A Pope, an Empress, an Archbishop & Queen Nancy
OK, I am sure I have your attention. & some of you are wondering where I am heading. Well hold on because you are about to see how history is repeating itself.
Our story begins with Pope St. Silverius. 20 June was his feast day & I came across his story in Butler's Lives of the Saints on that day.
A little background on Pope Silverius before I get to his story. His father was Pope St. Hormisdas. Back then men who were married could be ordained priests. Silverius had followed his father in the ministry. At the time of his election, 8 June 536, he was only a subdeacon. There was some possible political intrigue involving his election. But nothing like what happened later when Silverius got on the wrong side of the Empress Theodora.
While in Constantinople, Silverius's predecessor, Pope St. Agapiyus I had brought about the deposition of the then patriarch of Constantinople, Anthimus I.* He was a Miaphysite (a form of the monophysite heresy). The heresy denied that Jesus had 2 seperate natures, man & God, in one person.
In doing so, he got on the wrong side of Empress Thodora who was a monophysite & supporter of Anthimus. After Silverius' election, the empress wrote him a letter. In it she ordered Silverius to acknowledge Anthimus as the Bishop of Constantinople or come to Constantinople & reexamine the case. Silverius wrote a short letter to Theodora saying he neither could or would obey her unjust demands. Doing so, he said, would betray the cause of the Catholic faith.
Theodora then resolved to have him deposed. I won't go into the whole sordid story here I will say that she wrote a letter to General Belisarius ordering him to get rid of Silverius. He made false accusations including a fake letter that was supposedly written by Silverius to the king of the Goths. It accused him of inviting the king to take over Rome. As I said, it was a fake, as were all the other charges. But he was deposed in a very shameful way. All I will add is that the new pope whom she contrived to get elected, Vigilus, didn't play along & upheld the Catholic faith as well.
Why did Pope St. Silverius' story draw my attention? Simple, because of how Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone was drawing the ire of Nancy Pelosi, among others for speaking on 19 June 2014 at a National Orginization for Marriage event in Washington DC. He was accused of participating in an anti-LGBT event & that some of those participating were hate groups.
Like the empress, Pelosi wrote Archbishop Cordileone telling him that what he was doing was wrong. She repeated the anti-LGBT charges & even misused Pope Francis's quote, "Who am I to judge?" to get him to support her heretical stand in support of so-called "gay-marriage." I say misused becase she, like her friends in the liberal main stream media, ignored the rest of the statement where the Pope talked about the person trying to follow Jesus. In saying that, the Pope was talking about someone who was trying to live a celebate & chaste life, not someone who was openly living in sin by having sex outside of marriage between one man & one woman. In fact, defending marriage is something the Pope has spoken loud & clear about, both as Pope & as Cardinal in Argentina.
Pelosi has a long record of promoting stands that counter authentic Catholic teachings while claiming her heresies, like abortion is a sacrament & sacred are authentincly Catholic.
# Cordileone is Italiano for heart of the lion. Clearly the Archbishop is living up to his name by showing courage in the face of these attacks.
Pope Silverius
A little background on Pope Silverius before I get to his story. His father was Pope St. Hormisdas. Back then men who were married could be ordained priests. Silverius had followed his father in the ministry. At the time of his election, 8 June 536, he was only a subdeacon. There was some possible political intrigue involving his election. But nothing like what happened later when Silverius got on the wrong side of the Empress Theodora.
Empress Theodora
While in Constantinople, Silverius's predecessor, Pope St. Agapiyus I had brought about the deposition of the then patriarch of Constantinople, Anthimus I.* He was a Miaphysite (a form of the monophysite heresy). The heresy denied that Jesus had 2 seperate natures, man & God, in one person.
In doing so, he got on the wrong side of Empress Thodora who was a monophysite & supporter of Anthimus. After Silverius' election, the empress wrote him a letter. In it she ordered Silverius to acknowledge Anthimus as the Bishop of Constantinople or come to Constantinople & reexamine the case. Silverius wrote a short letter to Theodora saying he neither could or would obey her unjust demands. Doing so, he said, would betray the cause of the Catholic faith.
Theodora then resolved to have him deposed. I won't go into the whole sordid story here I will say that she wrote a letter to General Belisarius ordering him to get rid of Silverius. He made false accusations including a fake letter that was supposedly written by Silverius to the king of the Goths. It accused him of inviting the king to take over Rome. As I said, it was a fake, as were all the other charges. But he was deposed in a very shameful way. All I will add is that the new pope whom she contrived to get elected, Vigilus, didn't play along & upheld the Catholic faith as well.
Why did Pope St. Silverius' story draw my attention? Simple, because of how Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone was drawing the ire of Nancy Pelosi, among others for speaking on 19 June 2014 at a National Orginization for Marriage event in Washington DC. He was accused of participating in an anti-LGBT event & that some of those participating were hate groups.
Queen (aka Pope) Nancy
Like the empress, Pelosi wrote Archbishop Cordileone telling him that what he was doing was wrong. She repeated the anti-LGBT charges & even misused Pope Francis's quote, "Who am I to judge?" to get him to support her heretical stand in support of so-called "gay-marriage." I say misused becase she, like her friends in the liberal main stream media, ignored the rest of the statement where the Pope talked about the person trying to follow Jesus. In saying that, the Pope was talking about someone who was trying to live a celebate & chaste life, not someone who was openly living in sin by having sex outside of marriage between one man & one woman. In fact, defending marriage is something the Pope has spoken loud & clear about, both as Pope & as Cardinal in Argentina.
Pelosi has a long record of promoting stands that counter authentic Catholic teachings while claiming her heresies, like abortion is a sacrament & sacred are authentincly Catholic.
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone
But rather than give in to her, like Pope Sliverius, Archbishop Cordileone refuses to back down from upholding authentic Catholic teachings on marriage & said as much. He said that the event is simply affirming "marriage as the conjugal union of a husband and wife." He added "Rest assured that if the point of this event were to single out a group of individuals and target them for hatred, I would not be there." He went & he spoke clearly, calling on those to love their opponants, a message repeated by others, just the opposite of what those attacking this event claimed it was.
That they make this claim is no surprise. Those supporting "gay rights" including that to marry, have long painted the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexual acts as hateful. They ignore the fact that the Church has always taught that any sexual act outside of marriage, including adultry, fornication & mastubation, are sinful as well.
1 of Pelosi's media supporters, SFGate, did an attack piece on the Archbishop dated 18 June. In it they said that they were suprised that the Archbishop was still going to speak at the event. Like so often in the past, those groups, like Family Research Council were painted as hatefilled because they spoke the truth about what the real LGBT agenda. In doing so, they ignored groups like NAMBLA that do push for legalizing pedophilia. I won't go into all their false charges made.
Up to the end of the hit piece, they totally ignore that all he is doing is upholding authentic Catholic teaching. But if they did acknowledge it then they couldn't justify their claims that the Archbishop's actions were puzzling.
So when they finally get to what the Church teaches, they basically tell the Archbishop to shut up. The article says "Cordileone is flying across the country as the only announced representative of the Catholic Church to participate in an event that surely has little support in San Francisco. If the archbishop would like to take on gang violence or homelessness - the church-affiliated St. Vincent de Paul homeless shelter is one of the largest in the city - that would be fine.
But the fact is that this marriage crusade is his issue, not San Francisco's. There may be a place where his views would represent the community. This isn't it."
Yes, you read right, because they disagree with Church teaching on marriage they demand he not speak out on it. Let's just do the nice social justice things. Of course, without any mention of Jesus.
They want 1 of the Church's shepherds to conform to their agenda & not go out & seek the lost sheep like Jesus did. Archbishop Cordeleone's responsibility is NOT to represent the views of the community. He is to call people to repentance, just like Jesus. That is what he is doing & they don't like it.
But it gets even worse. What do they say in the final line of the article? "Time for Cordileone to move on from San Francisco." In short they are working to drive him out, just like the empress used her minions to drive out Pope St. Silverious.
* As a sidenote, this removal of the patriarch of Constantinople by the Pope took place in the 6th Century. Clearly even then the Pope was recognized as more than just the 1st among equals. He had some authority over other Bishops that they didn't have over him.That they make this claim is no surprise. Those supporting "gay rights" including that to marry, have long painted the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexual acts as hateful. They ignore the fact that the Church has always taught that any sexual act outside of marriage, including adultry, fornication & mastubation, are sinful as well.
1 of Pelosi's media supporters, SFGate, did an attack piece on the Archbishop dated 18 June. In it they said that they were suprised that the Archbishop was still going to speak at the event. Like so often in the past, those groups, like Family Research Council were painted as hatefilled because they spoke the truth about what the real LGBT agenda. In doing so, they ignored groups like NAMBLA that do push for legalizing pedophilia. I won't go into all their false charges made.
Up to the end of the hit piece, they totally ignore that all he is doing is upholding authentic Catholic teaching. But if they did acknowledge it then they couldn't justify their claims that the Archbishop's actions were puzzling.
So when they finally get to what the Church teaches, they basically tell the Archbishop to shut up. The article says "Cordileone is flying across the country as the only announced representative of the Catholic Church to participate in an event that surely has little support in San Francisco. If the archbishop would like to take on gang violence or homelessness - the church-affiliated St. Vincent de Paul homeless shelter is one of the largest in the city - that would be fine.
But the fact is that this marriage crusade is his issue, not San Francisco's. There may be a place where his views would represent the community. This isn't it."
Yes, you read right, because they disagree with Church teaching on marriage they demand he not speak out on it. Let's just do the nice social justice things. Of course, without any mention of Jesus.
They want 1 of the Church's shepherds to conform to their agenda & not go out & seek the lost sheep like Jesus did. Archbishop Cordeleone's responsibility is NOT to represent the views of the community. He is to call people to repentance, just like Jesus. That is what he is doing & they don't like it.
But it gets even worse. What do they say in the final line of the article? "Time for Cordileone to move on from San Francisco." In short they are working to drive him out, just like the empress used her minions to drive out Pope St. Silverious.
SFGate had better accept the fact that they won't get their way. He will not leave unless the Pope needs him more elsewhere. He will stay & keep speaking out. Given how things are going, he made come under physical attack including an attempt or 2 on his life.
Archbishop Cordileone is clearly following in the steps of many brave Bishops, like Blessed Cardinal von Galen, & Pope Silverius. He has made it clear he will not be silent, no matter what those opposing him try.
Empress Theodora didn't get her way. Neither will Pelosi & her gang.
Finally, please pray for Archbishop Cordileone,# especially that God will protect him & continue to give him the strength & courage he needs to be a faithful shepherd.
________________# Cordileone is Italiano for heart of the lion. Clearly the Archbishop is living up to his name by showing courage in the face of these attacks.
posted by Al @ 10:17 PM
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