Close Papal Advisor: Some Cardinals Might Regret Electing Bergoglio, But It's Too Late Now

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Would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?

Three weeks ago Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández gave an extraordinary interview to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. Bits of it have been written about and commented on, but I suspect the full impact of it was reduced by the fact that the interview is still hidden behind a pay wall (Update: it now appears to be freely available.). This post is based on quotes gathered by LifeSite News.

Fernandez is a close advisor of Francis from Argentina. He is thought to be the primary ghostwriter for Evangelii Gaudium as well as the upcoming encyclical on climate change. He also appears to many to be somewhat eccentric as evinced by his authorship of a kissing manual.

For those of us who believe the Francis pontificate is weakening the Church, the Archbishop's frank words in this interview are remarkable...and chilling.

On the Pope's careful strategy for changing the Church:

The pope goes slow because he wants to be sure that the changes have a deep impact. The slow pace is necessary to ensure the effectiveness of the changes. He knows there are those hoping that the next pope will turn everything back around. If you go slowly it's more difficult to turn things back…You have to realize that he is aiming at reform that is irreversible.

On the Pope's belief that the changes will be permanent:

No, there’s no turning back. If and when Francis is no longer pope, his legacy will remain strong. For example, the pope is convinced that the things he’s already written or said cannot be condemned as an error. Therefore, in the future anyone can repeat those things without fear of being sanctioned ...And then the majority of the People of God with their special sense will not easily accept turning back on certain things.

On the danger of schism:

No (there is no such danger). There's a schism when a group of important people share the same sensibilities that reflect those of a vast section of society. Luther and Protestantism came about this way. But now the overwhelming majority of the people are with Francis and they love him. His opponents are weaker than what you think. Not pleasing everyone does not mean provoking a schism.

On whether the majority of cardinals, knowing what they do now, would vote to elect Bergoglio today:

I don't know, possibly not. But it happened…. If some (cardinals) now have regrets it doesn’t change anything.

Among other things, one gets a sense of the hubris of this supposedly "humble" pope--who claims to want nothing more than to just be remembered as a "good guy"--and those around him.

One suspects (fears? hopes?) that all of this may be coming to a head, perhaps sooner than we imagined. After all, this "pace" is anything but slow. Already we're seeing things most of us would have found unthinkable just a a few years ago--anti-pro-life venom from within the Vatican itself, blatant Catholic dissidents appointed to high-level positions, a pending encyclical sympathetic to pseudo-scientific paganism and population control, and an evil Synod with an Orwellian title.

I say hopes it may be coming to a head in the sense that hubris is often most pronounced before a fall. Perhaps they have overplayed their hand. They say, "the people are with us..." but we've heard that one before.

God will save His Church.

But when...

NOT A PARODY: Actual Author of Evangelii Gaudium, a Priest, Also Wrote "Heal Me With Your Mouth, The Art of Kissing"

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Scribble scribble. Kissy kissy.

(A more detailed analysis of Fernández and the tempest involving Muller and the upcoming encyclical was offered yesterday by Elliot Bougis on OnePeterFive.)

When we say, in the words of Mario Palmaro and journalist Alessandro Gnocchi, "we don't like this Pope," we're basing that not just on what Francis has said or done, but on the people he chooses to back, promote or surround himself with.

There's Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga--the Pope's "right-hand-man"--who, just yesterday, spat Marxist venom at those faithful Catholics who had the temerity to disagree with Francis about the weather. There's that pederast bishop in Chile. There are those spiritually dead pro-divorce cardinals in Germany, bishops of a Church of Simony, whose individual annual stipends could support entire African nations.

Then there's Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández. Now, Fernández is the Pope's ghostwriter. Unlike his predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict the XVI, Pope Francis is no scholar. He's also no writer. He may (to quote his own words) have a "humility" that his predecessors lacked. But he doesn't have the literary skill. If you're reading this right now, chances are 50/50 you could write a more fluent encyclical than Francis could. So he has a ghostwriter to write his encyclicals for him.

And no, I don't mean that Ghost writer.

First, don't misunderstand. I'm not criticizing the Pope for having a ghostwriter per se. For example, I'm confident Saint Pius X had more than a few.

But if you are a pope, you get to choose your ghostwriters. The ghostwriter of Pope Francis is a weirdo.

Why do I say this?

Well, first of all, the most important rule of ghostwriters is this: Never ever call attention you yourself.

The current Pope's ghostwriter just did exactly that. He recently went public and blamed one of the highest ranking members of the Church--Cardinal Gerhard Muller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith--for why the "Pope's" next encyclical would be delayed. You see, he wouldn't be able to "get the new encyclical past him".

Oh sure, that bolsters the respect owed to the Magisterium.

But more importantly, this ghostwriter is a weirdo. Twenty years ago he wrote a book called Saname con tu boca ("Heal Me With Your Mouth, The Art of Kissing").

That's right, the actual author of Evangelii Gaudium wrote "Heal Me With Your Mouth, The Art of Kissing".

That a priest would write such a book has struck some as a bit odd. What would a priest know about "healing with my mouth"?

Stop snickering.

But Fernández actually gave an answer in an interview:

I want to clarify that this book is not written from my own experience, but from the lives of people kissing. In these pages I want to synthesize the popular feeling, what people feel when they think of a kiss, what they experienced when they kiss. For that I chatted at length with many people who have abundant experience in this area, and also with many young people learn to kiss. In addition, I consulted many books, and I wanted to show how the poets talk about the kiss. So, I tried to synthesize the immense richness of life, these pages, out of the kiss. I hope they help you kiss better, and motivate you to release the best of your being in a kiss.

This man wrote Evangelii Gaudium.

Let that sink in.

Now he's in the midst of writing the ultimate encyclical on "climate change".

I'm done, man. I'm just done. Bring on the End Times after I go to confession. How could it get any worse than this?

Don't tell me. I'm sure we'll find out tomorrow.