Are Pope Francis’s Unofficial Spokesman and Inner Circle like Bill Clinton Denying "There Is an Is"?
One of Pope Francis’s “unofficial spokespeople” made a Bill Clinton-like it depends on the meaning of "is" statement on homosexual predator McCarrick.
Francis's unofficial spokesman Andrea Tornielli, on September 14 in an article for La Stampa's Vatican Insider, proclaimed:
Francis's unofficial spokesman Andrea Tornielli, on September 14 in an article for La Stampa's Vatican Insider, proclaimed:
"McCarrick did not have homosexual relations."
Francis's unofficial spokesman appears to be saying that McCarrick "did not have sexual relations" with victims in the same way Clinton said he "did not have sexual relations" with a 22-year-old White House intern:
"The Clinton–Lewinsky scandal was an American political sex scandal that involved 49-year-old President Bill Clinton and 22-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The sexual relationship took place between 1995 and 1997 and came to light in 1998. Clinton ended a televised speech in late January 1998 with the statement that he "did not have sexual relations" with Lewinsky."
Bill Clinton and Francis's unofficial spokesman "there is an is" or such a thing as reality and truthfulness.
Many years ago, I spoke with a Texan director of a crisis pregnancy center who has saved thousands of unborn babies. We spoke of a pro-life group whose top priority was not saving as many babies as possible. They were living a lie. He said to stay away from them because they are "spiritual masturbators."
"Spiritual masturbation," which is what homosexuals like McCarrick ultimately are doing, is a good metaphor for the spiritual direction our society and, unfortunately, it appears Francis's inner circle appear to be going.
It is a metaphor for untruthfulness and ultimately insanity.
"The ultimate direction of masturbation always has to be insanity," Norman Mailer said.
Masturbation – as the pornography industry knows – is a profitable lie. If one imagines having sex with a porn star it is a perversion and untruth. The imagination is used to reach unreality and sin.
In contrast to this abuse, the imagination can be used to reach into deep reality. As Thomas Aquinas demonstrated, the mind can grasp the realities of love, truth and God using the senses, the imagination and reason. One only need read Shakespeare or G.K. Chesterton to see the imagination grasping deep truths.
Chesterton, in a book on Thomas Aquinas' philosophy, shows how the reason and imagination can work together to reveal the philosophical reality of being:
"A brilliant Victorian scientist delighted in declaring that the child does not see any grass at all; but only a sort of green mist reflected in a tiny mirror of the human eye.
"This piece of rationalism has always struck me as almost insanely irrational. If he is not sure of the existence of the grass, which he sees through the glass of a window, how on earth can he be sure of the existence of the retina, which he sees through the glass of a microscope. ... [T]he child is aware of Ens [being]. Long before he knows that grass is grass, or self is self, he knows that something is something. Perhaps it would be best to say very emphatically [with a blow on the table], There is an Is ... a thing cannot be and not be. Henceforth, in common or popular language, there is false and true."
The masturbator who imagines he is with the porn star is not in is – or, in common language, he is in falsehood. His body and imagination are moving – as moderns would say, progressing – but the direction of his mind is toward unreality. The porn addict and people like Clinton must always ask for the definition of 'is' because they are living in a lie.
Once one denies absolute truth and the law of identity, he will live in a lie. As Steve Ditko said, "Aristotle formulated the law of identity. A is A. A thing is what it is. It has a specific nature and identity. It cannot contradict itself and be a lie."
Fr. Z on his blog on November 10, 2014 quoted The Catholic Things' Robert Royal showing that Francis's inner circle is moving towards the Clinton-like denial of "there is an is":
"Pope Francis clearly approved... Kasper['s]... incoherent... marriage is indissoluble and yet those in second sexual relationships... not a marriage... may... return to receiving Communion... repeal[ing] the Law of Non-contradiction."
Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church.
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