Those who attack Pope Benedict are attacking Pope Francis

 Friends, I thought a simple title, such as the above puts it in a very straight forward manner. It is also very biblical: Our Lord warned the disciples that they would be hated on account of him...

Though we have but recently posted on the close spiritual and psychological bond between the Holy Father and the great Benedict XVI; the attacks against the previous Pope continue unabated. There simply is no end in the ability of the human mind to twist; deceive itself away from the truth. 

On March 15th, Pope Francis spoke these words to the College of Cardinals: 

My thoughts turn with great affection and profound gratitude to my venerable Predecessor Benedict XVI, who enriched and invigorated the Church during the years of his Pontificate by his teaching, his goodness, his leadership, his faith, his humility and his meekness. All this remains as a spiritual patrimony for us all. The Petrine ministry, lived with total dedication, found in him a wise and humble exponent, his gaze always firmly on Christ, the risen Christ, present and alive in the Eucharist. We will always accompany him with fervent prayers, with constant remembrance, with undying and affectionate gratitude. We feel that Benedict XVI has kindled a flame deep within our hearts: a flame that will continue to burn because it will be fed by his prayers, which continue to sustain the Church on her spiritual and missionary path.

Notwithstanding the Holy Father's deep love and admiration for Benedict, so-called Catholics (invariably those who disagree with Christ's Church on sexual morality, human life, and by extension the Faith itself) continue to spread vicious lies about Pope Benedict. 

Consider this from a Canadian blogger who devotes much energy to a personal attack upon the emeritus Pope by falsely implying that he was a spiritual fraud. 

We now have a pope who is intentional in modelling and living a servant leadership; not just for photo-ops but in his day to day style. 

So, we know the degree of hatred towards Pope Benedict. We also see the level of depravity that a person must have to presume against the inner soul of another human being. Here we have a writer who has never met the Holy Father - and yet, he was only in it for photo-ops  etc..... this slander is pure evil. 

And more - this personal distaste is now extended to bishops. A bishop who stands for the faith and opposes evil is just a man who is looking to be promoted. 

... careerism doesn’t end with an episcopal appointment or entrance into the College of Cardinals. In recent years, being extra vocal on culture issues seemed to guarantee a boost up the hierarchical ladder. Judgmental finger-wagging and threats of excommunications might have divided local churches and turned many faithful away, but they didn’t seem to care.

Here we have sexual morality reduced to "culture", Why not have the courage to come out with it? As to the falling away of the lay faithful, they already have....The old falsehood that people will return to church if the priest winks at sin is just a bold lie. On the contrary, people are hungering for truth and will not find it from those who have bought into the culture of death. We all see parishes collapsing around us for precisely the lack of true pastoral vision from cowardly priests.  

Sinister and wicked as the previous quotes are, they lack the sophistication of an even more evil  motivation: a redefining and perversion of the Second Vatican Council. In fact, Pope Benedict denounced these evil-doers who had corrupted the Second Vatican Council before the Roman clergy prior to his resignation as the :"council of the media". 

Consider this bold faced lie from the National Catholic Reporter: 

For Francis, Vatican II's spirit seems second nature, as it was and remains in the Vatican II priests now often under siege by Benedict's efforts to reform the reform of Vatican II.

So we no longer have Catholic priests; we now have "Vatican II priests". Perhaps these are the "priests" who no longer believe in the Real Presence? 

 ...he [Pope Benedict] was determined to diminish the influence of that council that he insisted had been misunderstood and misinterpreted.

Another diabolical lie! 

To all of this I say: 

Pope Benedict we thank you for the great service you have given throughout your entire life, and as Pope. We thank-you for your courage - we thank you for liberating the Mass!