Understanding Pope Francis "No Comment" on RvW SCOTUS Decision

I was caught by surprise this week when memes started circulating in social media accusing Pope Francis' of being silent regarding the US Supreme Court's historic decision to overturn Roe V. Wade, reminiscent of the old NFL Super Bowl MVP  player ambushed by the media that asked him:  "And now, now, what are you going to do?" And the response of course was:  "To Disneyland!"

Carl DeMarco's piece titled No Comment: Pope Francis Remains Silent On Supreme Court’s Abortion Decision?  was yet another reminder. My initial Peter-eresque response was. "Right- why hasn't he spoken yet?" Then I remembered Matthew 16:23: "Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” - 

DeMarco goes on to write: "Since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Pope Francis has remained largely silent on the historic ruling returning the power to restrict abortion to the states, despite church leaders from around the world applauding the decision" 

So, why the question?  Who is the audience?  Does that mean Pope Francis doesn't care?  That he thinks it's not a big deal? That he's irresponsible? After all, even Catholic Media's reporting  like EWTN, National Catholic Reporter, National Catholica Register and so on suggests that the Holy Spirt has departed from the Catholic Church. If the audience is the Pope's flock, they all know what he thinks. We see it daily and or on Sunday services. There are signs all over the place celebrating life.  The Pope Himself, prioritized the X World Meeting Of Families (WMOF), in Rome June 22-26, 2022. At the Angelus on Sunday, Pope Francis calls the faithful to follow Jesus, who did not respond to opposition with anger and bitterness, but instead made a “resolute decision” to continue on to Jerusalem, knowing that rejection and death awaited Him there".  The Diocese of Rome and the Vatican Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life jointly released the official prayer for the Church event titled  “Family Love: Vocation and Path to Holiness"

If the intended audience of  Pope Francis is not the traditional Catholic Church, but for presumably for pro-Abortion Catholics or non believers, the audience expects the Pope to spike the ball and add fuel to fire?  We already know.  When a reporter asked Pope Francis about Joe Biden, a self described devout Catholic promoting abortion, the Pope answered:  What must the pastor do? B

e a pastor, don’t go condemning.” The Pope's views of the LGBT community are similar but consistent with  Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

Often time silence speaks louder than words, but the secular world and the Pope's critics prefer to react like Peter would.

Portland Attorney Lori E. Deveny Pleads guilty to multiple charges

Lori E. Deveny, 56, pleaded guilty to mail, bank, and wire fraud; aggravated identity theft; money laundering; and filing a false tax return this past Monday according to court records: between April 2011 and May 2019, Deveny systematically stole funds she held in trust for her clients. The funds were derived from insurance proceeds due and payable to her clients. Deveny is accused of forging client signatures on settlement documents she sent to various insurance companies, making unauthorized transfers of funds to personal accounts and falsely telling clients that the insurance companies were to blame for delays in settling claims. Many of Deveny’s clients never received the insurance payout they were owed.

Deveny used the proceeds of her scheme to pay for personal credit card and loan payments, numerous big game hunting trips to Africa and the resulting taxidermy costs, other vacations, her husband’s photography business, home remodeling, expensive cigars and other expenses associated with a lavish lifestyle.

On May 7, 2019, a federal grand jury in Portland returned a 24-count indictment charging Deveny with mail, bank, and wire fraud; aggravated identity theft; money laundering; and filing a false tax return. Deveny is scheduled to face be sentenced on November 23, 2022, before U.S. District Court Judge Michael W. Mosman. As part of her plea agreement, Deveny has also agreed to pay restitution in full to her victims as determined by the government and ordered by the court.

The Abortion is safer than Pregnancy Fallacy: Taking a life is safer than giving it

The Mother of All Decisions, the Great Tsunami, The Decision Heard Around The World, The Hyperbole of Hyperbolas, all can be applied to the recent United States Supreme Court Decision to ban abortion.  The assertion that journalists abdicated the 4th estate and now are more vested in the narrative than in reporting the truth also applies. Consider NPR reports: "In a historic and far-reaching decision, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) officially reversed Roe v. Wade on Friday, declaring that the constitutional right to abortion, upheld for nearly a half century, no longer exists....The decision, most of which was leaked in early May, means that abortion rights will be rolled back in nearly half of the states immediately, with more restrictions likely to follow."  Breaking it down, "upheld for half a century" and the "abortion rights" reference immediately gives away Nina Totenberg's narrative. The NY Times questions the legitimacy of the court and ABC News quotes Elizabeth Warren as making an argument to pack the Court "The Supreme Court has "burned whatever legitimacy they may still have had" with their ruling last week overturning Roe v. Wade, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said on Sunday." Not the mention the rioting and looting, which look more like an insurrection than peaceful protests, not unlike the ones we saw for two years led by ANTIFA and BLM.

The Abortion is safer than Pregnancy Fallacy

But now one of the arguments being used to vilify the Court's decision is the "Abortion is safer than Pregnancy Fallacy."  In a Linkedin Post, Cindy Gallop writes that "Pregnancy is more than thirty times more dangerous than abortion. One study estimates that a nationwide ban would lead to a twenty-one-percent rise in pregnancy related deaths. Some of the woman who will die from abortion bans are pregnant right now. Their deaths will come not from back-alley procedures but from a silent denial of care: Interventions delayed, desires disregarded.  They will die of infections, of preeclampsia, of hemorrhage, as they are forced to submit their bodies to pregnancies that they never wanted to carry and will not be hard for the anti-abortion movement to accept these deaths as a tragic, even noble consequence of womanhood itself.'  The conclusion is that to take a life is 30 times safer than giving life for women who did no want the pregnancy to start out with. For the latter, perhaps vasectomy is an answer, after all, according to NIH:  Vasectomy is not associated with an increase in overall mortality or mortality from cardiovascular disease. Our study also found no increase in overall mortality from cancer after vasectomy, but there was an apparent increase in the risk of cancer 20 or more years after vasectomy that requires further study.  The NIH has multiple studies comparing safety of abortion to pregnancy. 

During the early 1980s,  the mortality rate associated with general anesthesia was unacceptable and the anesthesia patient safety movement was born.  There was an increase awareness of anesthetic-related injuries to patients and a growing malpractice insurance crisis,  but the patient safety movement during this period generated highly successful and innovative patient safety initiatives that led to a dramatic reduction in patient harm associated with anesthesia.  In the early 2000s, Dr. Atul Gawande urged the medical profession to use systems engineering principles to "fix medicine."   He writes : "Our great struggle in medicine these days is not just with ignorance and uncertainty. It's also with complexity: how much you have to make sure you have in your head and think about. There are a thousand ways things can go wrong."  His solution:  Prepare checklists.  His recommendation when implemented were so successful Gawande admits that even he was skeptical that using a checklist in everyday practice would help to save the lives of his patients. "I didn't expect it, It's massively improved the kind of results that I'm getting. When we implemented this checklist in eight other hospitals, I started using it because I didn't want to be a hypocrite. But hey, I'm at Harvard, did I need a checklist? No."

If after 80 billion babies have been delivered and pregnancy is still as dangerous as Zachary Coon says it is:  " Pregnancy is dangerous, medically invasive, body and life changing. Even when it is intended and smartly engage (it) can go wrong and have dire consequences"   He goes on to say that Abortion is Vital Healthcare. Period. any woman should have unhindered healthcare at any time.  Period. Nothing else matters. The fetus is not alive, in any sense we consider important to humans,  It has no awareness, personality, hopes and dreams. It does not even begin to develop brain structure," then Pre-natal Cares  is in the medieval age.

Apparently pro-abortionists are willingly to buy the Pfizer Doubling of the Curve science, but ignore the rest.  In 2017 the  American College of Pediatricians determined that "the predominance of human biological research confirms that human life begins at conception—fertilization.  At fertilization, the human being emerges as a whole, genetically distinct, individuated zygotic living human organism, a member of the species Homo sapiens, needing only the proper environment in order to grow and develop. The difference between the individual in its adult stage and in its zygotic stage is one of form, not nature. This statement focuses on the scientific evidence of when an individual human life begins."  

While it is true that international human rights instruments lack a universal inclusion of the fetus as a person for the purposes of human rights, the fetus is granted various rights in the constitutions and civil codes of several countries.

Abortion is safer than pregnancy is a fallacy.  Its not either or.  Those who think the COVID Vaccine is too dangerous, refuse to be vaccinated.  Those who think pregnancy is too dangerous, should not get pregnant.  And it is unintended, they must be help responsible and not the unborn, The overwhelming majority of pregnancies are wanted. Where about  95% of unintended pregnancies occur in women who do not use contraception or women who use it inconsistently or incorrectly.  America's Healthcare Rankings has suggested strategies to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies.  In additrion, perhaps we need a national movement such as the one used to increase the safety of general anesthesia, or Dr. Awalde's checklist for general surgery to decrease pregnancy mortality rate so as to make it easier to choose life and not death.

Abortion is Healthcare and Other Euphemisms - A Trail of Tears

Abortion is not healthcare.  Abortion is Black Genocide - millions of preborns are killed, mostly nonwhite.  According to the pro-Abortion Guttmacher Institute, Hispanic women have double the amount of abortions that white women do. Black women have five times the amount. In cities such as New York, more black babies are killed in the womb than are born every year. Nationally, some 474 black children are aborted for every 1,000 live births to black women — in other words, almost a third of black babies are aborted every year.  This coupled with the near extinction of the African American nuclear family-  In 1965, 25% of African American children were raised fatherless.  Today it is 75%  and a related "Fatherlessness crisis. Paradoxically, proAbortinists passionately denounced illigal immigrant family separation, but say nothing about the African-American family separation.  According to Fathers.com children from fatherless homes are more likely to be poor, become involved in drug and alcohol abuse, drop out of school, and suffer from health and emotional problems. Boys are more likely to become involved in crime, and girls are more likely to become pregnant as teens. Children in father-absent homes are almost four times more likely to be poor. In 2011, 12 percent of children in married-couple families were living in poverty, compared to 44 percent of children in mother-only families.

Patients and nuns

My body my choice is an invalid syllogism.  A woman's body is like a ABnB - Scriptures call it a Temp: "Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself" 1 Corinthians 6:19. In an ABnB, you can trash the property all you want. Once it's rented out, trashing it, or killing the renter, is a crime. Children cannot be expected to make wise choices.  As  Comedian Bill Maher notes: "I'm sure the vast majority of parents do not take this lightly. And that it is very hard to know when something is real or just a phase. And I understand being trans is different. It's innate. But kids do also have phases. They're kids, it's all phases. The dinosaur phase, the Hello Kitty phase, one day they want to be an astronaut, the next day you can't get them to leave their room. ‘Gender-fluid’ — kids are fluid about everything. If kids knew what they wanted to be at age 8, then the world would be filled with cowboys and princesses." 

Stop the cycle of poverty as an argument for abortion is the same argument used by the government to sterilize, against their will, Native American women and for 40 years, inject African American man with syphilis.  William Galston, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, columnist, and former Clinton Advisor, has done plenty of  research on the subject of poverty and concludes that to prevent poverty: Finish high school, marry before having a child, and marry after the age of 20!. Only 8 percent of families who do all three are poor, but 79 percent of those who fail to do all three are poor. Students who fail to finish high school will not have access to many well-paying careers and will not be perceived as well by employers. Those who have children before marriage (many teens and young adults) will find it that much more difficult to enter college or complete their degree due to the immense responsibility and financial demands of raising a child. Finally, those who marry before age 20 tend to have higher divorce rates and greater career and life challenges. The common thread of all three poverty causes is reduced access to attractive careers due to lack of education or life circumstances.

Affordable care was also an argument used by the government to inject African American males with syphilis sterilize Native American women.  But since its founding, the Church has made it a focus to take care of the most vulnerable. In Matthew 10:8, Jesus orders his disciples to "heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give."  The Romans did not want the homeless, sick & lame to settle on their cities. Some Christian doctors. Like St Cyrus & St John were even martyred for taking care of the sick.  Saint Cyrus was an Alexandrian doctor who used his calling to convert many of his patients to Christianity. He joined an Arabian physician named John in encouraging Athanasia and her three daughters to remain constant in their faith under torture at Canopus, Egypt. They, in turn, were both seized and tortured, and then all six were beheaded. When Christianity was finally legalized, every major town with a bishop's cathedral was expected to have a hospital.  The early hospitals were called basilias after St Basil the Great for his efforts to establish hospitals throughout the Empire. Not only were the sick treated but the early hospitals were also places used as  medical universities equipped with libraries and medicine was distributed free.  The first professionally trained nurses were religious sisters from the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent De Paul dating  back to 1633.

Little Sisters of the Poor

Today, the Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of health care services in the world with around 18,000 clinics, 16,000 homes for the elderly and those with special needs, and 5,500 hospitals, with 65 percent of them located in developing countries. In 2010, the Church's Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers said that the Church manages 26% of the world's health care facilities. Yet Pro-Abortionists keep insisting  the Little Sisters of the Por pay for birth control but not access to healthcare,

Abortion is euphemism for promiscuity, infanticide & trafficking of  parts

Pro-Abortionists claim abortion that “abortion is social justice” and that “reproductive rights and social justice” are essential to the human rights of women. As previously discussed, the body is like an ABnB.  Once conceived, the preborn has as much right to the rented house as the renter.  Better yet.  The Church has been a social justice pioneer.  In fact,  the Church has been fighting for true social justice before it was cool. Stop the euphemisms to advance the pro-Abortion Lobby's agenda. As Ken Poirot put it:  "Whenever there is power, greed ad money, there is corruption"

X World Meeting Of Families, Rome 22-26, 2022

 The X World Meeting of Families Celebration takes place in Rome starting tomorrow June 22, through June 26, 2022.  The theme chosen for theX World Meeting of Families is, “Family Love: A Vocation and a Path to Holiness.” The World Meeting of Families (WMOF) will conclude the Year of Amoris Laetitia Family, a celebration of families in honor of the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical Amoris Laetitia. The celebration began on March 19, 2021, the day Amoris Laetitia was released 5 years ago on the Solemnity of Saint Joseph. the meeting will reflect on the spirituality of the family in light of the call to holiness expressed in Gaudete et Exsultate. A US couple is to share advice for Catholic family life at World Meeting of Families

The logo  recalls the oval shape of Bernini's colonnade in St. Peter's Square, the place which defines the Catholic Church par excellence, and it refers back to its original meaning that is the welcoming and inclusive embrace of the Mother Church of Rome and of her Bishop, extending it to every man and woman throughout time:  For more details:  http://www.laityfamilylife.va/content/laityfamilylife/en/news/amorislaetitia/x-incontro-mondiale-delle-famiglie--roma--22---26-giugno-2022---.html

The World Meeting of Families is a gathering of the Roman Catholic Church that takes place every three years.  The first World Meeting of Families took place in Rome in 1994 at the request of Pope John Paul II and it is  organized by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, which promotes the pastoral care of families, protects their rights and dignity in the Church and in civil society, so that they may ever be more able to fulfill their duties. It is the biggest gathering of Catholic families in the world. The most recent meeting took place in Dublin in 2018.

Holy Family, in Barcelona Spain By God's Architect Gaudi

The meeting was originally planned for 2021, but rescheduled due to the pandemic. The event will take place in an unprecedented and multi-centered format, with local initiatives in dioceses around the world, similar to those that will take place simultaneously in Rome. While Rome will remain the designated venue, each diocese will be able to be the center of a local Meeting for its own families and communities. This is to allow everyone to feel like protagonists at a time when it is still difficult to travel because of the pandemic.   In 2015, more than a million people attended Pope Francis’ Mass at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.  But in 2022, the attendance this year will be limited to to around 2,000 families due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

So, why another big event?  Just like the church has been fighting for Juneteenth before it was cool  and has  been advocating social justice since it was founded, it sees the family as foundational. In fact, the Catechism affirms that the family is the original cell of society, that the  families' communion of persons closely resembles the persons of the Holy Trinity, Antonin Gaudi called God's Architect was so inspired by the notion, he designed the Holy Family (Sagrada Familia) Cathedral in Barcelona, Spain. It is Gaudi's  most renowned building - whose cause for beatification was opened last year by the Cardinal Archbishop of Barcelona. The cathedral is a testament to the architect’s faith.  Pope St. John Paul II said, “The future of humanity passes by way of the family.”  "The family is the foundation of co-existence and a remedy against social fragmentation. Children have a right to grow up in a family with a father and a mother capable of creating a suitable environment for the child’s development and emotional maturity". –  Pope Francis Humanum Conference, November 17, 2014. 

Statistics demonstrate the wisdom of the Church.  Sadly, like in the case of Juneteenth, the Church's efforts to edify the family have not born much fruit.  In 1965, 25% of African American children were raised fatherless.  Today it is 75%  According to Fathers.com children from fatherless homes are more likely to be poor, become involved in drug and alcohol abuse, drop out of school, and suffer from health and emotional problems. Boys are more likely to become involved in crime, and girls are more likely to become pregnant as teens. Children in father-absent homes are almost four times more likely to be poor. In 2011, 12 percent of children in married-couple families were living in poverty, compared to 44 percent of children in mother-only families.

Fatherless children are at a dramatically greater risk of drug and alcohol abuse. There is significantly more drug use among children who do not live with their mother and father. A study of 1,977 children age 3 and older living with a residential father or father figure found that children living with married biological parents had significantly fewer externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems than children living with at least one non-biological parent. Children of single-parent homes are more than twice as likely to commit suicide. Data from three waves of the Fragile Families Study (N= 2,111) was used to examine the prevalence and effects of mothers’ relationship changes between birth and age 3 on their children’s well-being. Children born to single mothers show higher levels of aggressive behavior than children born to married mothers. Living in a single-mother household is equivalent to experiencing 5.25 partnership transitions.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life and event organizer, says Pope Francis wants the WMOF to be lived in local Churches around the world, and points to the holy examples of married couples who have become canonized saints. 

The event is a reminder for us all. It’s easy  to slip into thinking that the work of the Church rests on the shoulders of priests and religious and schools. But since  1963  when the Supreme Court in Abington Township v. Schempp (1963) decided that teaching children about wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, fear of the Lord., charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity was so radical that required Bible readings in public schools was unconstitutional., a mental health crisis and mass shootings ensued..” 

The event also reminds us that without a family being healthy, it cannot fulfill its mission in the world.  Pope Francis says that  “Perfect families do not exist. This must not discourage us. Quite the opposite. Love is something we learn; love is something we live; love grows as it is 'forged' by the concrete situations which each particular family experiences. Love is born and constantly develops amid lights and shadows. Love can flourish in men and women who try not to make conflict the last word, but rather a new opportunity. An opportunity to seek help, an opportunity to question how we need to improve, an opportunity to discover the God Who is with us and never abandons us. This is a great legacy that we can give to our children, a very good lesson: we make mistakes, yes; we have problems, yes. But we know that that is not really what counts. We know that mistakes, problems and conflicts are an opportunity to draw closer to others, to draw closer to God.”-- Address to Festival of Families, Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, Sept. 27, 2015

Finally, the Holy Father is asking the1.2 billion fellow Catholics around the world to pray for the spiritual health of the family. The father is the spiritual leader of the family and leaders set the tone. There are countless issues Pope Francis could focus on, but he is prioritizing the need to pray for families—to strengthen and encourage them at a time when the future does not seem too bright. The power and reality of intercessory prayer means that brothers and sisters in Christ are lifting up your family’s intentions to the Lord. And with the World Meeting of Families official prayer, you and your family are also invited to intercede for others. 

The Church has been fighting for Juneteenth - Before it was cool

The Church has been fighting for  Juneteenth before it was cool - it has been advocating social justice since it was founded. By establishing the New Covenant, Jesus formed a new and everlasting family of God, bound not by ethnicity but by grace and the Holy Spirit. But as is usually the case, corporate greed takes over, such as building casinos in the Reservation or enabling the Russian Invasion of Ukraine or human rights abuses in China.  "Wherever there is power, greed and money, there is corruption"-  Ken Poirot 

Throughout, the New Testament stressed equality of all mankind.  For example:   Galatians 3:28: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Romans 2:11: For God shows no partiality. John 13:16:  Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Acts 17:26: And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, Acts 10:34:  So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality,. Romans 10:12: For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. The first missionaries of the Gospel, men of Jewish origin, came from a country where slavery existed, but under a form very different from the Roman form. The Mosaic Law was merciful to the slave (Exodus 21; Leviticus 25; Deuteronomy 15:21) and carefully secured his fair wage to the laborer (Deuteronomy 24:15).  Christianity accepts society as it is, influencing it for its transformation through, and only through, individual souls. What it demands in the first place from masters and from slaves is, to live as brethren — commanding with equity, without threatening, remembering that God is the master of all - obeying with fear, but without servile flattery, in simplicity of heart, as they would obey Christ (cf. Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 3:22-4; 4:1).

While initially the Church's influence over culture was limited, gradually it was able to take a fierce stance against any form of slavery:

From 1435 to 1890, there are numerous bulls and encyclicals from several popes written to many bishops and the whole Christian faithful condemning both slavery and the slave trade 

In 1453 Pope Eugene IV issued a fierce order against Portuguese slave traders in the Canary Islands to release all men & women at once. Pope Eugene IV was clear in his intentions both to condemn the enslavement of the residents of the Canary Islands, and to demand correction of the injustice within 15 days. Those who did not restore the enslaved to their liberty in that time were to incur the sentence of excommunication ipso facto

The date 1435, is very significant. Nearly 60 years before the Europeans were to find the New World, there was already papal condemnation of slavery as soon as this crime was discovered in one of the first of the Portuguese geographical discoveries 

In 1462 Pope Pius II declared slavery an "enormous crime" (magnum scelus). 

In 1537 (Sublimis Deus) Pope Paul III forbade the enslavement of native people in the New World. - Sublimis Deus, is regarded as the most important papal pronouncement on the human condition of the Indians, advanced the cause of social justice. 

Two other bulls were published to implement the teaching of Sublimis, one to impose penalties on those who failed to abide by the teaching against slavery, and a second to specify the sacramental consequences of the teaching that the Indians are true men.

Pope Urban VIII forbade slavery again in 1639. 

In 1741, with slave owners being slow to heed the advice, Pope Benedict XIV condemned slavery in the New World again 

In 1815 Pope Pius VII demanded the Congress of Vienna suppress the slave trade in 1815 

In 1839 Pope Gregory XVI condemned the slave trade 

In 1888, In the bull canonizing Jesuit St. Peter Claver, Pope Pius IX reviled slavery globally calling it  summum nefas or "supreme villainy." 

Saint Peter Claver, patron of slaves spent his life ministering to Africans in the filthy hulls of the slave ships traveling to South America 

In 1888 Pope Leo XIII sent out the encyclical In Plurimism on the abolition of slavery in 1888, ordering Brazilian bishops to abolish slavery.

But corporate greed has been more powerful than the Church: Aubrey Henderson writes that  some black people,  not only participated in the slave trade but who often profited greatly from it. They owned slaves as property in order to enhance their own economical well-being by having free labor for their plantations.. Some were considered slave magnates, for owning more than 50 slaves 

While major public universities pay top diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) employees  massive six-figure salaries, more than tenured professors, for leading initiatives for enforcing a political orthodoxy.  The universities of Michigan, Maryland, Virginia and Illinois, plus Virginia Tech, boast some of the highest-paid DEI staffers at public universities. Fox News reports these institutions' top diversity employees earn salaries ranging from $329,000 to $430,000 – vastly eclipsing the average pay for the schools' full-time tenured professors.

Regarding the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, German corporations do far more business than any other country in the world.  Why Germany Inc. and Corporate America could end the war today by cutting off Russia & China funding. Instead, like the NBA, their silence is an endorsement. Since 24 February, nearly 12.8 million people  have been displaced in Ukraine. 7.7 million people are internally displaced as a result of the conflict, which is equivalent to 17.5 percent of the entire population  Germany paid for the Russian oil pipeline and  refuses to pay her allocated dues to NATO.  Some say a war of attrition is better than nuclear war.  I say nuclear war is a red herring: Putin is anything but stupid.  And a War of attrition works for those not being killed! Pope Francis told the  Editors of European Jesuit Journals "What we are seeing is the brutality and ferocity with which this war is being carried out by the troops, generally mercenaries, used by the Russians. The Russians prefer to send in Chechen and Syrian mercenaries. But the danger is that we only see this, which is monstrous, and we do not see the whole drama unfolding behind this war, which was perhaps somehow either provoked or not prevented. And note the interest in testing and selling weapons. It is very sad, but at the end of the day that is what is at stake.

In the post-pandemic era, corporation like Meta boast of teir work-from-anywhere polices.  Yet the only options for Native Americans tribal leaders and politicians alike promote is to build more casinos in the Reservation:  Douglas M. Walkera  and Peter T. Calcagno studied casinos and political corruption in the United States using a causality analysis to conclude that there is "evidence that predicted casino adoptions Granger cause corruption convictions. This finding is suggestive of a scenario of regulatory capture and may help explain why state-level gaming regulatory agencies have a history of softening gaming regulations after the initial introduction of casinos. Our study provides the first empirical evidence linking casinos to political corruption." 

Writing for NBC News, Keisha N. Blain writes: "Juneteenth was made a federal holiday in 2021, and since then, American companies have quickly moved to make a profit by selling new goods and services targeted to Black consumers. While those businesses look to make money, the newly recognized federal holiday ought to serve as an opportunity for all Americans to acknowledge — and pursue redress for — the centuries of economic exploitation of Black people and the continuing impact of economic inequality. Reparations are a way to break this cycle." 

Juneteenth and the Catholic Church

As we celebrate Juneteenth, let us not forget that the Catholic Church has been advocating social justice since it was founded.  As is usually the case, corporate greed takes over, such as is the case building casinos in the Reservation, or enabling the Russian Invasion of Ukraine or human rights abuses in China:

The New Testament stressed equality of all mankind :  

Galatians 3:28: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Romans 2:11: For God shows no partiality.

John 13:16:  Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

Acts 17:26: And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,

Acts 10:34:  So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality,

Romans 10:12: For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.

And so on. While initially the Church's influence over culture was limited, gradually it was able to take a stance, such as:

From 1435 to 1890, there are numerous bulls and encyclicals from several popes written to many bishops and the whole Christian faithful condemning both slavery and the slave trade 

In 1453 Pope Eugene IV issued a fierce order against Portuguese slave traders in the Canary Islands to release all men & women at once. Pope Eugene IV was clear in his intentions both to condemn the enslavement of the residents of the Canary Islands, and to demand correction of the injustice within 15 days. Those who did not restore the enslaved to their liberty in that time were to incur the sentence of excommunication ipso facto

The date 1435, is very significant. Nearly 60 years before the Europeans were to find the New World, there was already papal condemnation of slavery as soon as this crime was discovered in one of the first of the Portuguese geographical discoveries 

In 1462 Pope Pius II declared slavery an "enormous crime" (magnum scelus). 

In 1537 (Sublimis Deus) Pope Paul III forbade the enslavement of native people in the New World. - Sublimis Deus, is regarded as the most important papal pronouncement on the human condition of the Indians, advanced the cause of social justice. 

Two other bulls were published to implement the teaching of Sublimis, one to impose penalties on those who failed to abide by the teaching against slavery, and a second to specify the sacramental consequences of the teaching that the Indians are true men.

Pope Urban VIII forbade slavery again in 1639. 

In 1741, with slave owners being slow to heed the advice, Pope Benedict XIV condemned slavery in the New World again 

In 1815 Pope Pius VII demanded the Congress of Vienna suppress the slave trade in 1815 

In 1839 Pope Gregory XVI condemned the slave trade 

In 1888, In the bull canonizing Jesuit St. Peter Claver, Pope Pius IX reviled slavery globally calling it  summum nefas or "supreme villainy." 

Saint Peter Claver, patron of slaves spent his life ministering to Africans in the filthy hulls of the slave ships traveling to South America 

In 1888 Pope Leo XIII sent out the encyclical In Plurimism on the abolition of slavery in 1888, ordering Brazilian bishops to abolish slavery.

Multinational Team Wracks Russian botnet RSOCK

 

The United States Department of Justice, together with law enforcement partners in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, have dismantled the infrastructure of a Russian botnet known as RSOCKS which hacked millions of computers and other electronic devices around the world. The word botnet is a blend of the words "robot" and "network." A botnet is a network of computers running bots under the control of a bot herder. Bots are software applications that run automated scripts without the owner’s knowledge and typically used for malicious purposes. Every device that is connected to the internet is assigned an Internet Protocol (IP) address.  An IP address is a unique address that identifies a device on the internet like your smart refrigerator, your security cameras, your smart phone or a local network. 

A legitimate proxy service provides IP addresses to its clients for a fee. A proxy server is a system or router that provides a gateway between users and the internet. Therefore, it helps prevent cyber attackers from entering a private network. It is a server, referred to as an “intermediary” because it goes between end-users and the web pages they visit online. When a computer connects to the internet, it uses an IP address. This is similar to your home’s street address, telling incoming data where to go and marking outgoing data with a return address for other devices to authenticate. A proxy server is essentially a computer on the internet that has an IP address of its own.

 Typically, the proxy service provides access to IP addresses that it leases from internet service providers (ISPs). Rather than offer proxies that RSOCKS had leased, the RSOCKS botnet offered its clients access to IP addresses assigned to devices that had been hacked. The owners of these devices did not give the RSOCKS operator(s) authority to access their devices in order to use their IP addresses and route internet traffic. A cybercriminal who wanted to utilize the RSOCKS platform could use a web browser to navigate to a web-based “storefront” (i.e., a public web site that allows users to purchase access to the botnet), which allowed the customer to pay to rent access to a pool of proxies for a specified daily, weekly, or monthly time period. The cost for access to a pool of RSOCKS proxies ranged from $30 per day for access to 2,000 proxies to $200 per day for access to 90,000 proxies.

According to documents unsealed yesterday in the Southern District of California,  the RSOCKS botnet, operated by Russian cybercriminals, comprised millions of hacked devices worldwide. The RSOCKS botnet initially targeted Internet of Things (IoT) devices.  Today, more and more devices are being connected to one another and not necessarily to people. The result is the growing Internet of Things, which includes millions of devices, from smart thermostats and security cameras to industrial sensors and medical equipment. It even includes things like the AI-fueled cameras helping to keep autonomous vehicles patrolling our streets safely and securely. The RSOCKS botnet compromised a number of  devices, including Android devices and conventional computers.

Once purchased, the customer could download a list of IP addresses and ports associated with one or more of the botnet’s backend servers. The customer could then route malicious internet traffic through the compromised victim devices to mask or hide the true source of the traffic. It is believed that the users of this type of proxy service were conducting large scale attacks against authentication services, also known as credential stuffing, and anonymizing themselves when accessing compromised social media accounts, or sending malicious email, such as phishing messages.

“The RSOCKS botnet compromised millions of devices throughout the world,” according to U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman. “This operation disrupted a highly sophisticated Russia-based cybercrime organization that conducted cyber intrusions in the United States and abroad,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy. “

The, FBI investigators used undercover purchases to obtain access to the RSOCKS botnet in order to identify its backend infrastructure and its victims. The initial undercover purchase in early 2017 identified approximately 325,000 compromised victim devices throughout the world with numerous devices located within San Diego County. Through analysis of the victim devices, investigators determined that the RSOCKS botnet compromised the victim device by conducting brute force attacks. The RSOCKS backend servers maintained a persistent connection to the compromised device. Several large public and private entities have been victims of the RSOCKS botnet, including a university, a hotel, a television studio, and an electronics manufacturer, as well as home businesses and individuals. At three of the victim locations, with consent, investigators replaced the compromised devices with government-controlled computers (i.e., honeypots), and all three were subsequently compromised by RSOCKS. The FBI identified at least six victims in San Diego.\

Victims are encouraged to report the incident online with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) www.ic3.gov.

Blessed Feast of Corpus Christi

The Feast of Corpus Christi, also known as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ and the Day of Thanksgiving for the Institution of Holy Communion by  the Church of England, is a Christian liturgical solemnity celebrating the Real Presence of the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the elements of the Eucharist; it is observed by the Roman Catholic Church, in addition to certain Western Orthodox, Lutheran, and Anglican churches.  The feast is celebrated in late May or early June, on the first Thursday after Trinity Sunday, approximately 60 days after Easter. This year, it takes place today,  June 16. 

Collage Floral Carpets:  Asturias, Italy Poland

Early Eucharistic festivals were glamorous affairs involving entire towns and cities. Sovereigns and nobles in European Catholic monarchies participated in the celebrations, accompanied by court officials and military officers. Commoners knelt outside their homes as these grand processions walked by. For example, every year at Corpus Christi, parishioners from Spycimierz in Poland lay a two-kilometer-long colorful carpet of living flowers. Two decorated gates are erected on this day.  The villagers are as busy as worker ants, creating something on the road, analogous to what goes on in Pasadena, California before the Rose Parade. The villagers arrange colorful flowers in various elaborate patterns in a path that seems like it stretches on forever down the street.   They are creating a floral pathway for the Corpus Christi procession that will take place after Mass, when Our Lord in the monstrance will be carried throughout the town, in joy and festivity.  A monstrance, also known as an ostensorium, is a vessel used in Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, High Church Lutheran and Anglican churches for the display on an altar of some object of piety, such as the consecrated Eucharistic host during Eucharistic adoration or Benediction of the Blessed

 Pope John Paul II led annual parades on the feast day, moving from St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican and through the streets of Rome. The Feast of Corpus Christi remains one of the essential celebrations underscoring the fundamental tenets of Christianity and Catholicism.

Obviously, the floral carpets will be destroyed as many feet tread over them during the procession. These works and the labor they require are humble gifts for Our Lord, Who has given us a gift beyond anything we can hope to repay in the Blessed Sacrament. The beautiful carpets are a small reminder of Who is passing by that day,the same Person Who humbly dwells daily in our churches, our monstrances, in our own unworthy selves in Holy Communion. 

Creative Commons: A traditional "solar" monstrance

The Feast of Corpus Christi is one of the few feasts that lay people promoted in the past. It started in the 13th century with Juliana of Liège, a canoness from modern-day Belgium who yearned for a feast day outside of Lent to honor the Eucharist. After receiving several visions of Christ, visions that began when she was 16,  Juliana worked with a young monk named John of Lausanne to institute the feast day. She spent more than 40 years working towards achieving this goal. Together they composed an office by which they could celebrate the feast. They were successful, and their diocesan bishop approved the texts in 1246.

Creative Commons:  Kath. Pfarrkirche St. Gordian und Epimachus, Merazhofen, Stadt Leutkirch im Allgäu, Landkreis Ravensburg Chorgestühl, 1896, Bildhauer: Peter Paul Metz Juliana von Lüttich

Pope Urban IV declared Corpus Christi a feast day on August 11, 1264. Corpus Christi spread to nearby cities and towns, growing in popularity thanks to the efforts of Eva of Liège. Eva was an anchoress who continued Juliana’s work after her death. Ironically, Urban IV’s successors did not uphold his decree, and they suspended the festival. In 1311, Pope Clement IV reinstated the feast at the Council of Vienne.

The Kavanaugh Story Illustrates Irrationality Of Gun Control Debate

So we have another mass shooting - Another chance to point fingers. Another mass shooting is another chance to express righteous indignation.  One more photo op.  Another opportunity to see who comes up with the most shocking headlines - using children as props to denounce violence against children . See for example  Newport Beach Mayor video. Another chance to score political points.  Unless is the attempted murder of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.  If you have not heard of the attempted murder of Justice Kavanaugh, there is a simple explanation.  Fox News' Gabriel Hayes reports that " several major U.S. newspapers – and their corresponding websites – hardly mentioned, or outright ignored, the attempted assassination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the front pages of their Thursday morning editions," while Michael Nobles in a post in the  simpliliberty.com  blog writes: "Many news networks on June 12 omitted mention of the recent attempted murder of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, even though some touched on issues facing the nation’s top court. All Sunday morning shows on CNN, CBS, NBC, and ABC did not cover the attempted killing, which took place on June 8. Fox News covered the topic during “Fox News Sunday.” Several shows brought up the Supreme Court in other contexts. On CNN’s “State of the Union,” host Dana Bash noted that the Supreme Court is poised to strike down Roe v. Wade before asking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) about the upcoming midterm elections. Bash also mentioned the nation’s top court declined to take up a case involving elections in Pennsylvania.

You may not have heard that over the weekend in Chicago, 31 people were wounded in 23 shootings citywide over the weekend in Chicago, where seven people were killed. Of the seven fatal incidents, six people died from shootings while one succumbed to a stabbing.  It's no longer newsworthy because this has been the norm in Chicago and other cities for years,

The good news is that in the US Senate a "bipartisan" group of senators announced an agreement for gun safety legislation Sunday, which includes "needed mental health resources, improves school safety and support for students, and helps ensure dangerous criminals and those who are adjudicated as mentally ill can't purchase weapons.  The quotation marks on bipartisan is intentional.  By definition, bipartisanship is used  in the context of a two-party system, in which opposing political parties find common ground through compromise. Partisanship is the antonym, where an individual or political party adheres only to its interests without compromise.  In the announcement, only ten Republican senators agreed - hence, technically it is not bipartisan.  The bigger issue however, is not only the hypocrisy but also gun control debate is a sysyfusian effort:  Demagogues do something, but solves nothing.  The proposed agreement is case in point:  Would not fix Chicago, does not stop mass shootings, but it makes people politicians look like they are doing something.

In the gun control debate, The mainstream media and Democrats blame the object. Conservatives blame the subject. Some, like California Governor Gavin Newsom and the LA Times,  blame it on toxic masculinity. "After a 19-year-old man killed three people and wounded more than a dozen others at a festival in Gilroy, Calif., in late July, California Gov. Gavin Newsom noted something often taken for granted about mass shootings. “These shootings overwhelmingly, almost exclusively, are males, boys, ‘men’ — I put in loose quotes,” Newsom said during a news conference. “I do think that is missing in the national conversation.”  

Others, Like President Trump blame mental illness for mass shootings. Perhaps because it was President Trump said it, FactCheck.org did not him him a full win: "Available evidence suggests that people with mental health disorders are more likely than those without such conditions to commit acts of mass violence. But many mass shooters do not have mental illnesses, and having a mental illness isn’t predictive of who will perpetrate a mass shooting. The factors that drive someone to commit an act of mass violence are complex, and while they sometimes may include mental illness, it has not been shown that mental illness is the primary cause of mass murder. Furthermore, while serious mental illness is associated with a somewhat higher risk of being violent, most people with those illnesses are not violent, and most violence is committed by people who do not have psychiatric conditions."

While mass shootings seem to attract politicians cow manure attracts flies. they are not 

unique to the United States.  Other countries have it much worse. In 2021 New York recorded close to 500 homicides, as many as all the fatalities of mass shootings combined. This is a state that has the toughest gun control laws in the country.

The gun control argument often used is more like putting lipstick on a pig:  states with stricter gun control laws like New York, Chicago or Los Angeles,  score the highest homicide rates. Others say countries like Japan are better - which is comparing apples to pineapples.  The biggest difference is national identity and culture

The  simplest answer is the one in front of us: The increase in mass shootings, homicides and mental health crisis is due to a spiritual bankruptcy - Progressives kicking God out of the public square. 

There was a time when children walked to school and back . They did their homework as soon as possible so they could go play in the street. They spent all their free time in the streets. They played hide and seek in the dark. They played with mud cakes. They played marbles and collected sports cards. They collected, washed and returned soda bottles to the grocery store for five cents each. They collected mil carton coupons so they could go to the movies for free. They made toys by hand. Bought vinyl albums to play on record players listening to one music genre and one artist - not able to shuffle. They lined up in the morning and pledged alliance to the flag, and always stood for the National anthem. They joined the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. There were no mass shootings

That generation grew up watching: Gunsmoke, Big Valley, The Virginian, Have Gun Will Travel, Laramie, Bonanza. Branded, Maverick. These films were not only popular in the United States but worldwide. That generation built its own wooden rifles, slingshots and played Cowboys and Indians. Their parents could buy a rifle directly from a Sears Catalog.  There were no mass shootings

That generation learned about American exceptionalism and the pursuit of excellence - A quality that people really appreciate, because it's so hard to find, we have to wait for the Olympic games. Getting an A+ shows excellence. Winning a professional sports championship demonstrates excellence. - , it also learned about priorities: The pursuit of wealth, power, honor and pleasure will never satisfy. S.O.'s single illustrates the point:

How it feel like, chasing the wind hommie? Don’t we do it all the time? We never chase God but think that the women or the money will forever satisfy. That ain’t what we were designed for & I can tell you that with my eyes closed or blindfolded. It’s mind-blowing, our souls need God cuzzy that there I know, [brotha] yes I know

That generation was not confused about intersection identity: They knew there were only two genders and one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. They did not get participation points. They celebrated John Wayne for his character and did not even think about toxic masculinity. Or toxic femininity, for that matter. That generation was not depressed. That generation did not experience mass shooting or a mental health crisis.

Then in 1963 the Supreme Court in Abington Township v. Schempp (1963) decided that teaching children about wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, fear of the Lord., charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity was so radical that required Bible readings in public schools was unconstitutional.  Guess what happened next?  Mass shootings!  No.  There was no influx of males to indicate toxic masculinity was the root causee

In 2009 at a NATO summit, President Barack Obama was asked his views on American exceptionalism. He answered: "I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism." In other words, America is no longer exceptional, if it ever was, according to Obama.

A Pew Research Center telephone surveys conducted in 2018 , shows a steep decline in Christianism. 65% of American adults describe themselves as Christians, down 12 percentage points over the past decade. Meanwhile, the religiously unaffiliated share of the population, consisting of people who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular,” now stands at 26%, up from 17% in 2009.

Now children are penalized for using the wrong pronoun. Last month a school district in Kiel, Wisconsin, a city of 3,600 residents, charged three eighth-graders at the Kiel Middle School with sexual harassment after an incident in April in which the students refused to use “they” to refer to a classmate who had switched pronouns a month before the incident

Now children are confused about their own identity, Civic studies have been replaced with social studies. Adding fuel to the confusion are professional organizations such as the Society of Professional Hispanic Engineers with the stated mission: "SHPE's mission is to promote the development of Hispanics in engineering, science and other technical professions to achieve educational excellence, economic opportunity, and social equity. We fulfill this Mission by increasing educational opportunities, promoting professional and personal growth and reinforcing our reputation as a vital Hispanic organization. We also carry out our social responsibility to be involved in education, business and enhancing pride within our organization". That organization is now teaching about intersections of sociology, feminism and queer theory and their application to DEI issues in engineering. I know STEM. I know engineering. I skipped Middle School & graduated HS early with honors. I earned a BSEE with a minor in Biomedical Engineering while working full time and without an internship - no one to lend a hand. I eventually managed engineers from MIT, Berkley, Stanford & so on. Engineering, like medicine, is a jealous profession: no time for entertaining Intersection Identity issues. Social engineering is not real engineering

Now children under 9 years of age are encouraged to make life-altering , some times irreversible decisions about their gender identity. They are encouraged to hate themselves, their peer and their country as a form of liberation.  Now the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts are no longer the go-to children organizations.  

Is it really that difficult to understand why we are experiencing a mental health crisis and an increase in mass shootings.?

Media Analysis: The Holy Spirit Has Departed From the Catholic Church

Analysis:  Fittingly, as we celebrate the Holy Trinity,  according to the media, the Holy Spirit has left the Catholic Church.  The Church is in crisis with disobedient, boisterous, pro-abortion, pro-LGBT taking over and Pope Francis committing the unpardonable sin! 

 And this is not just the mainstream media, but also ETWN's own National Catholic Register (NCR.). EWTN News, Inc. is the world's largest Catholic news organization, comprised of television, radio, print and digital media outlets.

After Pope Francis delivered his Pentecost homily, some, like Louie Verrecchio went  farther and characterized the Pope's homily as heretical. The National Catholic Register,  alluded to the Pope's homily as a point of division in the synodal process.  In October 2021, Pope Francis announced a two-year process of listening and dialogue of the Catholic Church, known as the “Synod on Synodality.” A “synod” is a journey of discernment rooted in the Holy Spirit.

 In the Synod on Synodality, the entire Church has been called to discern how the Spirit is moving through and with the Body of Christ ⁠— inside and outside the Church, so that we may continue to fulfill our mission to evangelize in the world."He used the same image of the Holy Spirit as an agent of disorder when addressing the Catholic-Anglican ecumenical commission on May 13: “The Holy Spirit is the one who creates ‘disorder’ — we can think of the morning of Pentecost — but then the one who creates harmony.” In that same address he spoke of an Anglican contribution to the synodal process for the synod on synodality. “As you know, the Catholic Church has inaugurated a synodal process: For this common journey to be truly such, the contribution of the Anglican Communion cannot be lacking,” Pope Francis said. “We look upon you as valued traveling companions.” All of which raises an interesting perspective on the synodal process. What if the walking together results in a walking apart? Should we expect divisions and harmony, divisions without harmony or harmony without divisions?"  as described by NCR.

Earlier, the usual suspects criticized Pope Francis.  The National Catholic Register objected to Pope Francis appointment of new cardinals  NCR did not like that Pope Francis did not nominate a cardinal for Kyiv to appease Russia: "Pope Francis has repeatedly refused to elevate Archbishop Shevchuk out of presumed deference to the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow, which would prefer that the Ukrainian Catholic Church did not exist. Not creating Archbishop Shevchuk a cardinal not only undermines protestations of Vatican support for Ukrainian Catholics, but also gives the impression that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow holds a kind of veto over internal Catholic life in the so-called “Russian world." it writes.  NCR also would NCR would have preferred Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles over Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego, "characterized by veteran Vatican correspondent John Allen as “one of the staunchest liberals in the U.S. bishops’ conference.”

To be fair, NCR is not alone.  Steve Ray in his blog states; "even if Pope Francis has his own defensible reasons for not elevating Gómez to the College of Cardinals, yet there are many other capable American bishops and archbishops from Francis could have chosen. These prelates are, again, men of authentic Catholic faith who have boldly spoken out in promoting and defending the Church’s teaching, teaching that is vital to the present American cultural setting – evangelization, racism, immigration, abortion, gender theory, etc. The question arises: Why were none of these men chosen by Pope Francis? Is the passing over of these men also a not-so-hidden insult?" - This is an obvious assertion that the Holy Spirit is a non-entity in this process.  We are reminded that in Acts 16:6 Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time. 

NCR's senior editors, Joan Frawley Desmond writes in the piece titled  Appointment of Cardinals Is Personal for Francis — Were John Paul II and Benedict XVI Any Different? That "the news may have taken some Catholics unawares, but Church experts who have studied Francis’ approach to the creation of cardinals and noted how he has departed from the practices of his two immediate predecessors are not surprised" as he  has chosen prelates who represent the margins, geographic and theological justice, care for migrants and “a more pastoral orientation rather than a strict doctrinal orientation within the life of the Church.”  She goes on to write that "“you can see a very personal signature when it comes to Pope Francis’ appointment of cardinals,” said Msgr. Martin Schlag, a professor of Catholic social thought at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.. Francis’ approach arises from a desire to create a “Church of the poor,” she added.  By contrast, “John Paul and Benedict’s appointments were more institutional,” and their appointments were thus more likely to be “linked to a traditional metropolitan see. You would name the archbishop of Vienna, not the auxiliary bishop.” Here Matthew 16:23 comes to mind:  "Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”"

Scriptures in Luke 14:10 tell us: "“Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, ‘Friend, we have a better place for you!’ Then you will be honored in front of all the other guests." Desmond goes on to compare Pope Francis' approach to that of Pope Benedict XVI  and Pope John Paul. "Benedict XVI certainly appointed cardinals who did not correspond to his ideas in everything,” acknowledged Peter Seewald, “The appointment of cardinals is a political issue; there were always certain compromises. Certainly, he made cardinals of bishops who later were not at all in his line, like Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising,” who would support the blessing of same-sex unions and reception of Communion for the divorced-and-civilly remarried in specific cases.  While Francis’ list featured Church leaders unknown to most Vatican watchers, thus underscoring his preference for deeply personal choices designed to bring voices from the margins into the center of the Church.

"John Paul also may have hoped that pastoral experience would modify the views of Carlo Maria Martini, who had been an academic until his appointment to Milan. That didn’t quite work out.” Indeed, John Paul has received considerable criticism for his mixed record in this area, as some of his choices provided lackluster leadership" Desmond added.

Without question, Pope Francis' elevation of San Diego bishop Robert McElroy has created shockwaves among the media.  While bishop McElroy has been among the most vocal champions of Pope Francis’ pastoral agenda among the U.S. hierarchy, frequently echoing the pope’s prioritization of environmental concerns, migration and a more welcoming approach to LGBTQ persons. I’m in favor of it,” McElroy told NCR at the time on the question of women deacons. “My view on it is [that] women should be invited into every ministry or activity we have that’s not doctrinally precluded,” he said.

McElroy’s selection by Francis also comes at a time when the U.S. church has been roiled by debates over whether pro-choice Catholic politicians should be denied Communion, most recently led by Archbishop Salvatore Cordielone of San Francisco, California who last  month announced he would bar U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi from receiving the sacrament. McElroy, by contrast, has warned against the “weaponization” of the Eucharist for political ends.

Clearly the last straw for the media and Vatican critics is Pope Francis' last attribute of the Holy Spirit as he described it in his Pentecost Homily: "And finally, oddly, the Holy Spirit is the author of division, of ruckus, of a certain disorder. Think of the morning of Pentecost: he is the author… he creates division of languages and attitudes… it was a ruckus, that! Yet at the same time, he is the author of harmony. He divides with the variety of charisms, but it is a false division, because true division is part of harmony. He creates division with charisms and he creates harmony with all this division. This is the richness of the Church."  This is the heretical passage! Even though Jesus said something similar in Matthew 10:35 " For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law"  We recall that many people, including his disciples,  believed the Messiah's arrival would immediately bring a new age of peace and prosperity to Israel. Jesus, though, never taught this. Instead, He warned that His arrival on earth would bring a new era of division and belief in Him would become a dividing line between Gentiles.

Pope Francis is accused as committing the unpardonable sin because of  the way he described another attribute of the Holy Spirt in the penultima paragraph of his homily:  "And finally, oddly, the Holy Spirit is the author of division, of ruckus, of a certain disorder. Think of the morning of Pentecost: he is the author… he creates division of languages and attitudes… it was a ruckus, that! Yet at the same time, he is the author of harmony. He divides with the variety of charisms, but it is a false division, because true division is part of harmony. He creates division with charisms and he creates harmony with all this division. This is the richness of the Church."  Despite the fact that charisms, is by definition  "gifts of grace" (charismata), described by St. Paul as gratuitous blessings of an extraordinary and transitory nature conferred directly for the good of others. Indirectly they may also benefit the one who possesses the charisms, but their immediate purpose is for the spiritual welfare of the Christian community and that the Pope's entire homily was dedicated to contrasting the works of the Holly Spirit to those of the Evil One:. Where the fruits of the Spirit are perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal glory. Charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity.  An the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. While some Christians accept these as a definitive list of specific attributes, others understand them merely as examples of the Holy Spirit's work through the faithful.

Below is an excerpt of Pope Francis Homily describing the Holy Spirit:

Pope Francis Pentecost Homily Attributes of the Holy Spirit: Excerpt 

God does not want to make us encyclopedias or polymaths. 

The Spirit makes us see everything in a new way, with the eyes of Jesus. 

I would put it this way: in the great journey of life, the Spirit teaches us where to begin, what paths to take, and how to walk.

Jesus speaks of it in the first verse of the Gospel, when he says: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (v. 15). If you love me, you will keep ... this is the “logic” of the Spirit. We tend to think the exact opposite: if we keep the commandments, we will love Jesus. We tend to think that love comes from our keeping, our fidelity and our devotion. Yet the Spirit reminds us that without love as our basis, all the rest is in vain. And that love comes not so much from our abilities, but as his gift. He teaches us to love and we have to ask for this gift. The Spirit of love pours love into our hearts, he makes us feel loved and he teaches us how to love. He is the “motor” of our spiritual lives. He set it in motion within us. But if we do not begin from the Spirit, or with the Spirit or through the Spirit, we will get nowhere.

 The Holy Spirit is an active memory; he constantly rekindles the love of God in our hearts. We have experienced his presence in the forgiveness of our sins, in moments when we are filled with his peace, his freedom and his consolation. 

We always remember the things that go wrong; we listen to the voice within us that reminds us of our failures and failings, the voice that keeps saying: “Look, yet another failure, yet another disappointment. You will never succeed; you cannot do it.” This is a terrible thing to be told. 

Yet the Holy Spirit tells us something completely different. He reminds us: “Have you fallen? You are a son or daughter of God. You are a unique, elect, precious and beloved child. Even when you lose confidence in yourself, God has confidence in you!” This is the “memory” of the Spirit, what the Spirit constantly reminds us: God knows you. You may forget about God, but he does not forget about you. He remembers you always.

You, however, may well object: these are nice words, but I have problems, hurts and worries that cannot be removed by facile words of comfort! Yet that is precisely where the Holy Spirit asks you to let him in. Because he, the Consoler, is the Spirit of healing, of resurrection, who can transform the hurts burning within you. He teaches us not to harbor the memory of all those people and situations that have hurt us, but to let him purify those memories by his presence. That is what he did with the apostles and their failures. They had deserted Jesus before the Passion; Peter had denied him; Paul had persecuted Christians. We too think of our own mistakes. How many of them, and so much guilt! Left to themselves, they had no way out. Left to themselves, no. But with the Comforter, yes. Because the Spirit heals memories. How? By putting at the top of the list the thing that really matters: the memory of God’s love, his loving gaze. In this way, he sets our lives in order. He teaches us to accept one another, to forgive one another and to forgive ourselves; he teaches us to be reconciled with the past. And to set out anew.

The Spirit teaches us what paths to take. We see this in the second reading, where Saint Paul explains that those “led by the Spirit of God” (Rom 8:14) “walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (v. 4). The Spirit, at every crossroads in our lives, suggests to us the best path to follow. It is important, then, to be able to distinguish his voice from the voice of the spirit of evil. Both speak to us: we need to learn to distinguish the voice of the Spirit, to be able to recognize that voice and follow its lead, to follow the things he tells us.

The Holy Spirit will never tell you that on your journey everything is going just fine. He will never tell you this, because it isn’t true. No, he corrects you; he makes you weep for your sins; he pushes you to change, to fight against your lies and deceptions, even when that calls for hard work, interior struggle and sacrifice. Whereas the evil spirit, on the contrary, pushes you to always do what you want, what you find pleasing. He makes you think that you have the right to use your freedom any way you want. Then, once you are left feeling empty inside – it is bad, this feeling of emptiness inside, many of us have felt it – and when you are left feeling empty inside, he blames you and casts you down. He blames you, becomes the accuser. He throws you down, destroys you. 

The Holy Spirit, correcting you along the way, never leaves you lying on the ground, never. He takes you by the hand, comforts you and constantly encourages you.

Whenever you feel troubled by bitterness, pessimism and negativity – how many times have we fallen into this! – then it is good to remember that these things never come from the Holy Spirit. Bitterness, pessimism, sad thoughts, these never come from the Holy Spirit. They come from evil, which is at home with negativity. It often uses this strategy: it stokes impatience and self-pity, and with self-pity the need to blame others for all our problems. It makes us edgy, suspicious, and querulous. Complaining is the language of the evil spirit; he wants to make you complain, to be gloomy, to put on a funeral face. The Holy Spirit on the other hand urges us never to lose heart and always to start over again. He always encourages you to get up. He takes you by the hand and says: “Get up!” How do we do that? By jumping right in, without waiting for someone else. And by spreading hope and joy, not complaints; never envying others, never -- envy is the door through which the evil spirit enters. The Bible tells us this: by the envy of the devil, evil entered the world. So never be envious! -- but the Holy Spirit brings you goodness; he leads you to rejoice in the success of others.

The Holy Spirit is practical, he is not an idealist. He wants us to concentrate on the here and now, because the time and place in which we find ourselves are themselves grace-filled. These are concrete times and places of grace, here and now. That is where the Holy Spirit is leading us. The spirit of evil, however, would pull us away from the here and now, and put us somewhere else. Often he anchors us to the past: to our regrets, our nostalgia, our disappointments. Or else he points us to the future, fueling our fears, illusions and false hopes. But not the Holy Spirit. The Spirit leads us to love, concretely, here and now, not an ideal world or an ideal Church, an ideal religious congregation, but the real ones, as they are, seen in broad light of day, with transparency and simplicity. How very different from the evil one, who foments gossip and idle chatter. Idle chatter is a nasty habit; it destroys a person’s identity.

The Holy Spirit wants us to be together; he makes us Church and today – here is the third and final aspect – he teaches the Church how to walk. The disciples were cowering in the Upper Room; the Spirit then came down and made them go forth. Without the Spirit, they were alone, by themselves, huddled together. With the Spirit, they were open to all. In every age, the Spirit overturns our preconceived notions and opens us to his newness. God, the Spirit, is always new! He constantly teaches the Church the vital importance of going forth, impelled to proclaim the Gospel. The importance of our being, not a secure sheepfold, but an open pasture where all can graze on God’s beauty. He teaches us to be an open house without walls of division. The worldly spirit drives us to concentrate on our own problems and interests, on our need to appear relevant, on our strenuous defense of the nation or group to which we belong. That is not the way of the Holy Spirit. He invites us to forget ourselves and to open our hearts to all. In that way, he makes the Church grow young. We need to remember this: the Spirit rejuvenates the Church. Not us and our efforts to dress her up a bit. For the Church cannot be “programmed” and every effort at “modernization” is not enough. The Spirit liberates us from obsession with emergencies. He beckons us to walk his paths, ever ancient and ever new, the paths of witness, poverty and mission, and in this way, he sets us free from ourselves and sends us forth into the world.

And finally, oddly, the Holy Spirit is the author of division, of ruckus, of a certain disorder. Think of the morning of Pentecost: he is the author… he creates division of languages and attitudes… it was a ruckus, that! Yet at the same time, he is the author of harmony. He divides with the variety of charisms, but it is a false division, because true division is part of harmony. He creates division with charisms and he creates harmony with all this division. This is the richness of the Church.

Brothers and sisters, let us sit at the school of the Holy Spirit, so that he can teach us all things. Let us invoke him each day, so that he can remind us to make God’s gaze upon us our starting point, to make decisions by listening to his voice, and to journey together as Church, docile to him and open to the world. Amen

While Desmond, NCR senior editor, Joan Frawley Desmond, characterizes Pope Francis' appointments as "personal All the media "reports"  Criticizing Pope Francis used qualities attribute to the Evil One and not the Holly Spirit.  Perhaps the Holy Spirit has left the Catholic Church.  I would me remis if I said I agree with the elevation of Bishop Robert McElroy or the support of Father Martin.

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