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St. Catherine of Siena and the Reverence Due to Priests
I agree with you,the Pope and the civil authorities are dealing with it ,its like washing linen in the streets,its a shame Catholic are criticizing the priest of god and his anointed.
St. Catherine of Siena and the Reverence Due to Priests
But
The Dialogue says such criticism is never justified:
For this reason no one has excuse to say, “I am doing no harm, nor am I rebelling against holy Church. I am simply acting against the sins of evil pastors.” Such persons are deluded, blinded as they are by their own selfishness…. It is me they assault, just as it was me they reverenced. To me redounds every assault they make on my ministers: derision, slander, disgrace, abuse. Whatever is done to them I count as done to me….
By not paying me reverence in the persons of my ministers, they have lost respect for the latter and persecuted them because of the many sins and faults they saw in them. If in truth the reverence they had for them had been for my sake, they would not have cut it off on account of any sin in them. For no sin can lessen the power of this sacrament, and therefore their reverence should not lessen either. When it does, it is against me they sin. (116)
The Part of the Faithful: Tears and Prayers for Mercy
This sin of persecuting priests and denying them due honor, God tells St. Catherine, is “more serious than any other,” because those who do this are persecuting and dishonoring the blood of Jesus.
If all the other sins these people have committed were put on one side and this one sin on the other, the one would weigh more in my sight than all the others. (116)
That does not mean God is letting priests off the hook. On the contrary, He tells St. Catherine that priests who do evil and lead their flocks astray are devils.
Their dignity in being my ministers will not save them from my punishment. Indeed, unless they change their ways, they will be punished more severely than all the others, because they have received more from my kindness. Having sinned so miserably, they are deserving of greater punishment. So you see how they are devils, just as I told you that my chosen ones are angels on earth and do the work of the angels. (121)
Because “things can be better known by looking at their opposites” (110), God tells St. Catherine of His faithful ministers who serve His people in humility and virtue, extolling them as “precious stones” whom God has set with the “greatest honor in everlasting life,” and the sight of them makes Him “gloriously happy.” (119)
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