Make it make sense
Wait, how does that work?
Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin celebrates Mass for members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, recalling the anniversary of Pope Francis’ pontificate and inviting everyone to continue praying for his health.
What’s the point of praying for his health? Especially for those guys to pray for his health? It’s an inside job. They’re all supposed to be on the same page. What’s the agency they’re praying to? The Big Kahuna, obviously – Mister God himself. They’re servants of Mister God. They bow to Mister God. They recognize Mister God as the big boss, and they flatter him and tell others to flatter him every chance they get. So what do they think they’re doing, trying to coax him to overrule himself?
What does praying for the pope’s health do other than beg Mister God to change his mind? Well what kind of hideous blasphemy is that?! I ask you! Have they no faith? Have they never heard of obedience? They’re the Catholic church, so they’re all about obedience – at least, obedience to priests, who just want to pull your pants down when no one is looking.
What they’re doing by praying for the pope’s health is begging Mister God to change his mind. Jeezus christ it’s as if they’re a bunch of whiny women who refuse to understand the rules.
Whatever happened to “thy will be done”?
At his age and miserable physical condition, why are they demanding he recover? Maybe it’s time to let go? Go home to Jesus? They should ONLY be praying for an end to suffering.
But the suffering is God’s doing too. Everything that is, is what it is because God wills it so. How dare believers beg for a different decision? God knows best, because God is God.
Praying for people to be struck down by lightning yields the same results. Or a ketamine overdose, or choking on a hamberder, or whatever. God is a disappointment. :P
Perhaps God is willing them to pray for Paco’s health.
They’re Catholics; praying for an end to suffering is antithetical to papists.
It would be most amusing to hear a voice boom from the clouds, saying ‘his miserable life is not worth the reversal of a Custer decision’.
Traditionally the UK sent a practising Anglican as its envoy to the Holy See, what with the monarch being Head of the England’s established church. I don’t know if this is still the case, but I would suspect that at least some of the diplomatic corps are not particularly invested in the survival of any particular Pope. I suspect the Chinese and Iranians are at best neutral on the subject.
On the other hand, the position of Ambassador to the Holy See used to be, maybe still is, the most senior and prestigious the German diplomatic service has to offer, though the job itself is of little practical importance and carries few responsibilities.