"In the first reading we heard the story of Jonah, in a style of the
time," preaches Pope Francis, in his sermon on the "Religious Paella Day of Prayer."
Francis conspiratorially claims "there was 'some pandemic,' we do not know, in the city of Nineveh, a 'moral pandemic' perhaps, the city was about to be destroyed."
--The pope doesn't tell us who was about to destroy the city.
--Can't be God, because Francis' God doesn't punish.
--Can't be nature, because the Ninevites weren't capitalist-populist-nationalists driving around in SUVs and belching forth carbon monoxide.
Francis' sermon picks up steam: "And God sends Jonah to preach to them.. prayer and fasting" (3: 7-8). Correct! Jonah doesn't go to Iraq (Nineveh's location) and sign a Human Fraternity covenant with Assyria. He doesn't call for an interfaith "you kiss my idol and I'll kiss yours" schmoozefest, swapping figurines of Ishtar with Nineveh's High Priestess in a gender inclusive globalized pantheon.
Pope Francis blanks this out in his homily. "In the face of that
pandemic, Jonah was frightened and ran away," he pontificates. Actually, no. What the Bible says is: "But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish." Jonah 1:3
Francis then commits a lapsus calami — a big boo-boo in his sermon. "Then the Lord called him for the second time, and he agreed to go and preach," he proclaims. Umm ... nope. That's not how it happens. God "hurls a great wind upon the sea causing a mighty tempest" and the cruise liner on which Jonah is sailing begins to go the way of the Titanic.
*It's only after Jonah gets heaved off the ship, slides down a whale's esophagus, spends three claustrophobic days marinating in digestive juices and gets vomited on to dry land does God call Jonah a second time. Only now does the recalcitrant prophet say: "I'll go and give the Ninevites an earful."
Francis' gives a wide berth to the Biblical text and jumps on his hobby horse: "And today all of us, brothers and sisters of every religious tradition, pray: a day of prayer and fasting, of penance, called by the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity." ....That's the end of poor Jonah. From prophet, he's been turned into the pope's spin-doctor for a religious cafeteria that validates all religions as paths to God.
In reality, the novella of Jonah from start to finish contradicts the pontiff's fake religious pluralism.
First, Israel's God sends a Jewish prophet to a pagan people to preach repentance.
Second, the sailors on Jonah's ship begin by praying each to "his god," but after Jonah has told them about Yahweh, they are converted and call out to Yahweh.
Let's help Pope Francis with his theological problem:
Q: ....how is the Church supposed to relate to those around it? ....
A: ...not by fraternizing in a pan-religious bear-hug but by proclaiming the sovereignty of the Biblical God over creation and over all humanity and by calling all people everywhere to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ."
ChurchMilitant
Francis conspiratorially claims "there was 'some pandemic,' we do not know, in the city of Nineveh, a 'moral pandemic' perhaps, the city was about to be destroyed."
--Can't be God, because Francis' God doesn't punish.
--Can't be nature, because the Ninevites weren't capitalist-populist-nationalists driving around in SUVs and belching forth carbon monoxide.
Francis' sermon picks up steam: "And God sends Jonah to preach to them.. prayer and fasting" (3: 7-8). Correct! Jonah doesn't go to Iraq (Nineveh's location) and sign a Human Fraternity covenant with Assyria. He doesn't call for an interfaith "you kiss my idol and I'll kiss yours" schmoozefest, swapping figurines of Ishtar with Nineveh's High Priestess in a gender inclusive globalized pantheon.
Pope Francis blanks this out in his homily. "In the face of that
Francis then commits a lapsus calami — a big boo-boo in his sermon. "Then the Lord called him for the second time, and he agreed to go and preach," he proclaims. Umm ... nope. That's not how it happens. God "hurls a great wind upon the sea causing a mighty tempest" and the cruise liner on which Jonah is sailing begins to go the way of the Titanic.
The tempest isn't triggered by global warming and Jonah doesn't need
an "ecological conversion."
*It's only after Jonah gets heaved off the ship, slides down a whale's esophagus, spends three claustrophobic days marinating in digestive juices and gets vomited on to dry land does God call Jonah a second time. Only now does the recalcitrant prophet say: "I'll go and give the Ninevites an earful."
Francis' gives a wide berth to the Biblical text and jumps on his hobby horse: "And today all of us, brothers and sisters of every religious tradition, pray: a day of prayer and fasting, of penance, called by the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity." ....That's the end of poor Jonah. From prophet, he's been turned into the pope's spin-doctor for a religious cafeteria that validates all religions as paths to God.
In reality, the novella of Jonah from start to finish contradicts the pontiff's fake religious pluralism.
First, Israel's God sends a Jewish prophet to a pagan people to preach repentance.
Second, the sailors on Jonah's ship begin by praying each to "his god," but after Jonah has told them about Yahweh, they are converted and call out to Yahweh.
Let's help Pope Francis with his theological problem:
Q: ....how is the Church supposed to relate to those around it? ....
A: ...not by fraternizing in a pan-religious bear-hug but by proclaiming the sovereignty of the Biblical God over creation and over all humanity and by calling all people everywhere to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ."
ChurchMilitant
