The John-Henry Westen Show - January 08, 2025


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


Episode Stats

Length

29 minutes

Words per Minute

143.76125

Word Count

4,210

Sentence Count

215

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

10


Summary

Archbishop Jan Pavelenga is a bishop in good standing in the Archdiocese of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, who has been a vocal opponent of Pope Francis and his claim to the papacy. But where did he come from? And is he actually a credible opponent of Francis?


Transcript

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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00:04:13.260 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
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
00:08:58.380 in Poland with the Marianists.
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,
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
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.
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
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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00:15:08.680 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
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
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
00:22:35.500 resigned the Petran
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,
00:25:48.340 you can do clown Masses,
00:25:50.780 and pretty well have
00:25:52.340 a female deacon.
00:25:53.640 You can do
00:25:54.340 all sorts of nonsense.
00:25:55.920 You can question
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
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.
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00:29:14.500 Thanks for watching
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