IS THE POPE CATHOLIC?

1. Is the Pope Catholic?
    I don’t remember buying it but it had been on my desk for weeks. It is a magazine. The cover states; ‘Is the Pope Catholic?’ And it answers its own question; ‘Of course he is. You just wouldn’t know it from his press clips. The question was not answered. Rightly, you wouldn’t know it from his press clips. You wouldn’t know it either from L’Osservatore Romano, from all the Jesuit periodicals, from the Pope’s own writings, or from the Internet. 
     One immediately gets a chill up his spine; what is this? Is the Catholic Church in her Bishops and Jesuits totally ignorant on how to find out who is a Catholic? Why, this is one of the most important question all Catholics must answer and God had given a-very easy-to-learn answer so everybody can find eternal salvation by joining the true Church.
     Then the article proceeds to criticize Bishop Cordileone. Ahhhh..I was right. This confirms it, the Catholic Church is no longer Catholic. 

2. How do we check true Catholicity?
     There is only one way to check if someone or if a Church is the true Catholic Church established by Christ. This is proclaimed loudly every time the Nicene Creed is recited; I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. There is absolutely no other way to checking if one is Catholic. The catechism repeats it and gives no other way of identifying the true Church of Christ.
     These four visible signs were instituted by God, Himself, to enable all men to easily know the true Church and, thus, enter it. So all men can easily recognize these signs. And these signs are visible though they are based on spiritual realities. 

3.The Fathers and the Saints expanded the four visible signs. 
    The explanations of these four signs are rather a little difficult to understand. One has to have an intellect without malice otherwise he cannot see the signs. 
     The Fathers and the Doctors of the Church came to the rescue by expanding the four visible signs into 6 up to 15 Marks of the true Church. The Treatise on the Marks of the Church by St. Robert Bellarmine, Jesuit saint and doctor of the Church is easy readying. For a long time written in Latin, it was translated into English just a few months ago and it is causing some commotion. Many reading the treatise are finding out that they are not Catholics at all.

4. The only reliable basis for analysis.
     These four visible signs mentioned in the Nicene Creed and lengthily discussed by St. Robert Bellarmine should have been used by the magazine in answering the question; ‘is the Pope Catholic.’ And its answer would be correct because that is the only way Catholicity can be proven. There is no other way. 

5. We should check everything.
    We should master these four visible signs and fortified with the 15 explanation by St. Robert Bellarmine check everything. Check if your Church, your bishop, your priest, your Mass, your sacraments, your theology, your nuns, your wife, and your children are truly Catholics by looking for these visible signs. Check your diocese, your parish, your organization and your friends if they are Catholics.

6. God meant these signs for me to be able to identify the true  Church easily and immediately. Negligence to study these signs and applying them to identify the true Catholics is a serious sin against Faith.
     Armed with this knowledge, both from the Nicene Creed and the treatise of St. Robert  Bellarmine and believing that God in His wisdom had made these signs easily recognizable  I begun to try applying them in everything Catholic. First, to my monastic order, my parish and my diocese. But I could not find any of the visible signs of Catholicity in them. Then I tried it on other  Catholic organizations, Catholic parishes and Catholic Dioceses. Still I could not fine any visible sign of Catholicity in them. Then I tried it on the Bishop’s Synod and Bishop’s conference and, still,  I could not find any visible sign in them. Notice, I said I could not find any visible sign. Maybe, they had signs but I could not find them in my stupidity. 
     Then, I could not resist the temptation; I tried it to find the visible signs on the Vatican and in Pope Francis. I could not find any visible signs of Catholicity in either of them. Not even in the last two Bishop’s Synod.

7. Partial presence of the visible signs. 
    Some Bishops in the two last Bishop’s Synod showed visible signs of the true Church. But they only showed partial signs of the true Church. They did not show the complete visible signs. Though some African Bishops showed partial visible signs of the true Church, their Diocese and parishes did not show the visible signs. 
     This could only mean that the Bishops did not have all the visible signs perfectly so they could not communicate it to their parishes or Dioceses. This is possible. The bishop has to work a little harder to help their parishes or dioceses produce the visible signs. It should come out gloriously when the parish or dioceses have truly become Catholic.
     Bishop Cordileone showed partial visible signs of Catholicity but San Francisco had no visible signs.  
     The sight of seeing bishops and priest with some partial visible signs of true Catholicity is common; but in most cases their parishes or dioceses have no signs at all.

8. Answer to the question.
     Is the Pope Catholic? Basing it on the only dependable norms as found in the Nicene Creed and the works of the Fathers and doctors of the Church like St. Robert Bellarmine………No! I could not find a single visible sign of Catholicity as enumerated by St. Robert Bellarmine. I have begged the Jesuits to write an article proving their confrere the Jesuit Pope Francis is a Catholic based on the Nicene Creed and the works of St. Bellarmine……..of course he is. You just wouldn’t know it from his press clips. But you can know it for sure from the four visible signs from the Nicene Creed and from the 15 Marks enumerated by St. Robert Bellarmine. But I could be wrong and would be happier to be so. But can some one else try it.