy in fulfilling the office of the Vicar of Christ. But the Holy Spirit is most assuredly guaranteed to stay with the pope \u00a0from the time he is elected to the very end of his pontificate. Most likely only the pope will ever know for sure if \u00a0he has chosen to \u00a0follow the will of God or the will of man.<\/p>\n
The pope\u2019s abdication, while quite \u00a0permissible from a theological and canonical standpoint, is nonetheless extremely innovative and revolutionary from a historical perspective. It represents a serious break with tradition insofar as \u00a0the Chair of Peter has now become an office that can be \u00a0judged by the same criteria \u00a0by which modernity judges things. Essentially, the papacy now runs the risk of having its image stripped of its sacredness in the eyes of the world.<\/p>\n
Despite this continuing trend toward modernity Pope Benedict XVI, in has address to the clergy of the Rome diocese on February 14, wished to assure \u00a0Catholics \u00a0that \u00a050 years after Vatican II, \u201cthe strength of the real Council has been revealed…and is becoming the real power which is also true reform, true renewal of the Church.\u201d But \u00a0there are few if any signs of this new springtime. One need only look around a bit to see that very few of his priests and bishops pay him any real \u00a0homage other than the usual empty lip service betoken wolves in sheep\u2019s clothing. This is especially visible in their almost unanimous disdain for the pope\u2019s Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum promoting the Latin Mass. It is also evident in \u00a0their refusal to follow the \u00a0Pope\u2019s many good examples regarding the Novus Ordo such as his abandonment of the practice of receiving Holy Communion in the hand while standing.<\/p>\n
Additionally \u00a0confusing is the fact that the pope is leaving office blaming – not the long developing \u00a0trend toward Modernism in the Church – but \u00a0the media for causing the internal divisions which have \u00a0led to \u201cseminaries and convents closing and the liturgy being trivialized\u201d. Certainly the media has played its part and played it well in mercilessly crucifying the Church, but most of what the media reports about the church was \u00a0and continues to be generated by dissenting priests and theologians, many of whom had a direct \u00a0hand in molding the documents of Vatican II. \u00a0Also, if \u00a0it is the case that the Catholic Church needs to depend on the media for its livelihood it might just as well abandon ship now for the media with its \u00a0pro-world, pro-flesh, and pro-devil mandate, is not going away any time soon.<\/p>\n
No doubt these are troubling times and the future looks ominous indeed! Let us all pray that Pope Benedict XVI has in the end made the right decision!<\/p>\n
By Paul Kokoski<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cQuo Vadis\u201d is a Latin phrase meaning \u201cWhere are you going?\u201d. It refers to the encounter between St. Peter (the first pope) and Jesus Christ on the Appian Way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[1106,1067,1161],"class_list":["post-31808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinions","tag-opinions-2","tag-paul-kokoski","tag-pope-benedict-xvi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31808\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}