Denzinger timeline of communion for adulterers - Rorate Caeli - 6 March 19, 2016 to December 23, 2016
March 19, 2016 – Cardinal Schönborn’s Presentation of Amoris Laetitia:
…In the sense of this “via caritatis” (AL 306), the Pope affirms, in a humble and simple manner, in a note (351) that the help of the sacraments may also be given “in certain cases”. But for this purpose he does not offer us case studies or recipes, but instead simply reminds us of two of his famous phrases: “I want to remind priests that the confessional should not be a torture chamber but rather an encounter with the Lord’s mercy” (EG 44), and the Eucharist “is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak” (EG 47).
Q – (Diane Montagna, Aleteia) Just to clarify, I think everyone wants to know, paragraph 84 of "Familiaris Consortio": has anything in the entirety of those paragraphs changed? Does everything in "Familiaris Consortio" number 84 still stand as-is?
A – I do not see that there has been change, but certainly there is development, organic development, in how Pope John Paul II developed doctrine. I will give an example: never in the history of the Church’s doctrine had man and woman as a couple been considered as such the image of God. Pope John Paul II made this the center of his teaching on marriage. But I dare all the theology experts to say when in tradition this had been done. So it is normal, it is true that there is development. John Henry Newman explained to us how this organic development of doctrine works. Of course, in this sense Pope Francis is developing things. The expression that you used was implicit in “Familiaris Consortio,” implicit, I am prepared to prove it. For me the development is that Pope Francis is saying it clearly, explicitly. It is the classic case of the organic development of doctrine. There is innovation and continuity, For this read the famous talk of Pope Benedict on the hermeneutic of continuity. In this document, for me there true innovations but no ruptures, just as what John Paul did with the image of God applied to man and woman is not a rupture. It is not a rupture but a true development.
Q – (Andrea Gagliarducci, CNA, ACI Stampa) As for point 301 on irregular couples that are not in mortal sin, and for the discussion of innovation in doctrine of which you were speaking, in what way is this compatible with “Veritatis Splendor” of John Paul II, where it speaks of “intrinsic evil”?
A – "Veritatis Splendor" certainly speaks of the clarity of norms on the “intrinsece malum,” but Pope Francis in the document here has a series of emphases on the question of imputability, very important, and cites the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The imputability that is one of the conditions for knowing is there is mortal sin or not. So it is necessary to read these passages on imputability, which are classics, most of these citations coming from the Catechism and from Saint Thomas.
April 11, 2016 - Pope Francis' Homily at Casa Santa Marta:
Their hearts, closed to God’s truth, clutch only at the truth of the Law, taking it by ‘the letter’, and do not find outlets other than in lies, false witness and death...The heart is closed to God's Word, it is closed to truth, and it is closed to God’s messenger who brings the prophecy so that God’s people may go forward... It hurts when I read that small passage from the Gospel of Matthew, when Judas, who has repented, goes to the priests and says: ‘I have sinned' and wants to give ... and gives them the coins. ‘Who cares! - they say to him: it’s none of our business!’ They closed their hearts before this poor, repentant man, who did not know what to do. And he went and hanged himself. And what did they do when Judas hanged himself? They spoke amongst themselves and said: 'Is he a poor man? No! These coins are the price of blood, they must not enter the temple... and they referred to this rule and to that… The doctors of the letter…. History tells us of many people who were judged and killed, although they were innocent: judged according to the Word of God, against the Word of God. Let’s think of witch hunts or of St. Joan of Arc, and of many others who were burnt to death, condemned because according to the judges they were not in line with the Word of God...
April 16, 2016 - Pope Francis press conference from Lesbos:
Q. …Some sustain that nothing has changed with respect to the discipline that regulates access to the sacraments for the divorced and remarried, that the Law, the pastoral praxis and obviously the doctrine remain the same. Others sustain that much has changed and that there are new openings and possibilities. For a Catholic who wants to know: are there new, concrete possibilities that didn’t exist before the publication of the exhortation or not?
Pope Francis: I can say yes, period. But it would be an answer that is too small. I recommend that you read the presentation of Cardinal Schonborn, who is a great theologian. He was the secretary for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, and he knows the doctrine of the faith well. In that presentation, your question will find an answer.
Q.: ...you wrote this famous ‘Amoris Laetitia’ on the problems of the divorced and remarried (footnote 351). Why put something so important in a little footnote? Did you foresee the opposition or did you mean to say that this point isn’t that important?
Pope Francis: One of the recent popes, speaking of the Council, said that there were two councils: the Second Vatican Council in the Basilica of St. Peter, and the other, the council of the media. When I convoked the first synod, the great concern of the majority of the media was communion for the divorced and remarried, and, since I am not a saint, this bothered me, and then made me sad. Because, thinking of those media who said, this, this and that, do you not realize that that is not the important problem? Don’t you realize that instead the family throughout the world is in crisis? Don’t we realize that the falling birth rate in Europe is enough to make one cry? And the family is the basis of society. Do you not realize that the youth don’t want to marry? Don’t you realize that the fall of the birth rate in Europe is to cry about? Don’t you realize that the lack of work or the little work (available) means that a mother has to get two jobs and the children grow up alone? These are the big problems. I don’t remember the footnote, but for sure if it’s something general in a footnote it’s because I spoke about it, I think, in ‘Evangelii Gaudium.’
Pope Francis: One of the recent popes, speaking of the Council, said that there were two councils: the Second Vatican Council in the Basilica of St. Peter, and the other, the council of the media. When I convoked the first synod, the great concern of the majority of the media was communion for the divorced and remarried, and, since I am not a saint, this bothered me, and then made me sad. Because, thinking of those media who said, this, this and that, do you not realize that that is not the important problem? Don’t you realize that instead the family throughout the world is in crisis? Don’t we realize that the falling birth rate in Europe is enough to make one cry? And the family is the basis of society. Do you not realize that the youth don’t want to marry? Don’t you realize that the fall of the birth rate in Europe is to cry about? Don’t you realize that the lack of work or the little work (available) means that a mother has to get two jobs and the children grow up alone? These are the big problems. I don’t remember the footnote, but for sure if it’s something general in a footnote it’s because I spoke about it, I think, in ‘Evangelii Gaudium.’
April 23, 2016 - Pope Francis hears confessions of teenagers in St. Peter’s Square
Anna Taibi said about her confession experience with Pope Francis: “I expected him to give me a penance… instead he absolved me and let me go.”
May 2016 - Vatican’s Cardinal Baldisseri asks national bishops conferences, included the U.S. Bishops Conference, to conduct and report back surveys of bishops and leaders of national Catholic organizations in the United States of America in order to determine how our Amoris Laetitia is being received and implemented throughout the country.
May 3, 2016 - Abp Bruno Forte revealed a “behind the scenes” comment on made by Pope Francis during the Synod:
“If we speak explicitly about communion for the divorced and remarried you do not know what a terrible mess we will make. So we won’t speak plainly, do it in a way that the premises are there, then I will draw out the conclusions.”
May 19, 2016 – Pope Francis meets with Latin American bishops:
While the most difficult to read is chapter 8, some have let themselves get trapped by this chapter. The Holy Father is fully aware of the criticisms of some, including cardinals, who have been unable to understand the evangelical meaning of his statements... the best guide for understanding this chapter is the presentation of it made by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, O.P., archbishop of Vienna, Austria, a great theologian, member of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, highly expert in the doctrine of the Church.
June 2, 2016 – Pope Francis jubilee speech on woman in adultery as social sin:
I have always been struck by the passage of the Lord’s encounter with the woman caught in adultery, and how, by refusing to condemn her, he “fell short of” the Law. In response to the question they asked to test him – “should she be stoned or not?” – Jesus did not rule, he did not apply the law. He played dumb – here too the Lord has something to teach us! – and turned to something else. He thus initiated a process in the heart of the woman who needed to hear those words: “Neither do I condemn you”. …. Sometimes I feel a little saddened and annoyed when people go straight to the last words Jesus speaks to her: “Go and sin no more”. They use these words to “defend” Jesus from bypassing the law….. In that woman, it was a social sin; people approached her either to sleep with her or to throw stones at her. There was no other way to approach her. That is why the Lord does not only clear the path before her, but sets her on her way, so that she can stop being the “object” of other people's gaze and instead take control of her life. Those words, “sin no more” refer not only to morality, but, I believe, to a kind of sin that keeps her from living her life.
June 10, 2016 – Pope Francis' Homily at Casa Santa Marta:
And this attachment to the Law ignores the Holy Spirit. It does not grant that the redemption of Christ goes forward with the Holy Spirit. It ignores that: there is only the Law. It is true that there are the Commandments and we have to follow the Commandments….But don’t reduce the Spirit and the Son to the Law. This was the problem of these people: they ignored the Holy Spirit, and they did not know to go forward. Closed, closed in precepts: we have to do this, we have to do that. At times, it can happen that we fall into this temptation….
Because ideologies bewitch; and so Paul begins here: ‘O stupid Galatians, who has bewitched you?’ Those who preach with ideologies: It’s absolutely just! They bewitch: It’s all clear. But look, the revelation is not clear, eh? The revelation of God is discovered more and more each day, it is always on a journey. Is it clear? Yes! It is crystal clear! It is Him, but we have to discover it along the way. And those who believe they have the whole truth in their hands are not [just] ignorant.
June 16, 2016 - Pope Francis’ Address at the Opening of the Pastoral Congress of the Diocese of Rome:
2. The analyses we make are important, they are necessary and help us to have a healthy realism. But nothing can compare to Gospel realism, which does not stop at describing the various situations, the problems — much less the sins — but which always goes a step further and is able to see an opportunity, a possibility behind every face, every story, every situation. Gospel realism is total concern for the other, for others, and does not create an obstacle out of the ideal and the “ought to be”, in order to encounter others in whatever situation they may be. It is not a matter of proposing the Gospel ideal, no, it is not about this. On the contrary, it invites us to live it within history, with all that it entails. This does not mean not being clear about doctrine, but avoids falling into judgmental attitudes that do not consider the complexity of life. Gospel realism is practical because it knows that “grain and weeds” grow together, and the best grain — in this life — will always be mixed with a few weeds. “I understand those who prefer a more rigorous pastoral care which leaves no room for confusion”, I understand them. “But I sincerely believe that Jesus wants a Church that is attentive to the goodness which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness: a Mother who, while clearly expressing her objective teaching, “always does what good she can, even if she runs the risk of sullying her shoes with the mud of the road”. A Church able “to treat the weak with compassion, avoiding aggravation or unduly harsh or hasty judgements. The Gospel too tells us not to judge or condemn (cf. Mt 7:1; Lk 6:37)” (AL, n. 308).
Q. In the Exhortation ‘Evangelii Gaudium’, you say that the big problem today is “complacent yet covetous individualism”, and in ‘Amoris Laetitia’ you say that there is a need to create relationships among families. You use an expression that in Italian, has a rather bad ring to it: “the wider family”...
Pope Francis: And this individualism has many names, so many names rooted in selfishness: always searching for oneself, not looking at others, not looking at other families.... Sometimes it reaches the point of true pastoral cruelty. For example, I am speaking of an experience that I learned about when I was in Buenos Aires: in a nearby diocese, several priests did not want to baptize the children of teen mothers. As if they were animals! And this is individualism. “No, we are perfect, this is the way”. It is an individualism that also seeks pleasure, it is hedonistic. I would say a word that is a bit harsh, but I say it between quotation marks: that “damned wellbeing” that has done us a great deal of harm…. And we are afraid. You are afraid: take a risk! In the moment that you are there, and you must decide, take a risk! If you make a mistake, there is the confessor, there is the bishop, but take a risk! It is like that Pharisee: the ministry of clean hands, everything clean, everything in its place, all fine. But outside of this environment, how much misery, how much pain, how much poverty, how much opportunity for development is lacking! It is a hedonistic individualism, it is an individualism that is afraid of freedom. It is an individualism — I don’t know if Italian grammar allows it — I would say “confining”. It cages you in, it does not allow you to fly free. Then, yes, the wider family...
Q. We know that as Christian communities we do not want to renounce the radical demands of the Gospel of the family. How do we prevent a double morality from arising in our communities, one demanding and one permissive, one rigorist and one lax?
Pope Francis: Both are not truth: neither rigorism nor laxity are truth. The Gospel chooses another way. For this, those four words — welcome, support, integrate, discern — without nosing into people’s moral lives. For your tranquility, I must tell you that all that is written in the Exhortation — and I again take up the words of a great theologian who was the secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Schönborn, who presented it — everything is Thomist, from beginning to end. It is the doctrine that is certain. But we often want the certain doctrine to have that mathematical certainty that does not exist, neither with laxity, lenience, nor with rigidity. Let us think of Jesus: the history is the same, it repeats. When Jesus spoke to the people, the people said: “He speaks not as our doctors of the law, but as one who has authority” (cf. Mk 1:22). Those doctors knew the law, and for each case they had a specific law, reaching about 600 precepts in the end. Everything was regulated, everything. The Lord — God’s anger is seen in Chapter 23 of Matthew, that Chapter is terrible — above all it made an impression on me when he speaks of the fourth Commandment and says: “You, who rather than give food to your elderly parents, tell them: ‘No, I made this promise, better the altar than you’, you are in contradiction” (cf. Mk 7:10-13).
Jesus was like that, and he was condemned out of hatred, they always set pitfalls before him: “Can this be done or not?”. Let us consider the scene of the adulterous woman (cf. Jn 8:1-11). It is written: she must be stoned. It is the moral code. It is clear. Not rigid, this is not rigid, it is a clear moral code. She must be stoned. Why? For the sanctity of marriage, fidelity. Jesus is clear about this. The word is adultery. It is clear. And Jesus plays dumb, he lets some time pass, writes on the ground.... And then he says: “Begin: Let the first of you who is without sin throw the first stone”. Jesus sidestepped the law in that case. They went away, beginning with the eldest. “Woman, has no one condemned you? Neither do I”. What is the moral code? It was to stone her. But Jesus sidestepped, he sidestepped the moral code. This makes us think that one cannot speak of “rigidity”, of “certainty”, of being mathematical in morality, like the morality of the Gospel….
Jesus was like that, and he was condemned out of hatred, they always set pitfalls before him: “Can this be done or not?”. Let us consider the scene of the adulterous woman (cf. Jn 8:1-11). It is written: she must be stoned. It is the moral code. It is clear. Not rigid, this is not rigid, it is a clear moral code. She must be stoned. Why? For the sanctity of marriage, fidelity. Jesus is clear about this. The word is adultery. It is clear. And Jesus plays dumb, he lets some time pass, writes on the ground.... And then he says: “Begin: Let the first of you who is without sin throw the first stone”. Jesus sidestepped the law in that case. They went away, beginning with the eldest. “Woman, has no one condemned you? Neither do I”. What is the moral code? It was to stone her. But Jesus sidestepped, he sidestepped the moral code. This makes us think that one cannot speak of “rigidity”, of “certainty”, of being mathematical in morality, like the morality of the Gospel….
Q. Wherever we go, today we hear talk of a marriage crisis. And so I wanted to ask you: What can we focus on today in order to educate young people about love, in particular way about sacramental marriage, to overcome their resistance, skepticism, disillusions, the fear of the definitive?
Pope Francis: We are living in a provisional culture… and because of this the great majority of our sacramental marriages are null. Because they say ‘yes, for the rest of my life!’ but they don’t know what they are saying. Because they have a different culture. They say it, they have good will, but they don’t know... They don’t know that it’s indissoluble, they don’t know that it’s for your entire life. It’s hard…
Pope Francis: We are living in a provisional culture… and because of this the great majority of our sacramental marriages are null. Because they say ‘yes, for the rest of my life!’ but they don’t know what they are saying. Because they have a different culture. They say it, they have good will, but they don’t know... They don’t know that it’s indissoluble, they don’t know that it’s for your entire life. It’s hard…
They prefer to cohabitate, and this is a challenge, a task. Not to ask ‘why don’t you marry?’ No, to accompany, to wait, and to help them to mature, help fidelity to mature. I’ve seen a lot of fidelity in these cohabitations, and I am sure that this is a real marriage, they have the grace of a real marriage because of their fidelity but there are local superstitions, etc…
Gospel realism is total concern for the other, for others, and does not create an obstacle out of the ideal and the “ought to be”, in order to encounter others in whatever situation they may be. It is not a matter of proposing the Gospel ideal, no, it is not about this. On the contrary, it invites us to live it within history, with all that it entails. This does not mean not being clear about doctrine, but avoids falling into judgmental attitudes that do not consider the complexity of life. Gospel realism is practical because it knows that “grain and weeds” grow together, and the best grain — in this life — will always be mixed with a few weeds. “I understand those who prefer a more rigorous pastoral care which leaves no room for confusion”, I understand them. “But I sincerely believe that Jesus wants a Church that is attentive to the goodness which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness: a Mother who, while clearly expressing her objective teaching, “always does what good she can, even if she runs the risk of sullying her shoes with the mud of the road”. A Church able “to treat the weak with compassion, avoiding aggravation or unduly harsh or hasty judgements. The Gospel too tells us not to judge or condemn.
[Note: In the official Vatican transcript that “great majority” remark is changed to “a part of our sacramental marriages are null.”, and the “damned” remark was changed to “cursed”]
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/most-marriages-today-are-invalid-pope-francis-suggests-51752/
June 26, 2016 - Pope Francis in-flight press conference from Armenia:
Q. Holiness, within the past few days Cardinal Marx, the German, speaking at a large conference in Dublin which is very important on the Church in the modern world, said that the Catholic Church must ask forgiveness to the gay community for having marginalized these people. In the days following the shooting in Orlando, many have said that the Christian community had something to do with this hate toward these people. What do you think?
Pope Francis: I will repeat what I said on my first trip. I repeat what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: that they must not be discriminated against, that they must be respected and accompanied pastorally. One can condemn, but not for theological reasons, but for reasons of political behavior...Certain manifestations are a bit too offensive for others, no? ... But these are things that have nothing to do with the problem. The problem is a person that has a condition, that has good will and who seeks God, who are we to judge? And we must accompany them well...this is what the catechism says, a clear catechism. Then there are traditions in some countries, in some cultures that have a different mentality on this problem. I think that the Church must not only ask forgiveness – like that “Marxist Cardinal” said (laughs) – must not only ask forgiveness to the gay person who is offended. But she must ask forgiveness to the poor too, to women who are exploited, to children who are exploited for labor. She must ask forgiveness for having blessed so many weapons. The Church must ask forgiveness for not behaving many times – when I say the Church, I mean Christians! The Church is holy, we are sinners! – Christians must ask forgiveness for having not accompanied so many choices, so many families…
I remember from my childhood the culture in Buenos Aires, the closed Catholic culture. I go over there, eh! A divorced family couldn’t enter the house, and I’m speaking of 80 years ago. The culture has changed, thanks be to God. Christians must ask forgiveness for many things, not just these. Forgiveness, not just apologies. Forgive, Lord. It’s a word that many times we forget. Now I’m a pastor and I’m giving a sermon. No, this is true, many times. Many times … but the priest who is a master and not a father, the priest who beats and not the priest who embraces, forgives and consoles. But there are many. …
Q. [Is it possible] to recognize the gifts of the reformation[?] Perhaps also – this is a heretical question – perhaps to annul or withdraw the excommunication of Martin Luther or of some sort of rehabilitation[?]
Pope Francis: I think that the intentions of Martin Luther were not mistaken. He was a reformer. Perhaps some methods were not correct. But in that time, if we read the story of the Pastor, a German Lutheran who then converted when he saw reality – he became Catholic – in that time, the Church was not exactly a model to imitate. There was corruption in the Church, there was worldliness, attachment to money, to power...and this he protested. Then he was intelligent and took some steps forward justifying, and because he did this. And today Lutherans and Catholics, Protestants, all of us agree on the doctrine of justification. On this point, which is very important, he did not err. He made a medicine for the Church, but then this medicine consolidated into a state of things, into a state of a discipline, into a way of believing, into a way of doing, into a liturgical way and he wasn’t alone; there was Zwingli, there was Calvin, each one of them different, and behind them were who? Principals! We must put ourselves in the story of that time….
July 3, 2016 - Pope Francis’ Interview with La Nacion:
Q. How does one get along with arch-conservatives in the Church
Pope Francis: They do their work, I do mine. I want an open and understanding Church which accompanies wounded families. They say no to everything. I continue my way without looking to the side. Not by lopping off heads. I never liked to do that. I repeat it: I reject the conflict.
[with a conspicuous smile] Nails are removed by applying pressure upwards, or they are placed to rest, to the side, when they reach retirement age."
[with a conspicuous smile] Nails are removed by applying pressure upwards, or they are placed to rest, to the side, when they reach retirement age."
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1914940-francisco-no-tengo-ningun-problema-con-macri-es-una-persona-noble
June 29, 2016 – Letter of the 45 Scholars to pope and cardinals on AL:
We request that the Cardinals and Patriarchs petition the Holy Father to condemn the errors listed in the document in a definitive and final manner, and to authoritatively state that Amoris laetitia does not require any of them to be believed or considered as possibly true.
July 18, 2016 - Pope Francis’ Interpreter, Cardinal Schonborn’s Interview with Fr. Spadaro on the Magisterial Weight of Amoris Laetitia:
...Amoris Laetitia is an act of the magisterium that makes the teaching of the church present and relevant today. We have to read [previous] magisterial interventions on the family in the light of Amoris Laetitia’s contribution; just like we read the Council of Nicaea in light of the Council of Constantinople and the First Vatican Council in light of Vatican II….
To a greater degree than in the past, the objective situation of a person does not tell us everything about that person in relation to God and in relation to the church. This evolution compels us urgently to rethink what we meant when we spoke of objective situations of sin. And this implicitly entails a homogeneous evolution in the understanding and in the expression of the doctrine.
Francis has taken an important step by obliging us to clarify something that had remained implicit in “Familiaris consortio” about the link between the objectivity of a situation of sin and the life of grace in relation to God and to his church, and –- as a logical consequence –- about the concrete imputability of sin. Cardinal Ratzinger had explained in the 1990s that we no longer speak automatically of a situation of mortal sin in the case of new marital unions. I remember asking Cardinal Ratzinger in 1994, when the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had published its document about divorced and remarried persons: “Is it possible that the old praxis that was taken for granted, and that I knew before the [Second Vatican] Council, is still valid? This envisaged the possibility, in the internal forum with one’s confessor, of receiving the sacraments, provided that no scandal was given.” His reply was very clear, just like what Pope Francis affirms: There is no general norm that can cover all the particular cases. The general norm is very clear; and it is equally clear that it cannot cover all the cases exhaustively.
...In principle the doctrine of matrimony and sacraments is clear... With regards to discipline, the Pontiff takes into consideration the numerous varieties of concrete situations and has affirmed that one should not wait for a new general norm of canonical type that is applicable in all cases…
When Pope Francis speaks only in a footnote about the help given by the sacraments “in some instances” of irregular situations, he does so despite the fact that the problem, which is a very important one, is formulated in the wrong way when it is hypostatized, and also despite the fact that some people want to deal with it by means of a general discourse rather than by means of the individual discernment of the body of Christ, to which each and every one of us is indebted…. It is necessary to enter into the concrete dimension of life in order to “discern the body,” begging for mercy. It is possible that the one whose life is in accordance with the rules lacks discernment and, as St. Paul says, “eats and drinks judgment on himself.”
...One cannot pass from the general rule to “some cases” merely by looking at formal situations. It is therefore possible that, in some cases, one who is in an objective situation of sin can receive the help of the sacraments.
July 27, 2016 - Archbishop Gadecki Reports on a Closed Door Meeting with the Pope and Polish Bishops
The Holy Father proceeds from the assumption that general laws are very hard to enforce in each country, and so he speaks about decentralization - that individual bishops’ conferences might on their own initiative not only interpret papal encyclicals, but also looking at their own cultural situation, might approach some specific issues in an appropriate manner.
July 30, 2016 – Pope Francis’ Speech to Polish Seminarians:
...The Church today needs to grow in the ability of spiritual discernment. Some priestly formation programs run the risk of educating in the light of overly clear and distinct ideas, and therefore to act within limits and criteria that are rigidly defined a priori, and that set aside concrete situations: «you must do this, you must not do this.». And then the seminarians, when they become priests, find themselves in difficulty in accompanying the life of so many young people and adults. Because many are asking: «can you do this or can you not?». That’s all. And many people leave the confessional disappointed. Not because the priest is bad, but because the priest doesn’t have the ability to discern situations, to accompany them in authentic discernment. They don’t have the needed formation.
Today the Church needs to grow in discernment, in the ability to discern. And priests above all really need it for their ministry. This is why we need to teach it to seminarians and priests in formation: they are the ones usually entrusted with the confidences of the conscience of the faithful. Spiritual direction is not solely a priestly charism, but also lay, it is true. But, I repeat, you must teach this above all to priests, helping them in the light of the Exercises in the dynamic of pastoral discernment, which respects the law but knows how to go beyond...
We need to form future priests not to general and abstract ideas, which are clear and distinct, but to this keen discernment of spirits so that they can help people in their concrete life. We need to truly understand this: in life not all is black on white or white on black. No! The shades of grey prevail in life. We must them teach to discern in this grey area...
July 31, 2016 - Pope Francis’ in-flight press conference from Poland
Q. ...why do you, when you speak of these violent events, always speak of terrorists, but never of Islam.?
Pope Francis: I don’t like to speak of Islamic violence, because every day, when I browse the newspapers, I see violence, here in Italy… and these are baptized Catholics! There are violent Catholics! If I speak of Islamic violence, I must speak of Catholic violence . . . and no, not all Muslims are violent, not all Catholics are violent. It is like a fruit salad; there’s everything. There are violent persons of this religion… this is true: I believe that in pretty much every religion there is always a small group of fundamentalists. Fundamentalists. We have them. When fundamentalism comes to kill, it can kill with the language -- the Apostle James says this, not me -- and even with a knife, no? I do not believe it is right to identify Islam with violence. This is not right or true.
September 5, 2016 – Argentine Bishops Proposed Guidelines for Amoris Laetitia Released …we will address only chapter VIII [of Amoris Laetitia] , given that it makes references to “guidelines of the bishop” (300) for discernment regarding the possible access to the sacraments of some of those who are “divorced and in a new union.”…
5) When the concrete circumstances of a couple make it feasible, especially when both are Christians with a journey of faith, it is possible to propose that they make the effort of living in continence. Amoris Laetitia does not ignore the difficulties of this option (cf. note 329) and leaves open the possibility of receiving the sacrament of Reconciliation when one fails in this intention (cf. note 364, according to the teaching of Saint John Paul II to Cardinal W. Baum, of 22/03/1996).
6) In other, more complex circumstances, and when it is not possible to obtain a declaration of nullity, the aforementioned option may not, in fact, be feasible. Nonetheless, it is equally possible to undertake a journey of discernment. If one arrives at the recognition that, in a particular case, there are limitations that diminish responsibility and culpability (cf. 301-302), particularly when a person judges that he would fall into a subsequent fault by damaging the children of the new union, Amoris Laetitia opens up the possibility of access to the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist (cf. notes 336 and 351). These in turn dispose the person to continue maturing and growing with the aid of grace.…
9) It might be convenient that an eventual access to the sacraments be brought about in a reserved way, above all when conflictive situations are foreseen. But at the same time one must not cease to accompany the community, so that it might grow in a spirit of understanding and welcoming, without creating confusion regarding the teaching of the Church on the indissolubility of marriage. The community is an instrument of mercy that is “undeserved, unconditional, and free” (297).
September 5, 2016 – Pope Francis Fully Approves Argentine Bishop’s Proposed Guidelines:
The document is very good and completely explains the meaning of chapter VIII of Amoris Laetitia. There are no other interpretations. And I am certain that it will do much good. May the Lord reward this effort of pastoral charity.
September 6, 2016 – Pope Francis' Homily at Casa Santa Marta:
...It is not Catholic (to say) ‘either this or nothing:’ This is not Catholic, this is heretical. Jesus always knows how to accompany us, he gives us the ideal, he accompanies us towards the ideal, He frees us from the chains of the laws' rigidity and tells us: ‘But do that up to the point that you are capable.’...Jesus is a great person! He frees us from all our miseries and also from that idealism which is not Catholic. Let us implore our Lord to teach us, first to escape from all rigidity but also to go out beyond ourselves..
September 19, 2016 - Pope Francis’ Cardinal Vicar, Agostino Vallin, Releases Guidelines for the Diocese of Rome regarding Communion for the Divorced and Remarried
...The text of the apostolic exhortation does not go further, but footnote 351 states: ‘In certain cases, this can include the help of the sacraments.’ The pope uses the conditional, so he is not saying that they must be admitted to the sacraments, although he does not exclude this in some cases and under some conditions. Pope Francis develops the previous magisterium in the line of the hermeneutic of continuity and of exploration, and not in discontinuity and rupture. He affirms that we must travel the ‘via caritatis’ of welcoming penitents, listening to them attentively, showing them the maternal face of the Church, inviting them to follow the path of Jesus, helping them to mature the right intention of opening themselves to the Gospel, and we must do this while paying attention to the circumstances of individual persons, to their consciences, without compromising the truth and prudence that will help to find the right way.
...This is not necessarily a matter of arriving at the sacraments, but of orienting them to live forms of integration in ecclesial life. But when the concrete circumstances of a couple make it feasible, meaning when their journey of faith has been long, sincere, and progressive, it is proposed that they live in continence; if this decision is difficult to practice for the stability of the couple, ‘Amoris Laetitia’ does not rule out the possibility of accessing penance and the Eucharist. This means a certain openness, as in the case in which there is the moral certainty that the first marriage was null but there are not the proofs to demonstrate this in a judicial setting; but not however in the case in which, for example, their condition is shown off as if it were part of the Christian ideal, etc.
How are we to understand this openness? Certainly not in the sense of an indiscriminate access to the sacraments, as sometimes happens, but of a discernment that would distinguish adequately case by case. Who can decide? From the tenor of the text and from the ‘mens’ of its Author it does not seem to me that there could be any solution other than that of the internal forum. In fact, the internal forum is the favorable way for opening the heart to the most intimate confidences, and if a relationship of trust has been established over time with a confessor or with a spiritual guide, it is possible to begin and develop with him an itinerary of long, patient conversion, made of small steps and of progressive verifications.
So it can be none other than the confessor, at a certain point, in his conscience, after much reflection and prayer, who must assume the responsibility before God and the penitent and ask that the access take place in a discreet manner. In these cases there is no interruption of the journey of discernment (AL, 303; ‘dynamic discernment’) for the sake of reaching new stages toward the full Christian ideal.
September 19, 2016 – Cardinals Burke, Brandmuller, Caffarra, Meisner Submit ‘Dubia’ to Pope Francis and CDF, entitled ‘Seeking Clarity: A Plea to Untie the Knots in Amoris Laetitia.’
1. It is asked whether, following the affirmations of Amoris Laetitia (300-305), it has now become possible to grant absolution in the sacrament of penance and thus to admit to holy Communion a person who, while bound by a valid marital bond, lives together with a different person more uxorio without fulfilling the conditions provided for by Familiaris Consortio, 84, and subsequently reaffirmed by Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, 34, and Sacramentum Caritatis, 29. Can the expression “in certain cases” found in Note 351 (305) of the exhortation Amoris Laetitia be applied to divorced persons who are in a new union and who continue to live more uxorio?
2. After the publication of the post-synodal exhortation Amoris Laetitia (304), does one still need to regard as valid the teaching of St. John Paul II’s encyclical Veritatis Splendor, 79, based on sacred Scripture and on the Tradition of the Church, on the existence of absolute moral norms that prohibit intrinsically evil acts and that are binding without exceptions?
3. After Amoris Laetitia (301) is it still possible to affirm that a person who habitually lives in contradiction to a commandment of God’s law, as for instance the one that prohibits adultery (Matthew 19:3-9), finds him or herself in an objective situation of grave habitual sin (Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, “Declaration,” June 24, 2000)?
4. After the affirmations of Amoris Laetitia (302) on “circumstances which mitigate moral responsibility,” does one still need to regard as valid the teaching of St. John Paul II’s encyclical Veritatis Splendor, 81, based on sacred Scripture and on the Tradition of the Church, according to which “circumstances or intentions can never transform an act intrinsically evil by virtue of its object into an act ‘subjectively’ good or defensible as a choice”?
5. After Amoris Laetitia (303) does one still need to regard as valid the teaching of St. John Paul II’s encyclical Veritatis Splendor, 56, based on sacred Scripture and on the Tradition of the Church, that excludes a creative interpretation of the role of conscience and that emphasizes that conscience can never be authorized to legitimate exceptions to absolute moral norms that prohibit intrinsically evil acts by virtue of their object?
October 2, 2016 - Pope Francis' in-flight press conference from Azerbaijan:
Pope Francis: … Amoris laetitia speaks of marriage, the foundation of marriage, as it is ... but then come the problems, how to educate their children ... and in Chapter Eight, when the problems come, how do you solve them? Solve it with four criteria: welcome wounded families, accompany, discern each case and integrate and do it again. This would work in a second, in this wonderful recreation that the Lord has made with redemption. And if you take just one side it does not go! Amoris laetitia -- I mean -- they all go to the eighth chapter. No, no ... you have to read from beginning to end. And where is the center? It depends on everyone. For me the center, the core of Amoris laetitia is Chapter IV...
Q. ...what would you say to someone who has struggled with their sexuality for years and feels that there is truly a problem of biology, that his aspect doesn't correspond to what he or she feels is their sexual identity. You, as a pastor and minister, how would you accompany these people?
Pope Francis: First of all: in my life as a priest and bishop, even as Pope, I have accompanied people with homosexual tendencies, I have also met homosexual persons, accompanied them, brought them closer to the Lord, as an apostle, and I have never abandoned them. ... What I said is that wickedness which today is done in the indoctrination of gender theory…. Last year I received a letter from a Spaniard who told me his story as a child, a young man, he was a girl, a girl who suffered so much because he felt he felt like a boy, but was physically a girl. He told his mother and the mom…(the girl) was around 22 years old said that she would like to do the surgical intervention and all of those things. And the mother said not to do it while she was still alive. She was elderly and she died soon after. She had the surgery and an employee of a ministry in the city of Spain went to the bishop, who accompanied (this person) a lot. Good bishop. I spent time accompanying this man. Then (the man) got married, he changed his civil identity, got married and wrote me a letter saying that for him it would be a consolation to come with his wife, he who was she, but him! I received them: they were happy and in the neighborhood where he lived there was an elderly priest in his 80s, an elderly pastor who left the parish and helped the sisters in the parish. And there was the new (priest). When the new one he would yell from the sidewalk: 'you'll go to hell!' When (the new priest) came across the old one, he would say: 'How long has it been since you confessed? Come, come, let's to so that I can confess you and you can receive communion.' Understood? Life is life and things must be taken as they come. Sin is sin. And tendencies or hormonal imbalances have many problems and we must be careful not to say that everything is the same. Let's go party. No, that no, but in every case I accept it, I accompany it, I study it, I discern it and I integrate it. This is what Jesus would do today! Please don't say: 'the Pope sanctifies transgenders.' Please, eh! Because I see the covers of the papers. Is there any doubt as to what I said? I want to be clear! It's moral problem. It's a human problem and it must be resolved always can be with the mercy of God, with the truth like we spoke about in the case of marriage by reading all of Amoris Laetitia, but always with an open heart….
October 4, 2016 – Pope Francis' Homily at Casa Santa Marta:
Jesus repeats often to the people who are rigid, because there is always something else behind the rigidity, always. [For this reason] Jesus says ‘hypocrites!’”: behind the rigidity there is something hidden in a person’s life…rigidity is not a gift from God; meekness, goodness, benevolence, forgiveness, yes; but rigidity, no!... Behind the rigidity there is always something hidden, in many cases a double life…. there is also something like a disease: those who are rigid suffer greatly when they are sincere, and they realize this, they suffer because they cannot have the freedom of the children of God; they do not know how to walk in the law of the Lord and are not blessed. And they suffer a great deal. [Therefore, even if] they look good, because they follow the law, there is something within that does not make them good: they are either bad, hypocritical or ill. [In any case,] “they suffer”.
October 24, 2016- Pope Francis Speech to Seminarians:
Q. In your speech you clearly proposed a morality that is based on discernment. How do you suggest that we proceed in the field of morality with regard to this dynamic of discernment of moral situations?
Pope Francis: It seems to me that it is not possible to stay with an interpretation of a subsumed application of the norm which is limited to seeing particular situations as cases of the general norm. Discernment is the key element: the capacity for discernment. I note the absence of discernment in the formation of priests. We run the risk of getting used to «white or black,» to that which is legal. We are rather closed, in general, to discernment. One thing is clear: today, in a certain number of seminaries, a rigidity that is far from a discernment of situations has been introduced. And that is dangerous, because it can lead us to a conception of morality that has a casuistic sense. It appears in different formulations, but it is always along the same line. I am very afraid of this. … It was this decadent scholasticism that provoked the casuistic attitude. It is curious: the course on the «sacrament of penance,» in the faculty of theology, in general — not everywhere — was presented by teachers of sacramental morality. The whole moral sphere was restricted to «you can», «you cannot», «up to here yes but not there»…
It was a morality very foreign to discernment. At that time there was the «cuco» [boogeyman], the specter of situational morality... I think Bernard Häring was the first to start looking for a new way to help moral theology to flourish again. Obviously, in our day moral theology has made much progress in its reflections and in its maturity; it is no longer a «casuistry.» In the field of morality we must advance without falling into situationalism: but, rather, it is necessary to bring forward again the great wealth contained in the dimension of discernment; this is characteristic of the great scholasticism.
We should note something: St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure affirm that the general principle holds for all but — they say it explicitly — as one moves to the particular, the question becomes diversified and many nuances arise without changing the principle. This scholastic method has its validity. It is the moral method used by the Catechism of the Catholic Church. And it is the method that was used in the last apostolic exhortation, Amoris laetitia, after the discernment made by the whole Church through the two Synods. The morality used in Amoris laetitia is Thomistic, but that of the great St. Thomas himself…
October 24, 2016 - Papal ally, Cardinal Kasper’s Reflection on Amoris Laetitia:
..Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke consistently denied the magisterially binding character of "Amoris laetitia" and interpreted it as an expression of the personal opinion of the pope. This position contradicts both the formal character of an apostolic writing and its content...
...The interpretation of Cardinal Christoph Schönborn OP, which he presented at the official presentation of the document on April 8, 2016, on behalf of Pope Francis, and which was expressly approved by him, can be considered decisive…. His interpretation agrees fundamentally with the position of Rocco Buttiglione, who is regarded as the best expert in theology of John Paul II... Both are supported by the careful analysis of the letter by Antonio Spadaro SJ, a close collaborator of the Pope, in the semi-official journal "La Civilta Cattolica".
The Pope has adhered strictly to the requirements of the final two-thirds majority vote of the Synod, and he has the faith of the great majority of the faithful on his side. By means of the official interpretations, the necessary clarity is provided for those who wish to hear it. The alleged confusion comes from a third party, which has alienated itself from the faith and the life of the people of God.
It [Amoris Laetitia] does not want to criticize and moralize, nor indoctrinate, but it engages in a realistic, open, and relaxed way of dealing with sexuality and eroticism. It expresses understanding and appreciation for the good which can also be found in situations which do not or do not fully correspond to church doctrine and rules…
…With a grain of salt, one can say that Amoris Laetitia distances itself from a primarily negative Augustinian view of sexuality and turns toward an affirming Thomistic view on creation…
Here it applies the law of the gradually ( lex gradualitatis ), which does not mean a gradually of law (gradualitas legis ). The law always applies. It is not a remote ideal; It focuses every single step towards the target. Following the Aristotelian-scholastic doctrine, it is the final cause (causa finalis), which sets all the other causes to the factory, it directs and determines. Oftentimes people - and we all are such people - can not do the optimum [the best thing], but only can do the best thing in their situation; Oftentimes, we have to choose the lesser evil. In the living life there is no black and white but only different nuances and shadings…
One will understand Amoris laetitia only if one understands the paradigm shift that this writing undertakes… Amoris Laetitia does not change an iota of the teaching of the Church, yet it changes everything. The paradigm shift is that Amoris laetitia takes the step away from a legal morality to the virtue morality of Thomas Aquinas. This means that writing is in the best tradition.
For Thomas, virtue lies in the middle between the two extremes, between the extremes of rigorism and laxity….. In the German-speaking Synod Circle, this approach reached general approval and was then incorporated into the eighth chapter of "Amoris laetitia"... In the practical field, the objective norms are always incomplete, since they can never take into account all concrete circumstances…. This has nothing to do with situation ethics…Prudence does not give foundation to the norm, it presupposes it...
… Today it is emphasized such [divorced and remarried] Christians are not excommunicated, but are rather invited to participate as living members of Church life (see Familiaris Consortio 84)...
Pope Benedict XVI, who had adhered to John Paul II’s decision not to allow remarried couples to be admitted to communion; He did this by encouraging the divorced to live a celibate life. He thus began a process of maturation and spiritual growth. In this dynamic point of view, Pope Francis goes a step further, by putting the problem in a process of an embracing pastoral [approach] of gradual integration. Correspondingly, Amoris Laetitia envisages which forms of exclusion from ecclesiastical, liturgical, pastoral, educational, and institutional services can be overcome (see AL 297, 299).
Previously, John Paul II had already opened the door a bit… basically a concession… for abstinence belongs to the most intimate sphere and does not abolish the objective contradiction of the ongoing bond of marriage of the first sacramental marriage and the second civil marriage…it shows that in the concrete form of the practical pastoral consequences of the dogmatic principle, there is room for maneuver. This provision [to live in continence] obviously does not have the same weight than the general norm; anyhow it is not a final binding magisterial statement.
Francis, on the other hand, speaks of the rich experience and wisdom of the confessor, and emphasizes the subjective aspects without ignoring the objective elements (cf AL 297, 307).
It is probable that every pastor has once experienced that there are situations in which, even if one could speak with angelic tongues, one can not convince people of the objective norm, because they seem insurmountable to them as a world and reality… The conscience of many people is oftentimes blind and deaf to that which is presented to them as Divine Law. That is not a justification of their error, yet an understanding and mercifulness with the erroneous person. (cf. AL 307).
…the pastor can never replace the conscience (cf. AL 37). The reverence for personal conscience as the "most hidden center and sanctuary in man" (GS 16) is decisive for "Amoris laetitia".
Amoris Laetitia lays the groundwork for a changed pastoral praxis in a reasoned individual case. But the papal document does not draw clear practical conclusions from these premises. Pope Francis even expressly states that he can not present such norms (see AL 296, 300, cf. AL 2). It leaves open the concrete question of admission to absolution and communion. Thus the Pope followed the path of a proven tradition of the Magisterium, not to decide many disputed questions, but to leave them open for the unity of the Church. This does not mean, as some suppose, that the Magisterium abolishes itself; to leave a question unanswered, is in itself a magisterial decision of great consequence.
One does not need to focus on footnotes. Much more important is that the gradual integration, which is the key topic in question, is directed essentially towards admittance to the Eucharist as full-form of participation in the life of the Church. Pope Francis, on the return of Lesbos on April 16, 2016, expressed himself most clearly when he was asked the question by a journalist whether Amoris laetitia, under certain conditions, permitted the admission of remarried divorced persons to the communion: "Yes. Period. " This is an answer that is not found in this clarity in Amoris laetitia, but corresponds to the general scheme of the writing.
This interpretation can easily be reconciled with the valid church law. The authoritative Canon 915 CIC / 1983 excludes from Absolution and Communion, those who persist “obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin". This provision is fully clear; it requires no change as far as the quaestio iuris [question of law] is concerned, but in the light of "Amoris laetitia" [it changes] only the interpretation regarding the quaestio facti [question of fact]. For the question of whether there is persistence in grave sin, or, in spite of all goodwill, a newfound human weakness does not arise from the norm itself. The same is true of the judgment of whether there is mortal sin (grave matter, consciousness of sinfulness , intention to oppose God's command, possibly mitigating circumstances), or whether signs of a life out of and in God's grace and genuine longing for the bread of life are not visible…
..There are also situations in which not the admission, but rather the denial of the sacraments, is perceived by many as a scandal. In such cases we are faced with a situation similar to that of Peter when he was called to Caesarea by Joppa. He recognized that Gentiles had received the Holy Spirit. How then could he deny the sacrament of baptism to those who have already received the Holy Spirit (Acts 10: 47)? Applied to our question: Is it possible that the Spirit of God proves to be effective, but does the Church, like Pilate, wash his hands in innocence and regrets not being able to do anything? Does it not also apply to the Church to be merciful in such situations, as our Father is merciful (cf. Luke 6:36)?
…The local Churches are now faced with the question of how they can go past the path which "Amoris laetitia" has opened up fundamentally.
October 25, 2016 - Pope Francis' Homily at Casa Santa Marta:
What is the attitude that the Lord asks from us in order that the Kingdom of God can grow and be bread for everybody and is a house too for everybody?...The flour ceases to be flour and becomes bread because it is docile to the strength of the yeast and the yeast allows itself to be mixed in with the flour… I don’t know, flour has no feelings but allowing itself to be mixed in one could think that there is some suffering here, right? But the Kingdom too, the Kingdom grows in this way and then in the end it is bread for everybody… A rigid person only has masters and no father. The Kingdom of God is like a mother that grows and is fertile, gives of herself so that her children have food and lodging, according to the example of the Lord. Today is a day to ask for the grace of docility to the Holy Spirit...
November 14, 2016 – The four cardinals make the dubia public, after being informed that the Pope will not respond to them.
November 17, 2016 – Pope Francis’ interview with Avennire:
Q. So the Jubilee [of Mercy] was also the Jubilee of the [Second Vatican] Council, here and now, where do the time of its reception and the time of forgiveness coincide? ...
Pope Francis: …With Lumen Gentium, the Church returned to the source of her nature -- the Gospel. This shifted the axis of Christian understanding from a kind of legalism, which can be ideological, to the person of God, who became mercy in the incarnation of the Son. Think about certain reactions to 'Amoris Laetitia' -- some continue to not understand, (seeing) either white or black, even if it is in the flow of life that one must discern. The Council has told us this, however, historians say that a Council needs a century to be absorbed well into the body of the Church. We are halfway.
Q. But some people think that in these ecumenical meetings, you want to “sell out” Catholic doctrine. One person has said you want to ‘protestantize’ the Church…
Pope Francis: I’m not losing sleep over it. I’ll continue on the path of those who proceeded me, and I follow the Council. As for opinions, we must always discern the spirit in which they are spoken. Where there’s not a nasty spirit, they can help you on the path. Other times, you see quickly that criticisms taken here and there to justify pre-existing positions aren’t honest, they’re formed with a nasty spirit in order to sow division. One can see immediately that certain rigorisms are born from something missing, from trying to hide one’s own sad dissatisfaction behind a kind of armor. If you watch the movie Babette's Feast, there is this rigid behavior.
November 20, 2016 - Pope Francis’ Interview with TV2000 and InBlue Radio:
The elder son was morally rigid: 'He spent all his money on a life of sin, he doesn't deserve to be welcomed'. Rigidity means always adopting the role of a judge. This rigidity is not typical of Jesus. Jesus reproaches the doctors of the church, he is very much against rigidity. There is an adjective that describes such people, which I would not like to have directed at me: hypocrites. Just read chapter 23 of Matthew's Gospel: "Hypocrite". These people theorise about mercy saying justice is important. In God - and in Christians since it is in God - justice is merciful and mercy is just. The two go hand in hand: they are one thing.
The elder son was morally rigid: 'He spent all his money on a life of sin, he doesn't deserve to be welcomed'. Rigidity means always adopting the role of a judge. This rigidity is not typical of Jesus. Jesus reproaches the doctors of the church, he is very much against rigidity. There is an adjective that describes such people, which I would not like to have directed at me: hypocrites. Just read chapter 23 of Matthew's Gospel: "Hypocrite". These people theorise about mercy saying justice is important. In God - and in Christians since it is in God - justice is merciful and mercy is just. The two go hand in hand: they are one thing.
November 28, 2016 - Fr. Antonio Spadaro, close ally of Pope Francis, op-ed to CNN on the dubia:
I think that Amoris Laetitia has created an open and interesting debate within the Catholic Church thanks to Francis, a Pope who never blocks dialogue, if it is loyal and motivated by the good of the Church. The case, however, of those who use criticism for other purposes or ask questions in order to create difficulty and division, would be different, of course.
The interesting questions of the four cardinals, in reality, were already raised during the Synod, where the dialogue was deep, extensive and most of all, frank. Amoris Laetitia is only the mature fruit of Francis' reflection after listening to everyone and reading the Synod's final document. It is the result of a Synod and not just a personal idea of the Pontiff, as some might think.
During the Synod, all of the necessary responses were given and more than once. Since then, many other pastors, among them many bishops and cardinals, carried on and deepened the discussion, including recently. The Pope even indicated Cardinal Schönborn as a faithful interpreter of the document. Thus I believe that a doubtful conscience can easily find all of the answers it seeks, if it seeks them with sincerity.
December 4, 2016 - Fr Antonio Spadaro, close ally of Pope Francis, interview on the dubia:
Q. Why hasn’t the pope responded to the cardinals?
Fr. Spadaro: The pope doesn’t give binary answers to abstract questions. But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t responded. His response is to approve and to encourage positive pastoral practices. A clear and obvious example was his response to the Buenos Aires area bishops, when he encouraged them and confirmed that their reading of Amoris Laetitia was correct. In other words, the pope responds by encouraging, and indeed loves to respond to the sincere questions put to him by pastors. The ones who really understand Catholic doctrine are the pastors, because doctrine does not exist for the purpose of debate but for the salus animarum [‘the health of souls’] - for salvation rather than intellectual discussion.
Q. The cardinals want to know whether Amoris Laetitia ever makes possible absolution and Holy Communion for people who are still validly married but having sexual relations with another. They claim that hasn’t been made clear.
Fr. Spadaro: I think that the answer to that has been given, and clearly. When the concrete circumstances of a divorced and remarried couple make feasible a pathway of faith, they can be asked to take on the challenge of living in continence. Amoris Laetitia does not ignore the difficulty of this option, and leaves open the possibility of admission to the Sacrament of Reconciliation when this option is lacking.
In other, more complex circumstances, and when it has not been possible to obtain a declaration of nullity, this option may not be practicable. But it still may be possible to undertake a path of discernment under the guidance of a pastor, which results in a recognition that, in a particular case, there are limitations which attenuate responsibility and guilt - particularly where a person believes they would fall into a worse error, and harm the children of the new union. In such cases Amoris Laetitia opens the possibility of access to Reconciliation and to the Eucharist, which in turn dispose a person to continuing to mature and grow, fortified by grace.
December 6, 2016 - Pope Francis' Homily at Casa Santa Marta:
Judas is the most perfect lost sheep in the Gospel: a man with a bitter heart, someone who always had something to criticize in others, he was always ‘detached’. He did not know the sweetness that comes of living without second ends with others. He was an unsatisfied man! … Poor fellow! This poor man is brother Judas as Don Mazzolari called him...I believe that the Lord will take that word [repentance] and will bring with it, I do not know, maybe, but that word makes us doubt…. But that word [repentance] means what? That up until the end , the love of God he was working in that [Judas'] soul, [even] until the moment of despair. [This is] the attitude of the Good Shepherd with the lost sheep.
December 7, 2016 – Pope Francis’ Interview with Tertio:
Q. To us, it seems that you are indicating Vatican Council II for our times. You are showing us ways of renewal in the Church. The Synodal Church. … In the Synod you explained your vision of the Church of the future. Could you explain this for our readers?
Pope Francis: …And so there is a post-Synodal exhortation, which is Amoris Laetitia, which is the result of two Synods, in which all the Church worked, and which the Pope made his own. It is expressed in a harmonious way. It is interesting that all that it [Amoris Laetitia] contains was approved in the Synod by more than two thirds of the fathers. And this is a guarantee. A synodal Church means that there is this movement from high to low, low to high. And the same in the dioceses. But there is a Latin phrase, that says that the Churches are always cum Petro et sub Petro. Peter is the guarantor of the unity of the Church. He is the guarantor. This is the meaning. And it is necessary to progress in synodality, which is one of the things that the Orthodox have conserved…
Q. You are concerned about the interreligious relationship. In our times we live with terrorism and with war. At times it can be seen that the roots of the current wars reside in the difference between religions. What can be said about this?
Pope Francis: we must be categorical about this, no religion proclaims war for the fact of religion. Religious distortions, yes. For example, all religions have fundamentalist groups.
All of them, we do too. And they destroy, starting from their fundamentalism. But these are small religious groups that have distorted and have “sickened” their religion, and as a result they fight, they wage war, or they cause division in communities, which is a form of war. But these are the fundamentalist groups we have in all religions. There is always a small group …
December 9, 2016 - Pope Francis' Homily at Casa Santa Marta:
But to make themselves important, intermediary priests must take the path of rigidity: often disconnected from the people, they do not know what human suffering is; they forget what they had learned at home, with dad’s work, with mom’s, grandfather’s, grandmother’s, his brothers’ ... They lose these things. They are rigid, [they are] those rigid ones that load upon the faithful so many things that they do not carry [themselves], as Jesus said to the intermediaries of his time: rigidity. [They face] the people of God with a switch in their hand: ‘This cannot be, this cannot be ...’. And so many people approaching, looking for a bit of consolation, a little understanding, are chased away with this rigidity…
About rigidity and worldliness, it was some time ago that an elderly monsignor of the curia came to me, who works, a normal man, a good man, in love with Jesus – and he told me that he had gone to buy a couple of shirts at Euroclero [the clerical clothing store] and saw a young fellow - he thinks he had not more than 25 years, or a young priest or about to become a priest - before the mirror, with a cape, large, wide, velvet, with a silver chain. He then took the Saturno [wide-brimmed clerical headgear], he put it on and looked himself over. A rigid and worldly one. And that priest – he is wise, that monsignor, very wise - was able to overcome the pain, with a line of healthy humor and added: ‘And it is said that the Church does not allow women priests!’. Thus, does the work that the priest does when he becomes a functionary ends in the ridiculous, always.
December 15, 2016 – Pope Francis' Homily at Casa Santa Marta:
...The great can afford to doubt, and this is beautiful. They are certain of their vocation but each time the Lord makes them see a new path of the journey, they enter into doubt. ‘But this is not orthodox, this is heretical, this is not the Messiah I expected.’ The devil does this work, and some friend also helps, no?...
December 17, 2016 - Papal Ghostwriter of Amoris Laetitia, Archbishop Fernandez’s Interview with La Stampa
Q. Some say that there is "confusion" among the people of God at this time, and especially after the publication of "Amoris laetitia". What do you think?
Fernandez: "Faced with the absoluteness of God, faced with the enormous richness of the Gospel and by the complexity of actual human life, the task and the message of the Church inevitably present "confused" aspects. The Pope proposes that in the midst of these limitations of the Church itself never to neglect the heart of the Gospel. At the same time, that the Church does not pretend to be above all a cannon that launches secure doctrines but the instrument of Christ to open the hearts of his people to grace ".
Q. Do you believe there is also a risk, on the other hand, to trivialize the words of the Pope by reducing them to slogans?
Fernandez: "Asmuch as the friends of the pope can reduce them to a slogan, also his [the pope's] "ultra-Catholic" adversaries [do so] when they do not try to convey the true depth of his message, when they quote him partially, when they use some of his phrases out of context to ridicule him when dealing only with chapter VIII of "laetitia Amoris" and little of the rest of it, etc. "
Q. What do you think is the most important and urgent reforms that the Pope would like to accomplish?
Fernandez: "The initiating of processes that, according to his personal conviction, are what the Spirit wants to lead his Church. As such, these processes will go beyond the years of the pontificate of Francis and, directed by the Spirit, will become irreversible. They shall be entered in the heart of God's people. "
Fernandez: "Faced with the absoluteness of God, faced with the enormous richness of the Gospel and by the complexity of actual human life, the task and the message of the Church inevitably present "confused" aspects. The Pope proposes that in the midst of these limitations of the Church itself never to neglect the heart of the Gospel. At the same time, that the Church does not pretend to be above all a cannon that launches secure doctrines but the instrument of Christ to open the hearts of his people to grace ".
Q. Do you believe there is also a risk, on the other hand, to trivialize the words of the Pope by reducing them to slogans?
Fernandez: "Asmuch as the friends of the pope can reduce them to a slogan, also his [the pope's] "ultra-Catholic" adversaries [do so] when they do not try to convey the true depth of his message, when they quote him partially, when they use some of his phrases out of context to ridicule him when dealing only with chapter VIII of "laetitia Amoris" and little of the rest of it, etc. "
Q. What do you think is the most important and urgent reforms that the Pope would like to accomplish?
Fernandez: "The initiating of processes that, according to his personal conviction, are what the Spirit wants to lead his Church. As such, these processes will go beyond the years of the pontificate of Francis and, directed by the Spirit, will become irreversible. They shall be entered in the heart of God's people. "
Fernandez’s role as ghostwriter of Amoris Laetitia, is confirmed by Vaticanista Edward Pentin and Sandro Magister. Pentin reports: “Well informed sources have told the Register that the document, which observers believe will probably be released on March 19 — the feast of St. Joseph and the 3rd anniversary of the Pope's inauguration Mass — is in its third draft. They also say that the chief drafter is Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández, rector of the the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina in Buenos Aires and one of Pope Francis’ closest advisers.
Sandro Magister demonstrates that some key formulations of “Amoris Laetitia” also have an Argentine prehistory, based as they are on a pair of articles from 2005 and 2006 by Víctor Manuel Fernández, arguing for a revisionist reading of Pope St. John Paul II’s Encyclical Veritatis Spendor.
December 17, 2016 - Pope Francis’ Interview with Scalfari:
Pope Francis: It is obvious that there should be unity, but so far has not been the case. Each one has his own God and this feeds fundamentalism, wars, terrorism. Even Christians are differentiated, the Orthodox are different from the Lutherans, Protestants are divided into thousands of different faiths, the schisms have increased these divisions. The rest of us Catholics we were invaded by temporalism, beginning with the Crusades and the religious wars that have bloodied Europe, and North and South America. The phenomenon of slavery and the slave trade, selling them in auctions . This was the reality that has marred the history of the world.
Scalfari: Have you thought about convening a new council?
Pope Francis: A Council, no. Vatican II, which took place fifty years ago, left a teaching that largely has been applied by John Paul II, by Paul VI and Benedict XVI. But there is a point that it has not make strides forward and that is regarding the confrontation with modernity. It is up to me to fill this gap. The Church must modernize itself profoundly in its structures and also in its culture. "
Scalfari: Holiness, modernity does not believe in the Absolute. There is no absolute truth. You will therefore have to confront relativism.
Pope Francis: Indeed. For me, the Absolute exists, our faith leads us to believe in a transcendent God, creator of the Universe. However each of us has a personal relativism, duplicates do not exist. Each one of us has one’s own vision of the Absolute; from this point of view, there is relativism and it ranks alongside our faith.
December 19, 2016 – Cardinal Burke suggests timeline for ‘formal correction’ of Pope Francis in 2017 if he continues to fail to respond:
Cardinal Burke’s Interview with LifeSite News: Well the dubia have to have a response because they have to do with the very foundations of the moral life and of the Church’s constant teaching with regard to good and evil, with regard to various sacred realities like marriage and Holy Communion and so forth. What format it would take is very simple; namely it would be direct, even as the dubia are, only in this case there would no longer be raising questions, but confronting the confusing statements in Amoris Laetitia with what has been the Church’s constant teaching and practice, and thereby correcting Amoris Laetitia. It’s an old institute in the Church, the correction of the pope. This has not happened in recent centuries, but there are examples and it’s carried out with the absolute respect for the office of the Successor of Saint Peter, in fact, the correction of the pope is actually a way of safeguarding that office and its exercise. When will it take place? Now of course we are in the last days, days of strong grace, before the Solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord, and then we have the Octave of the Solemnity and the celebrations at the beginning of the New Year - the whole mystery of Our Lord’s Birth and His Epiphany - so it would probably take place sometime after that.
Cardinal Burke’s Interview with Catholic World Report: ...No, I am not saying that Pope Francis is in heresy. I have never said that. Neither have I stated that he is close to being in heresy... [but] if a Pope would formally profess heresy he would cease, by that act, to be the Pope. It’s automatic. And so, that could happen... it would have to be members of the College of Cardinals [to make such a declaration of heresy]... There is already in place the discipline to be followed when the Pope ceases from his office, even as happened when Pope Benedict XVI abdicated his office….
December 22, 2016 - Pope Francis calls in to Unamattina on live TV:
Host:… And so we have prepared a little surprise for you, Your Holiness. Here it is …
Pope Francis: Let’s see what the little surprise is …
[A montage with highlights from the pontificate begins… narrated by the male host:…The centrality of the Gospel is the revolution, the final realization of the Council that took place more than 50 years ago; the engine is faith in the God of mercy. A Church without temporal power, going out to the peripheries, to the poor, to the discarded, that wants to be involved with Christian communities, with families, wounded couples, with the divorced and remarried who can begin a path to approach the Sacraments that was once forbidden from the start. A Church that accompanies, that condemns evil but does not judge persons. No one is excluded from his compelling humanity…”]..
Pope Francis: Yes, yes, thank you for the surprise…. I wish you a Christian Christmas, like the first one was, when God willed to overturn the values of the world, and to become little in a manger, with the little ones, with the poor, with the marginalized … http://aleteia.org/2016/12/22/an-extraordinary-surprise-pope-francis-calls-in-live-to-italys-tv-morning-show
December 22, 2016 – Pope Francis’ Christmas address to the Roman curia:
The reform of the Curia is in no way implemented with a change of persons – something that certainly is happening and will continue to happen – but with a conversion in persons. Permanent formation is not enough; what we need also and above all is permanent conversion and purification. Without a change of mentality, efforts at practical improvement will be in vain…
In this process, it is normal, and indeed healthy, to encounter difficulties, which in the case of the reform, might present themselves as different types of resistance. There can be cases of open resistance, often born of goodwill and sincere dialogue, and cases of hidden resistance, born of fearful or hardened hearts content with the empty rhetoric of “spiritual window-dressing” typical of those who say they are ready for change, yet want everything to remain as it was before. There are also cases of malicious resistance, which spring up in misguided minds and come to the fore when the devil inspires ill intentions (often cloaked in sheep’s clothing). This last kind of resistance hides behind words of self-justification and often accusation; it takes refuge in traditions, appearances, formalities, in the familiar, or else in a desire to make everything personal, failing to distinguish between the act, the actor, and the action…
All this is to say that the reform of the Curia is a delicate process that has to take place in … unconditioned obedience, but above all by abandonment to the sure guidance of the Holy Spirit and trust in his necessary support.
12. … Gradualism has to do with the necessary discernment entailed by historical processes, the passage of time and stages of development, assessment, correction, experimentation, and approvals ad experimentum. In these cases, it is not a matter of indecision, but of the flexibility needed to be able to achieve a true reform.
December 23, 2016 - Der Speigel reports words of Pope Francis and Cardinal Brandmüller:
Pope Francis: “It is not to be excluded that I will enter history as the one who split the Church.” ...
Cardinal Brandmüller: “Whoever thinks that persistent adultery and the reception of Holy Communion are compatible is a heretic and promotes schism…..We are, according to the Apostle St. Paul, administrators of the mysteries of God, but not holders of the right of disposal… it [the Church teaching barring the divorced and civilly remarried from receiving communion] is about all or nothing”, to speak in colloquial terms; that is to say, it is about the kernel of the whole, about the teaching of Doctrine.”
http://www.onepeterfive.com/pope-francis-reported-words-might-go-history-split-church/
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