Vatican City, Mar 1, 2018 / 05:57 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A new letter issued by the Vatican’s doctrinal office has reaffirmed that Christian salvation can only come through Christ and the Church, and highlighted modern expressions of Pelagian and Gnostic thought which contradict this belief.
Signed by Archbishop Luis Ladaria SJ, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on the Feb. 22 feast of the Chair of St. Peter, the letter is addressed to the world’s bishops.
It clarifies how the ancient heresies of Pelagianism and Gnosticism are diffused in modern culture, and urges Christians to evangelize while engaging with those from other religions in a spirit of genuine dialogue.
The four-and-a-half page letter consists of six points, including an introduction and conclusion, outlining the errors of Pelagianism and Gnosticism in light of Christian doctrine, and reaffirming Christ as the only means of salvation, which is offered through the sacraments.
According to the letter’s introduction, the aim in writing it is to “demonstrate certain aspects of Christian salvation that can be difficult to understand today because of recent cultural changes,” incorporating Pope Francis’ reflections on the issue.
Modern expressions of Pelagianism and Gnosticism
The letter pointed to the difficulty many have in accepting the teachings of Christianity in today’s society, noting that on one hand, “individualism centered on the autonomous subject tends to see the human person as a being whose sole fulfillment depends only on his or her own strength.”
In this view, Christ is seen as “a model that inspires generous actions with his words and his gestures,” but is not recognized as the one who transforms the human condition by incorporating mankind into a new, reconciled life with the Father.
On the other hand, the letter noted that “a merely interior vision of salvation is becoming common, a vision which, marked by a strong personal conviction or feeling of being united to God, does not take into account the need to accept, heal and renew our relationships with others and with the created world.”
Pope Francis, the letter said, has often spoken of these two tendencies, identifying them with the ancient heresies of Pelagianism and Gnosticism.
Pelagianism gets its name from the monk Pelagius, who lived in the 400s and taught that the human will, as created by God, was enough to live a sinless life. Gnosticism, on the other hand, was a widely diffused belief in the 2nd century that the material world is the result of error on the part of God.
Since the beginning of his pontificate Francis has spoken out about the two heresies, and in 2015 during his pastoral visit to Florence, told participants in the Fifth Convention of the Italian Church that Pelagianism and Gnosticism are two of the greatest temptations that lead the Church away from humility and beatitude.
In the speech, he said Pelagianism “spurs the Church not to be humble, disinterested and blessed,” and does so “through the appearance of something good. Pelagianism leads us to trust in structures, in organizations, in planning that is perfect because it is abstract. Often it also leads us to assume a controlling, harsh and normative manner.”
Norms, he said, “give Pelagianism the security of feeling superior, of having a precise bearing,” while Gnosticism “leads to trusting in logical and clear reasoning, which nonetheless loses the tenderness of a brother’s flesh.”
The attraction of Gnosticism, he said, is “a purely subjective faith whose only interest is a certain experience or a set of ideas and bits of information which are meant to console and enlighten, but which ultimately keep one imprisoned in his or her own thoughts and feeling.”
Likewise, in Cardinal Joseph Ratzingers’ 1986 spiritual exercises, the future Pope Benedict XVI also condemned the Palegian trend in modern society, calling it a “vice” and saying those who accept Palegianism “do not want forgiveness and in general they do not want any real gift from God either. They just want to be in order.”
“They don’t want hope they just want security,” he said, adding that “their aim is to gain the right to salvation through a strict practice of religious exercises, through prayers and action. What they lack is humility which is essential in order to love; the humility to receive gifts not just because we deserve it or because of how we act.”
In Thursday’s letter, Ladaria said a “new form” of Palegianism is spreading in today’s culture in which the individual, “understood to be radically autonomous, presumes to save oneself, without recognizing that, at the deepest level of being, he or she derives from God and from others.”
According to this thought, salvation “depends on the strength of the individual or on purely human structures, which are incapable of welcoming the newness of the Spirit of God,” the letter said.
However, a new form of Gnosticism is also widely diffused, promoting an understanding of salvation which is “merely interior, closed off in its own subjectivism.”
“In this model, salvation consists of improving oneself, of being intellectually capable of rising above the flesh of Jesus towards the mysteries of the unknown divinity,” the letter said. “It presumes to liberate the human person from the body and from the material universe” in which God is no longer found, “but only a reality deprived of meaning” and “easily manipulated by the interests of man.”
Comparing the two heresies is intended as a simple recognition of “general common features, without entering into judgments on the exact nature of the ancient error,” the letter said, emphasizing that there is a vast difference between modern, secularized society and the social context in which the heresies were born.
However, “both neo-Pelagian individualism and the neo-Gnostic disregard of the body deface the confession of faith in Christ, the one, universal Savior,” the letter said, and reaffirmed that “salvation consists in our union with Christ.”
Man’s search for salvation and Christ as Savior
The letter noted that each person, in their own way, seeks happiness and tries to obtain it through the means they have available.
Yet this desire is not always explicitly expressed, and is frequently “more secret and hidden than it may appear,” revealing itself only in situations of crisis, the letter said, noting that this desire can often be manifested as a desire for better health or economic well-being, and can be expressed as a need for interior peace and peace with others.
It also takes on the character of endurance and the desire to overcome pain, fighting off the “evil” of error, fragility, weakness, sickness and death.
Faced with these aspirations, faith, the letter said, teaches that in rejecting all attempts at “self-realization,” these desires “can be fulfilled completely only if God himself makes it possible, by drawing us toward Himself.”
“The total salvation of the person does not consist of the things that the human person can obtain by himself,” such as wealth, reputation or knowledge, the letter continued, noting that if redemption were judged solely according to the needs of mankind, “how could we avoid the suspicion of having simply created a Redeemer God in the image of our own need?”
The letter then emphasized that God has never stopped offering salvation to his people, and that this redemption has a concrete name and face in Jesus Christ.
Salvation, it said, doesn’t occur in just an interior manner, because Jesus was made flesh in order to communicate with mankind. And by becoming part of the human family, Jesus “has united himself in some fashion with every man and woman and has established a new kind of relationship with God, his Father, and with all humanity.”
Each person can be incorporated in this new relationship and participate in Jesus’ own life, the letter said, adding that Christ’s incarnation, “rather than limiting the salvific action,” allows him “to mediate the salvation of God for all of the sons and daughters of Adam.”
Given this understanding, when faced with the “individualist reductionism of Pelagian tendency, and the neo-Gnostic promise of a merely interior salvation,” Christians have to remember “the way in which Jesus is Savior.”
“He did not limit himself to showing us the way to encounter God, a path we can walk on our own by being obedient to his words and by imitating his example,” but instead opened the door to freedom and pointed to himself as the way.
This path, the letter said, “is not merely an interior journey at the margins of our relationships with others and with the created world,” but consists of a “new and living way” that Jesus inaugurated for mankind in his own flesh.
“Therefore, Christ is Savior in as much as he assumed the entirety of our humanity and lived a fully human life in communion with his Father and with others.”
Salvation is through the Church, the Body of Christ
The letter reaffirmed that the place where humanity receives the salvation of Jesus “is the Church,” beginning with baptism and continuing through the other sacraments.
“Both the individualistic and the merely interior visions of salvation contradict the sacramental economy through which God wants to save the human person,” the letter said.
Salvation cannot be achieved by one’s own individual efforts alone, as neo-Pelagian thought would argue, but is instead found “in the relationships that are born from the incarnate Son of God and that form the communion of the Church,” the letter said.
Likewise, it stressed that the grace of God leads us to concrete relationships that Christ himself formed, and of which the Church is an image.
Salvation, then, “does not consist in the self-realization of the isolated individual, nor in an interior fusion of the individual with the divine,” but rather means being incorporated “into a communion of persons that participates in the communion of the Trinity.”
While Gnosticism has a negative view of creation, seeing it as a limitation of man’s freedom and therefore implying that salvation means freeing oneself from the body and concrete human relationships, true salvation offered by Christ includes the sanctification of the body, the letter said.
With the sacraments, “Christians are able to live faithful to the flesh of Christ and, as a result, in fidelity to the kind of relationships that he gave us,” the letter said, explaining that under this rationale, care for those who are suffering is especially important, particularly through the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.
The letter closed urging Christians to advance in announcing the “joy and light of the Gospel,” while also establishing a “sincere and constructive dialogue” with those from other religions, believing that God can lead all men of goodwill toward salvation in Christ.
“Total salvation of the body and of the soul is the final destiny to which God calls all of humanity,” it said, and urged believers to look forward to the coming of Christ, who will “change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself.”
[…]
As I’ve written before, everyone is waiting for the next conclave and the end of this thoroughly wretched pontificate. Its passing will be mourned solely by court queens and malcontents.
We are beyond another conclave to fix the mess. We await God’s intervention and purification of the Church.
I agree with you John.
The Pope and those catholics that want to change God’s Statues he gave in the book Leviticus. He is the “LORD GOD our GOD” They need to read them carefully.
The Pope and Archbishops it’s their responsiblity to remove thoses wolves in sheep clothing not moving them to different parishes. All catholics know our “LORD JESUS CHRIST” does not want these wolves continuing preying on children.
Disagree wholeheartedly with this opinion Holy Father Francis has brought much needed mercy and compassion to the fore during his pontificate long may he remain in office
Yet no mercy for those Catholics who love the Latin Mass, right John?
Amen to that! I stand with you on this. The Holy Father is Peter! And his mercy and compassion are being heard by all but the naysayers, Pharisees of the modern world.
When progressives claim “naysayers” they really mean “cisgendered moral heterosexuals with too many children”.
No mercy for the TLM, because the TLM encourages large productive families, and Laudato Si made us the religion of birth control, abortion, and protecting the planet instead.
Agreed!
Mercy towards whom? Sodomites, perverts, and those who cover for them? But the Faithful must be crushed.
Mercy & compassion to whom, exactly? Mercy & compassion require justice, which includes admonishing the sinner & instructing the ignorant (as the term was originally defined – those who do not know the truth, not as the slur it has become today). Bergoglio does neither. He surrounds himself with those who do not adhere to the tenets of the church, he “cancels” good & faithful clerics, while promoting those who push sinful lifestyles. He has introduced actual idol worship in the form of the pachamama “earth mother”, while apologizing for those faithful men who threw the offending idol into the Tiber. He mandates those who visit the Vatican to take the abortion-tainted poison that is misnamed a “vaccine”. He allowed churches to be shut down during the China flu “crisis”, while saying nothing about abortion mills & alcohol distributors remaining open. He wants to eliminate the 1000 year old Latin Masses. He does not shepherd the sheep, but is, in effect, leading us right into the den of wolves. He is a disaster. Please explain how these actions show “mercy & compassion”.
So sad. I cling to the promise that Jesus gave St. Peter: “I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16: 18).
God will intervene. Don’t know when or how, but He will preserve His True Church.
As long as one small monk in a hermitage keeps the faith, Catholicism will survive the racist pharisees of the Progressive South Americans.
Remember, when a liberal accuses you of something, it’s because they are guilty of it themselves.
Expressing “sadness” is a sort of “public affairs” approach to expressing one’s feelings of concern in the Catholic Church today.
Messaging one’s “sadness” is designed, it seems primarily, to express one’s feelings inside, while avoiding hurting other people’s feelings.
Unfortunately, this manner of communicating doesn’t really seem equal in magnitude to the Church’s purported self-identity as “The Body of Christ.”
It’s not that “being sad” doesn’t matter. On the other hand, in the contemporary Church, the growing impression being made is that “being sad” (or “being happy”) is “the biggest thing that matters.”
It’s a way of avoiding stronger words of concern.
Such as, the Church isn’t “serious.” That critique appears to in this essay at First Things:
https://www.firstthings.com/article/2023/04/who-killed-the-catholic-university
In that essay the author, Mr. Keating, talks about the death of the Catholic faith in “Catholic universities,” and the take-over by administrators and faculty hostile to the Catholic belief in the harmony of faith and reason, as expressed in, among other documents, Veritatis Splendor.
And by “death,” what Mr. Keating is alluding to is that some 90% if the 200-odd “supposedly” Catholic universities have the malignant cancer of hostility to the Catholic faith.
It’s the recap of the malignant manifesto “The Land of Lakes Statement” (1968?), penned by dissident “priest-President-warlords” of the Catholic University establishment, including the infamous head of Notre Dame, Reverend Hesburg, a herd of like-minded Jesuits, and the man we now recognize to be the diabolical sex abuser, co-engineer of the “Secret-Vatican-Accord-with-the-Chinese-Communist-Party,” and the “USCCB’s designated-liar-on-Canon-Law-and-the-Eucharist,” Theodore McCarrick.
If the Church is really intent on “following” Christ, instead of merely “giving people that impression,” one might expect that instead of communicating our “sadness,” we might opt to communicate our “grief.”
But perhaps even at this late hour, “grief” may yet be overstating the case.
For grief indicates an acknowledgment of death.
But, we are now free to admit ourselves to the army once led by the late Cardinal Pell, who was, as Sandro Magidter revealed, the suthor of the “Demos” letter, and who, on January 11, 2023, published in his own name, that the Church right now (via this rotten Synod stunt) is a “toxic nightmare,” and we must work to “free ourselves from this toxic nightmare.”
Those words communicate something a lot more compelling than “sadness.” They recognize reality, and are a call-to-arms, and in their magnitude, are worthy of the Author of The Great Commission, the Head of the Body of Christ, to whom is given “All Authority in Heaven and Earth.”
It’s time for combat, not sadness.
As Mr. Keating correctly observes, the overwhelming majority of “supposedly-Catholic” universities are dead, that is, “dead-to-the-Catholic-faith.”
Surely, Mr. Keating is right to use the word “grief” for the former “supposedly Catholic” universities.
Is the Catholic Church itself now cancerous? I conclude: “Yes.”
Is the cancer malignant? I don’t know, but it is wide-spread, with tumors showing in the Bishop of Rome.
So perhaps the word to use here is not “sadness” about the state of the Church, but “alarm” about its “grievous condition.”
A few weeks ago, Cardinal Pell was reported to be the used the word “
Thank you, Chris, for reporting on the state of Rome and the Truth it doesn’t know.
Thank you Meiron.
Truth matters, especially hard truths, because Jesus went through a tough life, and a brutal execution, out of love gor us, that despite ourselves, we might know the truth, and be free…free of the chains forged by our own lying, sinful selves.
Well said Chris,
Aquinas examined the relationship between the passions (emotions), virtue and gifts (of the Holy Spirit). One could argue, with Aquinas’ foundation, that the Holy Spirit dwells not where sadness continues to reign.
The ebb and flow of godliness! When the church wanes, men and women who love the Lord and value the church rise up to hold the banner of God eternal truth. Bad times cause those of faith to coalesce into a unified body honouring Christ.
The church will prevail, it will do its God given duty despite the wolves in the church and the jackals outside. Alas, too many consider Papa part of the dilemma rather than a problem solver?
God tells us of His plans in Holy Scripture. He provides insight into what is to come and gives peace and assurance to those who love Him.
Thank you for honouring God, it is a blessing.
Many in the string blame Francis for the state of the church today. In truth it was John Paul and Benedict who allowed the spread of pederasty and child abuse which has infected the church to such a degree that the faithful are falling by the wayside and the church is collapsing.Benedict saw the mess he created and resigned to escape implication and scandal. Frances has removed the enablers and we should pray for his success in saving what’s left. The Synodal Way is a deep forensic dive into the dysfunctions brought on by gay Cardinals partying in their palaces with call boys. That is what we should be sad about.
“Frances has removed the enablers …”
Good one.
Very good post, Chris in Maryland. But I think we should be beyond grief and into outrage. I would like to see some outrage from Bishops give the pushing of LGBT on school children, extreme state pro abortion laws, instead of statements such as “We find this very problematic.”
Agree 100% Crusader.
Hence my words: “It’s time for combat, not sadness.”
I am of course outraged by the patently obvious injustice and immorality on display by the cohort of “Team Francis,” and whatever former names they called themselves, including “the St. Galen’s Mafia.”
Such deserve to be fought and defeated, for the sake of the heart of Jesus.
Yes the kow towing to the CCP is indeed nauseating and confusing. Combine this with the Pope throwing his weight behind the covid vaccination programme and what we have is a disaster of mega proportions. People had genuine moral concerns regarding the vax and they also had grave objections to being told what to do with their bodies. Since Christian time began we have been taught that missing Sunday Mass was a grave sin and yet the church closed its doors and often pursued priests who tried to attend to their flock. Please do not underestimate the gravity of these rulings. They showed the church up as hypocritical and many believe rightly or wrongly that church doors only opened up because the coffers were running low. The situation on the ground is more fraught than many in the establishment appear to realise and as far as I can see it will take divine intervention to interrupt the fiddle playing in Rome.
Well written. I am deeply concerned about what this Pope has done to all of us. I have no idea how we will recover. I can only pray for us, the Church, and us, humanity.
This article dated 2023 is years late and more than a dollar short. What is the point of reporting now about horses that left the barn 6, 7, 8, and 9 years ago. The writer with all his supposed connections in the Vatican should have written this years ago.
IF Pope Francis actually counseled Spanish seminarians to always give absolution (even absent penitence and conversion)–perhaps the recent CWR posting was in error and pulled?–THEN this would be yet another cause for grief.
Compare with the sound legacy from St. John Paul II and his “Reconciliation and Penance (Reconcillatio et Paenitentia, n. 16, Dec. 2, 1984) which includes this:
“…every soul that rises above itself, raises up the world” (citing Elizabeth Leseur).
Well, clearly, there’s no need today for raising up either the soul or the world!
https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_02121984_reconciliatio-et-paenitentia.html
Here’s the self-proclaimed official biographer of John Paul II in his sunset moment who has no longer access to the inner papal court looking from the outside being clueless but deceptively pretending that he still looks from the inside. The authoritative papal biographer of Francis is Austen Ivereigh.
A funny comment, for the wrong reasons. But the term “clueless but deceptively pretending” and the name “Austen Ivereigh” do belong together.
🤣
Good one, Carl!
Now that is what I call a smart and sassy comment. Love it.
Touché
I smell professional envy of one writer towards another. Or is it abomination towards the writer’s subject matter?
Your olfactory receptors are malfunctioning. I’m not envious of ideological hacks.
Touché again
Now I see, it’s your uncatholic abomination and abhorrence towards Pope Francis.
No, you see nothing. If you really could see, you’d recognize that rightly identifying Austin Ivereigh as an “ideological hack” is not an abomination in the least. It’s quite obvious to those who know how to read, think, and otherwise navigate facts. Nor does it indicate abhorrence towards Pope Francis. You are simply slandering me here, perhaps because you cannot operate on the level of reality.
I have never claimed to be the “official” biographer of John Paul II and indeed have spent two decades correcting people who say that when introducing me. As for being “inside,” I am quite inside enough to know exactly what I’m talking about in this column — and to know that the votaries of this pontificate are trafficking in fantasy on this tenth anniversary.
He is your religious leader and you are biting at his heels like a pack of dogs? You should be ashamed of yourselves. As a theologian, I am ashamed of this site.
When the Pope is not following the guidelines that he is suppose to, we must speak up. That’s our job.
Christ is our leader, the Head of the Church; Francis is merely his Vicar. And to the degree that Francis guards the faith and guides the flock in following Christ, we follow. When the shepherd (any shepherd at any level) loses his way, we must distance ourselves, and double back to the true path. He has our prayers, but why would we slavishly follow him over a cliff?
Yes, of course we may be dogs, and yes, of course we travel in a pack, nipping or biting as necessary when wolves attack. God is our leader and teacher. He who is against Him is against us.
Dear Karen:
Though I respect what you say, what should be done to correct one who departs from the faith and church tradition on too many counts? Should the faithful stand idly by and not mummer a word? As a theologian you know there is a procedure to deal with wrong-mindedness.
Allow me to say that CWR is a goad for positive change and a field to let off steam.
God bless you in your role. May you encourage many souls to follow Christ,
Brian
1 Timothy 5:20 As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.
2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
Cardinal John Henry Newman–the “Father of the Second Vatican Council and, by Pope Francis, named a saint in 2019–had this to say about this and that…
“. . . I know well . . . . that, in some states of society [or even the Church], such as our own, it is the worst charity, and the most provoking, irritating rule of action, and the most unhappy policy, not to speak out, not to suffer to be spoken out, all that there is to say. Such speaking out is under such circumstances the triumph of religion, whereas concealment, accommodation, and evasion is to co-operate with the spirit of error–but not always so” (Preface to the Third Edition, “Via Media,” London, 1895, Vol. 1).
Yes, Newman is addressing the voice of the Church toward society, and does add that at some times “it is wiser and kinder to let well alone than to attempt what is better.”. . . “Let well enough alone?”
Surely the central counsel against obsequious silence applies within the Church as well, and even to the clericalist and dark pattern of ambiguity found today in signaling, omissions, corrupt appointments, and accommodation–none of which is exempt from simply having the lights turned on. . . even by the a well-informed peasantry free from transfer, or being passed over, or being fired (as you would phrase it, a “pack of dogs”).
If you were truly a theologian, truly, you would understand exactly why people feel the way they do about this bankrupt papacy. Maybe the shame is on you for supporting it?
Don’t hide your common sense under a basket.
Karen,
Could you provide us with a link to some of your published work in theology? If not, a CV that lists your theological publications will do. Thanks.
As the editor, I’m tolerant of your comment. As a theologian, I’m amused by your comment.
Touché again again
The Holy Spirit guides each good Christian on a daily basis but also directs human history in ways that are unfathomable by man. The complete collapse of the Byzantine Empire in 1475 happened at the same day as the Castilian consolidation of Catholics against the Moors in Spain. The virtual end of the Confederacy happened on July 4th 1863 with victories on the same day at Gettysburg in the East and Vicksburg in the West. And on the same day that the first Jews were murdered at Auschwitz with Zyklon-B the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor forcing the U.S. to enter WW2. All good Christians have faith – Mark 4: 35-41.
Cool. Thank you.
1453.
Sorry. Couldn’t let that one pass. I’m married to a Byzantinist. 🙂
As we Catholics worldwide celebrate the 10th anniversary of the papacy of Pope Francis, I believe it also should not be forgotten how in the past ten years some Catholic American media outlets, CWR included, have evolved and grown in their opposition to and loathing of Pope Francis. Or at least his teachings, words, and actions. At best, they might accept him to the extent that he agrees with them. But this is abundantly clear: Pope Francis isn’t their teacher or shepherd, to them he’s a political figure (or in some cases nothing more than a reality show contestant) that they feel free to critique, analyze, judge, jeer, and explain away. This is not how Catholics should see the Pope.
“loathing…”
Does language not mean a damn thing anymore?
Dear Pedro:
All followers of Christ have a duty to speak the truth in love. Love is being forthright and rebuking what is wrong! Actions worthy of praise will reap accordingly.
God Bless you,
Brian
Luke 17:3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,
Matthew 18:15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
James 5:20 Let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
To Brian Young:
As I am indeed a follower of Jesus Christ, I now speak the truth out of love by reminding you that you are disobeying Christ Himself by obstinately rejecting His command and proudly remaining outside the One True Church of Christ in whatever form of heretical Protestantism you are practicing and preaching.
Bonus gift for you: The legitimate interpretation of 2 Timothy 3:16-17 comes from the Catholic Church, and contrary to heretical beliefs and bogus interpretations, the Catholic Church correctly teaches that the cited passage regarding the profitability of Scripture does not in any way, shape, or form support the irrational, obtuse, and destructive teaching of sola scriptura preached by Protestants.
Book Recommendation For You and Others Interested in the Topic of Sola Scriptura:
Speaking of the malevolent sola scriptura doctrine, a recent short book by former Protestant Donald J. Johnson provides many fine insights into the destructive nature of sola scriptura and the damage this doctrine has wreaked on the entire world. The book is “Twisted Unto Destruction: How ‘Bible Alone’ Theology Made the World a Worst Place.”
If a Pope is skating on thin ice when it comes to leading the Church, then it is a sin against charity to remain silent in the face of it.
We are called to be sheep of the Good Shepherd, not cattle for false shepherds.
I have never claimed to be the “official” biographer of John Paul II and indeed have spent two decades correcting people who say that when introducing me. As for being “inside,” I am quite inside enough to know exactly what I’m talking about in this column — and to know that the votaries of this pontificate are trafficking in fantasy on this tenth anniversary.
Dear Sir:
Sincerity and frankness serve us well.
Aficionados of the incumbent maybe thinking of the office of Pope when giving inordinate accolades to the current occupant of the See of Rome!
To shed light on his ministry seems to paint a bleak picture in the minds of many the faithful.
God bless you,
Brian Young
To Brian Young:
In sincerity and frankness, be sure to remind people of this Catholic website that you are indeed Christian (a good start, but much more needs to be done to faithfully run the good race), but you are proudly not part of the Catholic faithful by your own choice, and that you reject many Catholic teachings and claims of the Catholic Church that this website has set forth as part of its mission to defend.
Of course, frankness also requires actually stating which branch of the omni-branched Protestantism one follows, but you have already made Hillary Clinton-type “what difference does it make” lame excuses for not exercising such frankness.
So what is it, then? Frankness for others but not for you?
Do better.
We Catholics have a proverb about one’s breadth of study and knowledge of the Bible and where that leads them: “Weak Catholics become Protestants/Evangelicals; Strong Protestants/Evangelicals become Catholics.”
A basic question ought to be, ‘Why has Almighty God caused or permitted this embarrassment to develop?’ May I suggest that we should look closely at the age of the present incumbent of the papacy when he was elected. Common experience shows that while some people remain unaffected by increasing age, this is not always the case. Cognitive ability and judgement can be affected, even to the extent of being marred by obsessions, and unfortunate personal qualities can develop that would have seemed odious to the younger person. The present incumbent’s predecessor had already brought to our attention the possibility of retirement. Are we now being more urgently asked to consider whether the papacy should ordinarily be for life? Or perhaps whether modern life expectancy, together with human frailty, might require election at a younger age, and compulsory retirement at the same age as that which now applies to all bishops except the bishop of Rome?
Proclivities of old age are first formed in youth. Some timeless truisms attest to this: Habits die hard. The child is father of the man. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Indeed, Francis today was discernible ten years ago. If we believe so-called surreptitious reports, he was no different 30-40 years ago.
Thank you, George, for an instructive article, depressingly accurate and honest as it is.
What can I do? Anything realistic?
I’ve read the article and the comments. satan is having a field day here. There is nothing more that would please satan than having Church division. Well done everyone.
Mark 3:24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
Unity can only exist in Truth. A false unity is a tool of the devil.
Pope Francis is the right Pope in the right place declare people of goodwill in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Australasia, and those living and journeying on the peripheries of the Global North. Day by day the Church is becoming a vibrant movement of forward journeying pilgrims. As always in every forward moving phenomena, there may be a few reluctant ones who refuse to move fearing insecurity and the loss of certain comforts of old.
Yours is a comforting bromide: “As always in every forward moving phenomena, there may be a few reluctant ones who refuse to move fearing insecurity and the loss of certain comforts of old.”
This Enlightenment/secularist notion even pretends validation in the Teilhardian line in Gaudium et Spes: “The Church further recognizes that worthy elements are found in today’s social movements, especially an evolution toward unity [!], a process of wholesome socialization [meaning solidarity, not Socialism] and of association in civic and economic realms” (n. 42).
BUT, then, are the “reluctant ones” actually less self-deceived than this, noting how the Enlightenment mindset not long ago fell on its face in the trenches of World War I? And, noting the non-convergence, irreducible incompleteness, and impurities of the various natural religions compared to the self-disclosure by the Triune One–in the Incarnation and Resurrection? (Impurities? Buddhist self-annihilation, Hindu transmigration, Zoroastrian and modern-day dualism, Islamic residual paganism in rejecting the Trinity as a polytheistic triad, etc.)
WHAT IF, instead of inevitable/fatalistic/Monist (?) “unity,” we still have the natural religions of “searching” as compared to actually “being found” by a supernatural act of divine self-revelation? Not a backward-looking nostalgia for “certain comforts of old” as you and others fantasize; not “forward moving phenomena” as all heavy-breathing progressives too assume, but rather a start-over Apostolic Age because the bottom has fallen out of the post-Christian chronology of world history–C.S. Lewis’s “chronological snobbery”?
Maybe it’s time to question our own predispositions—even including (inclusivity!) those “certain comforts” of a very self-assured progressive stripe?
‘My Adorable Jesus , may our feet journey together , may our hands gather in unity, our hearts beat in unison , our souls in harmony, our thoughts as one…’ – Unity prayer, highly recommended by Rev.Fr.Jim Blount
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9d8IpXDzro – recent talk in Seattle , how he could see a coiled serpent over the city , because of the new age and satanic practices , how we are in a time of even a fiercer battle …
Joy as an aspect of the deep trust in the Love of God – our Lord and The Mother , not deprived of that joy- in acceptance of the Divine Will with love and trust, in the midst of unimaginable sufferings , on the Way of The Cross – the above image of the Holy Father too can be seen as a mini icon of same …
The painful aspect of many in The Church rejecting the blessings , such as of the above devotions, ? even the Divine Mercy Feast- ? adding to the trials ..
https://www.catholicexorcism.org/post/exorcist-diary-231-demons-of-shame
The above recent blog post by Msgr .Rossetti , on the ‘demons of shame’- relevant to the issues , by countering same in claiming The Truth , that each of us is willed and infinitley loved by God -a truth that might be blocked in the depth of hearts in many , thus the need for renouncing and casting out the demons , to make forgiveness easier too .
Would it be that the Holy Father has taken the heroic step of being even caluminated ,to be a witness to hope, in willing to have persons around who can witness to being set free from the demons ,even if still in the process and not there yet …
Would it be too that the ‘shame’/ error of feeling unappreciated enough by those around – for own holiness and worth is the true reason for the ‘malaise’ amidst those who seems intent on opposing and fearful disdain to the call of the Holy Father to trust and expect the Holy Spirit to bless The Church and the world in surprising ways , a call that need to be heard in many hearts in these times …
Yet , there are many persons who do appreciate the good given us by our Lord in the Holy Father, even when we might be seeing only a tiny glimpse of same this side of heaven –
https://wherepeteris.com/pope-franciss-first-10-years-key-accomplishments/
As The Church gets ready to celebrate two powerful Father figures – Sts Patrick and St.Joseph , hope we too get to look at the Holy Father with the smile of heaven – St.Joseph and The Mother , dearly loved and celebrated by the Holy Father too , as a need of our times .
Glory be !
The most appropriate comment here is “If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say it at all.”
However, in order for this comment to be approved I will replace “good” with “nice.” There is a related famous (and false) movie quote which is: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.”
My understanding is that “nice” is defined as socially acceptable. And in certain forums the whole truth isn’t acceptable.
I will say that tyranny – but not discipline – and the papacy are like oil and water. If there is tyranny, then one can reasonably suspect some malfeasance. Whether it is doctrinal or “pastoral” is for discerning – and faithfully reasonable – persons to discover and embrace.
Glad to see we’re up on our movie quotes, specifically the Walt Disney flicks and the little rabbit Thumper in “Bambi” (1942)–the “famous” editorial censor who said: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”
I don’t think that my comment was very clear. There are things I don’t say because it is highly doubtful that they would be approved. But we are obliged to speak truth even, perhaps in many cases especially, if it upsets someone.
I think that I can get by with identifying myself as a “rad rad trad” Catholic. More accurate terms would be true/orthodox Catholic. Combined with my previous comment that likely makes things clearer.
Using GOOGLE Translate on the PERFIL report, you can get some English out of it but it’s not too clear. For his 10th anniversary Pope Francis seems to reaffirm things said and done already. I found it at LIFESITE.
Opus Dei is founded on the particular inspiration of the founder Escriva and the Canon Law develops from there. This was already settled and was the occasion for momentous acclamation. Placing it “among the clergy” is a dis-assembling.
Pope Francis holds once more to the idea that time is greater than space. This is a dialectic that is originally Lenin’s scheme of how revolution spreads.
In terms of human virtue it cancels prudence. By suspending the moral foundations and other underpinnings there are no moorings and reason has no true guide.
Placing “space” as the “other determinant in the equation” is pointless; and therefore subordinating space to time arrives at nothing.
You then can’t say that moral law is rigid but obligingly replacing it with factors like reality/ideas, unity/conflict, whole/part …. “is not rigidity”. By the way these other factors also are sourced from Marxism-Leninism!
The issues are faith and reason: A’s rigidity is not the cause of B’s denials in faith or morality or sound reason, etc.; and even non-rigidity by A may contribute to evil or delay helping the good and abet B or mislead B.
https://www.perfil.com/noticias/periodismopuro/papa-francisco-se-puede-dialogar-muy-bien-con-la-economia-no-se-puede-dialogar-con-las-finanzas-por-jorge-fontevecchia.phtml
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pope-francis-denies-that-hell-is-a-place-says-it-is-a-posture-towards-life/?utm_source=top_news&utm_campaign=usa
The Church is in complete free fall, thanks to this horrendous pontificate. You dont want mercy, you want the approval and affirmation of sin, specifically the sexual ones. The floor of Hell is paved with Skulls of Bishops
Our Lord is using this Pope to separate the wheat from the chaff. As painful as it is, we must suffer it well. And be sure we’re standing on the side of Christ. Pax.
I recall that Christ himself warned of the wolves in sheep’s clothing – the false prophets. The BVM at Fatima warned that the papacy itself might be infiltrated by forces of dubious intent. Perhaps the “synodal spirit” is a different spirit from the one that truly guides Christ’s Church on Earth. Or is the true spirit trying to tell us that Marxism is the way to go?