On having a difficult Monarch

A question Monarchists often get asked when they make the case for monarchism is the oft cited yet poorly thought argument: "But what if we have a bad monarch?" By which we could argue all day by what we mean by bad, there have been numerous harsh rulers in human history who often brought their country kicking and screaming into either greatness or equality on the world stage. But of course they mean the tyrants, or the imbeciles, or the ones who don't know what damage they do to the hearts of their subjects and countrymen by poorly thought out words.

However to these people, and many of whom are my fellow Catholics, I say 'Well, what about Pope Francis?"

The Catholic Church and its members are facing this dilemna right now, and it pains me to say it but yes, I honestly think Pope Franciscus is a 'bad Pope'. At least, by all indications he is one. For are we all not bound to obey him? Particular myself since I did swear publicly to do so. Therefore we are faced with a great difficulty, obeying and loving a Pope whose inconsistency and flippancy is harming the faith we love. And make no mistake, it is.

Now before you fling the fire and arrows at me, I am not comparing him to the Borgias or other 'black Popes', certainly not, he has yet to prove himself a Tyrant so he does not deserve such rotten comparisons. He is however, endlessly flippant in his manner of speech and flouting of Papal protocals. He is the Pope and he may live where-ever he wishes, but the cumulative effect of flouting of traditions and, indeed, treasures of the Faith, (It pained me to see him on the balcony without him wearing the red), has done immense damage spiritually. His casual remarks about the greatest evils of the modern world being youth unemployment and loneliness of the elderly rocks the Catholic base because it is so supremely out of touch with the modern world and its multitudious failings, some of which are infinitely greater then the evils he mentioned. And of course, I say this as an unemployed young man.

This is not meant to be a criticism of the Pope as there are better Catholics then myself discussing his recent actions, but rather a preface to our real concern in this article: That is how Catholics are handling it.

The answer: Badly.

The difference has been staggering. Those who considered themselves conservative Catholics who condemned the liberal Catholics of the world for trying to shut them up under Benedictus are now shouting at the traditionalists to shut up for fear of causing dissent over the Pope's actions, while the traditionalists, who for years had been shrugging off the odious and unjustified title of Pharisee seem to be in danger of outright calling the Pope a heretic, some even openly flirting with Schism.

All the while the liberals are purring like Persian cats in the laps of the enemy and organisations like NARAL are doing the happy dance.

Pardon my language, if you will my friends.

But you all need a bloody slap across the jaw.

The Pope's actions are incredibly regrettable, although he hasn't contradicted Dogma or doctrine, but that is no excuse for the conservatives to forgive the foolishness of his recent actions. The doctrinal sanctity is the Bailey of the castle, and you should not count it as a victory that it has not fallen when the walls are tumbled, the moat crossed and the surrounding city in flames. Meanwhile, to traditionalist, I would warn that flirting too close to schism risks the same as opening the gates to let the enemy in, because when an army's heavy shock troops leave the formation, what will forestall the enemy's spears? Are you that keen on letting the line break?

Thank God we have Francis and not a Borgia, because if this is how you conduct yourselves in the face of a Pope who is merely SUPREMELY naive and, dare I say it, Childish (not childlike) in how he conducts his office, I'd hate to see how you would fair if we truly had a black Pope to contend with.

If you want to have an effect on how he conducts himself, then, take advantage of something we all know he actually pays attention to. Send him a letter, have it signed by thousands of concerned Catholics (don't you dare tell me you are incapable of doing it, a hundred Catholics with a rosary can start an avalanche) with actual ink, in their actual handwriting. Its been done before, agree to a formal letter in respectful tone, detailing the anguish the Pope's actions have caused and more importantly, ask him why he seems as though he is blind to the anguish it causes. Then sign it with everyone you know, pass it along to the next city and so on. If secular people on a site as odious as Deviantart can do a similar project, you damn well can as well. He may turn away a spiritual gift of a million rosaries, but I'd like to see him turn away a letter with so many names upon it, written in their own hands. If nothing else, we'd get the measure of the man.

As for myself, I will admit, although I am loathed to, I had misgivings from the start with Francis. From the moment I saw him on the Loggia, I had a strange, deadening feeling inside my heart, I do not know what it was, probably nervousness, but I paid it no mind, I was not going to judge a man I did not know in the slightest based on a mere feeling.

What disturbs me most, is that through reading the blogs of my fellows I found I was not the only one who felt it.