Here is the report from LifeSiteNews: Pope Francis’ next encyclical will be on ‘human fraternity’, Italian bishop claims.

Hilariously, the subtitle of the LifeSiteNews piece is ” ‘Human fraternity’ is a secular virtue extolled by the Masonic brotherhood”. They also extol reason. Should we reject whatever they extol? How about if we ignore them, and follow Christ and His Church? It sounds like LSN is getting ready to accuse Pope Francis of putting out a Masonic encyclical. Actually, I’d be surprised if no one on the far right makes that claim, when it comes out.

This encyclical should address the topic of salvation for non-Catholic Christians, non-Christian believers, and non-believers. I expect the encyclical to say that everyone who loves others selflessly can be saved by that love, as I’ve explained at length in my book Forgiveness and Salvation for Everyone.

And what will the reaction be? Accusations of heresy, of course. But that is not new. It seems that the far right is content to claim that Francis is the valid Pope and both a teacher of heresy and a heretic. Nothing will move then to leave the Church, which they have already left in mind and heart (some just in mind), unless the Pope uses Papal Infallibility to teach the above doctrine.

And I believe Pope Francis will do just that. He will use Papal Infallibility to teach in the document — which we don’t know the title of, but for convenience sake is now being called — On Human Fraternity. He knows that this teaching will be immediately rejected. So he has to be prepared for that response by writing his response into the encyclical. And it seems to me, that the only way for him to assert his teaching authority over his loudmouthed, arrogant, ignorant, self-exalting opponents is to use the authority of Peter to teach infallibly.

And this will spin the heads of his opponents. First, they will try to claim that the teaching does not meet the conditions for Papal Infallibility. But the number of Bishops, priests, and theologians who analyze the document and declare that it does meet the conditions will overwhelm them. They will have to admit it meets the conditions. This should result in the submission of faith. But if they were going to submit their faith to the Magisterium, they wouldn’t be rejecting Francis, other Popes, Vatican II, other Councils. So they will have to claim that Francis is not a valid Pope. And that makes them de facto schismatics and sedevacantist.

But it is long past time for them to leave. We cannot tolerate heretics and schismatics, especially those openly rejecting the authority of any Pope or Council who says anything contrary to their own opinion. It could not be more clear, at this point, that the problem is not Francis. The book “Infiltration”, widely praised on the far right, attacks every Pope starting with Pius XII. (There’s a ridiculous passage in the book that explains how Pius XII started out as a holy Pope but then was supposedly led astray by an evil conspiratorial Cardinal. And who is the shadowy malicious figure? Cardinal Montini! The future Pope Saint Paul VI. Ha-ha-ha! What a joke.) And after attacking Pope after Pope, they not only proposed rejecting Vatican II en bloc, but also went after other Ecumenical Councils, including Vatican I. So the problem is not Francis. Who are the freemasons of today? The opponents of Pope Francis are figurative freemasons, who fight against the authority of the Church and wish to replace Her teachings with theirs.

I intend do sketch out, in future posts, what ought to be in the encyclical, as a type of schema. And we will see how close or far from the mark I might be.

RLCJ