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Fr. Thomas Rosica.Salt and Light / Youtube

August 15, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Fr. Thomas Rosica, a Vatican advisor and CEO of television network “Salt and Light,” is lashing out at critics of Pope Francis following Rosica’s recent public admission that Francis “breaks Catholic traditions whenever he wants” and that Francis rules as “an individual rather than by the authority of Scripture alone or even its own dictates of tradition plus Scripture.”

In a rebuke to those who have cited Rosica’s article as evidence that Francis is seeking to undermine and even alter the Catholic faith, Rosica told critics to “go to confession” in an angry tweet that implied that his article had somehow been taken out of context.

“For those who have not read the full text [of the article] & go about your daily work of condemning, maligning & distorting anything about @Pontifex, here's the link to the full text: “The Ignatian Qualities of the Petrine Ministry of Pope Francis https://saltandlighttv.org/blogfeed/getpost.php?id=72516 …. Then go to confession,” Rosica tweeted.

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Rosica’s tweet was followed by an avalanche of negative responses from readers, who called Rosica’s remarks “papolatrous,” “idolatrous,” and even “blasphemous.”

Edward Peters, a professor of canon law at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, tweeted, “When the Vatican's own English media attaché angrily dismisses critics of his plainly papolatrous remarks as “condemning, maligning & distorting” folks, and meanly adds that they need to “go to confession”, well, kinda tells us all we need to know.”  

READ: ‘Pope Francis breaks Catholic traditions whenever he wants’: Vatican advisor Fr. Rosica

Fr. David Palmer responded to Rosica: “You appear to suggest that the Pope is above scripture and tradition, both of which are part of the divine deposit of faith given to us by God. Therefore your article is seemingly blasphemous. It is you who need to go to confession.”

Rosica’s article (PDF here), which states openly what Francis critics have held for years regarding the pontiff, is surprising given Rosica’s close relationship with the Vatican and his strong support for the Francis papacy. It also reveals an apparent lack of respect for Catholic doctrine on the part of an influential cleric who leads a major television network, dismissing the authority of both Scripture and Catholic tradition, and calling adherence to tradition a “disordered attachment.”

“Pope Francis breaks Catholic traditions whenever he wants because he is ‘free from disordered attachments,’” writes Rosica. 

“Our Church has indeed entered a new phase,” Rosica continues.  “With the advent of this first Jesuit pope, it is openly ruled by an individual rather than by the authority of Scripture alone or even its own dictates of tradition plus Scripture.”

According to Rosica, Pope Francis has a “commitment to a ‘conversion’ of the papacy as well as the entire church.”

“It’s hard to predict what will come next,” writes Rosica, who calls Francis “shrewd” and imbued with the trait of “holy cunning.”

“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.’”

The article was seen as so outrageous that the news agency ZENIT, which regularly republishes Rosica’s blog posts, edited the piece soon after Catholic news outlets began to report on it, removing the references to Francis’ disregard for tradition and the Scriptures.

Rosica’s statements seem to confirm the assessment of Francis’ Catholic critics, who call the pope a “dictator” who disregards and openly subverts Catholic doctrine. 

Francis’ now-infamous apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia seems to teach that adultery between invalidly remarried couples is morally excusable and unavoidable, and that Holy Communion should be given to such couples, an interpretation that has been upheld by Francis himself. Such doctrines appear to contradict the perennial teaching of the Catholic Church.

His novel teachings in Amoris laetitia led to a “filial correction” of the pope by a large number of Catholic scholars, who called the doctrines “heretical.”

Francis has made numerous other statements that seem to contradict Catholic doctrine, including his apparent denial of the intrinsic evil of contraception, and his purported rejection of the Catholic doctrine of eternal suffering in hell.