What, you think I’m new at this? You think I’m going to write about what I think is coming?

Ha!

But we can make it like a game. See if you can put it together for yourselves…

Item 1:

Pope Francis to Eugenio Scalfari:

“The diverse opinion of the bishops is part of this modernity of the Church and of the diverse societies in which she operated, but the goal is the same, and for that which regards the admission of the divorced to the Sacraments, [it] confirms that this principle has been accepted by the Synod. This is bottom line result, the de facto appraisals are entrusted to the confessors, but at the end of faster or slower paths, all the divorced who ask will be admitted.”

Item 2:

Francis, on Lutherans receiving Communion : (For the remaining doubters, there’s a video on the link)

“Life is bigger than explanations and interpretations. Always refer back to your baptism. ‘One faith, one baptism, one Lord.’ This is what Paul tells us, and then take the consequences from there. I wouldn’t ever dare to allow this, because it’s not my competence. One baptism, one Lord, one faith. Talk to the Lord and then go forward. I don’t dare to say anything more.”

Plus the weight of about a gajillion other signs and portents, like the stars of heaven.

Way, waaay WAAAyyy back, Pat Archbold wrote:

“The post synod apostolic letter or statements from the Pope might make a basic statement about the indissolubility of marriage with no specific mention of the divorced and remarried receiving communion, knowing that anything other than this is impossible now. But the documents might also contain the now boilerplate calls for pastoral consideration. In conclusion, either the synod itself or perhaps the Pope himself in a following document may make a request for local Bishops’ conferences to explore ways for the divorced and remarried to be better integrated into parish life.

“With those vague statements giving plausible deniability to the hierarchy, several Bishops’ conferences starting with Germany will issue norms allowing the divorced and remarried to receive communion after confession or some such other nonsense, which they are already likely allowing.

“And the Church will do nothing. And then the practice will spread like wildfire. Think Communion in the hand. With the barn door left open, the horses are gone.”

Because we’ve already had the experimental test. Several of them in fact. We’ve found out that with the right kind of pope, you can just start doing things, then press the pope for approval, or at the very least a blind eye, and he will give it, because “mercy” or “collegiality” or whatever the trendy buzzword of the week is.

Fr.Thomas Reese helpfully gave us a remarkably candid description of how ambiguity creates the room for the revolutionaries…

“What is remarkable about the three paragraphs dealing with divorced and remarried Catholics is that the words Communion and Eucharist never appear. Yes, that’s right, they never mention Communion as a conclusion of this internal forum process.

“So what does it mean? A conservative might interpret it as closed to Communion because it was not mentioned in the text. A liberal might interpret it as including Communion since it is not explicitly excluded in the text.

“I think that the truth is that Communion was not mentioned because that was the only way the paragraphs could get a two-thirds majority. Like the Second Vatican Council, the synod achieved consensus through ambiguity. This means that they are leaving Pope Francis free to do whatever he thinks best.

“Hats off to the drafting committee that found exactly the right language to achieve consensus even if it does not give a definitive answer to our questions.”

Pat added in a speech last year:

“After the practice has spread globally, the Vatican will issue some weak statements about avoiding potential abuses, but essentially allowing the practice. That is when the real misery begins.

“After the majority of Episcopal Conferences adopt the practice, we will begin to see persecution of those few bishops and priests that refuse to go along; which, in fact, was always the goal.

“A bishop, who refuses to accept the unacceptable in a country where the practice is adopted, will find himself ostracized. Perhaps he will be the subject of complaints from fellow bishops or letter campaigns from some minority of his own priests complaining about his excessive rigidity and general lack of pastoral sensibilities. Perhaps then he will be the subject of an Apostolic Visitation to investigate these serious allegations. Then six months later, he is gone and without a word about Communion for the divorced and remarried ever being mentioned.

“Faithful priests in unfaithful dioceses will not even have the courtesy of that dog and pony show. They’ll be placed on the eternal sabbatical for the crime of ‘unpastoralness.’ Their pleas for help and justice will fall on deaf ears.

“Faithful Catholics will have nowhere to turn. Persecuted by society, government, and even their own Church for simply refusing to accept what cannot be accepted.”

Now, about that last point… today, we know this:

Society of St. Pius X: Pope Francis received Bishop Fellay on Friday, 1 April 2016

And this is what somebody has said.

The pope is pretty obvious in his calculations. Regularize SSPX on Wednesday. Modify three sacraments on Friday.

— Michael B Dougherty (@michaelbd) April 4, 2016

Just in case anyone had an idea that there might be a haven, a port in the storm, so to speak, left open to them.

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