Apparently, the visit was planned to coincide with concluding events of the World Meeting of Families. However it is clear that the Irish model of a family is not (as it used to be) mother, father, 8 children, and a pig (as recommended in Amoris Laetitia), but now simply a couple, possibly even same-sex, probably unmarried, and with no children whatsoever. So what's the point?
Leo Varadkar explains his policies for the family.
Ireland also suffers from a severe shortage of Catholics. The choice for the Pope lies between meeting people like Archbishop Diarmuid Martin the spineless ("the man who makes even Vincent Nichols look like a spiritual leader"), or Fr Tony Flannery the egocentric rebel and his Association of Catholic Priests ("the man who makes Fr Jack of Craggy Island look like a peaceful holy man").
One possibility is that Pope Francis will go to Belfast instead. There, the Protestants are Catholic, and the Catholics Protestant, at least when it comes to moral issues, and so the Holy Father may not be so unwelcome.
It's also possible that Francis will want to go to the mainland of Great Britain and meet Theresa May, although the old girl has also expressed her delight in the "success" of the Irish referendum. Unless the saintly Jacob Rees-Mogg is Prime Minister by August, which is about as likely as the saintly Cardinal Sarah becoming Pope by then.
Pope Francis meeting Theresa May.
Or maybe Pope Francis will go back to Chile in August. This may be a wise move as most of the Chilean Catholics are in Rome and out for his blood.
No, Pope Francis tells us that his best bet is a quiet week or two in a coastal resort such as Margate or Cromer. Fr Spadaro's got his eye on a lovely seaside cottage called "Dundictatin" which might just suit him...
I've got an idea: as it's August, the HF could surprise everyone and do something for the ailing economy of Castelgandolfo by spending a few weeks there.
ReplyDeleteNooo...he's not going to miss an opportunity to be center stage at an Irish wing ding! He gets to pull up in his little modest vehicle, all humble-y and all, and wow em with his humility, meekness, and love for all, except the Irish who voted against dismembering babies. He'll have a few words for those pickle-puss pelagians.
ReplyDeleteIf the Irish have any Catholic sensibility at all they won't show up. Leave him sitting there on his papal throne by himself like the fake pope he is. To imagine a pope of any prior time just ignoring a vote on same-sex marriage in Ireland or this vote to kill children, it is unthinkable, no prior pope would have done it.
And yet Catholics will continue to talk as if nothing is wrong. It's like a Twilight Zone episode.
Poland and Africa are now the countries Catholics should look to as examples and to find hope in.
ReplyDeleteWould be great if PF went to N.Ireland!Heard Jim Shannon MP of the DUP say on Today 100,000 babies'lives saved.John Humphries had no answer
ReplyDeleteThe DUP more Catholic than the Pope. Who coulda thunk it?
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