Brutal Mercy – But Hope Is Not Lost.

On February 9, modernist Chicago Cardinal Cupich, during a talk in Cambridge, England, presented Amoris Laetitia as a paradigm shift praising a “Revolution of Mercy” initiated by Pope Francis. After the lecture, Cupich received a response from John Rist, a philosopher of the Catholic University of America who sat in the audience. He brought Cupich back to reality, showing how Francis mercilessly eliminates those he perceives as his enemies. Rist mentioned:

• the removal of Cardinal Burke

• the dismissal of three senior members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

• the refusal to make Philadelphia Archbishop Chaput a cardinal

• the removal of almost all members of the Pontifical Academy for Life

• or: Francis’ handling of Cardinal Pell

Rist argued that Francis' so-called paradigm shift should be recognised as an attempt, under cover of offering solutions to genuine social problems in Western society, to impose on the Church radical changes of doctrine. Rist identified a "group of relativistic Hegelians in Germany" as the backers of that plot.

As could be expected, Cardinal Cupich did not enter into Rist's argument. Instead, he responded with a relatively cheap attack against Rist's person suggesting that people like Rist should ask the question whether they still believed that the Holy Spirit is leading the Church. Rist had never questioned this.

After the event, Rist told the Catholic Herald that he would like to respond once more to the Cardinal, saying: "The Church is indeed led by the Holy Spirit, through good Catholic souls like Cardinal Burke and many others."