I have one small favor to ask of the Pope. Will you please put your vocal or written stamp of approval on the very clear teaching of Cardinal Muller's, Manifesto of Faith?
There’s a difference between immoral popes and heretical popes. Men sin, we expect the former. But in matters of proclaiming the Faith, Christ assured us against the latter in regard to the papacy.
I wholeheartedly agree with you that to leave the Church is foolishness, no matter what the reason. However in the Popes you cited: "We've had popes who sold the papacy, moved the papacy, fathered children, and bedded women." This is bad personal behavior. Sinful behavior, but it did not lead the faithful en masse into error.
Even the pope playing with heresy is not grounds for leaving the Church, Brian. In a revelation to St. Catherine of Siena, Jesus said: “…no one can excuse himself, saying: ‘ I do not rebel against the holy Church, but only against the sins of evil pastors.’ Such a man, lifting his mind against his leader and blinded by self-love, does not see the truth, though indeed he really sees it well enough, but pretends not to, in order to deaden the sting of conscience. For he sees that, in truth, he is persecuting the Blood, and not Its servants. The insult is done to Me, just as the reverence was My due.” To whom did He leave the keys of this Blood? To the glorious Apostle Peter, and to all his successors who are or shall be till the Day of Judgment, all of them having the same authority which Peter had, which is not diminished by any defect of their own.—St. Catherine of Siena, from the Book of Dialogues Thus... They, therefore, walk in the path of dangerous error who believe that they can accept Christ as the Head of the Church, while not adhering loyally to His Vicar on earth. —POPE PIUS XII, Mystici Corporis Christi (On the Mystical Body of Christ), June 29, 1943; n. 41; vatican.va So, we ought to pray and fast for this Pope, support him when he does speak clearly, and be the voice of truth when he does not.
I know that, and you know that. Those who would be tempted to leave, however, need to understand the option of the mental reservation I outlined above.
I understand the "broad mental reservation" you are speaking of. But there is another way to sleep at night. The teachings of the Catholic Church are not bound up in one man who awakes each morning to grant us his revelations. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a complete and accessible summary of teachings. And with Google, we have thousands of orthodox documents that support it. The Catholic Faith does not change and cannot change, and no Pope has ever pronounced an ex cathedra error. Some, however, have said things that were heretical, but to be a heretic one must remain "obstinate" in the heresy. At this point, that is not the case with Francis since A) a clear charge of heresy would have to be established, perhaps by a canonical court; 2) Francis would have to persist in it. But as one theologian has pointed out, that has never happened (see Can a Pope Become a Heretic?). Pope Francis has been ambiguous, and with the Declaration he signed, dangerously close to error... but I would be careful calling him a heretic. Nearly every charge of heresy I've read has also been refuted by conservative and thoroughly orthodox theologians, including this statement in the Declaration. So humility is needed on our part, especially to avoid creating a greater scandal and further division by such assertions. My two cents.
What Christ assured us was that the Spirit of truth would lead us into all truth. He did not say it would be smooth sailing. Clearly, in the early Church, it was not. Councils were formed to debate doctrine. Peter was "fraternally corrected", and St. Paul had to put out fires all the time. Neither did Jesus promise that Peter would not make mistakes. He clearly did, and popes clearly do. The Church understands infallibility to protect only those ex cathedra declarations. That's it. Otherwise, it can and sometimes does get messy. Here we are. I just say, "Okay Lord, you're letting it get messy, so your will be done." Because the Lord could appear to Francis tonight and set it all straight. He could call him home. But He doesn't. In fact, I'm fairly certain He doesn't because Francis is an effective instrument right now of testing and revealing where our faith lies—in Christ or men.
Slivers can be very deceiving, Mark. We heat during the winter with wood here east of Lake Ontario. When handling split wood, a sliver or two over the course of 5 months is inevitable. At first I may ignore it, but left alone slivers can morph into more than simply an irritation. It may even infect. I do believe with the number of slivers Pope Francis has provided, infectious confusion has become too common. I pray for our Holy Father everyday. Safe in the Barque of Peter!
I am fired up right now about defending Jesus Christ! I am fired up about defending the Faith He died for. I am fired up about protecting and preserving the Sacred Tradition that's been handed down to us. That's where my fire is. I am saddened by the confusion Francis is causing... but it's only emboldening me to make the Faith that much more clear and heard.
Personally I never call anyone a heretic, 'cause I don't know what I don't know... In Brian's defense I think he has stated before that he means material rather than formal heresy, still I feel it safer for the laity to avoid all such statements. I think until some form of official statement has been made by some group of Cardinals we are kind of stuck. I would rather have them move cautiously though than recklessly.
The problem with this is that even though only ex cathedra statements are protected from error, that does not mean we are free to choose between everything else the Pope teaches. The Pope announced that the Argentinian Bishops understanding of Amoris Laetitia regarding adulterer's being allowed to receive Holy Communion (in some cases) is now Magisterium. Church teaching means all Catholics must give it their assent of will. That is a problem for many. So just because it is not ex cathedra does not mean it can be ignored.
I’m not nearly as eloquent as you and others in this thread. But it’s somewhat simple to me in that Jesus Christ is the Church. He is the head and the rest of us are the Body, intimately connected to him and to each other. So simply to me it means, we are all sinners, including PF, but yet called by Jesus Himself into this beautiful mystical union. In my sin and imperfection, there is Jesus Christ loving me, accepting me, dying on a cross for me. I over come all my fears and even death in my meeting with this risen Christ. It’s why I too am on fire and not at all fearful of the confusion that has been causesd. The battle has already been won.
Why this false narrative that anyone who opposes the errors of this papacy is “fearful”? I’m not “fearful” of this papacy. It makes me want to expose its errors and promote the Truth in its place! And the Truth is a person, not a thing - Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! I know Him, love Him, and serve Him. I have NOTHING to fear.
They shall be the true apostles of the latter times.” St. Louis longed to be a part of the extraordinary moment we are in. He said: But who shall those servants… of Mary be? They shall be … like a burning fire… They shall be the sons of Levi, well purified by the fire of great tribulation… They shall be everywhere the good odor of Jesus Christ to the poor and to the little, while at the same time, they shall be an odor of death to the great, to the rich and to the proud worldlings. The laity will save the Church (as in Arian times) -- All are called to conversion from bottom to top. We keep the light of faith alive in our hearts in union with the hearts of Jesus and Mary.
If I believed Pope Francis' words and actions accurately reflected the Catholic faith, I'd leave the Church. What keeps me Catholic is knowing and loving our true faith. It is a real morale booster to have found other Catholics, like Padraig and Brian, who see the same issues and are willing to openly discuss these problems.
Well, in truth, it's the Maltese bishop's statement that is heterodox. The Argentinian Bishop's statement can actually be read in an orthodox manner as Tim Staples points out (where someone can be committing an objectively mortal sin, but not be fully culpable). But it's such an exceptional case, that really, it should have been more of a footnote than a chapter in Amoris. Ah, there is much confusion, isn't there!
