The drama continues to unfold as Catholics continue
to study “the pope’s words”. Formerly, “his
words” were usually “taken out of context”! But now it
seems things are beginning to change gradually as some—both priests and the lay
faithful—are beginning to open their eyes to the stark reality before us—the Enemy
is here! But, for them—in fact for the majority—he is still the “Holy Father”,
the “Pope of Mercy” who is merely “trying to be welcoming and... to open the doors as wide as he possibly
can...”!
Claire Chretien of
LifeSiteNews writes, on the responses of learned Catholics to Francis’ recent
attack on the Sacrament of Matrimony:
EWTN panel: Pope’s remarks on marriage, cohabitation were ‘reckless,’
depart from Church Tradition
By Claire Chretien
On EWTN’s June 23 World
Over program hosted by Raymond Arroyo, canon lawyer Father Gerald
Murray and author and editor-in-chief of The Catholic Thing Robert Royal
respectfully yet candidly dissected Pope Francis’s recent comments on the
validity of Christian marriages, cohabitation, and certain priests being
“animals.”
Arroyo’s thoughtful questions
prompted Murray and Royal to offer their takes on Pope Francis’s recent claim
that the “great majority” of Christian marriages are invalid yet some
cohabitating couples show “fidelity” and are in “real marriages.” Murray and
Royal reiterated their respect for Pope Francis and his office, but spoke
plainly about what they perceive as his “reckless” and errant words.
Arroyo began by pointing out that
Pope Francis’s claim that the “great majority” of Christian marriages are
invalid “is at odds with the traditional Church teaching on marriage and the
nature of that commitment involved.”
“Yes, the great majority of
Catholic marriages are not null, they’re valid,” said Murray. “For the pope to
say that is to express, I think, an unacceptable opinion. I regret he did it,
because it causes uncertainty among people now: is my marriage valid? The pope
is not following the canonical precision that’s present in the law about what
it takes to get married. In order to be married validly, you simply have to
know that this is a relationship between a man and a woman in view of having
children and by nature, it’s a permanent relationship.”
The pope’s remarks were a
“departure from tradition,” Royal said, and send “a paradoxical message that,
you know, if you’re not happy, you see somebody else that you’re interested in,
there’s a way out for this.”
“I think a line was kind of
crossed here,” continued Royal. “Edward Peters, the great American canon
lawyer, said that it’s preposterous to put forward that the vast majority, or
even a large number of marriages are null because the culture is bad.”
Royal pointed out that early
Christians were able to marry and live “a Christian life in a very paganized,
masculine-dominated culture.”
“The early Christians were in a
culture that was pretty sexually saturated and marriage was, was sort of a
light thing,” he said.
Pope’s comments are
a ‘landmine that exploded’
“I don’t agree with the pope,”
said Murray. “I think most people are naturally capable of marriage…and the
fact that you are 18 years old doesn’t per se mean you’re
immature as regards being able to marry…what you need to know to get married is
very simple. Boy, girl, ring, vows, and you consummate the marriage—you’re
married.”
Royal said he thought it was a
good thing that the Vatican seemed to retract the pope’s remarks in their
official transcript because it meant “somewhere in the Vatican,” someone realized
that “this caused a firestorm around the world.”
The Vatican partially walked back
what Pope Francis said because “they understood this was a landmine that
exploded,” Murray suggested.
‘Once you start to
go down this road, there’s no guardrail’
Royal said in alleging that
cohabitation can be real marriage, Pope Francis is treading “on very dangerous
ground.”
“It’s very odd that on the one
hand the people who are married are told, you know, probably you’re not really
married, and the people who are cohabiting, ‘I see elements of fidelity there
and those are, those are marriages,’” said Royal. “It’s as if the culture—the
sexual revolution of the culture is recalibrating the Church at both ends.”
“For the pope to say that
[cohabitation is] a real marriage—anything before they get married in the
Church—it’s just not accurate,” Murray added. “If you’re not married, you’re
not getting the grace of the Sacrament, and you’re not in a real marriage.”
“Pastoral charity demands truth,”
Murray continued. “If you tell everybody in the world, ‘look, a lot of people
cohabiting are in real marriages,’ that’s not something good.”
As part of his justification for
the claim that cohabitation can be “real marriage,” Pope Francis said that he’d
seen “a lot of fidelity in those cohabitations.”
“If you haven’t given the vows
before God, then there is no vow to be faithful to,” responded Murray. “A vow
made before a civil official is subject to the laws of the state, which permit
divorce, so it’s not—it’s not a conditionless vow as it is in the Church.”
“[Pope Francis] says at one point
that priests shouldn’t stick their noses into the moral lives of people,” said
Royal. He continued:
…this is virtually to say that the
Church cannot counsel people about what they’re—they’re to do in their moral
lives. I hear from people very strange reactions like this. Why do we stop then
with marriage? Why is that the only Sacrament the culture has rendered invalid?
Why not ordination to the priesthood? You know—are Confessions invalid? Are
Communions invalid…? Once you start to go down this road, there’s no
guardrail. I mean, we understand that the pope is trying to be welcoming and
he’s trying to open the doors as wide as he possibly can, but there’s a danger
in this direction, that in opening the doors, you lose the substance of what
the faith is there to teach.
Arroyo also pointed out that in
the same address, Pope Francis jokingly asked the audience to not “tell
Cardinal Müller on me.” Cardinal Gerhard Müller is the Prefect for the Congregation
of the Doctrine of Faith, the Church’s doctrinal watchdog.
“Cardinal Müller works for him,”
said Murray. “Cardinal Müller’s there to help him in his mission to teach the
authentic purity of Catholic doctrine…quite frankly, Cardinal Müller shouldn’t
be the butt of jokes. He is there to help [with] exactly what the pope needs.”
‘Incalculable’
shockwaves
Another papal remark that has
recently caused many veteran Vatican observers dismay is Pope Francis’s
labeling of some priests as “animals” for refusing to baptize children
conceived out of wedlock.
Canon law allows for children
whose parents are not married to be baptized provided they will be raised
according to the teachings of the Catholic faith.
“I’m a priest, I make mistakes,”
Murray responded. “I wouldn’t wanna be called an animal if I make a mistake…I
think he let his temper get him there, and that’s unfortunate … because people
pay attention” to what the pope says.
Murray and Royal both stressed
that as the leader of the Catholic Church, the world closely watches what Pope
Francis says, and his words carry weight and influence.
“For a pope to speak, seemingly,
to demote marriage as it exists and to elevate cohabitation as it exists, and,
and on and on, this sends out shockwaves that are just incalculable,” said
Royal.
“The pope, in his charity, is
trying to steer people in some directions,” concluded Murray. “I disagree with
some of his analysis, obviously, but we should never give people the false
notion that, number one, sin is good, or number two, the sacraments are
ineffectual because we live in a troubled culture. And number three, we should
always say what is true yesterday is true today and tomorrow. We can’t change
the Church’s teaching.”
Source: LifeSiteNews
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