News Item: : More Weirdness, By George!
(Category: Torch of The Faith News)
Posted by admin
Monday 02 July 2018 - 14:36:55

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Advance of the Reds: The newly rouged Cardinal Toribio Ticona Porco shares a friendly hug with his Communist Bolivian leader and buddy Evo Morales at the Vatican.

On 28th May, the renowned Rorate Caeli site warned that Pope Francis was preparing to raise his Bolivian friend Toribio Ticona Porco to the cardinalate. Rorate explained that this was a major problem, due to the existence of claims set out by their Spanish-language partners at Adelante la Fe. Those claims from ''appropriately and thoroughly checked sources on the ground'' suggested that Ticona had a concubine ''wife'' and children.

At the time we wrote a vigorous article complaining about this travesty. In the days that followed, we noted that Ticona had strongly denied the claims as being calumnious, but that Adelante le Fe had also responded by doubling-down on their claims, and noting that these had even been handed in to the Nunciature in Bolivia, as part of a detailed denunciation under oath.

Gloria TV has noted that the neo-conservative AciPrensa.com is now suggesting that the claims of concubinage and secret family life have been denied by the woman concerned, and moreover that those claims can be traced back to contested land deals. Rorate has yet to respond.

Another dimension to the story of Toribio Ticona Porco was reported by Maike Hickson at 1 Peter 5, on the 18th June. This related to the fact that the conference of Bolivian Bishops had distanced themselves from the cardinal-elect Ticona over his close friendship with the anti-Catholic Communist Evo Morales.

In the midst of political struggles, the Bolivian Bishops were concerned that Ticona's closeness with Morales was undermining the unified stance of the Church hierarchy locally.

Such undermining could of course only become worse if Ticona, being elevated to the level of the cardinalate, were then perceived in Bolivia to be no longer just a bishop-emeritus, but as the reigning head of the local church. Any Catholic with eyes in their head should be able to understand the concern of the local hierarchy in this matter; especially now that Ticona's elevation was celebrated at the Vatican by Evo Morales in person.

This is because, notwithstanding all of these serious trials for the Catholic Church in Bolivia, Evo Morales himself was given a merry welcome back at the Vatican for the latest consistory, during which Francis elevated another new bunch of cardinals this weekend. As is the case with China in the days of Francis, the fear now with Ticona as cardinal is that it will be the work of the Communists, rather than that of Catholicism, which will be able to make further advances.
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This picture makes clear the fact that Morales was once again made very welcome at the Vatican; being received in private by his good friend Francis, while the ever-present Georg Ganswein watches smilingly from the wings.

As you know, Morales and Francis already gave so much grave offence during their exchange of the scandalous, Communist Hammer-and-Sickle ''crucifix'' in July 2015. This hidden-in-plain-sight display should have woken even the most somnolent and easy-going of Catholics, politicians and students of global history.

They say there is no show without punch, so it was no surprise when Francis also headed over to parade his newly rouged Cardinals, in another choreographed chapel meeting, with the Emeritus Benedict and his ever-present and ever-smiling minder, Archbishop Georg Ganswein.

I know some people will probably interpret the next image as one of close friendship between two, erm, popes, but I cannot imagine any family member, never mind any good and well-trained parish priest, nurse or care worker, dominating an elderly person in such a crowdingly, flat-palmed and forceful manner.
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Even at the uber-liberal Ushaw seminary, we were at least reminded in pastoral classes to kneel down next to vulnerable people or folks in wheelchairs, in order that our eyes might meet theirs and that we would be at the same level as they. It is a question of service and of putting people at ease. When vulnerable or elderly people are around, these things matter profoundly.

It's kind of weird that Francis actually said during the meeting, ''None of us should look down at others from above. The only time we can look at a person in this way is when we are helping them to stand up.''

Weird, hey?

Is that another ''hidden-in-plain-sight'' mystery to consider?

And perhaps no meeting between Francis and Benedict would be quite complete without the fawning Ganswein doing something weird to get us all thinking again.

And, if you watch the video footage closely, Georg certainly did not disappoint this time!

Indeed, his actions were so outlandish that even Rome Reports felt the need to explain them away with the words, ''Georg Ganswein, Prefect of the Papal Household, was even swatting gnats during the conversations. It was especially evident when Benedict was recalling Cardinal Becciu's new role in the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints.''   
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And so, just as Benedict is sharing a word or two with Cardinal Becciu, the ''gnat-swatting'' Ganswein suddenly performs a sudden, dramatic and loud handclap in mid-air, just a few feet from the Emeritus' head!  
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As with other episodes of the Francis-Georg-and-Benedict show, I've watched this weird occurence closely several times and, although Ganswein looks down at his hand in a ''good, got it!'' kind of way, this just doesn't seem right to me.

For one, it looks at odds with his usual slickly smooth and ever-smiling MC role. I mean, do you know any MC who would do something like that? And in a chapel, during a peaceful exchange between religious leaders?

Aw, c'mon, I can hear you say! You're not back onto that old Ganswein rap are you? I mean, it is not as if this could be some kind of post-hypnotic trigger clap or anything like that! I mean, c'mon, really...

Still, I mention it in the same spirit of ''Things that make you go Hmmm...'' with which I mentioned the time when Ganswein looked to be giving Benedict close-coaching with a hypnotic-looking Diamond hand-sign, which Benedict quickly mirrored and upon which the cameras instantly focused, during the highly choreographed celebrations of Benedict's 65th anniversary of priesthood, in June 2016. As the original footage demonstrates, the instant that Benedict mirrors the diamond hand-sign, Ganswein drops his sign and adjusts his sash. Then the camera zooms right in on Benedict's hands. View it yourself on slow-motion a few times and make of it what you will...
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It was during that strange speech that Benedict spoke in an uncharacteristically touchy-feely and irrational way about Francis' ''goodness'' being the ''place where I live, I feel protected.''
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And the time when I pointed out that Ganswein had waded in so dramatically to intercept that Bavarian guy's letter to Benedict during his 90th Birthday celebration in the beer garden, last May...
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And I've said before that it seems odd that Ganswein - a man who spoke at the Pontifical Gregorian University in May 2016 about a conclave ''battle'' between the ''St. Gallen Mafia'' and the ''Ratzingerians'' - should now be relativistically serving as both Benedict's Personal Secretary and as Francis' Prefect of the Papal Household. In other words, smilingly serving the leaders from both sides of that battle.
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I mean, wouldn't that represent a conflict of interests?

Especially since Francis and friends are now undoing all the things that Benedict stood for; to say nothing of 2,000 years of Catholic tradition!

No, I'm sure you are right: to question any of this must be just the wildest nightmares of the conspiracy theorist.

I mean, it is not as though Communist leaders are cozying up with the Pope in the Vatican these days, is it...
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Our Lady of Fatima - Pray for us!



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