It seems that more and more Catholics who I would have considered orthodox in the past are now becoming deceived by Satan in becoming negative to Pope Francis and criticising his every move.
Years ago I very much respected Ralph Martin and his writings on Catholic spirituality especially his book "The Fulfillment of All Desires." He has openly started criticising the Pope in recent days and it is concerning. Michael Lofton critiques this on his show.
I am very disappointed to read the latest post of Mark Mallet, who until now I had followed with interest and respected his perspectives. In this post "The Final Trial" he has joined the anti-Pope Francis crowd. In the past he defended Pope Francis but it seems the darkness has caught him in its grip.
Many of us spent many years attending Marian cenacles in which we promised in the consecration:
Virgin of Fatima, Mother of Mercy, Queen of Heaven and Earth, Refuge of Sinners, we who belong to the Marian Movement of Priests consecrate ourselves in a very special way to your Immaculate Heart.
By this act of consecration we intend to live, with you and through you, all the obligations assumed by our baptismal consecration. We further pledge to bring about in ourselves that interior conversion so urgently demanded by the Gospel, a conversion that will free us of every attachment to ourselves and to easy compromises with the world so that, like you, we may be available only to do always the Will of the Father.
And as we resolve to entrust to you, O Mother most sweet and merciful, our life and vocation as Christians, that you may dispose of it according to your designs of salvation in this hour of decision that weighs upon the world, we pledge to live it according to your desires, especially as it pertains to a renewed spirit of prayer and penance, the fervent participation in the celebration of the Eucharist and in the works of the apostolate, the daily recitation of the holy rosary, and an austere manner of life in keeping with the Gospel, that shall be to all a good example of the observance of the Law of God and the practice of the Christian virtues, especially that of purity.
We further promise you to be united with the Holy Father, with the hierarchy and with our priests, in order thus to set up a barrier to the growing confrontation directed against the Magisterium, that threatens the very foundation of the Church.
Under your protection, we want moreover to be apostles of this sorely needed unity of prayer and love for the Pope, on whom we invoke your special protection. And lastly, insofar as is possible, we promise to lead those souls with whom we come in contact to a renewed devotion to you.
Mindful that atheism has caused shipwreck in the faith to a great number of the faithful, that desecration has entered into the holy temple of God, and that evil and sin are spreading more and more throughout the world, we make so bold as to lift our eyes trustingly to you, O Mother of Jesus and our merciful and powerful Mother, and we invoke again today and await from you the salvation of all your children, O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
It would seem many are now so blinded that they in this growing time of confrontation have joined the dark side, that is against the Holy Father and the priests and Bishops who teach in union with him. They are no longer in unity nor do they love the Pope. We have those on the left or modernist side ignoring the Pope's corrections and advice and trying to turn the Church into the world, and on the right we have many traditionalists and conservatives maligning the Pope and even calling him a heretic.
While one may disagree with certain Vatican pastoral policies or evangelical strategies or the personal scientific, medical, political views and even his personal theological opinions, that critique must be expressed with respect and deference and not imputing any ill will on the part of the Pope. However, when he teaches on faith and morals and develops doctrine in official documents and in his homilies the Pope is infallible and without error in his decisions. He is the Rock and the only way we can safely navigate through our present troubles in the world is to cling to the barque of Peter and remain with the Pope against all comers.
We have to be ready to die to our own personal opinions and ideologies if it clashes with the magisterial teaching of the Church. For example, during the covid period the Pope taught that it was licit to use certain vaccines even if they came from being developed from material that originally, many years ago, had come from an aborted baby, if there were no other vaccines available and the situation was so dangerous, that in order to save lives, one could licitly use such vaccines.
As faithful Catholics loyal to the Pope we must accept that discernment as taught in official Vatican documents. Where we may disagree is in considering that this situation met those conditions or not. The Pope in his personal opinion felt it did but many others felt it didn't. The Pope and others in the Church felt it did but that was just their personal opinions and the Pope and others may be mistaken in these kind of judgments that are not doctrinal but pastoral.
Even if these personal discernments or judgments may be wrong, one should never impute any kind of ill will or evil purpose to the Pope for his opinion or acts based on this. However even in these personal judgments of the Pope we listen with respect and carefully discern what our own conscience is saying, without undermining the teaching authority of the Pope. It is impossible for the Pope to teach heresy or to be in schism and anyone who thinks he can, has lost faith in the promise of Christ to Peter and his Church.
I am praying for Ralph Martin, Mark Mallet and others who are being deceived. I am sure they and most of the others are sincere and well meaning but they seem to have become confused by the darkness and lost hope and faith in Christ's gift of the Popes and their infallible charism to the Church and to the promise that the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. One thing we can be sure that anyone who stands against the Pope is not living in God's Divine Will.
The sad thing is these people will now bear much bad fruit and like many others they may go further and further from the truth into a truncated and ideological version of Catholicism which often becomes rigid and sterile. It is obvious that Mark is now being influence by the arch anti-Pope Francis Bishop Athanasius Schneider who has demonstrated his unbalanced understanding of the Catholic Faith for a number of years and who now believes that Popes can be heretics and teach heretical doctrines except for when they make an ex cathedra statements. This is contrary to the teaching of both Vatican I and II.
"This religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra; that is, it must be shown in such a way that his supreme magisterium is acknowledged with reverence, the judgments made by him are sincerely adhered to, according to his manifest mind and will. His mind and will in the matter may be known either from the character of the documents, from his frequent repetition of the same doctrine, or from his manner of speaking." from Lumen Gentium 25 a dogmatic constitution of the Church.
In 2020 I wrote this:
In order to not be deceived we must stand with the Pope and no matter how bad the storm, we must cling to the bark of Peter as said by Madelaine Porzat a Catholic visionary of the first half of the 19th century.
The seventh crisis of general confusion shall come to fruition. Men shall believe that all is lost and annihilated. Immense trouble shall be over the agitated sea of time. Whoever is not on the bark of Peter shall be engulfed. The bark goes up and down. Peter, have confidence. The ark comes out of the storm and a calm ensues... In the Church, Christians will imagine that all is lost. Mary arrives. Behold there is confusion; confusion even in the sanctuary. Notwithstanding, it is to the Catholic priests that one shall have to go for absolution and blessing.This reminds one of the famous dream/vision of St John Bosco of the Popes and the Storm leading to the era of Peace and the Church secured through Our Lady and the Eucharist.
The servant of God Luisa Piccarreta also spoke of this coming storm that would affect the priests and the Church. This storm is allowed by the Lord in order to cleanse the Church, priesthood and society. Our Lord Jesus said to Luisa Piccarreta on March 7, 1915:
Patience, courage; don’t lose heart! If you knew how much I suffer to punish men! But the ingratitude of creatures forces Me to do this — their enormous sins, their incredulity, their will to almost challenge Me… And this is the least… If I told you about the religious side… how many sacrileges! How many rebellions! How many pretend to be my children, while they are my fiercest enemies! How many false sons are usurpers, self-interested and unbelievers. Their hearts are bilges of vice. These children will be the first to wage war against the Church; they will try to kill their own Mother… Oh, how many of them are already about to come out in the field! Now there is war among governments; soon they will make war against the Church, and its greatest enemies will be its own children… My Heart is shredded with pain. In spite of all, I will let this storm pass by, and the face of the earth and the churches be washed by the blood of the same ones who smeared and contaminated them. You too, unite yourself to my pain — pray and be patient in watching this storm pass by.
Our Lady promised at Fatima that in the end of this storm Her Immaculate Heart will Triumph and an Era of Peace will be granted after the consecration of Russia. Pope Francis was that Pope who consecrated Russia by name and we are now in that storm which will see the triumph of Mary's Immaculate Heart.