Father Raymond J. de Souza | March 15, 2017 |
Two of the Holy Father’s most provocative lines have in fact defined his papacy. The first captured the attention of the world, the second the Church.
“Who am I to judge?” Pope Francis asked rhetorically on the plane back from Brazil in 2013. He was speaking about a gay person who was trying live according to the Church’s teaching, but it was received the world over as the pope finally joining mainstream Protestants in running the white flag of surrender up the flagpole of the sexual revolution. That’s not what Pope Francis originally intended, but he seemed cool with it, as he has never really taken pains to correct the popular misconception. And popular it is! The who-am-I-to-judge pope has massive support from those who otherwise wish the Catholic Church ill, from Rolling Stone cover stories to favourable editorials from anti-Catholic organs like The New York Times and The Globe and Mail.
Gay rights groups are cautiously cheering a shift in tone from the Catholic Church toward homosexuals, encouraged that Pope Francis' famous "Who am I to judge?" position has filtered down to bishops debating family issues at the Vatican meeting.
The other line, less famous but perhaps more far-reaching, was how Pope Francis characterized those cardinals and bishops who defended traditional Gospel teaching on marriage and divorce.
The pope himself had been looking for a little wiggle room, but didn’t get it at special meeting of bishops in 2015. He was not pleased and closed the meeting with the most scathing speech of his pontificate, denouncing his opponents for “a facile repetition of what is obvious or has already been said”; of “burying their heads in the sand”; of “indoctrinating” the Gospel “in dead stones to be hurled at others”; of hiding “behind the Church’s teachings or good intentions, in order to sit in the chair of Moses and judge, sometimes with superiority and superficiality, difficult cases and wounded families”; of giving into “conspiracy theories and blinkered viewpoints.”
The “stone throwing” speech still reverberates in the Church, creating divisions and making many Catholics who ordinarily are very loyal to the pope feel quite distant from him.
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Pope Francis remains a fascinating story. He is non-judgmental when addressing the world on sexual matters, and extremely harsh in his judgments on other matters, from economics to immigration to climate change. Within the Church he champions open dialogue, while at the same time denouncing the motives and character of those who take a different line.
It’s been an adventurous four years. And the next surprise is only as far away as the next airplane ride — or tomorrow’s homily.
--Previous Message--
: Posted by John on April 26, 2017, 10:22 am
: “…..the Catholic community has had four or
: five decades of indoctrination presenting
: JUDGEMENTALISM as the only vice, and
: TOLERANCE as the only virtue.”
:
: Thus the error is to omit doing what we are
: commanded also by Christ Himself to do:
: judge actions, speech, writing against
: truth, so that we can help others by
: offering truth. We fail when we omit these
: realities, when we evade these truths.
: Thus:
: "Stop judging by appearances, but judge
: justly." (Jn 7:24).
: "Beware of false prophets, who come to
: you in sheep's clothing, but underneath are
: ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will
: know them" (Mt 7:15, 16).
: "Every tree that does not bear good
: fruit will be cut down and thrown into the
: fire. So by their fruits you will know
: them." (Mt 7:19-20).
: As St Paul teaches:
: "Test everything: retain what is
: good." (1Thess 5:21).
: "I, for my part, although absent in
: body but present in spirit, have already, as
: if present, pronounced judgement on the one
: who has committed this deed..." (1 Cor
: 5:3; read 1-13).
: "I am speaking as to sensible people;
: judge for yourselves what I am saying."
: (1 Cor 10:15).
: "Beloved, do not trust every spirit but
: test the spirits to see whether they belong
: to God, because many false prophets have
: gone out into the world." (1 Jn 4:1).
: Similarly: "I know your works; I know
: that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish
: you were either cold or hot. So, because you
: are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will
: vomit you out of my mouth." (Rev 3:16).
:
:
: --Previous Message--
: . . . but will they?
:
: The answer, of course, is NO. Except in a
: very few parishes, the Catholic community
: has had four or five decades of
: indoctrination presenting JUDGEMENTALISM as
: the only vice, and TOLERANCE as the only
: virtue.
:
: True Catholicism, far from discouraging us
: to exercise our judgment, actually requires
: that we do so, NOT in regard to the motives
: of other people, but certainly in regard to
: their beliefs, their statements and their
: actions. The only one whose motivation we
: are allowed to judge is ourself, but making
: a judgment on the actions and beliefs of
: others, in the light of a properly formed
: conscience, is a requirement for living the
: Faith. The immoral or heretical ideas and
: actions of others should not be imitated,
: but to know what to imitate, and what not,
: one must make properly informed judgments.
:
: Specifically in regard to Islam, so very
: many people are going to allow the lies of
: political correctness to cause them to
: suspend judgment, until, when it is too late
: to do anything else, they are forced to
: acknowledge the truth.
:
:
:
:
:
:
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