Ep. 92 - Why The Allegations Against Pope Francis Are Extremely Credible
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Summary
Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano accuses Pope Francis of covering up for a serial sex offender in order to maintain a "clean conscience" and to present himself to God as a man of God. The Catholic Church has been rocked by allegations that the Pope conspired to cover up for Cardinal John McCarrick.
Transcript
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I will never get used to seeing the liberal media defending the Pope. I should be used to it now
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with Pope Francis, but with Pope Francis, there has been over the years just a drastic change
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in strategy for the liberal media as it pertains to the Pope. Up until Pope Francis, for as long
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as the liberal media has existed, their strategy has been to paint the Pope as a slobbering,
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dangerous bigot who came here in a time machine from the 11th century and is dead set on enslaving
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mankind. That's basically how the Pope has always been painted. Then Pope Francis comes along and
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everything changes. So now that Francis has been credibly accused of helping to cover up for a
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serial sex predator, if this same thing had happened, this exact same story with someone,
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high-ranking official coming out with this kind of report about, say, Pope Benedict or even JP2
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before him, if that had happened, the media would be, they'd be having a parade. They'd be throwing a
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parade through the street. And they would also be, this would be headline news everywhere. They'd be
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obsessed with it. It'd be the only thing they're talking about. Now, the media has, I'm not saying
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that they've ignored the story about Francis. Obviously, we've all heard about it. They've been
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talking about it. And they have made a moderately big deal about it. But they have not made as big
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a deal out of it as it actually is. Because this is something, in the 2,000 years the church has
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existed, this, to my knowledge, is unprecedented. Or at least it is extremely, extremely, extremely rare
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that you would have allegations like this coming from someone as high-ranking as Vigano.
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And they're not anonymous. He's putting his name to it. And he's accusing the Pope of these
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dastardly deeds and calling for him to step down. I mean, it just, it never happens.
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And not only that, but the Catholic church sex scandal has obviously been an ongoing story for
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years now in the media. And now you have evidence that it goes all the way to the top, to the Pope
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himself. I'm telling you, if this had happened seven years ago, it would be the only thing the media
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talked about for weeks. As opposed to them treating it as, you know, an important story, but not necessarily
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the most important story. But more than that, it's, there has been, in the liberal media, the explicit
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attempts to defend Francis and circle the wagons around him. I read, for instance, in Slate, okay,
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that is a rabid left-wing publication. They published an article giving us reasons to doubt
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the claims against Pope Francis. And then there was, there was a similar thing. I've seen similar
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things in places like CBS News. And then the New York Times, which has no love for the Catholic
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church at all, they published an article. The headline of it is, Vatican power struggle bursts
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into open as conservatives pounce. So, you know, that has been the, the, the meme is that whenever
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a liberal, which Pope Francis is a liberal, whenever a liberal gets himself into trouble,
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the story in the media isn't the terrible thing this liberal did or is accused of doing. It's
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look at those awful opportunistic conservatives pouncing on the news. So Pope Francis credibly
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accused of covering up for a serial sex predator and the New York Times, their headline is conservatives
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pounce. Now let's just briefly review in case, I'm sure you've heard the story by now, but, but in
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case you're not familiar or you haven't been able to make heads or tails of it yet, let's just review
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this very quickly. So you have a, as I said, a former high ranking official in the Catholic
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church, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano. He was essentially the Vatican's ambassador to the
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United States. He claims that Pope Francis personally helped cover up abuses of the degenerate predator
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Cardinal McCarrick. Vigano let all this come out in an 11 page report, which he says he was
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publishing to discharge his conscience, uh, so that he can present himself to God in order
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to, to, uh, you know, present himself to God with a clean conscience is the, is the phrase
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I think he used. 77 years old, he's preparing to die. And so he's letting all this out. And
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then from there, he proceeds to nuke the whole network of perverts from orbit. Basically, Vigano
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spends the first half of his report accusing numerous cardinals and bishops by name. Then
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he gets to Francis himself. He claims that Francis knew about Cardinal McCarrick, took no actions
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against him. He actually lifted sanctions that Pope Benedict had placed on him. Um, and since
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then there's been, there's been a lot of talk now about this, about this, this facet of the
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accusation. Um, this idea that Pope Benedict placed sanctions on McCarrick and then Francis
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lifted the sanctions. Now that's something that the fact that there were sanctions on McCarrick
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is something that Vigano says he got secondhand from someone else. That person has come forward
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and said, yes, it's true. He's, he's corroborated it. Um, since then Pope Benedict's people have
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reportedly confirmed that there were sanctions and church militant, the website church militant,
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uh, they, they did a report yesterday where they pointed out, they pointed to at least two
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articles in the news media prior to all this. There's one from a few weeks ago and then another
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from four years ago, which makes reference to sanctions or punishments or penalties that
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were placed on Cardinal McCarrick. So it seems very much that there were these sanctions
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on McCarrick, which Francis then lifted, even though Francis knew about Cardinal McCarrick and
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he knew about Cardinal McCarrick, first of all, because everybody did, but second, because Vigano
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talked to him personally and told him personally about what, um, McCarrick had been up to yet.
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Francis kept them in a position, not only kept in a position of, of power and visibility,
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but also, but, but in fact, reinstated him, reinstalled him into that position so that he
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could continue in his predation. In the couple of days since these, uh, stunning allegations were made,
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um, there, as I said, there's been, there's been a corroborating testimony from one of the people
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that was mentioned in Vigano's letter. He came out and said, it's true. Um, there we have the, we have
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the, the, uh, reported confirmation from Benedict's people. Then Cardinal Burke, um, and a bishop in
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Texas have categories, the categorized the allegations as credible and called for a thorough
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investigation. Then another bishop, Bishop Schneider came out with the strongest reaction yet, I think,
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saying that there is quote, no reasonable and plausible cause to doubt the truth of the document
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of Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano. No reasonable cause to doubt its truth. Now he's not saying
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that he knows for a fact it's true, but that is a strong, strong statement. In fact, let me read a
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little bit. He issued a whole, this, um, Arch, this Bishop Schneider issued a whole statement. I won't read
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the entire thing, but he says, it is a rare and an extremely grave fact in church history that a bishop
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accuses publicly and specifically a reigning pope. Um, Catholics all over the world, the simple
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faithful, the little ones are deeply shocked and scandalized about recently disclosed grave cases
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in which church authorities covered up and protected clerics who committed sexual offenses against
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minors and against their own subordinates. Such a historical situation, which the church has
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experienced in our days requires absolute transparency on all levels of the church's hierarchy
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and in first place, evidently on behalf of the pope. And, um, and then he goes on to say, there's no
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reason to doubt, to doubt the truth content of the claims. So it's strong stuff. Pope Francis, as we
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talked about yesterday, chose not to respond to the allegations at all, which is, I mean, it's deranged.
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He said he's not going to say a word about this. And he actually encouraged the public to draw its own
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conclusions and said, quote, make your own judgment. Now I cannot conceive of that. It seems
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inexplicable. Doesn't it? If you were now put yourself in, um, in Pope Francis's shoes for a minute,
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let's, let's, let's, let's say, sake of argument that Pope Francis is innocent. Let's say that you
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were Pope Francis and you're innocent and you're accused. Somebody makes up a story about you covering
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up sexual abuse, makes up this whole detailed, elaborate story. And then you're asked about it
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by the media. You've got cameras, you've got a microphone and you're saying, someone says,
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did this happen? Is there any scenario you can imagine where you would decline to at least deny it?
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Where you would say, well, draw your own conclusions about it. Oh, well, he claims that I was, uh,
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that I covered up sexual abuse, but you can draw your own conclusion. No, there's, it's just,
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there's, I cannot see any scenario where an innocent person would decline to issue a denial
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of a thing that he did not do. Um, so there are a lot of reasons to, to believe that the allegations
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are true, but are they true? I have, I think in fact, I could point to at least seven reasons
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why I think the allegations are credible. Seven reasons. Number one, Vigano's report is detailed
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and well-documented. So it has the marks of something that is true. Two, Vigano is a high
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ranking official with lots of knowledge of the inner workings of the church. This is,
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this is not some random person. This is a, this is a high ranking or was a high ranking,
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important person. He knows what he's talking about. Three, Vigano has everything to lose by lying.
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Nothing that I can tell to gain. Four, several trustworthy people have vouched for Vigano's
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credibility. Five, other trustworthy people have vouched for the, um, for the actual, uh, for the,
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for the truth of the claims themselves. Six, we have the background now, you know, we have certain
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background knowledge of the players involved. So we know that some of the people that were accused
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like, uh, McCarrick obviously, and guys like Worrell, we know that they're, they're dishonest and
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cowards. And, uh, so we know that. And then seven, we have the total lack of a denial from Pope Francis.
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So I think that those are seven reasonable justifications for believing that these accusations
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are credible. Now, as I wrote a piece yesterday and I was trying to make the case, well, what,
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what can be done from this point to actually confirm Vigano's claims or fully refute them?
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And I think, uh, I think for that, there are four things that need to happen. Number one,
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all of the documents, letters, memos, et cetera, that Vigano mentions in his report. And he says that
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there are many out there that will confirm and corroborate what he's saying. All of those have
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to be released to the public. Number two, every person in the Vatican hierarchy with any knowledge
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of the situation has to come forward and speak. Number three, a full investigation has to be
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conducted. And number four, Pope Francis has to answer these charges personally and not through
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statements issued by Vatican lawyers. Because if you were, if he declines to comment that he goes
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back to the comforts of the Vatican, few days later, he issues some lawyerly statement that is just
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going to make people even more suspicious. Now, if none of these measures are taken,
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then I think that the Catholic faithful and people all across the world will have no choice but to
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assume that a coverup is ongoing and Francis is involved in it. He will have left them no other
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option. Pope Francis can no longer be given the benefit of the doubt. He can no longer just let this
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fester, let the doubt fester. Because if he lets it fester, then, um, then I think the benefit of the
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doubt has to go to Vigano. It is up to him now to offer some evidence to prove that these claims are
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untrue. And if he's not going to do that, then we have no choice but to assume that they are true.
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And if the allegations are true, as I said yesterday, Pope Francis has to resign because he would lack the
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moral capacity to lead. And if he will not lead, if he will not resign, I should say, then he has to be
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pushed out. Um, as for pushing the Pope out, after I said that yesterday, a lot of people have, uh,
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have, you know, this is, I'm not the only one who's been saying this. And there are others who have
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objected saying, well, there's, there's really no way to push a Pope out. I mean, what are you talking
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about? So there's no reason to talk about it because it's impossible to do. I don't think that's
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true. I think there is a way to get rid of a Pope. If you want to put it that way, that's how you want
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to phrase it. To my knowledge, there isn't any mechanism in place to officially have the Pope
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removed from office. So in that, in that sense, there is nothing we can do. But in that same sense,
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we as individuals have little power to have anyone in any context removed from any position.
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You couldn't even get the, uh, you couldn't even get rid of the local Domino's assistant manager in
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your neighborhood. If you wanted to, I mean, you, you, you couldn't do it on your own.
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You, you personally really cannot remove anyone from anything. If we're being honest, right?
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You and I are people with basically no power and on our own, we can't remove anyone from anything,
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but as groups, we have virtually, I think, unlimited power in these kinds of situations,
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because if the group is large enough and loud enough and consistent enough, it can basically
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push anyone from any position. If the position is Domino's assistant manager, well, then the group
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probably doesn't need to be that large. If the position is, uh, is, you know, some political office,
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then the, the group needs to be much, much larger, but it can happen for the Pope. The group needs to
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be extremely, extremely, extremely large, but it can happen. And this needs to be a group that is
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armed with prayer and righteous anger. If it turns out that the Pope is guilty and it's not looking good
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for him, let's be honest. But, um, if these allegations can be confirmed, or if there is
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enough corroboration so as to make the fact completely overwhelmingly clear, um, or if the Pope,
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as I said, tries to ignore this completely and thus proves the existence of a coverup by his lack of
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denial and his lack of action, well, then I think it'll be time for Catholics to rise up around the globe,
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to take to the streets, um, organize rallies, put pressure on their bishops to, to put pressure
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themselves on the Vatican. That's, that's what I mean by pressuring, pushing. It's just a matter if,
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if we get to this point and I'm not saying we're there yet, but if we get to this point, then it's a
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matter of rising up, making your anger known and saying, this is unacceptable. This is intolerable.
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This man does not have the moral capacity to lead. And so he must do the right thing and step aside.
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Ultimately he has to make that choice on his own. But I think, um, I don't even think the most arrogant
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Pope in the world, in the history could remain in office in face of a worldwide backlash from his
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own ranks. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think so. So if we reach that point, it is not true to say
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that regular Catholic lay people are powerless. They do have quite a lot of power actually. And
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even more power than that, when you consider that, uh, the Catholic church largely relies on them for
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funding. So that's power that we have as well. And I think we can use it now this, there, there are
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many things about this that are unprecedented and the idea of lay people rising up and demanding
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this kind of change. That is, I mean, that is certainly unprecedented. That has never happened.
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Part of the reason why though that's never happened is because just the situation is different in modern
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times. Back in the old days, if there was controversy in the church, if there was, um, scandal,
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whatever, the average guy sitting in a pew probably never would have heard of it. The average peasant
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farmer in 1735 wouldn't have heard of most of these controversies or scandals, or if he did hear
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about them, he would have heard about them after the fact, after some proclamation or whatever is
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issued. And then he would go, Oh, okay, well, I guess that's settled. But now we have with just the
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nature of the modern world living in the information age that we do. We have insight. We have, we, we
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have a window into all of these machinations as they're ongoing. So then as regular people, we have
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a choice to make is do we just sit back and hope that the, um, people in power do the right thing?
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Well, it's clear we cannot hope for that because that has not been happening. Then the other choice
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is to stand up and let our voices be heard. And we're calling not in that case, we'd be calling
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not for vengeance, not for anything like that, but standing for what is true and what is right
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and demanding that morality and basic order be restored.
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Which I think is a very good, holy thing. Um, so if we reach that point that I think there
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are, that is the, uh, that is a tool that we have at our disposal and we should not rule
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out using that tool if we get there. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening, everybody.