Rosica says the Church is now "openly ruled by an individual [Pope Francis, who rules by his own personal authority]."

In an article Rosica wrote a fortnight ago, he says Francis "breaks Catholic traditions whenever he wants" because he is "free from disordered attachments."

After being republished by the news agency Zenit, Rosica's statements were picked up by social media. He then removed the words "free from disordered attachments" and replaced it with "[…]."

Rosica said, as a Jesuit, Francis is guided by the principle of "discernment" which at times results in "freeing him from the confinement of doing something in a certain way because it was ever thus."

The pope's openness, however, also a signature of his Jesuit training and development, means that not even he is sure where the spirit will lead," writes Rosica.

"He has said: ‘I don't have all the answers. I don't even have all the questions. I always think of new questions, and there are always new questions coming forward.'"

Source

• Lifesite
• Catholic Herald
• Image: De Omnibus Dubitandum Est

Fr Thomas Rosica told a World Communications Day event in New York that sometimes Catholic conversation online is more "culture of death" than "culture of life".

"Many of my non-Christian and non-believing friends have remarked to me that we ‘Catholics' have turned the Internet into a cesspool of hatred, venom and vitriol, all in the name of defending the faith!" he said.

"The character assassination on the Internet by those claiming to be Catholic and Christian has turned it into a graveyard of corpses strewn all around," said the priest.

Fr Rosica assists the Vatican Press Office with English-speaking media and runs the "Salt and Light TV" Catholic network in Canada.

"Often times the obsessed, scrupulous, self-appointed, nostalgia-hankering virtual guardians of faith or of liturgical practices are very disturbed, broken and angry individuals, who never found a platform or pulpit in real life and so resort to the Internet and become trolling pontiffs and holy executioners!" Fr Rosica said in New York.

"In reality they are deeply troubled, sad and angry people," he said.

"We must pray for them, for their healing and conversion!"

Rather than being against everything, Fr Rosica said, we should be "known as the people who are for something, something positive that can transform lives and engage and impact the culture".

The good news, he said, is that in the broader media universe, Pope Francis has had exactly that effect.

Graduate schools of business and management are now using Pope Francis as a case study in rebranding, Fr Rosica added.

Both Fr Rosica and his "Salt and Light TV" network have occasionally been targeted for on-line criticism, especially from conservative and pro-life Catholic organisations.

Sources

• Crux
• Image: Church Militant

It had been widely reported that Patriarch Bartholomew I and Pope Francis had agreed on the gathering to mark 1700 years since the First Council of Nicaea.

This was what Patriarch Bartholomew told Asia News following his meeting with the Pope in Jerusalem.

But Vatican spokesman Fr Thomas Rosica said no formal announcement or convocation of this event has come from the Vatican.

"It is very early to jump to conclusions," he said.

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