Thanks to the author for acknowledging that those of us who intuited early in this papacy that, while the cardinals may have thought they were electing Francis to reform the curia, Francis has a more expansive and radical view of his mandate, were not demon possessed. We must pray for the Church and for our clergy. However, we have the clergy we deserve. Witnessing the types of dissembling, intimidation tactics, and outright attempts to hoodwink people that we have come to associate with politics being deployed by some in the hierarchy against fellow members of the hierarchy, members of the wider clergy, and the laity has indeed been saddening. Worse still is the spectacle of people who should know and appreciate the harm being done to people's faith trying to avoid addressing the aberrant actions and pronouncements of the pope and some of his collaborators by blaming the media or feigning ignorance. When we remain silent in the face of scandal by members of our clergy or, worse still, try to justify such scandals we, are just as culpable as they.
Although respect for the office of supreme pontiff is our God-given duty as Catholics and is essential for the unity of the Church and our identity as Catholics, we do not advance in that duty by standing by silently while our faith is being stripped of meaning. We do not advance in the duty by keeping quiet or failing to notice as wolves in sheep clothing lead people astray, holding out before them a false promise of happiness now if only the Church would abandon its orthodox doctrines and teachings and compromise with the world. Rather, we best manifest our respect and esteem for the office by exposing and resisting all efforts to hijack the office to substitute a worldly theology based on human understanding for the gospel as preached by Christ and handed down by his disciples through the ages. For this if for no other reason, the author has done a great service by writing this book.
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