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And More Rambling

Wow, Der Spiegel is even turning on Pope Francis. Vatican Cardinal: Pope Francis Is 'Ice-Cold, Cunning Machiavellian'

According to Der Spiegel, Francis, who started as a “brilliant reformer,” now threatens to squander his legacy because “he often speaks at inopportune moments, yet in important moments remains silent.”

TDE readers might recall that I raised a similar point right after he counseled everyone to consider silence, to wit, "What!? Now he's counseling silence!?!?:

I, for one, am leaning more and more to the idea that this is a bad man . . . cloaked in the Papacy and therefore free from heresy . . . but a bad man nonetheless.

That's not remotely my final conclusion, I hasten to add, but more and more signs point to the idea that we have a bad man in the Chair. That, or a terribly cunning, massive, and malicious defamation campaign is being waged against him. There are a few other possibilities (maybe he's simply not terribly bright?), but I think those are the two leading explanations.

I don't think these words, incidentally, violate St. John Bosco's three pillars of Catholicism: the Eucharist, Mary, the Pope. I realize my words are disrespectful, but I intend them for the man, not the office. It's no different than leveling criticism at the incestuous Alexander VI, who was a terribly wicked man . . . but also pope. The only difference here is that we really don't know what the story with Francis is.

Fr. Matthew Spencer referenced a priest who recently said in a lecture that smart phones are leading people to hell, and that, if you want to be a saint, get rid of your smart phone. He thinks it's related to the fact that online services and apps want to keep your attention at all times (he cites Tim Wu's The Attention Merchants). If your attention is always drawn, you're always distracted, you have no attention left for God. I have no clue what to think, but it resonates with me at some level.

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