News Item: : ''Wearing Down the Opposition Gradually'' - More Pantomime from Austen Ivereigh
(Category: Torch of The Faith News)
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Monday 19 December 2016 - 13:32:57

Pope Francis and his global 80th-birthday cake: I wonder if the West has all been eaten up yet...

Stranger than Fiction

Several years before his deathbed conversion to the Catholic Faith, Oscar Wilde famously observed that, ''Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life''. Perhaps it is just the kid in me, but I could not help but chuckle at the visual similarities between Pope Francis' 80th-birthday celebrations, complete with an enormous globe-shaped cake iced in papal colours, and the below-featured image depicting the fictional Spectre organization; that shadowy group which was always so intent on world domination in Ian Fleming's novels.

Sometimes one can only chuckle to stop oneself from weeping.

Several years ago, the late Canon John Redford quipped to me that he often thought jubilees, celebrating special anniversaries since priestly ordination, would often be more appropriately marked by acts of public penance. At the time, he was poking fun at himself, but they do say many a true word is said in jest. Perhaps Canon Redford's words about priestly jubilees can find equal application in the area of birthdays.

I mean, given the levels of oppression now being experienced by orthodox prelates and priests in Rome - documented by journalists as diverse as Ed Pentin, Maike Hickson, Jan Bentz, John-Henry Westen and Steve Jalsevac - one might wonder whether Francis turning eighty at the weekend was a cause to eat the cake of rejoicing or the hard bread of penitence.

Indeed, LifeSiteNews has described the atmosphere in Francis' Vatican as a very real ''Climate of Fear'' for those hoping to remain faithful to the Church's authentic moral teachings. How much this all reminds me, once again, of my time in the Modernist-subverted Ushaw seminary in the late 90's; a place described by my late friend Fr. Mike Williams as a veritable ''culture of fear for the orthodox''. 

Saying Too Much

One feels similary torn between tears and laughter, penance and celebration, when reading Austen Ivereigh's latest piece of pantomime over at Crux.

For, in a way-over-the-top gush of Francis-apologia to celebrate the pontiff's 80th birthday, Mr. Ivereigh just seems to give away too much of the plot; rather like those comedic villains in the James Bond stories.

You remember the way they all used to do that: too prematurely secure in their own perceived sense of victory once they had captured 007, the villains would mock the special agent to his face with their wicked plans; only to have their dastardly schemes unravelled when the hero suddenly escaped and demolished their whole headquarters in spectacular fashion later on.

Let us focus on just three unhealthy themes emerging from a perusal of Mr. Ivereigh's lengthy papal panegyric: Dialectic; Enneagram and Peronism.

Dialectic

It has often been suggested by close and astute observers that the Catholic Church in particular, and Western civilization in general, were both being gradually taken down through a careful application of the Hegelian dialectic, by those with a Communist (mis)formation.

In this conception: the traditions of the Church and the remnants of Christendom would be viewed in terms of a thesis; the radical deconstruction of these traditions would be seen as an anti-thesis; and the application of a moderation of both positions would be offered as a middle-of-the-road compromise between the two as a synthesis.

Each time such a synthesis was achieved, those working to subvert Christian civilization would then work from that synthesis as a new starting point, as though it were the new thesis. In this manner, radical changes can be introduced gradually, and somewhat subtly, over a period of time in increments. It is a way of incrementally moving a given culture from one position to a pre-planned second position, by the stealth of pushing two steps forward and compromising, briefly, by allowing one step back.

It can be easily summed up as: Creating a problem or causing something in tradition to be viewed as a problem; providing a radical solution; compromising on a less radical solution to placate opponents and move a steady step closer, with minimal opposition, toward the pre-set goal of radicalism.

In the Church, this approach can most obviously be seen by the gradual replacement of orthodox tradition with so-called conservativism.

And with a conservativism, at that, which is awakening almost too-late to discover that it has little left to conserve!

Having considered this application of dialectic, which has historically been most effectively utilized by those promoting Communism and associated leftist causes, let us now quote some words from Mr. Ivereigh's words of adulation.

He writes of Pope Francis: ''Pope Francis, who is 80 today, is a remarkable leader by any standards. Politics is his passion -- above all the task of building a new synthesis out of disparate, even conflicting elements. It is a lesson he is putting into practice across the world, and it is having an impact.''

I'll say!

Or how about this: ''Call it 'big politics': the craft of building consensus and unity out of the material of diversity. It is the art of building institutions and nations.''

Just one problem, Mr. Ivereigh: it is not the art of building Christ's Church, which is founded by Him on objective and unchangeable truths. Perhaps this is why this supposed ''building of consensus and unity'', between truth and error by way of deliberate ambiguity, has led only to confusion, disunity and that ''climate of fear'' which was discussed above.

Enneagram

The Enneagram is, of course, that occultic and pantheistic bane of ''Catholic'' retreat centres from America to Ireland and on all the way to Zimbabwe.

Writers like Fr. Mitch Pacwa S.J. and Johnette Benkovic have written balanced and clear warnings to tell Catholics to have nothing to do with this dodgy piece of new-agey psycho-babble.

Even though Pacwa and Benkovic have long debunked the supposed ''ancient roots'' of the Enneagram, Mr. Ivereigh gushes: ''On the Enneagram, that personality-type identifier first created by the desert fathers which received its modern form from the Jesuits, Francis is an Eight - which Fr. Richard Rohr OFM, the leading authority on the Enneagram, has confirmed to me in an e-mail... (Pope Francis, incidentally, knows the Enneagram well, and is not against it. But he is wary of the way in which it can be misused and lead to excessive introspection if not deployed within a solid spiritual framework).''

Hmmm... I know a priest who told me one of his colleagues in the priesthood ''went crackers'' through using the Enneagram.

Then too, we have consistently warned people to avoid Fr. Rohr's writings because, although he was instrumental in bringing EWTN's Bob and Penny Lord back to the Church in his younger days, he has been a consistent promoter of the Enneagram and a clear supporter of the radically dissenting Call to Action group in the USA.

Incredibly, given the late Fidel Castro's shocking history of Communist oppression and mass murder of Cuban Catholics, Mr. Ivereigh tranquilly suggests that, like Francis, ''Martin Luther King was an Eight; so was Fidel Castro. So was St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits''.

Fidel Castro murdering another political opponent in cold blood, during the days of Communist revolution in Cuba. Mr. Ivereigh soothingly informs us that, just like Pope Francis, Castro was an Eight on the Enneagram. Well, alrighty then... Seriously, though, we need to pray for the victim, and so many others who died like him, as shown in this traumatic image.

Allow me to politely say: Give me a break Austen! St. Ignatius lived centuries before the dubious Enneagram was ''created'' and there has never been a professional study to confirm that the ''personality types'' in that supposed device even correlate to reality.

More to the point, why are you so keen to associate the name of Pope Francis with that of a mass-murdering Communist revolutionary?

Hey, I know they were good friends and all, but...

Peronism

One of the most blatantly shocking things that Mr. Ivereigh brags about in his acclamatory birthday piece goes like this: ''Francis often says, ''I don't like conflict.'' But really what he means is that he prefers to avoid direct confrontation. From Peron and the British military strategist Basil Liddel Hart he learned the value of the indirect approach, wearing down the opponent gradually, over time - and keeping opponents close by.''

Not sure about him keeping opponents close by, but thanks for the heads-up Austen. You clearly have a deal of access to insider knowledge regarding Francis' methodology and influences. We must remember not to let any of this grind us down.

However gradually...

Given our jokey James Bond theme today, we can almost imagine, at this point, the 4 Dubia cardinals suspended in a net above a pool of hungry, jaw-snapping crocodiles!

We've been expecting you Mr. Bond: Dr. Hans Schellnhuber with his sizeable globe... but no purring white cat! Any similarity to Ian Fleming's fictional Dr. No is purely accidental!

While the ''four cardinals'' and countless other orthodox prelates may be out at Francis' Vatican, with all of its ''climate of fear'', Dr. Hans Schellnhuber has shown himself to be very much on the inside. An atheist and promoter of the ''problem'' of climate change, and the ''solutions'' of global governance and population control, Schellnhuber was chosen by Francis to launch the environmental encyclical Laudato Si in 2015.

Now that various journalists have exposed the fact that there is a ''climate of fear'' in Francis' Vatican, perhaps this is a climate that he would do well to have changed sooner rather than later.

Conclusion

In this article we have reflected on Pope Francis celebrating his 80th-birthday in the Vatican. We have pondered the fact that this seemingly joyous celebration took place at a time when countless orthodox prelates and priests find themselves living in a culture of fear; whilst men associated with global governance and population control are welcomed with open arms.

We have also responded to Austen Ivereigh's gushing celebration of Francis, particularly its troubling, though strategically revealing, suggestions that Francis is: a master of Dialectic to bring in a new order; a nuanced supporter of the Enneagram; a similar personality to his mass-murdering Communist friend Fidel Castro; and a man who seeks to wear down his opponents gradually by avoiding direct conflict and, instead, wearing them down gradually.

Well, that all kind of puts a new perspective on the whole refusal to respond to the Dubia, his cancellation of the Cardinals' consistory meeting and the use of minions to launch harsh and coordinated attacks on the 4 cardinals and orthodox bloggers the world over.

Thanks for telling us more of how the plot fits together, Austen, old boy. Now all we have got to do is figure a way out of this pesky net that's been thrown around us, jump clear of the crocodile infested pool and throw a spanner into the scheming plans, so to speak!

Spectre's Ernst Stavro Blofeld and his purring white cat: World domination, that same old dream...

Seriously though, we pray at 3pm each day for Pope Francis to put right the damage he has undoubtedly caused to the Church and to the souls of many. He could do this by: reversing the course he has thus far taken; answering the Dubia in an orthodox fashion; beginning to clearly defend and teach the Sacred Deposit of Faith; and thus saving his own soul and countless others.

We pray that Pope Francis will especially receive the graces to do these things for his 80th-birthday.

Now that really would be something to celebrate. 

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This news item is from Torch of The Faith
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