"Nun khre methusthen kai tina per bian ponen, epei de katthane Mursilos."
Such would have been the reaction of the unchristianised Greeks. But for us, for the redeemed; for us who discern the multitude of our own transgressions: may he rest in peace and may he rise in glory.
So why did Pope Francis do it? What lay behind all that cruelty? Was he simply feeding his own craving to hurt people?
This was the man who treated the Universal Church and the Deposit of Faith like a toddler who had been given toys to play with; a big and boisterous child who liked to play with them rather roughly. If anybody suggested that he should, perhaps, treat them more gently, did he simply throw a tantrum and smash them up? Are we dealing with the whims of an undisciplined schoolboy, wayward and wilful? Or are matters cruder than that ... should we speak simply of the habitual mendacity of a brooding misanthrope?
Should we look to his arrogant overconfidence in his own ability to judge people, and his bad track record as regards those in whom he did so unwisely place his confidence?
Perhaps we should be more sympathetic and see him as a man of very limited abilities and perceptions; who treated the Church Militant like a third grade banana republic whose time-expired bananas nobody now much wanted?
Perhaps one key to his defects of character lay in the spiteful and foul-mouthed habits of a man who
talked at people; rarely to people; not often with people.
A man who, deep down, was consumed with fear: afraid of the erudition of his erudite prededecessor and of the dubia cardinals; afraid of the devotion of Traddy young clergy; a man who, like most bullies, was essentially a coward; who, like most tyrants, was only interested in the opinion of his sycophants; whom an earlier generation of Englishmen would, I very regretfully have to admit, simply have written off as a dirty-minded dago.
His ready reliance on attacking the people he called "Shit lovers" and "Shit Eaters" points, surely, to just such a profound inner emptiness. But ... I mean this ... who am I to judge?
My duty is Prayer for a brother Priest; for a Successor of the Prince of the Apostles.
WHAT NEXT?
The last thing we need is A Next Pope who offers us a reversed mirror-image of Bergoglio and his failings. We can do without any kind of Peronism. We've had enough taking-of-revenge to last a very long time.
I hope for a Pope who understands the Gamaliel Principle; who realises his own limitations.
I do not desire to see anybody persecuted ... not even 'liberal' fellow-Catholics with whom I strongly disagee.
As for Bergoglio's profoundly misguided 'legislation' ... I believe that the history of the 'Reception' of the Apostolic Constitution Veterum Sapientia from 1962 onwards has a lot to teach us about seeing things in perspective.
Again ... may he rest in the peace of the Lord; may his sins be forgiven; may he rise in the glory of the Paschal Redeemer, his Lord and yours and mine.
