From a Friend on Facebook

As many others have already noted, it always seems to go the same way with the Francis pontificate:

Some news of uncertain accuracy will break that Francis, supported by the liberal conclave that backs him, will be taking a look at the possibility of changing one or another longstanding Church traditions.

The Francis Vatican will then deny this to one extent or another, sometimes with the kind of real energy that includes words like "ridiculous" and "preposterous."

Then will come a transition period wherein evidence begins to make encroachingly clear the original claim's veracity. Then will come the revelation that the Francis Vatican is in fact doing the thing originally described, but that of course it will all be for the good of the Catholic flock and is being "misunderstood" by its (obviously very "stupid" and "ignorant" but they usually won't use such words) critics.

We have seen this take place on divorce issues, on contraception issues, on ecumenical issues and so on. And we have seen it take place often enough that, while we certainly should not believe any old rumor, we should take seriously and consider anything said about the Francis
Vatican by any reasonable person with some evidence or a well-reasoned Catholic argument to support it.

Many recent writings about the Francis pontificate paint a very grim picture indeed, one of a Church wherein even many of those Catholics who still go to Church are doing whatever they like and not following Church teaching. On contraception, on chastity before marriage, on views of homosexuality and on and on people flippantly buck ancient Church teaching extending from Christ Himself and do whatever they please. And they giddily take Communion while doing so, since they probably don't believe that Communion is the Body of Christ but some sort of symbol, the Protestants having done their damage within the Mother Church as well as to themselves.

Although it may be overstated and it relies a lot on dubious "surveys" and such, I largely agree with this dim view since I have seen for myself widespread evidence of its assertions. We must fight back in Christ and His Church in every good way we can. But I think some overstate the extent of how horrible things are, to the point that exponents might be making people hopeless and ineffective rather than revving them up for action.

As bad as things are in what may be called the Novus Ordo segment of the Church, things are better to the opposite extreme in the Traditional Latin Mass segment. As much as we think that things are so awful now, they were just as bad way back at the beginning, where we find St. Paul in the scriptures condemning Church people for regularly doing things as horrible as sleeping with their mother-in-law(!). And where we find Paul battling others in the Church on doctrinal
issues just as we are all doing now. And for hundreds of years thereafter there were see-saw fights between the true faith of Christ and heresy of all kinds, with heresy's often looking to be the side that was winning, but obviously it did not.

The bottom line is that there is nothing new about periods of crisis, heresy and falling-away in the Church. I don't have figures in front of me, but I would bet that there is nothing new about the Church getting smaller as it loses a great many people who don't really believe and simply don't want to. And anyone who thinks that all of history's popes have been angels needs only to read Church history, and realize that the Church has survived against all odds by the Power of Christ and the Spirit Who guarantee her victory, and by the prayers of Mary her Mother. And that she will continue to survive into eternity with God.