Taking On Issues - Political Issues and Government Policies

A Hot Discussion Forum on Government Policies and Political Issues

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Election 2016
  • Big Government
  • Healthcare
  • The Other Side
  • What’s New
  • Your Freedom

LAT: Conservative Catholics going schismatic over Pope Francis?

April 17, 2017 By Takingonissues

posted at 8:41 pm on April 17, 2017 by Ed Morrissey

Has the pastoral rubber met the theological road? Today, the Los Angeles Times’ Tom Kingston reports that the debate over Pope Francis’ Amoris Laetitia and the proposals to allow divorced-and-remarried Catholics to fully participate in the sacraments has produced a conservative reaction that threatens to divide the church. Some have even begun to whisper one word in particular — schism:

As Francis enters his fourth year in office, his conservative opponents have chosen to stand and fight over his 2016 apostolic exhortation titled “Amoris Laetitia,” or “The Joy of Love,” in which he suggested bishops can use discretion in granting Communion to Catholics who divorce, then remarry in a civil ceremony.

Francis’ guidance was seen by many as contradicting the ruling, which dates to the early days of the Roman Catholic Church, that couples are living in sin if they remarry, because their first marriage is still valid in the eyes of the church.

Francis’ opening was part of his mercy-before-doctrine drive, which welcomes outcasts to the church rather than use dogma to keep people out. But for conservative Catholics, it was another reason to feel aggrieved, after Francis appeared to suggest in 2015 that Lutherans could receive Catholic Communion, and, when asked about gay people in 2013, said, “Who am I to judge?”

It was enough to start talk of a schism in the church.

That’s not a word taken lightly in Catholic circles. Debates over doctrine and their application go all the way back to Peter and Paul, after all, as does the passion that surround them; the Acts of the Apostles and Paul’s epistles certainly demonstrate that much. Schism implies more than just a debate, though — it suggests a fracture among bishops that threatens the unity of the church.

For that reason, the word sometimes gets applied where it shouldn’t. In this case, others have heard the same rumblings among church leaders as Kingston, although not within the Curia; one well-placed observer cautions that it’s a distinctly minority position, but the word has begun to float. The 2014 and 2015 Synods on the Family took up this issue in order to settle the matter after it had been pressed primarily by German bishops, where African bishops in particular objected strenuously to the proposal. Kingston notes Cardinal Wilfrid Napier’s argument about the necessity of this doctrine to move people away from polygamy in Muslim and animist cultures, and how changing to meet Western culture can undermine those efforts in a region where the church is experiencing strong growth and conversions. At the 2014 Synod, from which I reported for Hot Air, the African bishops provided a unified call to remain constant on the issue of sacramental marriage and the sacraments.

The final report from the 2015 synod appeared to leave the church in its consistent position, but the subsequent issue of Amoris Laetitia muddied the waters sufficiently for all sides to claim some kind of advance in their positions. Two months ago, a leading figure within the Curia wrote a “personal” observance that claimed that Amoris backed the German bishops’ argument. At the same time, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller — the prefect for the Congregation of the Faith and the man in charge of doctrinal discipline — took the exact opposite stance in an interview with Il Timone.  In between, the dubia submitted by five cardinals on this doctrinal confusion has yet to get an answer from Pope Francis, which is apparently fueling the passions on both sides.  The lack of clarity may have been intended to satisfy everyone to some extent, but it has perhaps resulted in a situation where no one is satisfied to just let the matter stew.

In one sense, the hints at schism are most unfortunate, because Pope Francis has made some strides to repair an actual schism and reincorporate a small group of conservative Catholics into the church:

Pope Francis’ decision to approve a way for the Church to recognize marriages celebrated by priests of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X is a helpful step toward the priestly fraternity reconciling with Rome, but full communion is most probably still some way off.

This is according to sources both inside the Vatican and the priestly fraternity who, in April 6 comments to the Register, said that the Pope’s decision, made in a March 27 letter to the SSPX and publicized April 4, is not a sign of acceleration toward an agreement.

Rather, they believe it paves the way to creating a possible canonical structure to allow the society to come into full communion in the future.

If the Vatican does not take action to resolve the confusion, perhaps the next ordinary synod in 2018 will take it up directly. Until then, it has become abundantly clear that more clarity rather than discernment is needed. It’s still too early to discuss schisms, but perhaps a little late to offer specific answers to legitimate questions raised by church leaders.

Related Posts:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Email, RSS Follow

Related

Subscribe to Taking on Issues

Enter your email address to subscribe to our site and receive notifications of new posts by email.

RSS Political News

  • Dem 2020 hopefuls Harris, Warren say they embrace idea of reparations for black Americans: report February 22, 2019
  • Trump Calls NYT True Enemy of the People February 22, 2019
  • Lawsuit Brought Against Trump for Damaging El Paso County February 22, 2019
  • Smollett Won't Change How Anyone Feels About Hate Crimes February 22, 2019
  • Why Vote for Sanders When You Can Have Warren Instead? February 22, 2019
  • Americans Want a Less Aggressive Foreign Policy February 22, 2019
  • National Emergency Will Haunt Trump's Re-Election Bid February 22, 2019
  • A Very British Lesson for the American Left February 22, 2019
  • Epidemic Of Anti-Jewish Hate Crimes In Brooklyn Is No Hoax February 22, 2019

Archives

New Featured Articles

  • Donald Trump: Middle-American Radical
    February 8, 2018

    President Trump is the leader of America’s conservative party. Yet not even his allies would describe him as a conservative in the tradition of Robert Taft, Russell Kirk, or William F. Buckley. In the primaries of 2016, all his rivals claimed the mantle of Mr. Conservative, Ronald Reagan. Yet Trump captured the party’s heart. Who, […]

    Email, RSS Follow
    […]
  • Too weird to check: Michael Cohen reveals secret third client to be … Sean Hannity
    April 16, 2018
    When I heard this morning that he had had only three […]
  • Dolezal’s new identity: welfare-fraud felon?
    May 25, 2018
    Go figure that a woman who fraudulently misrepresented […]
  • Quebec: Hey, we could really use some federal help with this influx of immigrants
    April 16, 2018
    When I wrote about the upsurge in illegal immigration […]
  • Kanye West: I am your future president, and also I have dragon energy
    April 25, 2018
    He’s running — but not until 2024. […]
  • Trump Vs. The Military-Industrial Complex
    December 12, 2016
    Lockheed-Martin’s F-35 fighter jet, the most […]
  • The Only Way Through Purgatory
    June 23, 2018
    Ross Douthat unloads on Cardinal McCarrick. Excerpts: […]
  • Come quickly, SMOD: 2020 New York Senate race may pit Chelsea Clinton against Caroline Kennedy
    February 10, 2017
    posted at 4:41 pm on February 10, 2017 by Allahpundit […]
  • “Fake news” alert: NYT narrative on Perry blows up
    January 19, 2017
    posted at 12:01 pm on January 19, 2017 by Ed Morrissey […]
  • New Don Blankenship attack ad: Cocaine jokes aren’t funny, Cocaine Mitch
    May 14, 2018
    I can’t keep track of what is and isn’t […]
  • About time. DoJ seeks to strip convicted terrorist of citizenship
    March 22, 2017
    posted at 9:41 am on March 22, 2017 by Jazz Shaw Back […]
  • More Minnesota: Blue wave crashes across the state
    August 15, 2018
    Is there a blue wave coming in November? One certainly […]
  • Making Do With What We’ve Got
    November 2, 2016
    (Caveat lector: This book works well as a political […]
  • vote trumpAvoid The Highs, Vote Trump
    June 10, 2016
    Why America Should Vote Trump Vote Trump To Avoid The […]
  • Axios: Wray threatened to resign if McCabe removed
    January 23, 2018
    If Donald Trump had gotten his way, according to […]
Copyright © 2019 TakingOnIssues.com

Contact Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Advertise | About Us