I'm Starting to Like This Pope

[wosbald]

+JMJ+

Intra-Thread Trackbacks: pg 91 / pg 91 / pg 91 / pg 91 / pg 91 / pg 91


Theologians, cardinals defend pope’s theology in wake of heresy charge [In-Depth]

Pope Francis attends an ecumenical and interreligious meeting with young people, in Skopje's pastoral center, North Macedonia, Tuesday, May 7, 2019. (Credit: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

A week after the realeas of an open letter accusing Pope Francis of Heresy, cardinals and theologians in Rome take the pontiff's defense

ROME — In the wake of an April 30 open letter accusing Pope Francis of heresy signed by 19 clergymen and scholars, demanding the pontiff’s resignation, theologians and cardinals at a conference in Rome on Wednesday instead praised Francis’s theology and magisterium.

“Pope Francis is the pope, and when he speaks it’s magisterium,” Italian Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, general secretary of the Synod of Bishops, told Crux after the event.

The symposium, called “Theology and Magisterium in the Church with Pope Francis,” took place May 8 in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University to present a new collection of books titled The Theological Seeds of Francis.

[…]

In a message to the event, Italian Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, looked at how Francis’ documents and speeches depict a renewed path for theologians that rooted in reality.

“The ease with which the texts and documents of Pope Francis can be read must not fool people or lead them to hurried conclusions,” he said.

“His thought is not at all improvised, but the fruit of a deep and lively theological reflection drawn from his experience as a pastor and theologian.”

According to Father Maurizio Gronchi, professor of Christology at the Urbaniana Pontifical University, the impact of Francis’ style could be compared to the 13th century introduction in Italy of the Dolce Stil Nuovo literary style, due to its poetic and emotional charge.

“Francis’s approach is elliptic, and gravitates around two permanent hearts, the heart of man and the heart of the gospel,” Gronchi said.

[…]

“In this moment, the fundamental thoughts of the Second Vatican Council have a chance of to take hold like never before,” said Dario Vitali, director of the Department of Dogmatic Theology at the Gregorian.

While cautioning against those who would like to see in Pope Francis a theologian, Vitali said that his magisterium contains “theological informarions.”

“Some dare to treat this magisterium as if it were an opinion,” he said, pointing the finger at economic and traditionalist lobbies.

Pierangelo Sequeri, one of the curators of the new books and Director of the Pontifical Theological Institute John Paul II, also criticized those who vocally oppose Francis’ pontificate during his speech.

“Those who always repeat the same old song don’t honor the revelation,” he said making an analogy with music, “but those who think that everything you play is music, are greatly mistaken.”

According to Sequeri there is a need for a better formation of theologians capable of interpreting and deepening the knowledge of the Gospel and the understanding of the Catholic faith.

“The world of ecclesiastic chatter is inhabited by weak nobodies who act as if they are Pope Gregory the Great, Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventura,” he added.

Theologians are called to bring new life and enthusiasm to the Church, he continued, which has become “excessively melancholic” and therefore prone to aggression and polarization.

[wosbald]

+JMJ+

Francis: Decision on women deacons cannot be made 'without historical foundation'

Pope Francis greets a nun during a meeting with 850 superiors general May 10, at the Vatican, who were in Rome for the plenary assembly of the International Un𝗂on of Superiors General. (CNS/Vatican Media via Reuters)

Vatican City — Pope Francis announced May 10 that he has given the report of the Vatican commission studying the history of women deacons in the Catholic Church to the global umbrella organization of women religious that requested the group's creation three years ago.

In a nearly hour-long audience at the Vatican with members of the International Un𝗂on of Superiors General (UISG), the pontiff repeated his earlier remarks that the 12 members of the commission had been unable to come to agreement about the role of women deacons in the early centuries of Christianity.

[…]

In his May 10 audience with 850 UISG members, in Rome for the group's triennial assembly, the pontiff gave a bit more detail. Some on the commission, he said, thought the church "must go forward" and reinstitute an order of women deacons. Others, he said, "say we must stop here."

"We must study this," said Francis. "I cannot make a sacramental decree without a theological, historical foundation."

[…]

The range of topics touched was vast and included clergy sexual abuse, how doctrine develops in the church, and a possible papal visit to South Sudan.

After hearing the pope's initial remarks about the women deacons commission, one sister told Francis that women like her were seeking to serve the church on an equal setting with men. She asked why the question of whether women could serve as deacons rested on historical practice.

The pontiff responded that the church develops its teachings "in fidelity with revelation." He said the nature of revelation is "continual movement to clarify itself."

"The way of understanding the faith today, after Vatican II, is different than the way of understanding the faith before Vatican II," said Francis. "Because there was a development of understanding."

The awareness of faith, the pope said, "grows with the years."

"It is in continual growth," he said. "Not change. It grows. It gets wider with time. It is understood better."

"If I see that this, what we think now, is in connection with revelation, good," said Francis. "But if it is a strange thing that is not according to revelation … it doesn't work."

"In the case of the diaconate, we have to see what was there at the beginning of revelation," said the pope. "If there was something, let it grow, let it live. If there was not something … it doesn't work."

"We cannot go beyond revelation and dogmatic expressions," he said. "We are Catholics. If someone wants to make another church, they are free to do so."

[…]

[wosbald]

+JMJ+

Pope invites young people to pledge to build a new economy

The Basilica of St. Francis is seen in Assisi, Italy, Sept. 6, 2011. Pope Francis has invited young economists and entrepreneurs to take part in an initiative to be launched in Assisi March 26-28, 2020. The initiative seeks to find new ways to do business, promote human dignity and protect the environment. (Credit: Paul Haring/CNS)

ROME — Pope Francis has invited young economists and entrepreneurs around the world to help create a “new and courageous culture” that finds new ways to do business, promote human dignity and protect the environment.

“We need to correct models of growth incapable of guaranteeing respect for the environment, openness to life, concern for the family, social equality, the dignity of workers and the rights of future generations,” the pope said in a letter inviting young people to take part in a new initiative.

The initiative, to be launched at an event in Assisi March 26-28, 2020, invites young men and women studying or working in the field of economics or business to join the pope and “enter into a ‘covenant’ to change today’s economy and to give a soul to the economy of tomorrow.”

The aim is to build and promote a different kind of economy: “one that brings life not death, one that is inclusive and not exclusive, humane and not dehumanizing, one that cares for the environment and does not despoil it,” the pope said in the letter, released by the Vatican May 11.

The letter, addressed to “young economists and entrepreneurs,” said that given “a need to ‘re-animate’ the economy,” there was no better place to launch the initiative than in Assisi, “which has for centuries eloquently symbolized a humanism of fraternity” and peace, and would be “a fitting place to inspire a new economy.”

St. Francis of Assisi is the church’s “outstanding example of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology,” the pope said, which is why the event in Assisi is titled “The Economy of Francis.”

[…]

“Your universities, your businesses and your organizations are workshops of hope for creating new ways of understanding the economy and progress, for combating the culture of waste, for giving voice to those who have none and for proposing new styles of life,” he wrote.

“Only when our economic and social system no longer produces even a single victim, a single person cast aside, will we be able to celebrate the feast of universal fraternity,” Pope Francis said.

[Hovannes]

+JMJ+

Intra-Thread Trackbacks: pg 91 / pg 91 / pg 91 / pg 91 / pg 91 / pg 91


Theologians, cardinals defend pope’s theology in wake of heresy charge [In-Depth]

Pope Francis attends an ecumenical and interreligious meeting with young people, in Skopje's pastoral center, North Macedonia, Tuesday, May 7, 2019. (Credit: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

A week after the realeas of an open letter accusing Pope Francis of Heresy, cardinals and theologians in Rome take the pontiff's defense

ROME — In the wake of an April 30 open letter accusing Pope Francis of heresy signed by 19 clergymen and scholars, demanding the pontiff’s resignation, theologians and cardinals at a conference in Rome on Wednesday instead praised Francis’s theology and magisterium.

“Pope Francis is the pope, and when he speaks it’s magisterium,” Italian Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, general secretary of the Synod of Bishops, told Crux after the event.

The symposium, called “Theology and Magisterium in the Church with Pope Francis,” took place May 8 in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University to present a new collection of books titled The Theological Seeds of Francis.

[…]

In a message to the event, Italian Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, looked at how Francis’ documents and speeches depict a renewed path for theologians that rooted in reality.

“The ease with which the texts and documents of Pope Francis can be read must not fool people or lead them to hurried conclusions,” he said.

“His thought is not at all improvised, but the fruit of a deep and lively theological reflection drawn from his experience as a pastor and theologian.”

According to Father Maurizio Gronchi, professor of Christology at the Urbaniana Pontifical University, the impact of Francis’ style could be compared to the 13th century introduction in Italy of the Dolce Stil Nuovo literary style, due to its poetic and emotional charge.

“Francis’s approach is elliptic, and gravitates around two permanent hearts, the heart of man and the heart of the gospel,” Gronchi said.

[…]

“In this moment, the fundamental thoughts of the Second Vatican Council have a chance of to take hold like never before,” said Dario Vitali, director of the Department of Dogmatic Theology at the Gregorian.

While cautioning against those who would like to see in Pope Francis a theologian, Vitali said that his magisterium contains “theological informarions.”

“Some dare to treat this magisterium as if it were an opinion,” he said, pointing the finger at economic and traditionalist lobbies.

Pierangelo Sequeri, one of the curators of the new books and Director of the Pontifical Theological Institute John Paul II, also criticized those who vocally oppose Francis’ pontificate during his speech.

“Those who always repeat the same old song don’t honor the revelation,” he said making an analogy with music, “but those who think that everything you play is music, are greatly mistaken.”

According to Sequeri there is a need for a better formation of theologians capable of interpreting and deepening the knowledge of the Gospel and the understanding of the Catholic faith.

“The world of ecclesiastic chatter is inhabited by weak nobodies who act as if they are Pope Gregory the Great, Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventura,” he added.

Theologians are called to bring new life and enthusiasm to the Church, he continued, which has become “excessively melancholic” and therefore prone to aggression and polarization.

It would be quite a spectacle if theologians would settle their issues via a tie-team wrestling matches.
The Jesuits would likely be the cheaters

[wosbald]

+JMJ+

Pope Francis’ almsgiver restores power (illegally) to homeless shelter in Italy

Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, visits the Hope and Peace Center for refugees near the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos May 8, 2019. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

In what he described as a desperate gesture, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the pope’s almoner, climbed down a manhole last Saturday evening, May 11, to restore electric power to a building in Rome occupied by some 450 homeless people, including more than 100 children. They had been without electricity and hot water for almost a week.

The municipal electric company cut off the power supply because the occupants — who had lived in the state-owned property as squatters since 2013 — had run up a substantial unpaid electric bill.

Asked if it was true that he personally lifted the manhole cover and climbed down to reconnect the building to the power main, Cardinal Krajewski told the newspaper, Corriere della Sera: “It was a special situation. Desperate. I repeat, I assume all the responsibility."

By reconnecting the building to the power supply and breaking the seals that prevented the building from having power, the papal almoner broke the law. But he was unrepentant, as the Vatican daily, L’Osservatore Romano, made clear this afternoon, noting, “It was a gesture of humanity carried out with an awareness of the possible consequences that he could face, in the conviction that it was necessary to do so for the good of these people.”

“If a fine should arrive, I will pay it,” the paper quoted him as saying.

[…]

It was, the 55-year-old Polish priest said, a situation that called for “an act of humanity,” given that the city officials who could have resolved this problem did not work over the weekend, and he could find no one to speak to with the authority to restore power.

“Don Konrad,” as he is popularly known, is the man Pope Francis chose in August 2013 to be his right hand in assisting the poor and vulnerable of Rome. Pope Francis made him a cardinal last year to emphasize that “the poor are a priority in this pontificate.”

[…]

La Repubblica, one of Italy’s main newspapers, labeled him “the Robin Hood of the Pope” on its front page on May 13, but Matteo Salvini, the deputy prime minister of Italy and the vice premier and leader of the xenophobic Northern League, did not share that view. He declared, “Supporting illegal behavior is never a good signal [to give people].”

[…]

At the pope’s request, Cardinal Krajewski reaches out to the poor in many ways every day, providing food, clothing, sleeping bags and medicine to them. He has undertaken many creative initiatives, too, with the pope’s full backing, like installing showers and barber’s services for the homeless people right under the window in the Vatican palace where the pope gives his Sunday greeting and recites the Angelus. He has also installed a medical service free of charge for the poor, and last week he went down to Lesbos to help migrants on that Greek island.

These acts in favor of the poor gain much approval from people but have also provoked a negative reaction from a small but vocal political minority who look to Mr. Salvini as their leader and who last Sunday staged a small protest near St. Peter’s Square.

[wosbald]

+JMJ+

Top Vatican official says Americans misunderstand pope’s social agenda

Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. (Credit: Paul Haring/CNS)

Calling Pope Francis a communist is flat out wrong, according to one of his top advisors.

Cardinal Peter Turkson, tapped by the pontiff to head the Vatican’s super-dicastery on integral human develop, said Tuesday that every time he goes to the United States, the pope’s social agenda is misinterpreted as adopting either a socialist or communist approach to the economy.

Speaking to journalists present at a May 14 briefing on the upcoming “Economy of Francesco” event set to take place in Assisi in March 2020, Turkson recalled how after receiving the Charlemagne prize in 2016, Francis was asked what type of economy he preferred.

In response, the pope said he was in favor of “the social economy” — an answer Turkson said was misinterpreted from the beginning, and which continues to be.

A social economy “is not to be confused with the socialist economy,” he said, explaining that “this is a problem we often find in the United States when we go to present the message of the Holy Father. Many accuse him of being socialist or communist.”

Speaking to Crux, Turkson said the concept of the social economy is based on the social doctrine of the Catholic Church, which he said can be a taboo in certain places.

“When you go to certain environments and speak of the social doctrine of the Church, they immediately say, ‘don’t bring your communist agenda here!’ Using the word ‘social’ for some cultures implies socialism, or communism.”

“But this is an intolerable reductionism,” he said, since each person is a member of society, meaning the concept of the Church’s social doctrine “already existed without implying any communism,” and nor does it refer to totalitarian regimes which have arisen throughout history.

“This is not the meaning of the social economy,” Turkson said, stressing what Francis is advocating “is not Adam Smith’s ‘invisible hand,’” invoking the Scottish economist’s image illustrating the unintended social benefits of the self-interested actions of the individual.

Rather, what the pope is promoting is “the very visible hand of fraternity, solidarity and the common good,” he said, adding, “These principles become the visible hand of an economy which is able to serve all members of the community well.”

Turkson spoke at the presentation Tuesday of the March 26-28, 2020, “Economy of Francesco” event, which will be held in Assisi and which will draw young economists and entrepreneurs from all over the world.

In addition to young people, some of the world’s top economists and entrepreneurs are expected to attend the event.

[…]

[wosbald]

+JMJ+

In the College of Cardinals, European dominance slowly wanes

Pope Francis at a consistory to create 14 new cardinals in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on June 28, 2018 (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the former archbishop of Krakow and longtime secretary to St. John Paul II, celebrated his 80th birthday on April 27, ending his eligibility to vote in a conclave for a new pope and returning the number of electors in the College of Cardinals to 120. That is the maximum limit established by St. Paul VI, one that has been frequently set aside for months at a time over the past three decades.


Europe no longer accounts for a majority of electors in the College of Cardinals...

The Catholic Church currently has 221 cardinals, who come from 87 nations. The 120 cardinals under 80 years of age and, therefore, eligible to enter a conclave, come from 65 countries, a result of Pope Francis’ practice of naming several cardinals from countries that have never had one before. In all, Pope Francis has created 75 cardinals (two of whom have since died) from 50 countries, 15 of which had never before had a cardinal, including the first Scandinavian cardinal since the Reformation. His efforts, however, have not yet made the percentage of cardinals from one geographical region necessarily match the percentage of the world’s Catholics found in that region.


… but Europe still has almost twice as many cardinals as its share of the global Catholic population would suggest.

According to Vatican statistics published in February, 21.8 percent of the world’s Catholics live in Europe, while 48.5 percent live in the Americas. In the current College of Cardinals, 42.5 percent of the cardinal electors come from Europe, while 17.5 percent come from Latin America and another 10 percent come from Canada and the United States. Still, Pope Francis has visibly shifted the college’s makeup, with fewer members coming from Europe and many more from Africa and Asia. In the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI in April 2005, after the death of St. John Paul II, 50.4 percent of electors were from Europe. Eight years later, when Pope Benedict resigned, 52.1 percent of the electors were from Europe, almost 10 percentage points higher than in the current College of Cardinals.


There has been a steady increase in the number of countries represented at the College of Cardinals.

Following the 2018 consistory, 59 of the cardinal electors had been appointed by Francis, 47 by Pope Benedict XVI, and 19 by Pope John Paul II.

[tuttle]

McCarrick correspondence confirms restrictions, speaks to Wuerl and China

Letters suggest lax enforcement of restrictions on disgraced D.C. ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick

Figueiredo, a long-time consultant to CBS News, chose to go public with the private correspondence on the 25th anniversary of the date he was ordained to the priesthood by McCarrick. Figueiredo served as McCarrick's personal secretary in Newark from September 1994 to June 1995, and assisted McCarrick during his frequent visits to Rome, where Figueiredo served as a spiritual advisor to the North American College, an American seminary.

....

"I've been trying for months to share this correspondence with church leaders," Figueiredo said in an on-camera interview with CBS News. He said he was urged by Pope Francis' call for transparency, adding "he's saying: make it public, report it."

....

The existence of Vatican restrictions on McCarrick was first made public in the August 2018 testimony by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò. In his own 11-page dossier, the former papal ambassador to the United States charged that Pope Benedict XVI sanctioned McCarrick, and that Pope Francis lifted the sanctions in 2013 despite Viganò having personally informed Francis about the allegations against McCarrick and the restrictions on him imposed by Benedict.

Viganò also said that Cardinal Wuerl – McCarrick's successor in Washington D.C. who has also since resigned – knew about the penalties but chose to ignore them.

The Vatican has acknowledged the existence of restrictions on McCarrick, but has provided few details.

Pope Francis refused to respond to Vigano's allegations until Tuesday, when he denied having knowledge of McCarrick's misdeeds in an interview he gave to Mexican television.

"I knew nothing about McCarrick, naturally, nothing" he said. But he also said he didn't remember whether Vigano had spoken to him about McCarrick.

"I don't remember if he spoke to me about this, whether it's true or not. I have no idea," the pope said.

Related, LifeSiteNews obtained an interview with Viganò about the Pope's denial of knowing about McCarrick:

“The Pope pretends not to remember what I told him about McCarrick,” Archbishop Viganò added. “He pretends that it wasn’t him who asked me about McCarrick in the first place. And he pretends not to remember what I told him.”

[wosbald]

+JMJ+

Intra-Thread Trackbacks: pg 91 / pg 91 / pg 91 / pg 91 / pg 91 / pg 91 / pg 92


“I pray for them because they are wrong”

(Credit: America magazine)

Pope Francis recently gave a 40-minute interview to a Mexican TV station, the full transcript of which has not been released in English (full Spanish transcript here). Several English-language outlets have translated portions, including America magazine, CNA, and Vatican News.

Much is covered in the wide-ranging interview, including abortion, immigration, sexual abuse, Amoris Laetitia, homosexuality, China, Theodore McCarrick, and Archbishop Viganò. This interview also contains what appear to be his first public comments on the public letter signed by 19 Catholics, including the once-prominent English Dominican theologian Aidan Nichols, in which he is accused of the “delict of heresy” and where the signatories call on the bishops of the world to remove him from office.

America reported:

In his Mexico television interview the pope was asked how he reacted to the accusation of heresy made against him in a letter to the world’s bishops on April 30 by a small group of clergy and Catholic academics, Pope Francis said, “with a sense of humor.”

“I pray for them because they are wrong,” he said. “I saw [them as] poor people [who are] manipulated by some. I saw who signed it…. Seriously, I looked at it with a sense of humor and, I would say, tenderness, paternal tenderness. That is to say, it did not hurt me at all. What hurts me is the hypocrisy, the lie. That hurts me. But a mistake like that, in which there are people whose heads have been filled…. No please. We have to care for them also, we have to take care for them.”

This is CNA’s report of his reaction:

“It does not hurt me at all. Hypocrisy and lies hurt me, these hurt me. But such a mistake, where there are even people who have filled their heads with … no, please, you have to take care of them too,” Pope Francis said in a Spanish interview published May 28.

Mexican journalist Valentina Alazraki asked the pope how he took the accusation that he was a heretic, to which he responded, “With a sense of humor, my daughter.”

“I also pray for them because they are wrong and poor people, some are manipulated. And who are those who signed…?” Pope Francis added, alluding to an open letter signed by a group of 19 Catholics who accused the pope of “the canonical delict of heresy.”

Finally, here is Google Translate’s interpretation of the exchange from the Spanish Transcript [my edits and additions in brackets]:

Q.– Pope Francis, there is a lot of polarization not suddenly in the world in general, in the Church as well, in here, not in this room but, within the Vatican, everywhere. It is not a Vatican prerogative.

R.- Polarization is a destructive temptation.

Q.- But it feels like very strong also within the Church, these groups .

R.- Also, well … you mentioned they accuse me of being a heretic and …..

Q.- What about [being called] a heretic, how did [you] take it?

R.– With a sense of humor, daughter.

Q.- [You do] not give much weight …

R.– No, no, I also pray for them because they are wrong and I saw poor people, some are manipulated. I saw who were the ones who signed … No, seriously, sense of humor and I would say tenderness, fatherly tenderness. I mean, it does not hurt me at all. Hypocrisy wounds me, lies, that hurts me. But such a mistake, where there are even people who filled their heads … no please, you have to take care of them too, you have to take care of them.

[…]

[Del]

I'd rather talk about Ascension Thursday Sunday.

[wosbald]

+JMJ+

Francis criticizes traditionalist Catholics who 'safeguard the ashes' of the past

Pope Francis answers questions from journalists aboard his flight from Sibiu, Romania, to Rome June 2. (CNS/Paul Haring)

Aboard the papal flight from Romania — Pope Francis has criticized traditionalist Catholics who seek to "safeguard the ashes" of the past, saying the global church's centuries of tradition are not akin to a container for preserved objects but instead like roots to be drawn on for future growth.

In a press conference aboard the papal flight back to Rome after his three-day visit to Romania, he singled out Catholic "fundamentalists," who he said have a nostalgia for "returning to the ashes."

"Tradition is the guarantee of the future and not the container of the ashes," said Francis.

"Tradition is like roots [of a tree], which give us nutrition to grow," he explained. "You will not become like the roots. You will flower, grow, give fruit. And the seeds become roots for other people."

"The tradition of the church is always in movement," he said. "The tradition does not safeguard the ashes."

Francis did not specify in his remarks whom he had in mind while speaking of Catholic traditionalists. But the pontiff has come under criticism during his six-year papacy from a vocal minority of Catholics, including some cardinals, who have expressed concern that he has not been clear in enunciating some of the church's teachings.

Francis spoke about the church's tradition after being asked about his relationship with retired Pope Benedict XVI.

[…]

[hugodrax]

I'm in a weird place, Wos. Have a laugh on me.

[Thunktank]

+JMJ+

Francis criticizes traditionalist Catholics who 'safeguard the ashes' of the past

Pope Francis answers questions from journalists aboard his flight from Sibiu, Romania, to Rome June 2. (CNS/Paul Haring)

Aboard the papal flight from Romania — Pope Francis has criticized traditionalist Catholics who seek to "safeguard the ashes" of the past, saying the global church's centuries of tradition are not akin to a container for preserved objects but instead like roots to be drawn on for future growth.

In a press conference aboard the papal flight back to Rome after his three-day visit to Romania, he singled out Catholic "fundamentalists," who he said have a nostalgia for "returning to the ashes."

"Tradition is the guarantee of the future and not the container of the ashes," said Francis.

"Tradition is like roots [of a tree], which give us nutrition to grow," he explained. "You will not become like the roots. You will flower, grow, give fruit. And the seeds become roots for other people."

"The tradition of the church is always in movement," he said. "The tradition does not safeguard the ashes."

Francis did not specify in his remarks whom he had in mind while speaking of Catholic traditionalists. But the pontiff has come under criticism during his six-year papacy from a vocal minority of Catholics, including some cardinals, who have expressed concern that he has not been clear in enunciating some of the church's teachings.

Francis spoke about the church's tradition after being asked about his relationship with retired Pope Benedict XVI.

[…]

What the Pope thinks Tradition among Tradionalists is. Or does he mean to suggest that we ought to view the Traditions of Traditionalists as “ashes?”

[wosbald]

+JMJ+

Intra-Thread Trackback: pg 92


In-Flight presser from Romania: Francis on Tradition and Benedict

UPDATE 6/3/19

CNA has published an English translation of the entire press conference.

Here are Francis’s comments in fuller context.

[…]

On ecumenism:

[…]

Regarding those who are resistant to ecumenism and praying with those of other Christian groups:

[…]

On Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Tradition:

Eva Fernandez (COPE): Holy Father, you do not have a family nearby, but you have said that Benedict XVI is like having a grandfather at home. Do you continue to see him as a grandfather?

Pope Francis: More. Every time I go to visit him I feel like that, I take his hand and get him to talk. He speaks little, slowly, but with the same depth as always, because Benedict’s problem is his knees, not his head. He has a great lucidity, as always. When I hear him speak, I become strong. I hear this history of the Church, which is not something like a museum, tradition. No, tradition is like a root which gives us the juice to grow and so you would become like roots, no! You flower, you grow, you give fruit, and you are the seeds that are the roots of the other. The tradition of the Church is always in motion.

In an interview made by Andrea Monda in L’Osservatore Romano a few days ago (do you read L’Osservatore Romano?) there was a situation of the musician Gustav Mahler that I liked so much. Speaking of tradition, he said that tradition is the guarantee of the future and not the keeper of ashes. It is not a museum. Tradition does not preserve ashes; the nostalgia of fundamentalists [is] to return to the ashes. No, tradition is the roots that guarantee the tree grows, flowers and gives fruit. I repeat with that piece by the Argentine poet I like so much: “All that the tree has in bloom comes from that which it has underground.”

I am happy because yesterday I referenced that grandmother… it was a gesture of understanding with the eyes. At that moment I was so emotional, that I did not react and then the popemobile went ahead and I could not tell this grandmother to come, to show this gesture, and I said to the Lord Jesus: “It is a pain, but you have the ability to solve it!” And our good Francesco, when he saw the communication I had with that woman with her eyes, snapped a photo and it is now public, I saw it this afternoon on Vatican Insider. These are the roots. This will grow, it will not be like me, but I give my [roots]. These encounters are important.

Then there are the teachings, right? When the grandparents feel they have grandchildren who will carry on the story, they begin to dream. Grandparents, when they do not dream, become down, depressed. There is a future, and young people encouraged by that begin to prophesy and make history. It is important.

It is interesting to note some threads he weaves through his responses, including two references to fundamentalist Catholics and their resistance to both ecumenism and the development of doctrine. Regarding ecumenism, he mentions their skepticism regarding relations with our Eastern Orthodox brethren, saying: “Even us Catholics we have closed people that do not want, that say that the Orthodox are schismatics. These are old things. The Orthodox are Christians. These Catholic groups are a little bit fundamentalist. We should tolerate them, pray for them, so that the Lord with the Holy Spirit softens their hearts.” This ties into what he said in the recent Mexican TV interview, where he said of the signatories of the Aidan Nichols letter that he prays for them, and “you have to take care of them too.” But, as he also made clear about them in the TV interview, they are wrong about the faith, saying, “The nostalgia of fundamentalists [is] to return to the ashes.”

[wosbald]

+JMJ+

Pope Francis says there can be no justice without 'social rights'

In this file photo, Pope Francis talks to reporters during a press conference he held on an aircraft taking him back from Sibiu, Romania, to Rome, Sunday, June 2, 2019. (Credit: AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, Pool)

ROME — According to Pope Francis, the world today is living in an era of changes where “the soul of our peoples is at stake.” On Tuesday, he called for the defense of social rights, saying that they’re not outdated but still contribute much to society.

“There is no democracy with hunger, nor development with poverty, nor justice in inequality,” Francis said.

Speaking to a summit of Pan-American judges meeting at the Vatican to discuss the theme “Social Rights and Franciscan Doctrine,” Francis said that he’s concerned that those who see social rights as outdated advance “economic and social policies that lead our peoples to the acceptance and justification of inequality and indignity.”

According to the pontiff, “injustice and the lack of tangible and concrete opportunities” — often hidden or discussed and analyzed without providing solutions — are “also a way to generate violence: Silent, but violence in the end.”

The pope’s remarks came at the end of a June 3-4 summit by the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences, where Argentine Archbishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo serves as chancellor.

The summit brought together judges from Canada to Argentina, and included discussions on how to implement the “three Ts” — Tierra, Techo, Trabajo — (land, housing and work); how to challenge budgetary constraints and external banking or financial controls based on countries’ foreign debt; and how to overcome political pressures and create a worldwide movement based on the unrestricted defense of social rights.

A similar summit took place last year in Buenos Aires with the participation of 300 magistrates. They discussed social rights in the last several papal documents, including the apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium and his ecological encyclical Laudato Si’.

According to the organizers of the conference, “Justice and judges can help us reorganize our social and economic life to uphold the values that create happiness such as contemplation, prayer, equity, fraternity, friendship, trust, environmental sustainability, and peace.”

The theme of happiness, a statement from the academy reads, “must not be separated from that of social justice.”

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Unity is first sign of true Christian witness, pope says

Pope Francis arrives to lead his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican June 12, 2019. (Credit: Paul Haring/CNS)

ROME — The Catholic Church gives an authentic witness of God’s love for all men and women only when it fosters the grace of unity and communion, Pope Francis said.

Unity is part of “the DNA of the Christian community,” the pope said June 12 during his weekly general audience.

The gift of unity, he said, “allows us not to fear diversity, not to attach ourselves to things and gifts,” but “to become martyrs, luminous witnesses of God who lives and works in history.”

“We, too, need to rediscover the beauty of giving witness to the Risen Lord, going beyond self-referential attitudes, renouncing the desire to stifle God’s gifts and not yielding to mediocrity,” he said.

Despite the sweltering Roman heat, thousands of people filled St. Peter’s Square for the audience, which began with Francis circling the square in the popemobile, occasionally stopping to greet pilgrims and even comfort a crying child.

In his main talk, the pope continued his new series on the Acts of the Apostles, looking specifically at the apostles who, after the Resurrection, “prepare to receive God’s power - not passively but by consolidating communion between them.”

Before ultimately taking his own life, Judas’s separation from Christ and the apostles began with his attachment to money and losing sight of the importance of self-giving “until he allowed the virus of pride to infect his mind and heart, transforming him from a friend into an enemy.”

Judas “stopped belonging to the heart to Jesus and placed himself outside of communion with him and his companions. He stopped being a disciple and placed himself above the master,” the pope explained.

Nevertheless, unlike Judas who “preferred death to life” and created a “wound in the body of the community,” the 11 apostles chose “life and blessing.”

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Francis to Vatican ambassadors: Don’t criticize pope ‘behind his back’ [In-Depth]

Pope Francis arrives for his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, June 12, 2019. (Credit: AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

ROME — Just days after the former papal representative to the United States renewed his criticism of the pope, Pope Francis told around 100 apostolic nuncios that it is “irreconcilable” to have the job and criticize the pope “behind his back.”

Though he didn’t give any names, Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò was most likely on the pope’s mind as he said this. The prelate made headlines last August, when he released an open letter calling on Francis to resign for allegedly disregarding restrictions placed on ex-cardinal and now ex-priest Theodore McCarrick.

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Francis also said that it is irreconcilable to “have blogs or even join groups hostile to him [the pope], the Curia and the Church of Rome.”

Viganò is not the only nuncio who fits this bill. Though he’s been quiet for some time now, Archbishop Thomas Gullickson, the papal ambassador to Switzerland and former representative to Ukraine, once used his blog to criticize the pontiff.

“As a Pontifical Representative, the Nuncio does not represent himself but the Successor of Peter and acts on his behalf,” Francis said, adding that this means a nuncio “concretizes, implements and symbolizes the presence of the pope among the faithful and the populations.”

The pope acknowledged that every person can have “reservations, likes and dislikes,” but a good nuncio can’t be “hypocritical” because he serves as a bridge between the Vicar of Christ and the people whom he serves.

“Your mission, therefore, is very demanding because it requires availability and flexibility, humility, impeccable professionalism, communication and negotiation skills; requires frequent car journeys and long journeys, that is, living with a suitcase always ready (in our first meeting I told you: yours is a nomadic life),” he said.

Nuncios are called to be close to the faithful, the priests, the local bishops, other diplomats and rulers. Among many tasks, they play a key role in the appointment of bishops.

Being that he is a “representative,” the nuncio has to be up to date so that he can in fact follow the instructions of those he represents, and is also tasked with keeping the pope informed about the ecclesiastical and socio-political situations of the countries where he is stationed.

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What In the World Is Cardinal Burke Doing? [Opinion]

What in the world is Cardinal Burke doing? What can he and his compatriots be thinking? The cardinal and several other clerics have published a Declaration of Truths which purports to be a clarification of Catholic beliefs that the signatories hold to be under attack by theologians and clerics within the Church, including the Pope himself. Please check out the story and the actual document here: New ‘Declaration of Truths’ Affirms Key Church Teachings. I’ve had the honor and privilege of meeting Cardinal Burke several times. He is a good and gentle man. However, in the past few years, he has developed such an antipathy towards the Pope that his own words begin to take on the echo of a parallel magisterium. He is by far the most recognizable signatory of this document, but his willing acolyte is the peripatetic Bishop Schneider, the auxiliary bishop of Kazakhstan, who is almost always traveling around the world championing his view of orthodoxy rather than residing in the diocese he serves. Other signers include two more Kazakh bishops and a retired Lavian cardinal. Not the most heavyweight group that could have been assembled. In fact, three Kazakh bishops almost equal the number of Catholics in that country, now a Muslim state for the past seven hundred years since the Mongols destroyed the medieval Nestorian Christian Church.

‘Clarifying’ Catholic Teaching Or A Parallel Magisterium?

In essence, the group’s message is a restatement of Catholic dogmas, doctrines and laws that are under question by some in the Church. The signatories place their particular spin on what those teachings actually say. Cardinal Burke and companions want to make sure that Catholics understand what should be believed and what should be rejected as inappropriate explanations or simply errors in Catholic belief. They are concerned that the Church is spiritually ill and in the midst of “almost universal doctrinal confusion and disorientation.”

Here’s the problem with what they’ve done. A bishop must ensure orthodox, i.e. correct belief, in his diocese. Only two of the signatories actually have a diocese to govern. But no bishop or cardinal has the power to correct or mandate what the worldwide Catholic Church should believe. Nor does anyone other than the Pope, or the the universal body of Bishops in un𝗂on with the Pope, have the authority to define that belief. Cardinal Burke and companions would no doubt agree with this, but the document leaves the impression of what I called above a parallel magisterium. That would be a separate system of truths that these clerics believe better explains Catholic dogma and doctrine. They worry that the current situation confuses the laity, but they are printing a document that Catholics could easily believe supplants, clarifies, or improves upon the Catechism of the Catholic Church and papal teaching. Well you know something? No one but the pope gets to do that. Cardinal Burke knows better and so do the other signatories.

Controversial Public Opposition To The Pope

I do not mind them being upset with the Pope or disagreeing with him. But Cardinal Burke, especially, has a wide following among conservative Catholics, many of whom hang on his words as if they were the Gospel itself. He knows that he is the vocal opposition to the Pope, and it is unfortunate that he is exploiting that fact to sow dissension. Fight these battles within the Roman Curia or within the body of bishops, but don’t scandalize the faithful with criticisms that undermine the authority of Pope Francis. It’s unfair to the people, especially when the document makes no clear distinctions between absolute dogma, doctrine or church law. It just lists issues as if every one is as important or necessary as the other. For instance, celibacy is a church law and can be changed without harming the essential nature of the Catholic faith. The belief that Jesus is both fully God and fully human is absolutely essential to the existence of the Church. But one would never know that from the document itself.

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[hugodrax]

This is all so painful to follow. Ambassadors (nuncios) should toe the line while in office. An ambassador doing his own thing is useless. But Viganò is a former nuncio, and whether we think he's full of poo or an heroic whistleblower, he mouthed off after his term as nuncio was over. It's pretty clear he towed the line while in office. Is he nuts? I dont know. Is he biased? Aren't we all. Is he evil? I'm not the Shadow and neither is anybody else--behave with charity. .

Then there's the line about how we are all going to behave synodally. That's an interesting concept, because power being localized in the hands of the individual Bishops' conferences necessarily means less power in the hands of the Pope and variances in the magisterium based on location--essentially a constant negotiation and change--but this doesn't jive with the ultra-super-montanism being promulgated where the Pope's lightest utterance is considered binding doctrine.

And the hardest thing to follow is the prohibition of public disagreement on the web and the prohibition on vitriolic speech if it criticizes the Pope, yet pro-Papal authors and theologians are allowed to publish diatribes questioning the Catholicism of those who are seen, often mistakenly, to be members of the anti-Francis party. Cardinal Burke in particular does not deserve this.

Catholicism is an amazing spectrum of freedom within certain theological bounds. There is room for West and East within her walls. I doubt whether their are two of us here in complete agreement on much beside the bare essentials of our shared faith, but that doesn't mean I'm privileged to think any of you aren't "real" Catholics. I hope none of us are going down that path.

[Hovannes]

This is all so painful to follow. Ambassadors (nuncios) should toe the line while in office. An ambassador doing his own thing is useless. But Viganò is a former nuncio, and whether we think he's full of poo or an heroic whistleblower, he mouthed off after his term as nuncio was over. It's pretty clear he towed the line while in office. Is he nuts? I dont know. Is he biased? Aren't we all. Is he evil? I'm not the Shadow and neither is anybody else--behave with charity. .

Then there's the line about how we are all going to behave synodally. That's an interesting concept, because power being localized in the hands of the individual Bishops' conferences necessarily means less power in the hands of the Pope and variances in the magisterium based on location--essentially a constant negotiation and change--but this doesn't jive with the ultra-super-montanism being promulgated where the Pope's lightest utterance is considered binding doctrine.

And the hardest thing to follow is the prohibition of public disagreement on the web and the prohibition on vitriolic speech if it criticizes the Pope, yet pro-Papal authors and theologians are allowed to publish diatribes questioning the Catholicism of those who are seen, often mistakenly, to be members of the anti-Francis party. Cardinal Burke in particular does not deserve this.

Catholicism is an amazing spectrum of freedom within certain theological bounds. There is room for West and East within her walls. I doubt whether their are two of us here in complete agreement on much beside the bare essentials of our shared faith, but that doesn't mean I'm privileged to think any of you aren't "real" Catholics. I hope none of us are going down that path.

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