“Those who do not repent, and therefore cannot be forgiven, disappear.”
When I began reading gaslighting news reports in the legacy and Catholic media about the passing of Pope Francis, I wanted to run and throw up in the toilet. A Catholic family I have known for over 50 years sent me an article by Bishop Robert Barron that read, “In word, gesture and deed, Pope Francis consistently reached out to those on the edges – the poor, the disenfranchised, migrants and endeavored to bring them to the center.” The more articles I read, the angrier I became knowing how countless clerical sex abuse victims must be feeling about this un-holy father who probably covered up more abuse than any prelate in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. My friend, Joseph Sciambra, echoed my feelings when he wrote, “Imagine being a survivor of some cult where you were sexually abused as a child, and then watching as the world praises the cult’s leader after his death. Now, you are beginning to understand what priest sex abuse survivors are going through right now.”
I created my Substack account, John 18:37 (“I have come into the world — to bear witness to the truth….”) because I discovered that many media outlets were either publishing lies, or more often not telling “the whole truth” about Pope Francis and “Lavender Mafia types” like Cardinals Cupich, McElroy, Dolan, Fernández, and others who were harming the faith of millions of Catholics. Steve Skojec who founded OnePeterFive believed the media was not just compromising the “truth,” but was also covering up for Francis who, from his perspective, personified “the devil prowling around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Another incredibly gifted former Catholic writer, Rod Dreher, also laments “how Pope Francis and the bishops seem so dead-set on destroying the Catholic faith — or if not destroying it, per se, then on turning it into something it never has been.” Dr. Jules Gomes, a Rome-based and Cambridge educated scholar and journalist, has also not been afraid to expose the late Pope’s heresies, his support for same-sex blessings, his anti-semitism, his sell-out of the Catholic Church in China, his sex abuse cover-ups, and his many other often unreported doctrinal and moral flaws.
The Catholic Church has had its share of homosexual popes throughout its history, including Pope Leo X and Julius III, whose immoral behavior fueled the Protestant Reformation and the exodus of millions of Catholics as is happening today. Despite the conversion of celebrities like Vice President J.D. Vance and Candace Owens, for every one Catholic convert in the U.S., 8.4 Catholics leave the Church. In commenting on the death of Pope Francis, Mel Gibson wrote, “He embraced a modern world that mocks Christ, and in doing so, many souls were led astray.” Had the cardinals not elected Jorge Bergoglio who had a record of covering up sex abuse and who failed to deny allegations that he sexually abused Jesuit novices in Córdoba, Dominican Father Thomas Doyle, Joseph Sciambra, Richard Windmann, and countless other respected clergy, former seminarians, and laity would probably still be Catholics today. Just as pro-LGBTQ mainline Protestant Churches have experienced a major decline in membership, so too has the preaching and behavior of closeted gay Catholic clergy had a similar effect. One Evangelical Anglican pastor wisely observed, “Were it not for immigrants bringing their Catholicism with them, the Catholics would look like the Episcopalians.”
What set Pope Francis apart from previous homosexual popes was his attempt to change the teaching of the Catholic Church on homosexuality with his promulgation of Fiducia Supplicans that allowed for the blessing of homosexual unions. Previous homosexual popes also were not known for removing straight bishops like Francis did with Tyler Bishop Joseph Strickland who spoke out against clerical sexual predation and homosexual misconduct, and Arecibo Bishop Fernández Torres who opposed transgender ideology and refused to send his seminarians to a gay-infested interdiocesan seminary. It remains to be seen if Francis’ successor will attempt to push for the doctrinal acceptance of homosexual behavior and even a “married” gay and lesbian priesthood like in many mainline Protestant churches in order to fill the critical shortage of straight celibate clergy that has developed in Europe and the Americas over the past 50 years.
Even if the media were to cover up for the next pope as it did for Pope Francis, the new pontiff could still be blackmailed by foreign intelligence services from countries like the People’s Republic of China if, for example, they discovered that he is a closeted homosexual who abused seminarians as a priest or bishop. The fact that Pope Francis never disciplined over 150 bishops credibly accused of sexual abuse; priests like Marko Rupnik who raped over 20 nuns; and cardinals like Robert McElroy, Blase Cupich, Christophe Pierre, and other prelates who covered up countless sexual abuse cases, means that the new pope could not discpline other bishops if they know he committed the same acts. Might this be a reason corrupt cardinals might wish to elect an equally corrupt pope unlike St. Pius V who issued a bull in 1568 against homosexual clergy, Horrendum Illud scelus (“That Horrible Crime”), calling for homosexual priests to be deprived of their dignity and be delivered to the secular authority to be put to death.
Although many people have posted memes online depicting Pope Francis being welcomed into heaven, many sex abuse victims, as well as canceled clergy who spoke out against abuse and were sacked by Francis or complicit bishops, believe that the late pope had an ulterior motive for saying that hell did not exist. Italian journalist, Eugenio Scalfari, reported in 2018 that Francis questioned the existence of hell at the same time The Times of London reported that “Pope Francis abolishes hell.” According to Francis, “Those who repent are not punished but obtain the forgiveness of God and go among the ranks of the souls who contemplate him. But those who do not repent, and therefore cannot be forgiven, disappear.” Recognizing the heretical nature of the Pope’s statement, the Vatican would later walk back what the Pope said and have him say in a later talk that hell actually exists.
Ordained over 50 years ago after having studied in Rome with five of the ten US cardinal electors, I can say that, from my experience, most people die the way they live. While it is possible for a person to make a deathbed confession, I believe these are extremely rare. Unless Pope Francis asked forgiveness during his dying days for all the abuse he covered up that led many victims to become alcoholics, drug addicts, or commit suicide, his final prayer may have been that he just “disappear.” Lamenting that “Pope Francis never cared about millions of precious lives destroyed by priest rapists,” one whistleblower priest prayed that the next pope will truly be a “man of God” as “the Church can no longer afford to remain the largest organization of sexual predators and ordained infidels in the world.”
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Gene Thomas Gomulka is a sexual abuse victims’ advocate, investigative reporter, and screenwriter. A former Navy (O6) Captain/Chaplain, seminary instructor, and diocesan Respect Life Director, Gomulka was ordained a priest for the Altoona-Johnstown diocese and later made a Prelate of Honor (Monsignor) by St. John Paul II. Email him atmsgr.investigations@gmail.com.
