Just for the record, Bergoglio didn't coin the term self-referentialism. The term self-reference, which refers to recursive motifs in mathematics, philosophy and art, and has latterly been introduced into linguistics and psychology, has been used for many decades now. The concept, of course, is timeless; the explicit recognition of the concept goes back at least to Russell's Paradox and Kurt Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem, which are notable examples of it.
But it is surpassingly curious that Bergoglio would apply this term to Traditional Catholicism. Catholic theology does not make use of recursive methods; Thomistic philosophy regards the appearance of recursion in an argument as fallacious, or at the very least evidence of an inaccurate parsing of the terms. I am unable to see how this is "a problem Traditionalists face," unless (as seems likely) Bergoglio has in mind only the social aspects of Traditional Catholic communities—which if true reveals a great deal about the man himself, for it shows all of the following:
A) His exclusively human-centered understanding of religion. For him, everything ultimately reduces to a social question. Traditionalism earns his ire because it is (in his view) closed off to the wider world and uninterested in the exciting "existential peripheries" of social engagement. This is both an insult and a canard, as I explain below.
B) His rejection of any spirit of renunciation or contemplation. One of the most ominous hallmarks of the Conciliar Church is its sumptuousness, its highly refined egotism which it hides behind a pretense of respect for life and concern for the poor. It positively exhorts and even commands all to feast at the banquet of life. This attitude, especially prominent in Paul VI, reinterprets Catholic doctrine with a Socialist-Humanist hermeneutic so that, while the same words and expressions are used, something different is meant. Thus Conciliarism's incessant carping about social justice stems not from any desire to do a good office for Christ by benefitting His poor servants, but a desire to "integrate them into the human community," that being the community of pseudo-religious aesthetes like themselves. It is actually an intolerance of the fact of poverty, an effeminate insistence that nothing must remain which disturbs the uninterrupted enjoyment of sensuous delights and vainglorious ostentation. The poor are an annoyance, you see, thus "poverty" must be "eliminated." How far these New Churchmen—who seem to think only of redistributing, never of renouncing, wealth—are from the spirit of the Gospel, can be seen from the example of the many saints who followed Christ's counsel to take no thought of riches or poverty, for both fetter us to the cares of this world. The Christian ought to live with a contented otherworldliness, not regarding the passing problems and anxieties of this life as something worthy of his complete attention. The desire to disengage from this world is a great sign of predestination and incipient sanctity, as one turns his thoughts and his entire being ever more fully toward God. Francis impugns this most holy and religious attitude in the person of the Traditionalists by calling them self-referential, hence the insult.
C) His total ignorance of the actual situation. While Traditional Catholics ought to live apart from this world, they very seldom do so. One of the chief complaints one hears from Traditional Catholics these days is the extent to which worldliness has seeped into the roots of their supposedly Traditional parish. It has at least been my own regrettable experience (and I think that I am not alone in this) that the people who attend Latin Masses are by and large just as worldly, just as interested in careerism, just as obsessed with professional sports, just as unknowing about the firm facts of the faith, just as likely to have supercilious daughters with facebook pages, just as convinced of the salutary effects of democracy—in a word just as steeped in the heresy of Americanism—as your average Evangelical Protestant; which is to say, not as much as your typical neo-pagan fellaheen worldling, but more so than is permissible. Bergoglio seems unaware of this ground-level reality within Traditionalist circles, hence the canard. All of this redounds finally to the confirmation of:
D) His grandstanding and bullying. Bergoglio's relentless attacks on Tradition seem utterly out of proportion when we realize that he is talking to a tiny fraction of a percent of all the world's Catholics, and moreover identifying them as the enemies of the Church's mission. Meanwhile, he has more than demonstrated his willingness to jump on board with the popular cause celebres of ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖity and ecuмenism. These are two sides of the same coin. Traditionalism is a threat to Bergoglio's "mission" in the same sense that Christ is always scandal to the world, that much is true. It is also unquestionably true that he seeks to damage the credibility of the Trads, but I think this is more of an instinctive response with him than part of a Machiavellian ploy. In either case, he is definitely lacking in supernatural vision and is an untrustworthy guide in spiritual matters. If I'm wrong and he is a Machiavel, than he is exceedingly wicked to boot. However (and I shall close with this point), I would not think that Bergoglio's use of the bully pulpit, as it were opposing the power of the papacy to Traditionalism, really hits Trads where it hurts. The mere fact of being a Traditionalist has meant at the very least ignoring if not opposing the power of the papacy for the last fifty years. Bergoglio's gambit depends on a loyalty which is no longer really there. Traditionalists already stand condemned in the eyes of the world, so trying to further pillory them before the world will not hurt them much either. I conclude that the most likely explanation of Bergoglio's behavior is that he is himself jealous for the praise and approval of the world. He neither knows nor cares much for anything else.
Sic transit gloria mundi was the phrase uttered to every true pope of the Catholic Church upon his coronation, as a patch of burning straw turned to ashes in his hands. How the Conciliar popes have forgotten that fact, along with everything else.
Topic: Francis: "The Latin Mass is rather a kind of fashion." (Read 7962 times)