LET US EXAMINE SOME OF THE CLAIMS MADE BY THE SUPPORTERS OF MARIA DIVINE MERCY ON JUST WHY THEY BELIEVE THE POPE IS AN ANTI-POPE.

 

1) “THE POPE DOESN’T WEAR THE RED SLIPPERS.”

 

The Pope doesn’t have to wear the red slippers. Pope Paul VI discontinued their use in favor of the outdoor red papal shoes. Pope Benedict XVI has chosen to wear the red papal shoes, similar to those worn by Paul VI. Pope John Paul II discontinued this tradition, preferring instead to wear brown leather shoes from his native Poland.

 

2) “POPE FRANCIS DID NOT KISS THE CRUCIFIX.”

 

We can see quite clearly Pope Francis kissing the feet of Jesus on the cross!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3) “POPE FRANCIS SAID ATHIESTS CAN GET TO HEAVEN WITH GOOD WORKS.”

 

The Pope stated, “The Lord has redeemed all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone!” True.. Christ has redeemed all of us, making it possible for every human to be saved. Pope Francis continued….”And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards *peace.* If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good.”

 

According to the supporters of Maria Divine Mercy the Pope was saying that if atheists merely “do good” then they will go to heaven. They are wrong. Pope Francis is talking about a path “toward peace” and wants us to “meet there” by doing our part and doing good so that we build “that culture of encounter” and “meet one another doing good.”

 

After saying this we do know that atheists are not denied salvation.

 

St. Paul tells us that a person's conscience will accuse or defend them at their judgement.... "The gentiles who do not have the law, do by nature the things of the law. They show the work of the law written on their hearts."  Romans 2:14-16 He is telling us that those who have not known God yet have lived according to the law of God can be saved!

 

Early Church Father, St Justin Martyr explains this further..If a man accepted that law, even though he doesn't know that it's God that writes it, he is in effect following the Spirit of Christ. God's Mercy is unfathonable!

 

 

 

4) “THE POPE WASHED WOMEN’S FEET WHEN JESUS ONLY WASHED HIS DISCIPLES FEET.”

The first thing we have to know is that in those days when sandals were worn the feet became very dusty and dirty..hence the tradition of the washing of the guests feet by their servants. Luke 7-44 “And turning to the woman, he said unto Simon: Dost thou see this woman? I entered into thy house, thou gavest me no water for my feet; but she with tears hath washed my feet, and with her hairs hath wiped them. “

 

So at the Last Supper Jesus takes the place of the servant, much to the consternation of the apostles.

 

‘After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord – and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.’

(John 13:12-15)

It’s evident then that Jesus was teaching them a lesson in humility. The disciples were to follow Christ in serving others.

 

The only other place in the New Testament where washing of feet is mentioned is in 1 Tim 5-9 “Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.”

 

The Catholic Encyclopedia tells us….”Christ’s command to wash one another’s feet must have been understood from the beginning in a literal sense, for St Paul 1 Tim 5-10 implies that a widow to be honoured and consecrated in the Church should be one “having testimony for her good works, if she have received to harbour, if she have washed the saint’s feet”.”

Soon it became an universal custom in cathedral and collegiate churches. In the latter half of the twelfth century the pope washed the feet of twelve sub-deacons after his Mass and of thirteen poor men after his dinner. Most of the sovereigns of Europe also performed the Maunday Thursday Custom and is still retained at the Austrian and Spanish courts.

 

“In the religious orders the ceremony found favour as a practice of charity and humility. The Rule of St. Benedict directs that it should be performed every Saturday for all the community by him who exercised the office of cook for the week; while it was also enjoined that the abbot and the brethren were to wash the feet of those who were received as guests. The act was a religious one and was to be accompanied by prayers and psalmody, “for in our guests Christ Himself is honoured and receive”. The liturgical washing of feet (if we can trust the negative evidence of our early records) seems only to have established itself in East and West at a comparatively late date.

 

In 694 the Seventeenth Synod of Toledo commanded all bishops and priests under pain of excommunication to wash the feet of those subject to them. The matter is also discussed by Amalarius and other liturgists of the ninth century. Whether the custom of holding this “maundy” (from “Mandatum novum do vobis”, the first words of the initial Antiphon) on Maunday Thursday, developed out of the baptismal practice originally attached to that day does not seem quite clear…..” Catholic Encyclopedia

 

So then the liturgical washing of the feet started at a later date, and all Pope Francis did was dispense with this late custom for a higher good 

 

5) “THE POPE IS NOT A LOVER OF THE EUCHARIST.”

 

POPE FRANCIS…”May the Holy Mass never become a superficial routine for us! May we draw more and more from its profundity! It is precisely the Mass that inserts us in Christ’s immense work of salvation, to sharpen our spiritual vision by his love: by his “prophecy in act” with which, at the Last Supper, he initiated the gift of self on the cross; by his irrevocable victory over sin and death, which we boldly and festively proclaim. “

 

“We need to learn how to live the Holy Mass,” Bl. John Paul II said once to young men at a Roman seminary who had asked him about the deep concentration with which he celebrated the sacred liturgy. “Learn to live the Holy Mass!” We are helped to do this by pausing in adoration before the Eucharistic Lord in the tabernacle and receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

In the Eucharist, the Pope said, Catholics experience the “solidarity of God,” a solidarity that can never be exhausted and should never stop causing awe.

Pope Francis said: “Once again this evening, Jesus gives himself to us in the Eucharist, shares our journey and, in fact, makes himself the food that sustains our lives, even when the road gets rough and obstacles slow our steps.”

At the same time, he said, in receiving the Eucharist faithfully “the Lord leads us to follow his path — that of service, sharing and giving; and that little that we have, the little that we are, if shared, becomes a treasure because the power of God, who is love, descends to our poverty and transforms it.”