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Friday, March 11, 2016

RUMORS IN THE VATICAN IN HIGH PLACES CITING HIGH ANXIETY ABOUT POPE FRANCIS!

This is a good article and I think it captures the high anxiety so many are feeling today and it is so unnecessary!

Three years on, pope leaves Catholic conservatives feeling marginalized

By Philip Pullella and Tom Heneghan

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Three years after the election of Pope Francis, Roman Catholic conservatives are growing increasingly worried that he is quietly unraveling the legacy of his predecessors.

Francis' popularity with most Catholics, and legions of non-Catholics, has given him the image of a grandfatherly parish priest who understands how difficult it sometimes is to follow Church teachings, particularly those on sexual morality.

Conservatives worry that behind the gentle facade lies a dangerous reformer who is diluting Catholic teaching on moral issues like homosexuality and divorce while focusing on social problems such as climate change and economic inequality.

Interviews with four Vatican officials, including two cardinals and an archbishop, as well as theologians and commentators, highlighted conservative fears that Francis' words and deeds may eventually rupture the 1.2 billion member Church.

Chatter on conservative blogs regularly accuses the Argentine pontiff of spreading doctrinal confusion and isolating those who see themselves as guardians of the faith.

"Going to bed. Wake me up when this pontificate is over," Damien Thompson, associate editor of the British weekly "The Spectator" and a conservative Catholic commentator tweeted last month. Thompson was among conservatives stung by a freewheeling news conference Francis gave on a flight home from Mexico.

In it, he stirred up the U.S. presidential debate by criticizing Republican candidate Donald Trump's immigration stance and made comments that were interpreted as an opening to use contraceptives to stop the spread of the Zika virus.

They were the latest in a line of unscripted utterances that have left many conservatives feeling nostalgic for the days of Francis's two predecessors, Benedict and John Paul, who regularly thundered against contraception, homosexuality and abortion.

"Every time this happens I wonder if he realizes how much confusion he is causing," said a conservative Rome-based cardinal who took part in the conclave that elected Francis three years ago and spoke on the condition of anonymity. He would not say if he voted for Francis because participants in conclaves are sworn to secrecy.

THE POPE AND THE PEWS

Another senior official, an archbishop in an important Vatican ministry, said: "These comments alarm not only tradition-minded priests but even liberal priests who have complained to me that people are challenging them on issues that are very straight-forward, saying 'the pope would let me do this' why don't you?'"

Francis first shocked conservatives just months after his election on March 13, 2013, when he said "Who am I to judge?" about Catholic homosexuals who were at least trying to live by Church rules that they should be chaste.

He caused further upset when he changed Church rules to allow women to take part in a male-only Lenten service, ruled out any campaigns to convert Jews and approved a "common prayer" with Lutherans for joint commemorations for next year's 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation.

An important crossroads in the conservative-progressive showdown is looming and might come as early as mid-March. It could reveal how far this politically astute pontiff wants to transform his Church.

Francis is due to issue a document called an Apostolic Exhortation after two years of debate and two major meetings of bishops to discuss the family - the Vatican's way of referring to its policies concerning sex.

The exercise, which began with an unprecedented poll of Catholics around the world, boiled down in the end to one hot-button issue - whether divorced Catholics who remarry outside the Church can receive communion at the central rite of Mass.

Conservatives say any change would undermine the principle of the indissolubility of marriage that Jesus established.

At the end of the synod last year, Francis excoriated immovable Church leaders who he said "bury their heads in the sand" and hide behind rigid doctrine while families suffer.

The gathering's final document spoke of a so-called "internal forum" in which a priest or a bishop may work with a Catholic who has divorced and remarried to decide privately and on a case-by-case basis if he or she can be fully re-integrated.

That crack in the doctrinal door annoyed many conservatives, who fear Francis' upcoming document may open the flood gates.

WHOSE CHURCH IS IT ANYWAY?

It is difficult to quantify Catholic conservatives. Liberals say they are a minority and reject conservative assertions that they are the real "base" of the Church.

"The overwhelming majority of Catholics understand what the pope wants to do, and that is to reach out to everyone," said another cardinal close to Francis.

Regardless of what their actual numbers might be, conservatives have big megaphones in social media.

"It really has gotten more shrill and intense since Francis took over because he seems to get only positive feedback from the mainstream media. Therefore in the strange logic of (conservative) groups, he is someone who is immediately suspect if only for that," said the Catholic blogger Arthur Rosman.

One of the leading conservative standard bearers, Ross Douthat, the Catholic author and New York Times op-ed columnist, has expressed deep worry about the long-term repercussions of the issue of communion for the divorced and remarried.

"It may be that this conflict has only just begun," Douthat said in a lecture to American conservatives in January. "And it may be that as with previous conflicts in Church history, it will eventually be serious enough to end in real schism, a permanent parting of the ways."

PREVIOUS RUPTURE

The last internal rupture in the Church was in 1988 when French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated bishops without Vatican approval in order to guarantee succession in his ultra-traditionalist group, the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX).

The SSPX rejects the modernizing reforms of the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council, including the historic opening to dialogue with other religions. While it remains a small group, its dissent continues to undermine papal authority.

The conservative standard bearer in Rome is Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, a 67-year-old American who in 2014 told an interviewer that the Church under Francis was like "a ship without a rudder".

Francis was not pleased. That same year, he removed Burke as head of the Vatican's highest court and demoted him to the largely ceremonial post of chaplain of a charity group.

Conservatives are also worried about Francis' drive to devolve decision-making power on several issues from the Vatican to regional, national or diocesan levels, what the pope has called "a healthy decentralization".

This is an anathema to conservatives, who say rules should be applied identically around the world. They warn that a devolution of power would leave the Vatican vulnerable to the splits seen in the Anglican and Orthodox Churches.

"If you look at these two big Churches, they are not in very good shape," said Massimo Faggioli, a Church historian and associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. "That's why conservatives are nervous. They think Francis does not understand the danger."

(Religion editor Tom Heneghan reported from Paris; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Janet McBride)

7 comments:

TJM said...

Author means to say Faithful Catholics who actually pay the freight have high anxiety.

Anonymous said...

yeah, the anxiety is necessary - Only those who do not care for the Church would sit calm and say "all in the hands of God" -= well not reaLLY, ALL is in our hands - God comes always to fix what we mess up - and we are messing up BIG -- especially since now its hard to say What the Church truly teaches ... Jesus ? or maybe Pope Francis ? or maybe another Pope but not Jesus ? So is is Still about Jesus or maybe Fr. McDonald ? Or maybe let's just go back to our couch and count the money --- that will calm us down --- when that goes away maybe then we will look into the problems ... Yeah... this is a crisis of the Church -since her message is NO LONGER CLEAR!

Jusadbellum said...

Not that our opinion matters much, but it would be cool to survey just regular Mass goers. I think we might be surprised by what we find (on both sides).

GenXBen said...

I don't think Francis means to unravel the work of he predecessors. And I don't think his opponents think he "quietly" doing it. They think he's openly trashing tradition while shouting invective at the top of his lungs. I think they are wrong on the diagnosis, but correct on the symptoms (Francis IS a scold).


Anonymous said...

I was told that one parish were told during a sermon recently that anyone who criticises the Pope can be excommunicated - this despite this idea being debunked by canonists, in particular Ed Peters. Interestingly, I have never read of anyone who criticised St John Paul II The Great or Pope Benedict - and there was a lot of public criticism - were ever threatened with excommunication ... double standards prevail.

Anonymous said...

Liberal Catholics have politicized everything in the Church. It is liberals fascism at its ugliest.

Anonymous said...

The Orthodox Church is in trouble? Based on what? If anything, they look to the West and see ecclesiastical chaos---ordination of women and same-sex ceremonies in the Anglican Communion, and liturgical "modernism" in the Catholic Church. You don't see those pressures in the Orthodox Church---they are quite proud in fact of having no recent liturgical "renovations" or "updates."