Pope vilifies criticism from some Catholic outlets as ‘the work of the devil’

[Stone]

Pope vilifies criticism from EWTN and other Catholic outlets as ‘the work of the devil’

During the same meeting, Pope Francis said that homosexual couples deserve pastoral support which is affirming of relationships based on sodomy.

VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - SEPTEMBER 10: Pope Francis greets the pilgrims during his weekly general audience in St Peter's square at the Vatican on September 10, 2014.

Sep 22, 2021
(LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis harshly criticized U.S. Catholic network EWTN and other like-minded Catholic news outlets who have raised concerns about his pontificate, declaring that their criticism is “the work of the devil.”

The Pontiff voiced his disparaging remarks against the network founded by Mother Angelica during a meeting with fellow Jesuits in Slovakia last week.

During the same meeting, the Pontiff said that while gender ideology is dangerous, homosexual couples deserve pastoral support which is affirming of relationships based on sodomy.

Gender ideology, the Pope said, “is abstract with respect to the concrete life of a person, as if a person could decide abstractly at will if and when to be a man or a woman.”

“Abstraction is always a problem for me. This has nothing to do with the homosexual issue, though,” he told the room full of Jesuits. “If there is a homosexual couple, we can do pastoral work with them, move forward in our encounter with Christ.” He made no mention of the gravely sinful nature of homosexuality.


Pope Francis says criticisms of him are diabolical ‘attacks’ on the Church

Toward the end of the meeting, noting that some Catholics view Pope Francis as “heterodox,” a Jesuit asked the Pope, “How do you deal with people who look at you with suspicion?”  

The Pontiff responded by suggesting that criticisms of him are diabolical attacks on the Church.

“There is, for example, a large Catholic television channel that has no hesitation in continually speaking ill of the pope,” said Francis. “I personally deserve attacks and insults because I am a sinner, but the Church does not deserve them. They are the work of the devil. I have also said this to some of them.” 

Jesuit-run America Magazine was the first to report the Pope’s calumny after another Jesuit priest, papal confidante Father Antonio Spadaro, editor-in-chief of Jesuit magazine La Civiltà Cattolica, who was present at the meeting, provided an English translation of Francis’ remarks. Spadaro is not a disinterested journalist when it comes to criticism of his good friend, the Pope. In 2018 he retweeted a call for EWTN to be shut down until its flagship news show host, Raymond Arroyo, is fired.

Although the Pope did not specifically mention EWTN, the Jesuit magazine gladly connected the dots for its readers, identifying EWTN as the primary target of the Pope’s condemnation. 

America Magazine’s Gerard O’Connell explained:

While Francis did not name the “large Catholic television channel” in his answer, his remark “I have also said this to some of them” offers a clue as to which station he was referring. America has learned from three different Vatican officials, who asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to speak, that the pope touched on this same topic on his flight from Rome to Baghdad on March 5, when he greeted each of the journalists on the flight.

On that occasion, when the pope reached EWTN’s reporter and cameraman, one of them told him they were praying for him. He responded that maybe Mother Angelica, EWTN’s founder, is in heaven praying for him, but that they—referring to the entire network—“should stop speaking badly about me.” He used the Italian word sparlare, which means “to bad mouth,” “to say nasty things” or “to speak ill of.” America’s Vatican correspondent was on the papal flight and learned this immediately after the visit to Iraq.

America Magazine also drew a connection between EWTN and its associated publication, the National Catholic Register (NCR), noting that NCR was “one of two outlets that published the former nuncio to the United States and QAnon conspiracy theorist Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s explosive 2018 ‘testimony’ calling on the pope to resign.”

The other outlet, left unmentioned by America Magazine Vatican correspondent O’Connell, was LifeSiteNews.


EWTN’s criticism of the Pope: Frequent and well-warranted

In recent years, LifeSiteNews has frequently covered EWTN’s commentary concerning Pope Francis’ frequent troubling, puzzling statements and actions which challenge or even seemingly discard Church teaching. 

During the course of his pontificate, Francis has signaled that the divorced and remarried should be allowed to receive Communion; told homosexuals that they are “born that way;” referred to gender-confused men as “girls;” taught against the death penalty, despite settled Church teaching on the matter; expressed openness to “women deacons;” welcomed pro-abortion public figures as Vatican experts; cheer-led for climate-extremism; entered a pact with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) surrendering the underground Church faithful there to CCP control; ignored the Dubia by four Cardinals concerning Amoris Laetitia, as well as Archbishop Viganò’s testimony regarding his handling of then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s homosexual predation; warned Catholics not to “proselytize” their neighbors; participated in a pagan ritual in the Vatican Gardens centering on a pagan idol, Pachamama; and has suggested that God wills the “diversity of religions.”

The a partial list of articles by LSN on EWTN’s well-warranted critical coverage of the Pope, giving a good indication of why the Pope singled out the U.S. Catholic TV network [this list can be found in this original article, linked above].