Pope Benedict’s “Court” Under Attack by Francis’ Clueless Biographer…
August 13, 2019 (LifeSiteNews)
Austen Ivereigh, the British journalist and biographer of Pope Francis, has stated that the circle surrounding Pope emeritus Benedict — which he said includes the Vatican’s former doctrine head Cardinal Müller — must be brought under “control” since it is a source of “scandal and of division.”
Ivereigh made these comments in an August 10 interview to the Chilean newspaper La Tercera, in which he speaks about his upcoming book on Pope Francis, titled The Wounded Shepherd.
Speaking about those who he holds as resisting Pope Francis, Ivereigh points especially to the circle around Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, and most especially to Cardinal Gerhard Müller — the former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — whom he describes as a “leader” of the opposition.
“We have to find a way to control his [Benedict’s] court, which is at this moment a source of scandal and of division,” he said.
Ivereigh singled out Cardinal Müller as one of the most senior voices of opposition against the way Pope Francis is leading the Catholic Church. He mentioned a “very vociferous and potent” group of Catholics which launches “a missile every month,” trying to “discredit him [the Pope]”. Click here to read rest of this report on the outrageous Ivereigh.
Comment:
“We have to find a way to control Benedict’s court…” Outrageous! Just who does this guy think he is? And what’s with this “Benedict’s court”? We don’t have a “court” for Pope Benedict. If there are still people in the Vatican who cling to some Catholic beliefs, that’s great. If they happen to be friendly with Benedict, that’s interesting but not surprising. Pope Francis doesn’t like Catholicism. He has made that clear. So anyone who continues to believe in the “old Faith” better keep quiet around Papa Francis. Hardly breaking news. As for trying to discredit the Pope – priceless! He’s done that all by his little Argentine self; he really doesn’t need any help in that department.
Arrogance personified, Austen Ivereigh came to fame as the co-founder of Catholic Voices, an organisation of lay people set up in 2010 to provide speakers on request from the media, prior to the visit to the UK of Pope Benedict. They were there, we kept hearing, to provide competent lay people, representatives who could explain the Church’s teaching in news broadcasts, discussions etc. They were not officially linked to the Bishops’ Conference but the group had the Bishops’ blessing, which tells you all you need to know about the likelihood of their orthodoxy. Indeed, it was painful watching them in action with one gaffe following another in various TV programmes. Catastrophically, Ivereigh, along with his co-founder Jack Valero, showed unbelievable ignorance about Catholic sexual morality in a series of TV interviews following Pope Benedict’s unfortunate comments about condoms. Read SPUC’s response – Jack Valero and Austen Ivereigh need remedial training in Catholic teaching on sexual ethics
Then there was the much publicised case against the Daily Mail – click here to read about that sorry episode…
All in all, Ivereigh strikes me as a decidedly unsavoury character, and an opportunist. He leapt, for example, at the opportunity to spread dissent through the creation of the Catholic Voices group, so, opportunist or not, he has to be given credit for not missing and hitting the wall, as the saying goes.
And his devotion to this shocker of a pontiff is something else. He has already written one book in praise of Pope Francis, The Great Reformer (just look at the names of those who are delighted with it…) and now he’s writing another which, judging by the title (The Wounded Shepherd) has moved Francis out of the “Great Reformer” category into victim mould. Poor Papa Francis! Being criticised for trying to overturn the Commandments, especially the one on adultery which is just tooooooo difficult; and his efforts to end “homophobia” are just not appreciated by those nasty, bigoted, Catholics who want to live in a museum Church… I can just imagine it but will apologise profusely if I’m on the wrong track. Whatever, we can be certain that Ivereigh will not be joining the ranks of those of us deeply concerned about the damage which Pope Francis is doing to the Church – that’s a given.
As for his assault on Pope Benedict, dressed up as criticism of Benedict’s “circle” or “court” – how dare he! My advice to Ivereigh is to educate himself in the Catholic Faith so that he sees the truth about Pope Francis who is the person doing the wounding. He is wounding the faith of countless Catholics, ordained and lay, by undermining doctrine and morality. If he entitles his next book Francis: Worst Pope in History, I’ll feel there may be hope for him after all. Until then, I’ll keep working on my book about Austen Ivereigh – entitled Clueless About Catholicism…
What would your book title be, if you decided to write about Mr Ivereigh? Keep it printable and non-actionable, please and thank you!
Comments (21)
Reading that brought back memories of feeling mortified watching the Catholic Voices people being interviewed on TV. They were not knowledgeable about the faith, I even remember when they were recruiting members that there were some complaints about them turning away Catholics who applied to join their media group because they were on the “traditional” side. The fact that the two leaders, Valero and Ivereigh, didn’t know what the Church teaches about condoms was mind-boggling. They had the nerve to present themselves as experts on the faith, ready to speak in media interviews, what arrogance.
MM,
I, too, remember complaints about their recruiting/vetting process – with some obviously qualified applicants being turned away. However, I can’t remember any details – it’s all a bit vague in my mind now, at this distance in time and a quick Google just now brought up reports of complaints against the Garda in Ireland and various other unrelated complaints, so let’s leave that there for now!
Suffice to say, I’ve had a quick scroll through “the team” on the CV website and I haven’t heard of any of them.
Austen Ivereigh has a real nerve to speak as if he had some kind of official role to play in the Vatican, as a protection officer for Pope Francis, LOL!
My book would be titled “Austen Ivereigh – Control Freak!”
Fidelis,
I suspect your chosen title is apposite – with bells and ribbons on!
I’ve just skimmed through their website and their stated purpose is to help Catholics in the UK to make their voices heard in the public square. That means learning to think in terms of the common good, and developing arguments that convince in a culture dominated by the ethic of autonomy.
Er? I’m glad I didn’t fall into that temptation mentioned in my response to RCA Victor below, to email, in my awesome media capacity as editor of Catholic Truth, to ask for a definition of a ‘Holyday of Obligation’ – I’d probably still be pouring over the reply – with a Philadelphia lawyer – trying to understand the answer 😀
I have copied one of the videos that is on the page where a list of modernists are praising Ivereigh’s book The Great Reformer and in there he is speaking in praise of Francis’ full blown ecumenism. The rationale for this is the claim that we have a shared Baptism with Protestants but how can this be if the rubric is important. The water has to be poured, but some Protestants, probably most, allow a choice, sprinkling, pouring or immersion. What if someone is baptised with the minister sprinkling the water – is that a proper baptism, or if they don’t say the words at the same time? Maybe I’m behind the times, maybe these things don’t matter any more, but I find it very confusing. That would be the title of my Ivereigh book – “Ivereigh the Great Confuser”!
Editor – removed the link as requested, wrong video. To view video, visit The Great Reformer link http://thegreatreformer.com/ and click on video entitled Pope Francis Saint or Schismatic
Josephine,
I’ve checked up on the Baptism question for you, in the Catholic Encyclopaedia:
“Three forms of ablution have prevailed among Christians, and the Church holds them all to be valid because they fulfill the requisite signification of the baptismal laving. These forms are immersion, infusion, and aspersion.”
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02258b.htm#vi
Like you, I have a memory of having heard or been taught that the water had to be poured, with the priest saying the words “I Baptize thee…” at the same time, but seems things have moved on!
I will have more to post later on this, but it seems clear that Pope Francis, The Cunning Pope, once again chooses to speak through his sycophants, rather than to speak clearly himself, about his true thoughts and intentions. The same technique was used in response to Abp. Vigano’s testimony: silence from the Pope, smear campaigns from his sycophants.
Ivereigh’s laughable pomposity actually confirms that the man behind the curtain is solely in pursuit of power, power and more power – and not the preservation of the Catholic Faith, but its destruction.
RCA Victor,
I agree that it is shocking to see a pope using smear campaign tactics against his critics, using a spokesman – and who among us could possibly disagree with your final paragraph? Not moi… Or me…
I agree with everyone here. Ivereigh is a real sycophant and he is one of those I can’t wait to see react when (hopefully) we get a really good pope who is teaching the faith and calling out what has gone on under Francis. Will Ivereigh find the true faith then, “come out of the closet” saying he really didn’t mean all that modernist stuff?
I can’t think of a title that would be both printable and non-actionable so I will have to keep thinking about that one, LOL!
Nicky,
When you think of that printable and non-actionable title, I’ll be here, waiting with bated breath! 😀
Presumably AI has the Pope’s blessing and approval for this nonsensical screed, so I would like to emphasize what I only hinted at earlier: this interview reveals even more about Francis than it does about AI, especially in (a) his choice of ignorant, squeaky-wheel, dishonest “Catholics” to defend his utterly corrupt person and his heretical agenda, and (b) that Francis, like Richard Nixon, has an enemies list.
Coincidentally, I’ve just started reading a fascinating study of Communist infiltration in America during the 1920s and 30s: “The Red Decade,” by Eugene Lyons. Chapter X of this book is entitled “The Liberals Invent a Utopia,” and it details how delusional American intellectuals, liberals, reporters, glitterati, etc. were publishing glamorous accounts of life in the Soviet Union, even as Stalin was busily liquidating his own enemies list, starving to death millions of kulaks in the Ukraine, North Caucasus and Central Asia, thousands dropping dead trying to dig a canal in the Arctic, executing the same type of intellectuals as those Americans who were rhapsodizing over him…not to mention the millions of Russians standing in line in the sub-zero weather “in the desperate hope of buying a little food or kerosene or a few yards of cotton goods.”
Francis’ revolution is doing the same thing to the Church, spiritually and psychologically, as Stalin’s Communists did to the Russian people, materially and psychologically. And Francis’ shameless sycophants are pursuing the same delusional line as did the Communist apologists – glorifying the revolution and ignoring and dismissing Divinely revealed truth – while conducting smear campaigns against those who dare to cling to the Faith; maneuvering faithful Catholics out of power and otherwise marginalizing them; attacking those who expose the corruption of the revolutionary cabal.
So thank you, AI, for confirming what we already knew about your hero. You are quite useful, in your own dishonest way.
RCA Victor,
Yes, AI is definitely a “useful idiot” (to continue with your Communism, so to speak 😀 ) – I wish I’d thought of using his initials because it’s not easy to type his surname, not that he can be blamed for that (she said grudgingly 😀 )
As others have said, he really showed his dissenting colours when he set up Catholic Voices. The irony of him (and his co-founder) saying they felt CV was necessary to answer the questions the media were likely to ask prior to and during the visit of Pope Benedict, was very evident to us all, very quickly. I was tempted to email, in my awesome media capacity as editor of Catholic Truth, to ask for a definition of a ‘Holyday of Obligation’ but thought better of it… just in time!
I quickly checked just now to see if I could find the post we had on Catholic Voices some time ago, just after the election of Papa Francis, when I was invited to participate in a conversation/interview on BBC World News, along with a female member of the Catholic Voices team but I can’t find it. She was a very pleasant person although we definitely disagreed on the subject of the interview. And we’d disagree even more now, no question about it. He is damaging the Church more and more by the nano-second. How anyone can approve of this pontiff’s words and deeds is really beyond belief, at this advanced state in the diabolical disorientation prophesied at Fatima.
Editor,
There was a second reason I used “AI” besides “easier to type”: AI is the acronym for Artificial Intelligence….
Brilliant!
RCA Victor, you got me thinking about brains…
https://brainetwork2.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/my-brain-is-like-the-bermuda-triangle.jpg?w=300
The strategy of the “scorched earth” practiced by the autistic ideologues of the “conciliar sect” to be filled will not prevent the Holy Church from triumphing over her enemies; did not Pope Francis speak of “Tradition reduced to ashes”?
Certainly, the Church has for half a century stubbornly been led to ruin, but hope remains, because beyond the vicissitudes that have shaken her, everything can be rebuilt even better, at the time of deliverance, on the ruins left behind by the ungodly…
“For with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37).
Lionel,
Yes, Pope Francis seldom misses an opportunity to attack Tradition. He hasn’t a clue about the nature of the Church, let alone her purpose. He seems to seriously believe that he is an eco-warrior charged with saving the earth, instead of the Vicar of Christ charged with saving souls. Has there ever been such a mixed up pontiff?
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/97/ab/58/97ab58ea014b552f7d3a18c45e796eb7.jpg
Editor,
Francis apparently equates the modern Church with the Pharisees of old, who knew nothing but the endless letter of the law and their own sanctimonious, insufferable prestige. If that is the case, then I’m guessing he imagines himself as some sort of Christ-like figure, liberating our museum-piece Church from the asphyxiation of labyrinthine doctrine and getting us back in touch with Jesus…or Mohammed…or Buddha…or Martin Luther…or Krishna….or Mother Earth…
Talk about delusional….
That Ivereigh guy really is a piece of work, and about as Catholic as the present Pontiff.
As for the book …….’ As Catholic as Genghis Khan’.
Liberanos,
Totally agree about Ivereigh and his anything-but-Catholic book. Imagine what I’d have to say if I’d actually read it! 😀
Austen Ivereigh is a super-idiot.
He is a great example of someone who is taken in by the cult of personality.
If not Pope Francis, I am sure he would be expounding the virtues of Charles Manson, or David Koresh, or others of that ilk.
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