Spadaro REPOSTS Deleted LOTR Clip with Additional Snarky Comments

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Like Anthony Weiner, he just can't stop.

Yesterday, I reported that the Pope's "mouthpiece," Jesuit editor Antonio Spadaro, had posted and then deleted a tweet seemingly equating Cardinal Burke with one of the minor villains in The Lord of the Rings. Unbeknownst to me, Deacon Nick Donnelly had noted this on his own Twitter feed the previous day. The silly kerfuffle was then prominently mentioned by at least three other Catholic blogs and sites - Vox Cantoris, OnePeterFive and Canon212.

It looks like Spadaro is monitoring our rigid neo-Pelagian activities. Today Donnelly noticed that Spadaro had put the deleted clip (and two others) back up, with a further snark at Burke (or one of us, or some generic enemy of Francis or whomever): 

He's a Herald of Woe

He also added a jokey little comment:

Nice to see what happend when I posted just some pics (& no comments) from the movie #TheLordofthe Rings Crazy things & wired hermeneutic!

As you can see, he ended it with a rosey-cheeked smiley face.

By the way, #TheLordofthe is a Twitter hashtag for people who forget to write "Rings" or mistakenly put a space before it. The hashtag page contains six tweets in the last twelve months.

Also, I assume Spadaro meant to write "weird hermeneutic" not "wired hermeneutic." Then again, you never know with Jesuits.

A friend tweeted:

I kidded him that he had just won the Understatement of the Year Award.

In one sense this is all very humorous. And, yes, I think humor is important, not in spite of, but even because of the dark days we are living through. Without humor, many of us would go crazy.

But in another sense, the spectacle is grotesque. By obstinately refusing to answer questions that the cardinals have every right to ask (and every Catholic has a right to hear the answers to), the Pope is further fanning the flames of confusion and division in the Church. It's possible an attempt might be made to "correct" a sitting pope. It's also possible the divisions in the Church itself might explode into open schism.

And in the midst of it - indeed, as his chosen response to it - one of the Pope's closest advisors is playing the Twitter troll, complete with pop culture references and putdowns.

Yesterday I referenced the "banality of evil." But banality can sometimes be colorful or even fascinating in its way. I have no doubt that future chroniclers will describe the personalities of the Court of Francis in their full glory - the kissing priest, the tweeting Jesuit, the little man with a funny name who shouted at teenage girls who dared to kneel for communion.

Hey, man, I didn't start the whole Lord of the Rings thing. But I'm going to try to end it.

There are a number of competing Wormtongues. But we all know who Saruman is.

Are the cardinals the ents?

Pope's "Mouthpiece" Spadaro Calls Cardinal Burke a "Witless Worm," Then Deletes Tweet

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The recent events involving Francis and his pontificate have been momentous. We may be witnessing the initial stages of an attempt to formerly "correct" a sitting pope for heresy.

Four cardinals sent the Pope a formal document or "Dubia" asking for clarification in the form of five simple Yes or No answers on the interpretation of the recent apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. The Pope refused to respond.

Everyone knows why he refused. Pope Francis wants Amoris Laetitia to have a revolutionary effect on the Church. He wants it to be interpreted and taught by the bishops as allowing, among other things, communion for unrepentant adulterers. This, is of course heresy - a contradiction of the words of Christ as well as the tradition of the Church -  and the Pope knows it. So, he can't explicitly confirm that the document says this. On the other hand, he can't explicitly deny that it says this, as this would largely quash the efforts of friendly bishops to put forward his desired heretical interpretation.

So he refused to respond. And after a decent interval, the cardinals went public. Now the Pope and his men are predictably engaged in an intensive campaign to vilify the cardinals and anyone who might be allied with them.

This is obviously thuggish. But much of it is also childish. Witness the behavior of Antonio Spadaro, "the pope's mouthpiece" who, like any good modern Jesuit, has apparently embraced the use of social media. Spadaro likes to use Twitter to promote his new book - a "conversation" with the Pope - but he also has a penchant for making snarky tweets attacking the Pope's opponents and then deleting them.

For example, a few days ago he tweeted this:

Then he deleted it and replaced it with this: 

I'm not sure why the second is any less snarky than the first, but there it is. 

A few hours later, amidst a set of tweets defending Amoris Laetitia and attacking the cardinals and their supporters, Spadaro tweeted this (I preserved the previous tweet so people could see where it fit into the stream):

Then at some point he deleted that as well.

Here is what that part of the stream looks like now:

Whatever you think of Ian McKellen, Christoph Schonborn is not an improvement.

The original is of course a scene from the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, where Gandalf is speaking to the traitor Wormtongue - the "witless worm."

Yes, one of the Pope's closest allies wants you to think that those who supported the "Dubia" are akin to the traitorous spies of Saruman.

And Pope Francis is Gandalf.

(Excuse me? Did I hear you just choke?)

What will he try to use next to righteously hound the enemies of Francis, Game of Thrones? Harry Potter? The Cat in the Hat?

But in truth, the allusion isn't a bad one if one changes the roles. It is the Pope and his supporters who use "crooked words," refusing to state plainly what they really mean. The success of their project depends on crooked words.

Maybe Spadaro took down his tweet because the irony was too rich even for him.

Or maybe he just can't help tweeting and deleting, tweeting and deleting, tweeting and deleting.

What did someone once say about the banality of evil?

Ann Barnhardt: Who is the Hobbit? You Are!

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For the faithful...

Amidst the chaos and despair of the Synod of Doom, a few good Catholics have written rousing and inspiring pieces.

One is Rise Thou that Sleepest by Radical Catholic/Matthew Karmel. Another is We must walk open-eyed into that trap, with courage, but small hope for ourselves by Ann Barnhardt.

J.R.R. Tolkien famously said that The Lord of the Rings was not an allegory. But, damn it, it does get some real things so right. Read the full post (with Tolkien quotes and video) at What's up with the Synod?

You are the hobbit.

Here's the bulk of the text:

The Petition enjoining the faithful Synod Fathers to walk out of the clearly-fixed Synod was not drafted with the expectation of a glorious victory, culminating with Bergoglio, having submitted his resignation after accepting that the Synod Walkout was a vote of no-confidence, boarding a plane back to Buenos Aires for a life of prayer and penance, shriven and contrite. 

Ah… No. 

We know that our earthly numbers are minuscule relative to the Army of Orcs, the corrupted and twisted men of this age, pagans – both unbaptized and baptized. 

But what we are called to do in these dark days is to march on the Black Gate and refuse to parley – in Newspeak, “dialogue” – with them. 

We come not to treat with Sauron, faithless and accursed, but to set the terms, which are nothing less than this: total and unconditional surrender to Jesus Christ the Sovereign King. 

Knowing that the Freemasonic cult creed is the worship of man, and knowing full – well that the response to our terms will be total war – the throwing open of the Black Gate and the unleashing of the host of hell, both demons and men, upon us, we walk open-eyed into the trap, with courage, but small hope for ourselves. 

We are all ready to make ourselves “fools for Christ”, fighting a battle that we cannot win, because the battle was lost long ago. The battle was lost with the election of Bergoglio. The battle was lost with Roe v. Wade. The battle was lost with the advent of the pill and the near-universal disregarding of Humanae Vitae. The Battle was lost with the promulgation of the Novus Ordo Mass. The battle was lost with the promulgation of Dignitatis Humanae. The Battle was lost with no-fault divorce. The Battle was lost with the Protestant Revolt. 

But this little army still stands ready to march on the Black Gates. We are ready to make ourselves outcasts even among our own. We are ready to make ourselves unemployable and destitute. We are ready to have every scorn and calumny heaped upon us. And yes, eventually to die. But not this day. This day we fight. 

But why? 

Simply put, so that one little Hobbit might have a chance. By calling out these sodomitical wretches and heretics, by shining the light of Truth on their sleazy backroom dealings and their unctuous, lying propaganda, maybe one little hobbit might have a chance. 

Who is the “one little hobbit” that the entire host of hell is fixated upon, and who we, with our critiques and our satires and our mocking of the Enemy, are trying to buy time for, and who the enemies of Christ desperately want us to believe is already lost? 

Every. Human. Being. 

Who is the hobbit? You are. 

If, by our little actions here, we can plant the seeds of the Truth of Christ, like scattering mustard seeds, so that just one person, when heresy is proclaimed from Rome, which we know it will be; when desecration of the Eucharist is encouraged by Casa Santa Marta, and we know that it will be; when the Law of Non-contradiction is held up as a sign of black-hearted reprobation, and we know that it will be; and when Jesus Christ is expected to apologize to men for His previously Pharisaical and unevolved judgmentalism, and we know that He will be; perhaps just one person will be able to overcome the Cult of Bergoglio and say, “No. I know that is not true. I know the sound of The Good Shepherd’s voice, and that is not it.” 

We also know that we have an entire Army behind us, namely the entire host of the Church Triumphant. This is an Army which the Enemy forces give every indication that they do not believe in. 

Finally, we know that the One Little Hobbit for whom we fight is not alone. With him goes The True Suffering Servant, not some despicable, conniving counterfeit trying to usurp Him. 

And with that knowledge, we know that the War is not only winnable, but has been won for all eternity. 

And so we say, “Certainty of death. Small chance of success. What are we waiting for?”