Amen to this clarity and Pope Francis is the Pope. We cannot be sedes...
Clarification +
Hello everyone. Michael Voris coming to you from Rome with a clarification.
This past weekend we aired a breaking news report about Cardinal Raymond Burke
having granted an interview to a secular outfit in which he publicly revealed for the first
time he was going to be transferred AND, in his estimation the pope not speaking out
openly about the crazy ideas floating around the synod was harming the church.
We decided to go with the story for two main reasons.
One – the tone of discourse had not risen to that level prior – that harm was being done to
the Church and that he had now CONFIRMD he was going to be transferred.
Secondly – unlike much of the “inside the Catholic world” news reports that had been
published before – THIS one had been released by the secular media – it had broken out
of the Catholic media bubble and into the mainstream.
We approached the story and its details strictly from a journalistic point of view. In
hindsight, that was a mistake because ANOTHER unintended impression was generated –
that we were criticizing the Pope.
I could give a number of reasons why we didn’t forsee this – being close to the story here
on the ground, being tired etc., but they aren’t sufficient to offset the unintended
impression.
Given that some people may think we were criticizing the Pope, it was wrong to air the
story. I alone made the decision so the responsibility is entirely mine.
Again, I was approaching this from a journalism aspect, and not enough, or at all, from an
apostolate standpoint. Other media outlets who cover Catholic things can run with the
story as a newsworthy story, but this apostolate has an additional filter.
What we do at Church Militant.tv is use the tools of the new media to further the cause of
the Church. Period. We don’t use them as an end in themselves. On this occasion, I
unthinkingly inverted those priorities and ran with it. For that I offer you my deepest
apologies and ask your forgiveness.
I have dedicated the remainder of my life to serving the Church and to have to consider
that I did something that brought some harm to Her makes me heart sick. On a personal
note, to show you how bothered in spirit I am by my actions, I chose not to receive Holy
Communion on Sunday, and have gone to confession over this entire matter.
Now .. shifting to the harm to the Church question, again, the harm has come in that someindividuals have interpreted this report as being a criticism of the Pope, and by extension
the Papacy, and by further extension the Church.
To whatever degree this has happened, again, I am to blame.
But others have taken my mistake and DELIBERATELY ran with it to imply that I and/or
the apostolate have now hopped on the bandwagon of publicly criticizing the Pope.
A very clear distinction needs to be made here. There are those in the Catholic
blogosphere who do not like the pope and openly mock him and have practically created
a cottage industry out of combing thru every syllable he utters and producing reams of
criticisms over them.
They introduce to the Catholic world things that most Catholics would never hear of if it
weren’t for their on-going discussions of them.
He has been called evil, a heretic, an anti-pope – they have openly speculated that the
conclave that elected him was bogus and Benedict is still somehow the real pope.
They are sewing massive and countless doubts in the minds of many Catholics about this
Pope’s legitimacy and authority and driving them to consider leaving the Church and
entering independent Catholic enclaves that exercise no legitimate authority in the
Church.
I wish to make abundantly clear that in no way shape or form do we condone anything of
the sort. Pope Francis is the legitimate Pope and any kind of pretended communion with
the Church while rejecting him is not possible. You are either in full communion or you
are not.
Other blogs have speculated that I have “seen the light” at last. Wrong. I reported what I
thought was a legitimate newsworthy story – I did not even consider, much less intend to
destabilize belief in the Pope’s authority.
In short, my mistake is now being used to make hay and I decry that. Pope Francis is the
Pope. He is the Holy Father. We are called to love the Holy Father, to pray for him. He
is the very first name I mention in offering up my daily rosary.
The Holy Father should not be being publicly criticized by lay Catholics, much less
mocked and called insulting names and made the butt of jokes. If others do that, then
they will have to give an account to Our Lord for mocking His Vicar when they die.
I want no part of that, and make very clear in your understanding, I NEVER intended
anything of the sort. Again, I was mistaken, and that mistake should not be being
multiplied by those who see it as an opportunity. Thank you and please keep our work here in your prayers. GOD Love you
