Once again, Pope Francis has made liberalizing
noises. And once again,
conservative Roman Catholics, who understandably want their pope to be robustly
orthodox, are coming out and saying he was misinterpreted and taken out of context; the press is
spinning; what he really meant is etc.
I love my conservative Roman Catholic brethren. But I am at the point where I think
they are engaging in wishful thinking.
It is time to face up to the possibility that, in Pope Francis, the
church has had a liberal Pope foisted upon it.
His views on the church’s opposition to abortion are
close to a last straw for me. Fromthe Wall Street Journal (where they may be a pay wall):
"We
cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of
contraceptive methods," said the 76-year-old pontiff, who came to power in
March after the sudden resignation of Pope Benedict. "This is not
possible. I have not spoken much about these things, and I was reprimanded for
that.
"The
teaching of the church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the church,
but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time," he said.
"We have to find a new balance; otherwise even the moral edifice of the
church is likely to fall like a house of cards."
His
comments could signal dissatisfaction with the strong stance some church
leaders have taken on the highly charged social issues. For instance, in an
interview last week with a local Catholic newspaper, Rhode Island Bishop Thomas
J. Tobin said that he was "a little bit disappointed in Pope Francis that
he hasn't, at least that I'm aware of, said much about unborn children, about
abortion, and many people have noticed that."
So to be balanced, the church should defend the unborn
less? The church should protest
the slaughter of the innocents less? Pope Francis should indeed be “reprimanded”
for his lack of balance on abortion. For a Pope to speak this way is
distressing.
There is also this:
Francis
also pointedly says, "I have never been a right-winger."
Sorry, but that sounds like a liberal to me. Do orthodox speak about other orthodox publicly
in this manner?
Now Francis hasn’t said anything heretical. And I do not claim to know that he is a
liberal pope. But I am convinced
it is past time for catholics in and outside the Roman church to face up to the
possibility and stop making wishful excuses for him.
By the way, bad liturgy and bad theology go together.
3 comments:
But then he came out today with this. Apparently, he didn't get his own memo.
http://www.lifenews.com/2013/09/20/pope-francis-slams-abortion-in-new-comments-unborn-babies-unjustly-condemned/
Thanks. I'm very glad to read that, James! I feel slightly better now. Perhaps he realized his words were a bit too open to misinterpretation?
wannabe
I am always surprised when the Pope turns out to, you know, be Catholic.
The point of the whole kerfluffle, if the interview is actually read, revolves around the idea that it is not moral and dogmatic correctness that leads to salvation, but an encounter with the living Christ. He does not say morality is unimportant, but that it is not the first cause of salvation.
As for the right winger comment, I would hope the Pope is not a right winger, nor a left winger, but Catholic, which will never make the right or the left happy.
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