"Lies! I Was Cheated" -- Pope Francis' Daring Statement About Mary

(Vatican) In the daily morning sermon at Domus Santae Marthae on the 20 December, Pope Francis portrayed the Blessed Virgin Mary as an icon of silence who bore the mystery of God within her.  But the Pope expressed hitherto completely new thoughts on the attitude of Mary on Calvary this past Friday.   Is Pope Francis forming Marian theology? Mary not as co-redeemer, but as a rebel? Or an all in one, as the world today likes? The Pope said:

Maria Accused God of Deceit?

"The Gospel tells us nothing: if she said a word or not ... She was quiet, but in her heart -  how much she said to the Lord!  'You told me then  - that's what we have read - that He will be great. You told me that You would give him the throne of his father David, that he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And now I see Him there!' The Blessed Mother was human! And perhaps she would have  wanted  to say, 'lies! I have been cheated!'. John Paul II said this when he spoke of the Mother of God at one point. But she was  overshadowed with the silence of the mystery that she did not understand, and with this silence, she has accepted that this mystery can grow and flourish in the hope ".

This passage from the morning sermon by Pope Francis for  Holy Mass in the Domus Santa Marta was published by Italian editors of Vatican Radio. The German editors reported this sermon as on every day, but omitted this point, however.

Daring Interpretation of Pope Francis

The daring interpretation that Pope Francis gives to Mary's silence,  gives rise spontaneously to two questions.The first question that imposes itself is: In what document or speech is  Pope John Paul II  to have put such words of the Virgin Mother of God in her mouth?

Some searching and consultation  of a colleague proved successful. The passage refers to the Encyclical Redemptoris Mater of the Polish pope about the Blessed Virgin Mary in the life of the Pilgrim Church. But what Pope Francis says his  predecessor John Paul II may have said, does not correspond to what John Paul II said. The difference in content and language is astounding. Here are the words of John Paul II in the original:

John Paul II said something else

This blessing reaches its full meaning when Mary stands beneath the Cross of her Son (cf. Jn. 19:25). The Council says that this happened "not without a divine plan": by "suffering deeply with her only-begotten Son and joining herself with her maternal spirit to his sacrifice, lovingly consenting to the immolation of the victim to whom she had given birth," in this way Mary "faithfully preserved her union with her Son even to the Cross."38 It is a union through faith- the same faith with which she had received the angel's revelation at the Annunciation. At that moment she had also heard the words: "He will be great...and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end" (Lk. 1:32-33).

And now, standing at the foot of the Cross, Mary is the witness, humanly speaking, of the complete negation of these words. On that wood of the Cross her Son hangs in agony as one condemned. "He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows...he was despised, and we esteemed him not": as one destroyed (cf. Is. 53:3- 5). How great, how heroic then is the obedience of faith shown by Mary in the face of God's "unsearchable judgments"! How completely she "abandons herself to God" without reserve, offering the full assent of the intellect and the will"39 to him whose "ways are inscrutable" (cf. Rom. 11:33)! And how powerful too is the action of grace in her soul, how all-pervading is the influence of the Holy Spirit and of his light and power!

Through this faith Mary is perfectly united with Christ in his self- emptying. For "Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men": precisely on Golgotha "humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross" (cf. Phil. 2:5-8). At the foot of the Cross Mary shares through faith in the shocking mystery of this self- emptying. This is perhaps the deepest "kenosis" of faith in human history. Through faith the Mother shares in the death of her Son, in his redeeming death; but in contrast with the faith of the disciples who fled, hers was far more enlightened. On Golgotha, Jesus through the Cross definitively confirmed that he was the "sign of contradiction" foretold by Simeon. At the same time, there were also fulfilled on Golgotha the words which Simeon had addressed to Mary: "and a sword will pierce through your own soul also."

[ Redemptoris Mater, 18]

The statements of John Paul II seem to have nothing to do with what Pope Francis attributed to them. The faith of Mary is referred to by John Paul II as "heroic" and "enlightened" in comparison to that of the disciples. In the encyclical, there is not the slightest indication of any possible doubt on  the part of the Virgin Mother of God.

Upon What Did Pope Francis Base his Statement?

The second question, however, relates to the wider context of revelation and theology: upon which theological arguments does Pope Francis base his pronouncing a very, let us say with the utmost restraint, "impetuous" judgment of the Blessed All Holy Virgin Mary? We sincerely have no idea.

If they were really  spoken or thought by the Mother of God, they would be called blasphemous. But the doubts and the questions that  Pope Francis puts in Mary's  mouth, have no equivalent in Revelation, even less in the tradition of the Church or in the Fathers. Where do they come but then? They do not correspond either to the Scriptures or the Church's teaching, but solely the thought Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Thoughts that the new pope  had already repeatedly hinted at or has expressed directly. It is Bergoglio's conviction that the faith in order to be "authentic" must implicitly include doubt.

The Confession of Doubt

The "personal creed" written by him at the age of almost 33, shortly before his ordination  (see separate report , The "Personal Commitment" of Pope Francis Before his Ordination 44 years Ago ) brings two concets in connection with the belief this connection between  authenticity and the doubts expressed. The note with this "credo" of 1969 might be stuck in Bergolio's private folder, but it is hidden to the world. However, the current Pope revealed it several times to others and even said a few years ago that he would sign it as much today as then. Along with several statements since the beginning of his pontificate, there is another dimension.

In an interview with the Jesuit journal La Civita Cattolica of 19 September the Pope said:

“The risk in seeking and finding God in all things, then, is the willingness to explain too much, to say with human certainty and arrogance: ‘God is here.’ We will find only a god that fits our measure. The correct attitude is that of St Augustine: seek God to find him, and find God to keep searching for God forever. Often we seek as if we were blind, as one often reads in the Bible. And this is the experience of the great fathers of the faith, who are our models. We have to re-read the Letter to the Hebrews, Chapter 11. Abraham leaves his home without knowing where he was going, by faith. All of our ancestors in the faith died seeing the good that was promised, but from a distance.... Our life is not given to us like an opera libretto, in which all is written down; but it means going, walking, doing, searching, seeing.... We must enter into the adventure of the quest for meeting God; we must let God search and encounter us.

The German translation follows almost without deviation  in the Jesuit journal, Stimmen der Zeit. The Pope also spoke at the general audience on 30 October that he himself has had  doubt:

"Who of us - all all! - Who of us has not  experienced uncertainty, confusion and even doubt on a journey of faith? All! We've all experienced this: I also. Everybody. It is part of the journey of faith, it is part of our lives. All this ought not surprise us, because we are humans, marked by weaknesses and limitations. Do not be alarmed. We all have weaknesses and limitations!"

The Lofty Language of the Church's tradition to Mary

In what context are  these generalizations  that are derived from personal experience. which may be quite correct, have to do with what divine revelation, the Scriptures and the Church's teaching say about Mary Mother of God? The Most Holy Mother of God, the new Eve, the Immaculate Conception, the sinless, Virgin without stain. But how do doubt and outright rebellion against God belong to Mary, of Whom is the sung the most sublime and oldest hymns like the Magnificat, like the  Bavarian and Austrian manner of eloquent  folk variation  dating in its origins from the early Christian prayer, Tota pulchra es Maria :

Thou art all-lovely, O Mary,
and in thee there is no stain of original sin.
 Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, 
Thou art the joy of Israel, 
Thou art the honour of thy people. 
Thou art the advocate of sinners,

O Mary! O Mary!

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Messa in Latino
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches....

Ed: seems like silence is an opportunity to interpolate one's own personal confusion and fear, especially when it comes to modern theology.

AMGD