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Hi, sorry to bring about such an intense topic, but I have been thinking about this for a while.

We exchanged some correspondence a while ago, but I am not sure you remember me, therefore in short: I am agnostic, I have faith in the laws of science, however I find the answers you give very compelling.

Going back to the harsh topic: it’s been some time that, when searching the web, I frequently stumble upon websites where Pope Francis is violently attacked and called the antichrist (this is the nicest thing they say concerning him). The critiques that I read also appear to have been written by very knowledgeable people, and this prevents me from categorizing them as just a few lunatics.

Now, as a non-religious person, I do not understand why the Pope should generate such a hateful response, and I wonder: how could these people be categorized? Are they members of a certain cult? Or of some political movement? Or of some new religion? Are they members of groups within the Catholic Church itself?

Would you be able to answer this question for me father?

Thank you a lot for your time.

Cristian

Priest’s answer

Dear Cristian,

1. Since non-Christians people are not concerned about whether the Pope is the antichrist or not, I assume that this question arises within the Christian communities.

I don’t know of any website that gives the Pope this title.

What is known, however, is that some Orthodox churches consider the Pope as the antichrist.

These churches don’t believe that supernatural phenomena, such as apparitions of Christ, Our Lady, angels, and saints can be present in the Catholic Church.

In their option, these events are to be attributed to the work of the devil.

This is how they interpret the apparitions of Our Lady in Lourdes, in Fatim and the miracles related to the person of Father Pio of Pietralcina.

2. This can be explained by the so-called acephaly (headlessness), as each church stands on its own, without an authority that puts the various acephalous churches in communion with each other.

Headlessness leads these churches to be very closed in on themselves.

Consequently, we should be surprised by reading these severe judgments concerning the Pope, regardless of whether he is Pope Francis, Paul, John, Pius, Benedict…

Not long ago, a member of the entourage of the Patriarch of Athens apostrophized Pope Francis with this appellation when he visited Greece. All the social media covered the news.

3. But the websites you stumbled across are homegrown, of Catholic extraction. These websites are not just limited to expressing a different way of thinking from that of the Pope, a difference that can be legitimate and reasonable in order to not fall into papolatry. Instead, they show a true aversion towards the person of the Pope and, while not openly declaring him a heretic, they almost do.

These are generally websites by some traditionalist groups or movements.

4. Their attitude, from a theological and spiritual standpoint, is incorrect.

In fact, it is not Christian.

St. Catherine of Siena, who is a doctor of the church, writes: “And it will not be worth to them as an excuse to complain about the defects of the ministers of the blood (implied: of Christ), saying: we persecute the defects of bad pastors. For we have come as far as believing as false Christians that we are making a good sacrifice to God by persecuting his bride.

For however much the ministers of God may be demons incarnate and full of every misery, we must not for that reason be the robbers or punishers of Christ” (Letter 254).

It should be remembered that St. Catherine was speaking at a time when there was a Pope of harsh character and when some prelates were tempted to create a schism by declaring the Pope’s election invalid.

5. The Eternal Father speaking to St. Catherine says that this sin is particularly grave: “Therefore I say to you that if on the one hand all the other sins that are committed were placed and on the other hand this one sin was placed, I would be more displeased with this one than with the others” (Dialogue of Divine Providence, 116).

6. Equally he tells her that “demons do everything to pervert souls, withdraw them from the state of grace and lead them to mortal sin, so that of the same evil from which they suffer, my creatures will also suffer. They act this way, not less and not more, as members of the devil they go about subverting the children of the bride of Christ by loosening them from the bond of charity to bind them in the miserable bond of sin” (Ib., 117).

7. Not only is this matter serious, but it also does not go unpunished.

St. Catherine will later write, “No sin goes unpunished, especially that which is done against the holy Church. This has always been seen” (Letter 313).

8. Therefore my dear, however agnostic you may be, keep away from this sin. It is all in your best interest.

9. However, I do not want to close this answer without urging you to conversion.

You tell me that you have faith in science. That’s fine, too.

But science does not save you for eternity.

And, if you look closely, it does not save you for the present life either.

In the encyclical Spes salvi Benedict XVI writes, “It is not science that redeems man: man is redeemed by love. This applies even in terms of this present world. When someone has the experience of a great love in his life, this is a moment of “redemption” which gives a new meaning to his life. But soon he will also realize that the love bestowed upon him cannot by itself resolve the question of his life. It is a love that remains fragile. It can be destroyed by death. The human being needs unconditional love. He needs the certainty which makes him say: “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38- 39). If this absolute love exists, with its absolute certainty, then—only then—is man “redeemed”, whatever should happen to him in his particular circumstances. This is what it means to say: Jesus Christ has “redeemed” us. Through him we have become certain of God, a God who is not a remote “first cause” of the world, because his only-begotten Son has become man and of him everyone can say: “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20).” (SS 26).

With the wish that you may encounter Jesus Christ and feel satiated by this presence that is the only one to personally enter inside the heart that lives in God’s grace, I bless you, wish you well and remember you in prayer.