THE YEAR OF MERCY

Let us give the benefit of the doubt to the Pope.   He has introduced a Year of Mercy and he seems to know what he wants from it although it is not quite clear to the rest of us.   Perhaps there are people in our lives we need to reconcile with whatever their offences against us.    Perhaps we will be called to give just a little more of our time to our neighbour and do the Spiritual Works of Mercy to those in need.   Yes, I am sure there are lots of things, good things we can do.    The trouble is that at this moment it is a fuzzy and the Pope is very unclear in what he expects.

Unfortunately the first things he has pointed to has only sown more confusion.    Yes, it is good that he has declared ordinary priests can now forgive abortion in Confession for those who have repented but the confusion is that priests already do this and if there are bishops who have reserved the right to forgive abortions to themselves or delegates nobody has yet pointed to one.   So who is Francis getting his information from.     The other ruling centres around the SPPX and throws more confusion on an already very confused situation.  They can now hear confessions from those in the mainstream for the next year, but not after that year.    Forgive me if I bang my head against a wall.    If my summary of the position is wrong do not blame me.  But my understanding is that an Archbishop Lebvevre in order to keep a Latin Mass going which had never been banned but had been replaced by Vatican Officials after Vatican II, yet this the Novus Ordo had never been agreed by the Council as the Documents on the Council prove.   The Archbishop and his followers  carried on with the Mass as instructed by  the  Council Fathers but found themselves excommunicated for doing so.   If you have followed me so far be ready to bang your head against the wall again.    The excommunication of the four bishops of what was now the SPPX was then lifted which meant to ordinary people like me that they were re-instated into the Body of Christ.    But no, although the excommunication was lifted 'de iure' they were still ex-communicated 'de facto'.  The powerful little men of the Vatican were still huffing and puffing to find a solution and came up with the idea that the SPPX would have to accept Vatican II by signing a document.   (I just banged my head twice there).   But as we have seen he Second Vatican Council did not call for the Novus Ordo so should they not also sign a document expressing their loyalty to the Council?

May I just say that I am not a member of the SPPX.  I just find the whole thing baffling   Why is it that people who believe in all the teachings of the Catholic Church, express loyalty to the Pope as Head of the Church, have had bishops re-instated but not the priests who are refused the faculties to celebrate Mass and Confession by the local bishops, and who probably are more loyal to the Church than a number of these bishops.   It is into this confused situation that Pope Francis announces that for a year they will not need the bishops permission.    So from midnight on the 8th December we can all rush to a SPPX priest for Confession but come midnight the following year on the 7th December we will be forbidden again.   Pope Francis will you just pull the plug on all this nonsense and give the SPPX the benefit of any doubt and allow them to function within the Church without these silly gimmicks.     (I do not know about you, but my head is sore)