An emeny speaketh sweetly with his lips, but in his heart he lies in wait, to throw thee into a pit

An emeny speaketh sweetly with his lips, but in his heart he lies in wait, to throw thee into a pit. An enemy weepeth with his eyes: but if he find an opporunity he will not be satisfied with blood.

That is a quotation from the  Ecclesiasticus 12:15-16. I did not know before today that the same book is also called the "Book of Sirach". On top of that, the numbering of the verses seems to differ. So in the RSV, we find the corresponding verse in Sirach 12:16, which combines both verses into one:

An enemy will speak sweetly with his lips, but in his mind he will plan to throw you into a pit; an enemy will weep with his eyes but if he finds an opportunity his thirst for blood will be insatiable.

The topic today is that of the 2015-2016 Holy Year of Mercy, announced some time ago. In particular, I wish to address the developments which came about yesterday when Pope Francis wrote a letter to Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation. I still haven't figured out what the "new evangelisation" is supposed to be, by the way. If you ask me it seems to be another way of saying "no evangelisation", a point which has been made by others.

In any case, most of the letter is surprisingly Catholic, apart from somewhere in the middle where Pope Francis addresses the issue of abortion, writing "I am well aware of the pressure that has led them to this decision". I am unsuere of which pressure Pope Francis speaks, but he makes it seem as though all women are forced into it through outside pressure or threats. For some it may be the case, but one may be hard-pressed to argue that it is the case for most. Many do it so that a baby won't interfere with their leisure activities, such as interfering with one's volleyball aspirations - and I don't even mean sex, which for most people in the West is just one leisure activity among many. In typical Pope Francis fashion, the sin is someone else's fault, although at least he does seem to think it is a big issue, although using words such as "tragedy of abortion" again give the impression that is is something brought about by external forces and not through the conscious choice of the women who make the conscious decision to kill an unborn child.

I especially liked the part about those who have been incarcerated, and are therefore unable to make a pilgrimage to obtain the Jubilee Indulgence. I liked it that the letter did not take the opportunity to rail against incarceration and instead speaks of those who "despite deserving punishment, have become conscious of the injustice they worked and sinceredly wish to re-enter society and make their honest contribution to it". That statement entails a kind of culpability which Pope Francis does not seem to think can be attributed to those who have their unborn children killed. The indulgence "can also be obtained for the deceased" so without a doubt we are looking at one of the few Catholic documents released in the name of Pope Francis.

Given that the letter is quite concise and without many contradictions, I am inclined to agree with Mundabor that it has not been written by Pope Francis. I am sad to conclude that, but I have a very hard time believing that the man who when he is allowed to speak freely cannot bring himself to uttering perhaps as little as 2 consecutive sentences or an Orthodox bent can write a document which is very much to the point and does not attack Catholic orthodoxy.

I write though regarding the SSPX, which is the very topic that Pope Francis addresses before concluding the document. Pope Francis makes it clear that "This Jubilee Year of Mercy excludes no one" and that "those who during the Holy Year of Mercy approach these priests of the Fraternity of St Pius X to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation shall validly and licitly receive the absolution of their sins." That is all well and good, and the SSPX has taken time to respond, thanking the pope for his gesture while insisting that they did not need to be granted special permission during this  year of mercy as they have "extraordinary jurisdiction", as granted by canon law in emergency situations. One can hardly argue that the post-Vatican II period does not consitute a period of emergency - one which Pope Francis has made all too visible-, but I am not going to go into the particulars.

My point is that I simply don't buy that Poper Francis is being well-intentioned to the point of being generous. The synod is but a month away and Pope Francis has shown his cards very clearly. It is very clear that in his mind, Church discipline should have nothing to do with Church doctrine or Church teaching, or even obedience to Our Lord. I cannot help but detect a rather sinister ploy in which Pope Francis will turn around some time soon and say that since the year of mercy "excludes no one", and he has proven this by granting the SSPX special jurisdiction during the course of that year, that he would have to extend it to those in adulterous relationships as well. This is, after all, the same pope who said just 2 days prior to this that:

With these words, Jesus also wants to put us, today, on guard against considering that the exterior observance of the law may be sufficient to be good Christians.

The literal observance of the precepts is something sterile if it does not change the heart and is not translated into concrete attitudes.

Those are words which would not trouble us if they were said by a trustworthy pope, but Pope Francis has shown himself to be anything but trustworthy.

There is little rationality behind calling for a year of mercy while insisting that people do not need God and all they have to do is to be good according to their own conscience and the world will be a better place, as he did in one of his many scandalous Scalfari interviews. In his own words:

Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place.

This we are supposed to believe is the Pope who then turns around and realises that we need God's mercy, His sacraments and calls for a holy year of mercy through the holy sacraments? I don't believe that for a second, since his attack on the teachings of the Church has been sustained, if not always uninterrupted. In other words we have reason to believe that there is quite a lot of rationality behind what Pope Francis does.

If Pope Francis had shown greater inclination since his election to speak of mercy as the Catechism of the Catholic Church does, stressing that "To receive his mercy, we must admit our faults", then I would be inclined to think that he is genuine in his call for the year of mercy and his gesture towards the SSPX. As it is, when he is not busy insulting loyal and faithful Catholics, he goes around sowing confusion, and when he's not doing that, he goes around giving the impression that those find themselves unable to receive Holy Communion (through adultery) are there due to some unfortunate circumstance beyond their control, and that these circumstances are "irreversible", as opposed the marriage, of course, which is then obviously reversible. There has been precious little talk of admitting one's faults and walking away from them, not even in this letter to Archbishop Fisichella.

When even ordinary parishioners are sincerely asking "Is the Pope Catholic", we need to be wary scheming behind any initiatives coming from the pope.

It goes without saying, however, that we also need to take the good which comes our way, and I for one, certainly intend to make use of all the means of grace which God has provided through His Church.

As for what comes out of the apparent relaxation with regard to the SSPX, only time will tell. In fact, I predict that within a week of this letter, we shall have some half-heretical statement coming from the Vatican. I read somewhere that there is a new interview of the pope to be released this coming Friday. Perhaps that will be the occasion for him to counter-act himself. If not, the synod is but a month away, so other chances will follow.

I surely hope that I shall be proved wrong in this instance. It is very unlikely to happen if Pope Francis stays true to form.