WILL POPE FRANCIS SPLIT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH?
WHAT should ordinary Catholics do about the contro of Pope Francis, put forth by more than 60 theologians and clergy — and counting?
For the great majority of the billion- strong faithful who do not follow Vatican affairs closely, haeresibus propagates,” by its full Latin title, respectfully asked Pope Francis to disavow certain statements, actions and omissions that, in the signatories’ view, propagate heresy.
To recap our layman’s paraphrase of the heresies violating centuries- old Church doctrines affirmed by past popes, the incumbent Supreme Pontiff is alleged to have spread by word, deed and omission the following heretical views:
1) There are commands of God that people cannot obey even with His grace.
2) A divorced Christian, whose Church marriage is not annulled or ended by the spouse’s death, does not commit mortal sin even if the Christian and another partner live as husband and wife.
3) A believer can commit a grave violation of divine law knowingly and willfully, yet not have mortal sin.
4) A person f o l l owing God’s commandment can sin against Him.
5) A person’s conscience can rightly determine that sexual relations with someone other than one’s spouse in a valid Church marriage, could be a morally righteous act or even a request or command from God.
6) In moral truths and laws contained in divine revelation, there are no absolute prohibitions of certain acts.
7) Our Lord Jesus Christ wants the Church to set aside its millennia-old rules of denying communion at mass and absolution in confession to divorced Catholics who live with new partners as husband and wife, without their Church marriages being annulled.
Can the Pope be corrected?
Many Catholics may wonder whether the Pope can be wrong and subject to correction. After all, he is supposed to be infallible, protected from error by the Holy Spirit Himself.
Well, infallibility, in fact, applies narrowly to tenets of faith declared in a special ex cathedra process, which Francis has never invoked. Moreover, the Correctio rightly points out, the Holy Father’s paramount duty is to safeguard the precious store of doctrines passed on through the centuries, not revise them.
If he takes positions adverse to established beliefs, he may be corrected or even automatically excommunicated, depending on the dogma violated. For instance, if he were to deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, he ceases to be a Catholic and can no longer continue as head of the Church.
Okay, so the Pope can make mistakes. Now, should lowly believers unschooled in the profound complexities of theology actually take sides in doctrinal disputes, which few laymen can understand? Shouldn’t the faithful just let the hierarchy and the clergy sort out the dogmatic jousts, then accept the victor?
To fence-sitters waiting for the doctrinal dust to clear, it may be good to recall the warnings of Servant of God and Fatima visionary Lucia dos Santos, spoken half a century ago:
“She [Mary] told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin, … where one side will be victorious and the other side will suffer defeat. Also, from now on, we must choose sides. Either we are for God or we are for the devil; there is no in-between.“
Sister Lucia further expounded in a 2003 letter Cardinal Carlo Cafarra, then head of a new institute between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family. Don’t be afraid, because anyone who works for the sanctity of marriage and the family, will always be fought and opposed in every way, because this is a decisive issue. However, Our Lady has already crushed its head.”
And really, making little effort to at least know something about doctrinal matters hardly shows great value for precious Catholic beliefs and practices, for which so many have not only suffered privation and persecution, but even offered their very lives.
of anyone at this time. What is urged is awareness of the issues, which impinge on fundamental moral tenets.
Yes or no, Your Holiness
What is clear from the past year of controversy is that the Holy Father has declined to respond directly to requests for clarification on the doctrinal issues of morals and family. Indeed, he declined to answer even four leading cardinals, including Cafarra, who asked yes or no questions or “dubia” whether certain longstanding tenets of the Church still hold.
The cardinals asked in their letter made public last year if acts deemed sinful by the Church could be rendered right by personal discernment, and if communion and absolution could be given to those who continue in relationships forbidden by the Church, among other matters seeking clarity.
What then emerges is a situation when established doctrines and practices are changing with papal acquiescence or exhortation, but no explicit Vatican declaration.
Most believers would probably just go along with that, and many will be happy with it, since it may allow onceproscribed acts and lifestyles.
In this emerging new moral landscape, what does the conservative Catholic keen to keep age-old mores do?
Well, go ahead and keep them. That narrow path will be more challenging than the widening road opened by more liberal norms coming out of the Vatican. But that millennia- old route will, as it has done for millennia, lead the obedient souls to heaven. Amen.