Pope Francis is surprised and sorry over reaction to his rebuke to a pregnant woman as 'tempting God'

The more I think about his rebuke, the daffier it gets.

 Theologically, he is actually suggestion that the modus operandi of God is, the more you love and trust Him, the more likely He is to punish you with death.  

The Pope is saying each act of faithfulness is a temptation to God. You only get so many chances to be faithful before he lashes out in vengeance to take your life.

Christ becomes vindictive if you are too faithful to Him.

I am flabbergasted by this bizarre mischaracterization of Christ.

In any event, reports are now circulating that Pope Francis was surprised about the...misunderstanding on his words on large families and is sorry and saddened.

I believe that is true as he immediately did some damage control.

You know there is a but coming.

Though this is progress, -- I hate to say it -- his explanation comes up short for me.

Seeing the headlines, the Holy Father, with whom I spoke yesterday, smiled and was a bit surprised that his words were not fully contextualized with regards to a very clear passage of Humanae vitae on responsible parenthood,” Archbishop Becciu stated.

Bl. Paul VI's 1968 encyclical on the regulation of birth said that “responsible parenthood, as we use the term here, has one further essential aspect of paramount importance. It concerns the objective moral order which was established by God, and of which a right conscience is the true interpreter. In a word, the exercise of responsible parenthood requires that husband and wife, keeping a right order of priorities, recognize their own duties toward God, themselves, their families and human society.”

This doesn't get me anywhere:

The archbishop said the correct interpretation of Pope Francis' words comes from the teaching of Bl. Paul VI and from the ancient tradition of the Church, which Pius XI’s 1930 encyclical Casti connubii : that “even if the unitive and procreative aspects of the sexual act must never be separated,” the act “must always be included in the logic of love” with regard to the “capacity of each person to open to the mystery of the gift of self in the bonds of marriage.”

Too convoluted and still, as far as I'm concerned, is suggesting coming up with an excuse to use NFP to foist your marriage upon the road of having to trust in Christ and intercept His plan for children He planned for the marriage before we were even born.

John Allen at the crucks posted a story suggesting Pope Francis believes the Final Chapter of the Bible (add this to the small list of Church teaching he's willing to substantiate) and is taking short-cuts.

I think that is an astute observation.

You really have to have your head in the sand not to recognize the diabolical disorientation as the symptom of an apocalyptic harvest of the devil. Catholics, including Pope Francis, understand the events in the Book of Revelation could take generations to play out. Prayer and fasting delays it.

Keen observers of the escalated pace of the devil and the magnitude of the diabolical disorientation - - suffice it to say, we're thinking we best be picking up the pace just in case. In other words, the gut instincts are educated guesses based upon demonic activity that is off of the charts. Historically off of the charts.

Lord of the World is a good book.

The Book of Revelation is cryptic to the uninitiated.

As Pope John Paul II said at the turn of the century, we are inching our way towards it.

The concern of practicing Catholics is, the last thing we want our Pope to do is identify the Cardinal Kaspers of this world as the example of his sheep to follow -- while he thwarts and discredits those who faithfully teach the theology of Christ's Church.

The agenda has two horns and a tail.

He's in the wrong rabbit hole.

As he has before, Francis went out of his way to invoke an apocalyptic 1907 novel by an English convert from Anglicanism called “Lord of the World.” The novel lays out a dystopic vision of a final conflict between secular humanism and Catholicism, with the showdown taking place on the fields of Armageddon.

Author Robert Hugh Benson depicts a world in which Marxism and secularism have run the table, culminating in a charismatic “savior” figure, increasingly recognizable as the Anti-Christ, who arises to lead a one-world government. Attacks on Christian symbols and believers mount, and euthanasia is widely practiced.

Francis first praised the novel back in November 2013, in the context of a homily in which he denounced what he called “adolescent progressivism.” He returned to “Lord of the World” in the recent airplane news conference, saying, “I advise you to read it” because it explains what he meant by a reference to “ideological colonization” during a session with 20,000 Filipino families in Manila.