Using the analogy of a body for the Church as St. Paul often did, we naturally refer to Christ as the head. We might just as rightly refer to the saints in heaven, starting with the Blessed Virgin Mary, as the heart of that mystical body. We of course, the Church Militant, represent the various other members ~ hands, feet, etc. So what connects all these various members to the head, Christ, is the spinal chord or backbone. That metaphorical backbone of the Church would be the clergy: priests bishops, cardinals, and the Pope himself. For without the priesthood there simply can be no sacramental life, no true governance, and no Church. These men represent the indispensable neuro-pathway linking the Church’s many members to Christ her head. Sever the spine and the Church will die, cut off from its one true head. But what if that same spine is only damaged? Then, like our bodies, a full or partial paralysis will occur so that the Church, although it may continue to limp along, it will no longer function in a healthy or robust manner. It will become a weakened invalid.

That point at the very top of the spinal column where the spine merges into the actual brain matter would be the Petrine office of the Pope. Christ after all founded his Church on all twelve apostles but he gave a special authority to Peter, calling him the “Rock” who would support, encourage, and at times even correct his brother bishops. Peter was to be the visible sign and cause of unity in the Church. Nevertheless it would take all of the apostles, not just Peter to manage and extend the Church to the ends of the earth. And yes, there were times when even Peter himself needed correction as we know from the Acts of the Apostles.

With Advent we are entering a new liturgical year, so it might be a good time to take the current pulse of Christ’s Church. And yet, what we observe coming out of the Petrine office these days is very disturbing. I am referring of course to the current Bergoglian papacy euphemistically called the “Francis Church.” (What used to be known as the Roman Catholic Church increasingly resembles a strange new body, the Jesuit Catholic Church.) Beginning March 13, 2013 the world’s Catholic faithful have been living in a surreal dream-like state of two popes which, in the past year since the death of Benedict XVI, has increasingly morphed into a frightful nightmare. We have observed the so-called Church of Mercy descend into the Church of petty retributions, vindictiveness, and patent injustice. Saintly bishops are deposed unjustly and without cause, most recently Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas who it seems has now been forbidden to even celebrate Mass in his former diocese among friends he has known for years. It is a demonstration of just how petulant the henchmen of Bergoglio’s brutal authoritarianism have become.