Rorate Caeli

"A Cry from the Heart: Things that have never been seen or heard at the Throne of Peter in the history of the Church"

                September 5, 2014


The series “From the Casa Santa Marta” has begun to appear again on the Vatican website. ...[T]hose experts assigned to overseeing this operation have resumed the distribution on the Vatican website of these “Daily Meditations,” offering a sort of running commentary on the Pope’s words, even with the conspicuousness of what he did not say and what was said mistakenly.

The most recent case is attributing to Saint Paul the words, “I boast of my sins,” without making clear that Saint Paul, in the twelfth chapter of the Second Letter to the Corinthians, is not speaking of his sins but rather of his weaknesses.  The Greek word used by Saint Paul is asthéneia [ἀσθένεια], which means “weakness,” and not “sin”.
And He (Jesus) said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

These weaknesses are therefore the physical and spiritual sufferings that Saint Paul himself lists, certainly not his sins.

It would be at the threshold of the grotesque if it were not for the impact of the words of the Pope and the silent absence of the ones who should have the courage and the responsibility to rectify what was said when and if necessary.


This blog is a journal that broadcasts complaints, cries of pain, questions, feelings of consternation, an affirmation of Catholic teaching in view of events that are unprecedented and seriously harmful to the Faith and in view of statements similar to the one in the Pope’s recent homily mentioned above.  But where are the priests, the bishops, the cardinals who should be speaking out loudly and who instead do not even sound the bleat of a lamb?  With the sheep who are taking on the smell of the wolves instead of the fragrance of Christ?  Perhaps they are all hidden after all in the sacristies that have been transformed into latrines?  


This is unfortunately no joke. [See image below.]