Who would have thought that a blog close to the pope would recognize the concern of many faithful Catholics in high and low places that Pope Francis at best is a heretic and at worse is a Protestant????
Yet this article from the Vatican Insider, which you can read the entire article by pressing here, acknowledges this Twilight Zone reality while rebuffing it ultimately. Yes, this is a peculiar time in the history of the Church which we can pray is only a blip on the radar screen and will die when the aging 1960's Catholics now in their 70's 80's and 90's die off, which they will and soon.
This is but an excerpt from the longer article:
What constitutes good discontinuity is an important question, of the kind that theology professors enjoy pondering with thoughtful colleagues while consuming ample amounts of wine and cheese. Faggioli, for his part, says that he agrees in principle with Benedict XVI’s view, but also worries that “an obsession with continuity in understanding Catholic tradition” encourages contemporary Catholics to reject Vatican II (for its apparent discontinuity) and to embrace political and social positions that are anti-liberal and authoritarian. If left unchecked, he cautions, this unhealthy obsession will “silently and incrementally” de-legitimize post-conciliar developments in ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue, and shut down discussion concerning “the role of women in the church, LGBT issues, care for creation, and social-economic issues (6).”
But the question is not merely academic, for it lies at the very heart of current debates surrounding Pope Francis’ theology. Is Francis advocating positions that definitively undermine the very tradition of which he is its preeminent interpreter? His most vociferous critics fear exactly that; and Francis’ frequent juxtaposition of law versus reality, law versus gospel, seem to substantiate their concern that he is destroying essential Catholic doctrine. Or, is Francis merely innovating in ways that constitute a valid trajectory within a legitimate diversity of options, available in the broader tradition?
3 comments:
I do not think that Pope Francis is broadly against Church teaching but he is trying to give heart to the average sinner so that that they avoid the mortal sin of dispair. I also think he is inescusably clumsy in the way the is going about it.
RCG, Why, with Confession, penance, Holy Communion, the multiple graces offered by the Church, the ready availability of Priests
almost everywhere, and the Holy Rosary would any sinner fall into despair? When I ponder this, I am taken back to Calvin's notion that, God, in His inscrutable wisdom and justice, hardens the hearts of some sinners.
Gene, because you and I are hard-headed, self-directed, believers in the grace and mercy of the Lord God Creator. There are people who almost can tip that way but evil men whisper fear in their ears and convince them to give up. People believe that sinning again, even over and over, is a testiment against salvation rather than proof of its persistence. The last whisper on this march is the one telling you it is OK to give up, rest comfortably in your state. I would rather be shot standing that convinced to quit. I believe Satan howls as much at the weak man trying as at the victorious saint. It galls me to hear someone tell a homosexual or anyone struggling with any problem that facilitates sin, to be comfortable with his state rather than help the poor person fight.
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