Rev. Cor Mennen. (Twitter)

Rev. Cor Mennen, a retired priest in the Netherlands, recently wrote on his blog that he thinks Pope Francis is a "heretic," and explained that excessive respect by Catholics towards the papacy is not a virtue given that Christ Himself rebuked the first Pope, St. Peter, ordering him to "Get thee behind me, Satan!"

Fr. Mennen, 74, was ordained a priest in 1969. He also holds a degree in ecclesiastical law and is vice chairman of the board of the Latin Liturgy Association. He lives in Vlijmen, east of Rotterdam, still participates in events for the diocese, and is often interviewed on Radio Maria.

In an Oct. 28 blog post, Fr.Mennen criticized some of the pagan events that occurred at the Vatican during the Amazonian synod, such as the veneration of a wooden statue of an Earth goddess named "Pachamama" in the Vatican gardens.

Pope Francis holds the Pachamama Earth goddess statue in the Vatican gardens. (Getty Images)

"Many Catholics from high to low have expressed their horror at the blatant violation of the first commandment," I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt not have strange gods before Me, said Mennen.

"But the pope himself has now said that it was Pachamama, Mother Earth, the most important goddess of the Andean peoples," said Fr. Mennen. "He did so, incidentally, as a bishop of Rome, apologizing for the actions of a few courageous Catholics who had taken the Pachamama idols out of the church and thrown them into the Tiber [river]."





"The pope actively promotes Marxist liberation theology, which his predecessors condemned as non-Catholic," said Fr. Mennen. "Also, in the politics of Italy, he clearly takes a stand for the socialists and against Catholic politicians who want to regulate the flow of migrants."

"Left-wing globalist, pro-abortion politicians are invited to the synod and enter and leave the Vatican," said the priest. "Great faith in communism is also evident from the deal with the Chinese where loyal Catholics have been betrayed to the communist system despite the warnings of Cardinal Zen. ... This is all the deliberate work of Francis."

Fr. Mennen continued, "There are many believers and priests who have had their fill of this pope, who is only sowing division and confusion; who is believed and praised by the non-Catholic press and anti-Catholic politicians, not for his spiritual leadership but for his support for their left-liberal political agenda.

Pachamama Earth goddess statue being carried inside a Catholic church in Rome, Italy. (Screenshot YouTube)

"In the meantime the Church is emptied where this 'papal faith' is preached like the churches emptied in the Netherlands in the seventies and eighties of the last century," said Fr. Mennen.

In concluding his blog post, Fr. Mennen quoted a letter he had received from a fellow priest expressing his difficulty in believing that the Pope is a faithful Catholic and how that affects his prayers for the Pope. "I feel like I am lying to God" during the Eucharistic prayer at Mass, wrote the priest.

Fr. Mennen replied, "I understand your reservation in regard to our current Pope very well -- and not only me. I know quite a few priests in our diocese who have fundamental objections to this pope. This is also freely discussed in certain meetings of priests. I don't know how to proceed."

Jesus rebukes Peter.

"Although I think the Pope is wrong, and I rightly think he is a heretic, no one in the Church is currently entitled to declare this officially, which would trigger an excommunication," said Fr. Mennen. "Perhaps that could be done by a majority of the cardinals ... But that majority cannot be found."

"So for the time being we have a pope who is formally the visible head of the Church and at the same time harmful to the Church," said the priest. "We can only pray and hope that the next conclave [papal vote] will make a wiser choice."

"In the meantime, we simply mention his name in the canon," said Fr. Mennen. "That's just the way it is. But at the same time it is not forbidden to mentally pray a quick prayer for the Pope's conversion."

Cardinal Raymond Burke, who serves on the highest court of the Vatican and who has criticized many of Pope Francis's pronouncements, said it is "licit," not forbidden to call for the resignation of any church official, including the Pope.

Pope Francis. (Getty Images)

“I cannot say it is wrong," said Burke in an august 2018 interview in La Repubblica. "I can only say that to arrive at this one must investigate and respond in this regard."

"The request for resignation is in any case licit; anyone can make it in the face of whatever pastor that errs greatly in the fulfillment of his office, but the facts need to be verified," said the Cardinal.

In his Aug. 28 "Testimony," Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano explained in great detail how several bishops and Pope Francis knew about the sexual abuses carried out by (former cardinal) Theodore McCarrick and yet covered it up.

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, Archbishop, Carlo Maria Vigano, Archbishop during the 8th edition of the 'National March for Life', to reaffirm the yes to life and no to abortion and to euthanasia on May 19, 2018 in Rome, Italy. The march was attended by families, many young people, children, associations from around the world, many religious and volunteers, (Photo by Stefano Montesi/Corbis via Getty Images)

"In this extremely dramatic moment for the universal Church, he [Pope Francis] must acknowledge his mistakes and, in keeping with the proclaimed principle of zero tolerance, Pope Francis must be the first to set a good example for cardinals and bishops who covered up McCarrick’s abuses and resign along with all of them," said Vigano, the former apostolic nuncio to the United States (2011-2016).

"I implore everyone, especially Bishops, to speak up in order to defeat this conspiracy of silence that is so widespread, and to report the cases of abuse they know about to the media and civil authorities," said the archbishop. "Let us heed the most powerful message that St. John Paul II left us as an inheritance: Do not be afraid! Do not be afraid!"

h/t LifeSiteNews



