The John-Henry Westen Show - 'Not the Pope, just Bergoglio'？ Bishop who survived communism weighs in

00:00:00.000 Bergoglio preaches untruth, he preaches sin, and he does not preach the tradition that has lasted so many years.

00:00:08.240 He preaches the truth of this world, and that is the truth of the devil.

00:00:14.520 End quote.

00:00:22.640 A short time ago, I did a video on the life and career of Bishop René Henry Grassida,

00:00:28.180 the 102-year-old former Bishop of Corpus Christi, Texas, and his controversial views on whether Pope Francis is really the Pope,

00:00:37.400 and what happened with Benedict XVI's resignation.

00:00:41.520 Well, this is part of a debate which LifeSite News has been hosting over the last few months,

00:00:46.960 over whether Francis is the Pope or not.

00:00:50.960 Now, we've had some really outstanding articles published on both sides of the question.

00:00:55.720 The standard of argumentation has been really high, and we're going to let this debate continue.

00:01:01.420 If you haven't checked it out yet, go to LifeSiteNews.com, top left-hand side of the page, you'll see the debate.

00:01:06.980 We're going to let it continue because, as I said in my Rome Life Forum talk a few months ago,

00:01:12.940 the Church is Christ's, and I know that the truth of Christ will come out.

00:01:17.720 I believe that reasoned, prayerful debate on the matter is an aid to arriving at the truth.

00:01:24.580 And in that other video on Bishop Grassida, I mentioned that the papers that we have been running have largely been written by laymen

00:01:32.540 because, well, there's a reason for that, and I'm going to share that reason at the end of this video.

00:01:37.280 Either way, the arguments stand or fall for themselves.

00:01:40.320 As the imitation of Christ says, and I quote,

00:01:42.780 We ought not to be swayed by the authority of the writer, whether he be a great literary light or an insignificant person,

00:01:52.260 but by the love of simple truth.

00:01:55.560 We ought not to ask who is speaking, but mark what is said.

00:02:01.780 Men pass away, but the truth of the Lord remains forever.

00:02:05.800 God speaks to us in many ways, without regard for persons.

00:02:10.320 End quote.

00:02:11.920 So, that said, some men in holy orders, some priests, have indeed been involved in this debate.

00:02:20.400 We all know about Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, of course, who has been excommunicated,

00:02:25.940 well, so-called excommunicated, for calling Francis' papacy into question.

00:02:30.620 In addition, we have had contributions from Father Giorgio Maria Fari,

00:02:35.160 who has been threatened with the same penalty.

00:02:38.640 And from Bishop Athanasius Schneider, who has defended Francis' claim to the papacy.

00:02:45.600 I felt it was important to shine a spotlight on Bishop Grassida's opinion as that of a bishop,

00:02:52.560 retired for sure, but in good standing, who has not been afraid to take a public stance against Francis' legitimacy.

00:03:00.340 Well, in this show, I want to shine that same spotlight on another bishop, also in good standing,

00:03:07.680 who has taken this same stance, and that bishop is Archbishop Jan Pavelenga,

00:03:14.820 the former bishop of Karaganda in Kazakhstan.

00:03:17.820 Some of you will have heard about Archbishop Lenga before, not least on LifeSite News,

00:03:24.200 but there's a ton of material you may not have heard, which he has put out only in Polish,

00:03:30.880 and I'm going to share some of that with you today.

00:03:33.860 But first, who is Archbishop Lenga?

00:03:37.060 Where did he come from?

00:03:38.000 Is he actually a credible person?

00:03:41.920 Stay tuned for this episode of The John Henry Weston Show.

00:03:44.960 For U.S. residents, creating a will has never been easier.

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00:04:09.000 Visit MyLegacyWill.com slash LifeSiteNews.

00:04:13.260 Thank you for your support, and may God bless you.

00:04:16.680 Let's begin as we always do with the sign of the cross.

00:04:19.440 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

00:04:25.200 So, let's get into Archbishop Lenga,

00:04:27.700 because he's made these super controversial claims about Francis not being Pope.

00:04:33.060 So, let's figure out who this guy is, first of all.

00:04:37.940 Let me first tell you, Archbishop Lenga was born to Polish parents in Horodok,

00:04:44.480 in Soviet Ukraine, in 1950.

00:04:47.580 He grew up under communism,

00:04:49.680 and I think it's best to let him tell the story in his own words,

00:04:53.720 as he wrote in an open letter in 2015.

00:04:57.540 He said, and I quote,

00:04:58.580 I completed my priestly studies, he says,

00:05:26.180 In an underground seminary in the Soviet Union,

00:05:29.920 I was ordained a priest secretly during the night

00:05:33.220 by a pious bishop who himself suffered for the sake of the faith.

00:05:37.840 In the first year of my priesthood,

00:05:39.860 I had the experience of being expelled from Tadzitskan by the KGB.

00:05:45.420 So, he was secretly ordained in 1980 by Archbishop Vicentes Sladevikus.

00:05:53.280 Apologize for the mispronunciation if there was such.

00:05:56.200 After serving as a priest in the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic,

00:06:00.540 which is now Tajikistan,

00:06:01.960 he attracted the attention of the Soviet Secret Service, the KGB.

00:06:05.580 When they had nothing on him, they issued a residence ban anyway,

00:06:11.180 and that was why he went to the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic next door in 1981.

00:06:18.760 He was made the Apostolic Administrator of Kazakhstan in 1991,

00:06:24.760 and was ordained bishop in May of that year.

00:06:28.500 An apostolic administrator means a sort of interim head of a diocese

00:06:32.900 until a permanent bishop is selected.

00:06:34.620 Well, it was during this time, in 1995,

00:06:38.000 he consecrated Kazakhstan to Mary, Queen of Peace,

00:06:41.420 in a shrine to Our Lady in the north of Kazakhstan.

00:06:45.540 This shrine is itself pretty amazing,

00:06:48.940 and here is what Catholic culture had to say about it, and I quote,

00:06:52.880 This is the only Marian shrine in this part of the world.

00:06:56.720 It was built as an act of thanksgiving by deported Polish people 1.00

00:07:01.100 who, in 1941, were literally dying of hunger.

00:07:05.560 A nearby lake was miraculously filled with fish,

00:07:10.280 and the people survived, end quote.

00:07:13.820 Archbishop Lenga also founded a seminary in Karaganda in 1997,

00:07:18.520 and a Carmel for the Carmelite sisters in 1998.

00:07:23.740 Being appointed to the role of Apostolic Administrator

00:07:28.200 boded well for his future,

00:07:30.580 and in 1999, he was named the Bishop of Karaganda, Kazakhstan.

00:07:36.220 In his new dioceses, he ministered to Catholics,

00:07:39.840 mainly of Polish extraction,

00:07:41.880 whose families had been deported to Central Asia

00:07:44.700 by the Communists or the Tsars.

00:07:47.160 Pope St. John Paul II appreciated Archbishop Lenga at the time

00:07:50.840 so much that in 2003, he made him an archbishop,

00:07:54.780 without him having to have an archdiocese, that is.

00:07:58.860 That's called being an archbishop ad personam.

00:08:02.000 So in other words, it's just an honour to give him

00:08:04.860 because he likes him,

00:08:05.980 not so much because he's going to get an archdiocese, no.

00:08:10.200 Just to give him the respect

00:08:12.860 and show the respect that John Paul II had

00:08:16.140 for this great bishop.

00:08:17.980 So in 2006, Pope Benedict XVI

00:08:21.200 appointed a certain Father Athanasius Schneider

00:08:24.740 to be Archbishop Lenga's auxiliary bishop.

00:08:28.680 Lenga was one of the co-consecrators of Father Schneider,

00:08:32.080 along with Cardinal Angelo Sedano,

00:08:34.420 and that's how we have our current Bishop Athanasius Schneider.

00:08:38.060 Now, in February 2011, Pope Benedict XVI

00:08:42.280 promoted Bishop Schneider to the Archdiocese of Astana,

00:08:47.200 still as an auxiliary bishop, however.

00:08:50.020 But on the same day,

00:08:52.320 Archbishop Lenga ceased being the bishop of Karaganda.

00:08:55.760 He left Kazakhstan and went to live in a monastery 0.99

00:08:58.380 in Poland with the Marianists. 0.74

00:09:01.040 He himself was a member of that order, by the way,

00:09:04.140 and he set himself up in a small town

00:09:07.300 with just over a thousand souls,

00:09:09.460 and that's where he still lives today.

00:09:12.400 It's actually not really clear what happened.

00:09:15.200 Archbishop Lenga was only 60 at the time,

00:09:17.260 which is quite a lot younger

00:09:18.420 than the usual retirement age of 75,

00:09:20.880 and officially, he left under Canon 401.2,

00:09:25.160 which says that, and I quote,

00:09:26.520 a diocesan bishop who has become less able to fulfill his office

00:09:30.220 because of ill health or some other grave cause

00:09:33.020 is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office,

00:09:36.800 end quote.

00:09:38.180 Archbishop Lenga himself, however,

00:09:40.360 says that he was expelled for something that he had said

00:09:43.540 and was forced to retire by Cardinal Tarsisio Bertone

00:09:47.380 and Archbishop Dominic Mamberti.

00:09:50.700 Even though he might not have been appreciated

00:09:52.880 by some of the higher-ups in the Vatican,

00:09:55.420 especially Cardinal Bertone,

00:09:57.120 he was indeed appreciated by the Polish state.

00:10:01.040 In fact, they awarded Archbishop Lenga

00:10:03.740 the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit

00:10:07.880 of the Republic of Poland,

00:10:10.200 and it was for, and I quote,

00:10:12.320 outstanding merits in the activities

00:10:14.340 for the benefit of the Polish diaspora

00:10:17.060 as well as in promoting Polish culture in Kazakhstan,

00:10:20.940 end quote.

00:10:22.880 So, it seems to be a special mark of faithful bishops

00:10:27.020 that they cannot simply sit still

00:10:30.000 and be quiet after retirement.

00:10:32.180 We saw that with Bishop Grasida before,

00:10:35.260 and it's no different with Archbishop Lenga.

00:10:38.040 Since his retirement,

00:10:39.380 he is the author of at least four books

00:10:41.660 about the current crisis in the Church.

00:10:44.220 The first one,

00:10:45.460 Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence

00:10:47.340 on the Crisis in the Church,

00:10:49.340 Heresy Apostasy, and Sins of Omission.

00:10:51.540 The second one was called

00:10:53.760 The Church Must Be Saved.

00:10:55.960 The third one,

00:10:57.280 A Word for a Difficult Time,

00:10:59.480 A Rosary for a Difficult Time.

00:11:01.960 The fourth one,

00:11:03.140 Bergoglio's Sect,

00:11:04.360 A Catholic Counter-Revolution, 0.57

00:11:06.360 is Necessary.

00:11:07.680 That tells us a lot, doesn't it?

00:11:09.620 Well, in 2015,

00:11:11.320 he wrote an open letter

00:11:12.860 addressing the current crisis in the Church

00:11:15.780 in which he really let it rip.

00:11:19.220 He said that, and I quote,

00:11:21.080 the work of God is being slandered,

00:11:23.960 and he named names.

00:11:25.500 He accused some of the papal nuncios

00:11:27.640 of becoming propagators of liberalism and modernism,

00:11:31.300 and of manipulating and silencing bishops

00:11:33.940 who would otherwise be forthright

00:11:36.100 in preaching the gospel.

00:11:37.180 He accused the selection of bishops

00:11:40.140 of being too subject to the ideas of mass media

00:11:43.240 which reduced the appointments of good bishops.

00:11:46.660 He accused bishops' conferences

00:11:48.720 of dealing with irrelevant matters

00:11:50.620 and of ostracizing the best bishops.

00:11:54.360 Bishop Strickland comes to mind.

00:11:57.080 Well, Archbishop Lenga is also on record

00:12:00.660 as saying that, and I quote,

00:12:02.520 bishops today indulge in the world and the devil

00:12:06.820 and not the salvation of people, end quote.

00:12:10.740 And why is that, does he think?

00:12:13.260 Well, he gives this answer, and I quote,

00:12:17.240 in my opinion, the weak voice of many bishops

00:12:20.200 is a consequence of the fact

00:12:22.180 that in the process of appointing new bishops,

00:12:25.680 candidates are not sufficiently examined

00:12:27.740 with regard to their unquestionable steadfastness

00:12:31.760 and fearlessness in the defense of the faith,

00:12:35.860 their fidelity to the centuries-old traditions

00:12:38.380 of the Church and their personal piety.

00:12:41.920 He continues.

00:12:43.580 So instead of concern about these matters, he said,

00:12:47.040 it was about who candidates know

00:12:49.420 or whether they share the current ideology.

00:12:53.060 And Archbishop Lenga has no shortage of other views

00:12:56.420 which he has not been afraid to share.

00:12:58.960 He described the practice of allowing

00:13:01.340 so-called Eucharistic ministers,

00:13:04.100 that is, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion.

00:13:06.700 He called it a degradation of Christ and the priesthood.

00:13:11.320 He's called for Holy Communion

00:13:12.780 to be received exclusively on the tongue and kneeling

00:13:15.720 because, and I quote,

00:13:18.260 Jesus is today very downtrodden, end quote.

00:13:22.040 Archbishop Lenga has described ecumenism as,

00:13:26.660 and I quote,

00:13:27.560 the greatest scourge for the Catholic Church 1.00

00:13:30.160 in its history, end quote.

00:13:32.800 In a similar vein,

00:13:34.040 he called the 1986 inter-religious meeting in Assisi

00:13:37.660 the great calamity for this true Catholic Church, end quote. 0.89

00:13:43.820 He's taken on false ideologies about mercy,

00:13:48.300 saying, and I quote,

00:13:50.180 you can't be so merciful to the LGBT 1.00

00:13:52.640 to welcome them, to accompany them.

00:13:55.400 Accompany them in what?

00:13:56.940 In sin?

00:13:58.840 Mercy must be earned by knowing one's sin,

00:14:03.160 repenting for it, apologizing to God,

00:14:05.560 and then the Lord God can show this mercy.

00:14:09.600 He doesn't have to, but he can.

00:14:11.560 This is the correct account of mercy

00:14:14.720 by us who properly understand

00:14:18.060 the teachings of the Church,

00:14:19.260 which is already 2,000 years old

00:14:21.120 and not just the five years

00:14:22.960 of Bergoglio's pontificate, end quote.

00:14:26.080 And that's why he said, and I quote,

00:14:28.700 today people are not told about their sins.

00:14:31.780 They are not concerned

00:14:32.900 about the salvation of their souls, end quote.

00:14:36.640 Pope Pius XI said,

00:14:38.080 men must look for the peace of Christ

00:14:41.360 in the kingdom of Christ.

00:14:43.520 And he urged that the faithful

00:14:44.780 give public honor to Christ the King

00:14:46.700 so that individuals and states

00:14:48.460 would submit once more

00:14:49.900 to the rule of their savior.

00:14:51.640 And that is why LifeSite News

00:14:53.340 is raising up the image of Christ the King

00:14:56.040 across the United States.

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00:15:01.060 Please pledge your support today

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00:15:05.840 slash Christ is King.

00:15:08.680 This really came to the forefront

00:15:10.720 in 2020 during the COVID lockdowns.

00:15:14.140 And as you might expect,

00:15:15.900 Archbishop Lenga decried the naturalism

00:15:18.820 and cowardice on the part of so many

00:15:21.340 during that time.

00:15:23.080 Here's what he said.

00:15:24.300 Watch this.

00:15:24.840 We had plagues in the past

00:15:26.560 of different infectious diseases

00:15:28.500 and people did not give up going to church.

00:15:31.640 Churches were not locked down.

00:15:34.360 A priest in the north of France

00:15:36.660 was brave enough

00:15:37.500 to take the most blessed sacrament

00:15:39.180 and he walked with a group of people

00:15:40.960 blessing everybody

00:15:42.140 and giving them hope

00:15:43.500 that not all is lost.

00:15:45.420 Where are the bishops?

00:15:46.740 Where are the cardinals?

00:15:48.100 Where are all the church hierarchy

00:15:50.040 usually so self-confident and important?

00:15:53.060 Now they are all hidden away,

00:15:54.980 having left the people alone.

00:15:56.980 He went on to say

00:15:58.100 that all this showed how,

00:16:01.060 in his words,

00:16:02.360 how far from God

00:16:04.060 these clerics were.

00:16:05.960 Watch.

00:16:06.740 And the priests ran away from all this.

00:16:09.020 They just want to live long.

00:16:11.480 That shows that they are

00:16:13.100 far from the true faith

00:16:14.900 and far from God.

00:16:16.340 They lost the sense of the sacred

00:16:18.220 and became just administrators

00:16:20.440 who only tell others what to do

00:16:22.780 but don't really respect

00:16:24.360 Christ as God

00:16:25.520 who came to the world

00:16:26.640 to save men.

00:16:31.280 Archbishop Lenga's credentials

00:16:32.780 as a fighter for apostolic Catholicism

00:16:35.520 and for the good of the Catholic faithful

00:16:37.760 are pretty clear.

00:16:40.580 But what does he think

00:16:42.120 about Francis himself?

00:16:44.360 Well, lots.

00:16:45.580 In that 2020 video we just saw,

00:16:49.820 he slammed Francis for hiding away

00:16:52.540 and revealing that his public image

00:16:54.960 as man of the people

00:16:56.660 was a sham.

00:16:58.560 Watch.

00:16:59.240 There is a panicked fear

00:17:00.580 of death everywhere

00:17:01.840 instead of the fear

00:17:03.220 of Judgment Day

00:17:04.240 or God's punishments,

00:17:05.960 which will come.

00:17:07.520 He's speaking there about

00:17:08.380 Pope Francis

00:17:09.080 is hiding away in his palace.

00:17:11.520 The cardinals are hiding away.

00:17:13.020 Why don't you come out

00:17:14.880 to the people?

00:17:16.300 Pope Francis used to ride

00:17:17.880 on public transportation

00:17:19.400 in Buenos Aires

00:17:20.140 visiting people.

00:17:21.440 Why don't you come out

00:17:22.560 and visit the people now

00:17:24.160 instead of saying

00:17:25.960 quiet masses online?

00:17:28.180 There is a lack

00:17:29.140 of real elites

00:17:30.440 in the world today,

00:17:31.580 in the state

00:17:32.300 and in the church.

00:17:33.860 They are all hiding away.

00:17:36.800 But before that,

00:17:38.840 Archbishop Lenga

00:17:39.600 played an important role

00:17:41.180 in the organized steps

00:17:42.660 that got us

00:17:43.360 to where we are today.

00:17:44.920 In 2015,

00:17:46.140 he was one of the 170 bishops

00:17:48.600 along with eight cardinals

00:17:49.840 signing a worldwide petition

00:17:52.560 called the Filial Appeal

00:17:54.140 to His Holiness Pope Francis

00:17:55.520 on the future of the family.

00:17:57.980 This had been produced

00:17:59.020 by a coalition of 58

00:18:00.680 pro-family groups

00:18:01.580 as a response

00:18:02.360 to the growing tide of errors

00:18:04.040 against sexual morality.

00:18:06.580 In 2017,

00:18:08.520 Archbishop Lenga

00:18:09.420 expressed support

00:18:10.680 for the four Dubia cardinals.

00:18:13.200 Remember them?

00:18:14.600 He said, and I quote,

00:18:16.100 We are forced to make

00:18:17.580 this urgent appeal to prayer,

00:18:19.900 given the ineffectiveness

00:18:20.600 of the numerous appeals

00:18:23.060 made privately

00:18:23.880 and in a discreet manner

00:18:26.240 to Pope Francis,

00:18:27.600 both by many faithful

00:18:29.180 and by some shepherds

00:18:30.820 of the church.

00:18:31.740 End quote.

00:18:32.180 Later, in 2017,

00:18:35.220 Archbishop Lenga,

00:18:36.620 Archbishop Thomas Peta

00:18:38.080 of Astana

00:18:39.860 and Bishop Schneider,

00:18:41.920 his auxiliary,

00:18:42.780 published a 3,000-word letter

00:18:44.820 affirming the faith

00:18:46.300 of the Catholic Church

00:18:47.460 and urging the Catholic faithful

00:18:49.160 to join them

00:18:50.440 in a spiritual crusade

00:18:52.420 for Francis,

00:18:54.000 calling for prayer

00:18:54.880 until he, quote,

00:18:56.940 revokes in an unequivocal manner,

00:18:59.440 end quote,

00:19:00.180 provisions in amoris laetitia.

00:19:02.960 In 2018,

00:19:05.180 Archbishop Lenga

00:19:05.820 published a document

00:19:06.940 entitled

00:19:07.520 The Profession

00:19:08.660 of the Immutable Truths

00:19:10.320 About Sacramental Marriage,

00:19:12.080 along with Archbishop Peta

00:19:13.760 and Bishop Schneider.

00:19:15.100 They were joined

00:19:16.060 by several other bishops

00:19:17.480 after this,

00:19:18.700 which included

00:19:19.540 Archbishop Vigano

00:19:20.760 and Bishop Grassida.

00:19:22.520 This statement

00:19:23.620 called Francis' reading

00:19:25.960 of amoris laetitia,

00:19:27.140 quote,

00:19:27.780 alien to the entire tradition

00:19:29.620 of the Catholic

00:19:30.440 and Apostolic Faith,

00:19:31.660 end quote.

00:19:32.800 In 2019,

00:19:34.840 along with Cardinal Burke

00:19:36.200 and Cardinal Pujac,

00:19:37.980 as well as

00:19:38.880 Kazakh bishops

00:19:39.680 Peta and Schneider,

00:19:41.880 he was,

00:19:42.820 that's Archbishop Lenga,

00:19:43.960 was part of

00:19:45.000 the Declaration of Truths,

00:19:46.500 which consisted

00:19:47.260 in 40 points

00:19:48.480 going beyond

00:19:49.240 just matters of marriage,

00:19:50.680 as in the 2018 profession,

00:19:52.740 and instead dealt

00:19:53.800 with the further matters

00:19:55.280 of the Eucharist,

00:19:56.300 celibacy,

00:19:56.900 hell,

00:19:57.140 and many more

00:19:58.240 which Francis

00:19:59.440 has been offending.

00:20:01.020 So Archbishop Lenga

00:20:02.080 was involved

00:20:03.020 in several

00:20:03.860 of the key steps

00:20:05.140 to draw attention

00:20:06.600 to Francis' errors

00:20:08.160 and to ensure

00:20:09.360 that nobody could say

00:20:10.960 that Francis enjoyed

00:20:12.200 any kind of peaceful

00:20:13.880 and universal adherence

00:20:15.760 in this time.

00:20:17.000 But after all

00:20:19.260 of those steps

00:20:20.100 were done,

00:20:22.160 what did he think

00:20:23.240 had been achieved?

00:20:25.740 The answer is this.

00:20:27.740 Clarity

00:20:28.320 as to Francis'

00:20:30.280 legitimacy.

00:20:31.660 In 2019,

00:20:32.600 an article

00:20:33.140 about Archbishop Lenga

00:20:34.700 appeared

00:20:35.240 in the

00:20:36.560 Viage magazine,

00:20:38.340 which spotlighted

00:20:39.640 his views

00:20:40.340 on Francis.

00:20:41.220 Here's what

00:20:43.060 he said,

00:20:43.660 and I quote,

00:20:45.360 Bergoglio

00:20:46.040 does not

00:20:46.840 confirm himself

00:20:47.960 in the faith

00:20:49.080 and does not

00:20:50.160 give others

00:20:50.920 this faith.

00:20:52.120 He leads

00:20:52.760 the world

00:20:53.460 astray.

00:20:55.220 Bergoglio

00:20:55.700 preaches

00:20:56.320 untruth,

00:20:57.420 he preaches

00:20:57.960 sin,

00:20:58.640 and he does

00:20:59.380 not preach

00:21:00.100 the tradition

00:21:00.820 that has lasted

00:21:01.980 so many years,

00:21:03.660 2,000 years.

00:21:05.180 He throws

00:21:05.840 it away.

00:21:06.740 He treats

00:21:07.480 it as if

00:21:09.160 it does not

00:21:09.820 exist.

00:21:10.280 He preaches

00:21:11.760 the truth

00:21:12.500 of this world,

00:21:13.920 and that

00:21:14.520 is the truth

00:21:15.380 of the devil.

00:21:17.300 End quote.

00:21:18.800 This article

00:21:20.020 made clear

00:21:20.800 Archbishop Lenga's

00:21:22.200 attitude

00:21:22.620 toward Francis.

00:21:24.400 It quotes

00:21:25.340 Archbishop Lenga

00:21:26.120 as saying

00:21:26.800 that he believes

00:21:27.520 Francis' statements

00:21:28.640 to,

00:21:29.360 and I quote,

00:21:30.240 very clear

00:21:31.680 have heretical

00:21:33.040 tendencies,

00:21:33.880 end quote.

00:21:34.900 And he states

00:21:35.580 he considers

00:21:36.160 Francis to be 0.89

00:21:36.980 a heretic,

00:21:38.100 although for the

00:21:39.080 time being,

00:21:39.780 he said,

00:21:40.280 he is a 0.57

00:21:40.900 material heretic.

00:21:42.900 The author

00:21:43.780 of the article

00:21:44.460 summarizes

00:21:45.300 Archbishop Lenga's

00:21:46.240 views this way.

00:21:47.900 Perhaps the

00:21:48.700 most apt

00:21:49.680 self-summary

00:21:50.600 of Archbishop Lenga's

00:21:51.600 views on the

00:21:52.760 current Pope

00:21:53.460 are these sentences,

00:21:55.420 and I quote,

00:21:56.640 the Pope,

00:21:57.380 excuse me,

00:21:58.240 not the Pope,

00:21:58.880 but Bergoglio,

00:21:59.840 who today resigns

00:22:01.520 this Petrian

00:22:02.720 ministry,

00:22:03.680 probably feels

00:22:04.580 that it has been

00:22:05.460 usurped by him,

00:22:07.200 and not given

00:22:08.100 by Christ.

00:22:09.680 Today's bishops,

00:22:10.620 together with

00:22:11.140 Bergoglio,

00:22:11.980 are leading the

00:22:12.920 Church to

00:22:13.460 perdition,

00:22:14.480 end quote.

00:22:15.520 It is also

00:22:16.380 summarized in

00:22:17.780 the very title

00:22:19.120 of that article,

00:22:20.340 which is,

00:22:21.360 Not the Pope,

00:22:22.720 but just

00:22:23.420 Bergoglio.

00:22:24.780 Now, it's not

00:22:25.560 always clear

00:22:26.440 exactly how

00:22:27.600 or why,

00:22:28.980 to Archbishop

00:22:29.580 Lenga's mind,

00:22:30.480 Francis is not

00:22:31.100 the Pope.

00:22:31.960 Sometimes,

00:22:32.880 as you just

00:22:33.620 heard,

00:22:34.040 he talks about

00:22:34.760 Francis having 0.67

00:22:35.500 resigned the Petran 0.91

00:22:36.600 ministry through

00:22:37.420 his refusal to

00:22:38.260 act as Pope.

00:22:39.280 At other times,

00:22:40.040 it might seem

00:22:40.680 that he thinks

00:22:41.240 Francis is not

00:22:41.960 the Pope

00:22:42.280 because he's

00:22:43.100 a heretic.

00:22:44.120 At other times,

00:22:44.880 again,

00:22:45.340 he seems to say

00:22:46.620 that he thinks

00:22:47.300 that Benedict XVI

00:22:48.440 actually remained

00:22:49.440 the Pope.

00:22:50.580 Again,

00:22:51.340 in that

00:22:52.020 Vioge article,

00:22:53.520 he talked about

00:22:54.740 these concerns

00:22:56.400 as well,

00:22:57.160 as well as

00:22:57.800 indicating a lack

00:22:58.680 of certainty

00:22:59.260 as to who

00:22:59.980 the Pope really

00:23:00.580 is.

00:23:01.280 And I'll quote,

00:23:02.360 He does not

00:23:02.900 take off that

00:23:03.820 papal cassock,

00:23:04.940 the white cassock,

00:23:05.880 Benedict XVI.

00:23:07.800 Bergoglio,

00:23:08.620 on the other hand,

00:23:09.500 calls himself

00:23:10.140 the Bishop of Rome.

00:23:11.580 And if he calls

00:23:12.920 himself that,

00:23:14.020 what can I call him?

00:23:15.700 If that's what

00:23:16.600 he allows himself

00:23:17.460 to say about himself,

00:23:18.800 it seems to me

00:23:19.860 that he certainly

00:23:21.220 knows something

00:23:22.080 and he wants

00:23:24.080 to call himself

00:23:24.900 that.

00:23:26.240 However,

00:23:26.960 when I celebrate

00:23:28.000 Holy Mass,

00:23:28.840 I pray for the Pope,

00:23:30.760 not referring to him

00:23:32.160 by name.

00:23:33.400 That's very powerful.

00:23:34.400 That indicates

00:23:35.120 once you stop

00:23:36.220 praying for

00:23:37.240 the Pope

00:23:38.380 by name,

00:23:39.220 it's very clear

00:23:40.340 what you think

00:23:41.720 of him

00:23:42.160 when you're a priest

00:23:43.140 not praying

00:23:43.840 for the Pope

00:23:45.000 by name.

00:23:46.380 But none of

00:23:48.240 his,

00:23:48.960 you know,

00:23:49.840 reasons

00:23:50.400 should be

00:23:51.580 mistaken for

00:23:53.120 or reflect badly,

00:23:55.100 you might say,

00:23:55.740 on Archbishop Lenga.

00:23:56.880 Because

00:23:57.540 for Lenga

00:23:58.760 and many others,

00:24:00.820 one crucial fact

00:24:02.040 is clear.

00:24:03.320 That fact is

00:24:04.380 that Francis

00:24:05.000 is not the Pope.

00:24:06.100 The actual reasons

00:24:07.240 for this non-papacy

00:24:09.080 are actually secondary.

00:24:10.880 Someone like Lenga

00:24:11.660 is not obliged

00:24:12.500 to say

00:24:13.180 which of the theories

00:24:15.180 as to why

00:24:15.720 he's not Pope

00:24:16.340 is the primary one

00:24:18.900 or the one

00:24:19.380 that sort of

00:24:20.380 clinched it for him.

00:24:21.680 Thinking that

00:24:22.420 he would be obliged

00:24:23.620 to do that,

00:24:24.660 it's kind of like

00:24:25.220 thinking that,

00:24:26.180 you know,

00:24:26.820 to recognize

00:24:27.860 a dead body

00:24:28.680 is dead

00:24:29.140 in front of us,

00:24:29.860 unless we can say,

00:24:31.580 you know,

00:24:31.940 well,

00:24:32.380 how the person died,

00:24:33.200 well,

00:24:33.300 we have to be able

00:24:34.280 to measure his pulse

00:24:35.020 and all these,

00:24:35.740 and you can't do that,

00:24:36.360 you can't say he's dead.

00:24:37.140 Well,

00:24:37.540 actually,

00:24:38.020 no.

00:24:38.340 I mean,

00:24:38.940 if you see the head

00:24:39.700 severed and it's pretty clear,

00:24:41.680 it's pretty clear.

00:24:42.960 Nonetheless,

00:24:44.240 one way or another,

00:24:47.440 however it happened,

00:24:48.740 if it's an obvious

00:24:50.400 corpse in front of us,

00:24:51.540 we know the person's dead.

00:24:53.740 And so,

00:24:54.360 things really started

00:24:55.780 to heat up

00:24:56.360 for Archbishop Lenga

00:24:57.260 in 2020.

00:24:59.540 It's because

00:25:00.380 of the interviews

00:25:01.420 that we've already seen,

00:25:02.860 in which he questioned

00:25:04.000 Francis' legitimacy,

00:25:05.740 he stated that

00:25:06.740 he did not recognize

00:25:08.060 him as the Pope,

00:25:09.020 and that he had

00:25:10.200 dropped his name

00:25:11.080 from the Eucharistic

00:25:11.800 prayer at Mass.

00:25:13.160 Once that happened,

00:25:14.960 the Polish bishops

00:25:16.060 very quickly said

00:25:17.380 that his views

00:25:18.000 did not represent

00:25:19.060 the Catholic Church

00:25:20.060 in Poland,

00:25:21.000 and he was accused

00:25:22.760 of misleading

00:25:23.960 the faithful.

00:25:24.500 And so,

00:25:26.660 they also banned

00:25:27.900 Archbishop Lenga

00:25:28.700 from preaching

00:25:29.420 and offering Mass

00:25:30.340 in their churches

00:25:31.380 and from public appearances.

00:25:33.660 What's really amazing,

00:25:35.100 so you can spend

00:25:36.780 years questioning dogma,

00:25:38.960 going right against

00:25:40.080 the teaching of the Church,

00:25:41.580 just like

00:25:42.280 Father James Martin,

00:25:44.060 or like Hans Kung.

00:25:46.220 You can wreck the Mass, 0.88

00:25:48.340 you can do clown Masses,

00:25:50.780 and pretty well have 0.86

00:25:52.340 a female deacon.

00:25:53.640 You can do 0.99

00:25:54.340 all sorts of nonsense. 0.73

00:25:55.920 You can question 0.89

00:25:56.940 the existence of hell.

00:25:59.240 You can,

00:25:59.720 despite what Jesus said,

00:26:00.960 all these things

00:26:02.140 you can do,

00:26:02.960 and you're still fine.

00:26:04.760 You can express

00:26:05.880 shocking ideas

00:26:06.820 about homosexuality,

00:26:08.180 like Cardinal

00:26:09.100 Timothy Radcliffe,

00:26:09.960 and if you do that,

00:26:10.800 you're made a cardinal.

00:26:12.300 And you can rethink

00:26:14.420 and redefine adultery 0.68

00:26:15.620 as being when you have

00:26:16.500 two people in your life

00:26:17.620 at the same time,

00:26:18.540 like Radcliffe's

00:26:19.820 new Dominican,

00:26:20.460 Jean-Paul Vescoe,

00:26:21.960 who said that the Church

00:26:22.980 and her traditional discipline

00:26:24.300 of the sacraments has,

00:26:25.480 and I quote,

00:26:26.220 has long troubled me

00:26:27.540 and even revolted me,

00:26:28.700 end quote.

00:26:29.440 And that won't stop you

00:26:30.540 from being made

00:26:31.200 a cardinal either.

00:26:32.300 But you can really say

00:26:34.180 and do any kind

00:26:35.860 of heretical depravity

00:26:37.280 you like,

00:26:38.140 and basically nothing

00:26:39.260 will happen,

00:26:40.000 or it will take years

00:26:40.960 or decades.

00:26:41.900 But if a prominent

00:26:42.960 churchman questions

00:26:44.240 Francis' legitimacy,

00:26:45.780 suddenly all the machinery

00:26:47.560 comes into action,

00:26:49.100 and he will find himself

00:26:50.840 censured,

00:26:51.500 silenced,

00:26:52.040 and even to the point

00:26:52.800 of excommunication,

00:26:53.960 like Archbishop Vigano.

00:26:55.780 And this is why

00:26:57.080 it simply won't do

00:26:58.400 to try and shut

00:26:59.440 this argument down

00:27:00.680 by saying,

00:27:01.800 all the bishops

00:27:02.420 accept Francis

00:27:03.460 as the Pope,

00:27:04.500 therefore he has

00:27:05.240 universal and peaceful

00:27:06.320 acceptance,

00:27:07.300 and must therefore

00:27:08.160 be legitimate.

00:27:09.200 Because it's hardly peaceful

00:27:10.980 if everyone knows,

00:27:12.360 including mere lay observers

00:27:14.060 like me,

00:27:14.820 that a bishop will be

00:27:16.340 censured or excommunicated

00:27:17.940 if he says anything

00:27:19.300 about what's going on.

00:27:21.180 In such a paradigm,

00:27:22.640 if there ever were

00:27:23.520 to be a false claimant

00:27:24.660 to the papacy,

00:27:25.680 he would always be able

00:27:26.820 to maintain his universal

00:27:28.640 and peaceful acceptance

00:27:29.920 by his own action,

00:27:31.340 by cancelling everyone

00:27:32.360 who said differently.

00:27:33.500 As I said in the other video,

00:27:35.200 this is just an abusive system

00:27:36.940 from which no one

00:27:38.160 could escape.

00:27:39.580 So no,

00:27:40.620 this allegedly universal

00:27:42.600 and peaceful acceptance

00:27:43.960 of Francis as Pope

00:27:46.120 is just not enough

00:27:47.520 to end this discussion.

00:27:50.140 And that's why

00:27:50.960 it's so important

00:27:51.940 to recognize

00:27:52.740 that men such as

00:27:54.940 Archbishop Lenga

00:27:55.740 have something to say.

00:27:59.000 And we've seen

00:27:59.860 what an incredible story

00:28:01.360 Archbishop Lenga had

00:28:02.420 growing up under communism,

00:28:04.120 taking the risks

00:28:05.060 and sacrifices

00:28:05.780 to become a priest

00:28:06.620 and to minister

00:28:07.560 to the faithful.

00:28:08.440 We've seen the good

00:28:09.480 he did while in office

00:28:10.540 and what a confessor

00:28:11.880 of the faith he was

00:28:12.840 and even his work

00:28:14.780 since he was retired

00:28:16.340 in 2011.

00:28:18.280 This is a man

00:28:19.080 who says what he thinks

00:28:20.340 needs to be said

00:28:21.100 for Christ

00:28:21.720 and for God

00:28:22.780 and for the church,

00:28:23.920 no matter what

00:28:24.680 anyone else

00:28:25.380 might think of it.

00:28:27.280 And to me,

00:28:28.540 all of that demands

00:28:29.540 that we give him

00:28:30.120 a fair and respectful hearing.

00:28:31.760 And we recognize

00:28:32.760 that the debate

00:28:33.780 over Francis' legitimacy

00:28:35.220 and claim to the papacy

00:28:36.660 is very much

00:28:38.580 an open question.

00:28:39.340 It's enormously significant

00:28:41.760 that it's being questioned

00:28:43.200 by people such

00:28:44.420 as Archbishop Vigano,

00:28:45.780 Bishop Grasida,

00:28:47.040 and Archbishop Lenga.

00:28:48.940 For LifeSite News,

00:28:49.920 this is John Henry Weston.

00:28:51.440 May God bless you.

00:28:56.680 Aloha, everyone.

00:28:57.420 This is Jason Jones

00:28:58.360 for LifeSite News.

00:28:59.760 We hope you enjoyed this video.

00:29:01.660 For more content like this,

00:29:03.440 check the link

00:29:04.500 in the description.

00:29:05.900 You can also connect

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00:29:08.000 to stay up to date

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00:29:14.500 Thanks for watching

00:29:15.600 and may God bless you.

The John-Henry Westen Show - January 08, 2025

'Not the Pope, just Bergoglio'？ Bishop who survived communism weighs in

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