Posted on 09/23/2013 4:42:54 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
From all of last week's headlines saying that the Pope wants to forget this nonsense about abortion and gays, you'd imagine that Germaine Greer had been elected to run the Catholic Church. Actually what the Pope was saying was that he wants the Church to talk more about what it's for than what it's against. But that doesn't mean it won't still be against those things that contradict its teachings and traditions.
Just ask Greg Reynolds of Melbourne – a priest who appears to have been both defrocked and excommunicated because of his radical views on women clergy and gay marriage. From Australia's The Age:
The excommunication document – written in Latin and giving no reason – was dated May 31, meaning it comes under the authority of Pope Francis who made headlines on Thursday calling for a less rule-obsessed church.
The document might give no explicit reason, but the reason is implicit and well understood: Reynolds has offended Mother Church with his politics. It's interesting to note that the former priest tells The Age that he "wants the same thing as the Pope" which is "to encourage reform and clear need for renewal in the church." I read from this that Reynolds has, like many liberals, misunderstood Francis' words. Structural reform is clearly necessary to prevent future horrors like the child abuse scandal, and renewal is something that Christians always desire. But Reynolds would throw out Catholic doctrine – something Francis would never do because he is, despite the best wishes of so many in the media, a Catholic. His treatment of Reynolds proves that point.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.telegraph.co.uk ...
I had to laugh when the MSM really thought “small minded rules’ meant abortion. As if life and death was a small issue.
And now to ALL the Freeprs who were bashing him just a few days ago.....
TOLD YOU SO!!! HE’S OK! IN FACT, HE’S GREAT!!!
God bless Pope Francis.
I’m waiting on him to ex Pelosi and Biden and all of the Kennedys.
Ping....looks like we we’re on to something a few days ago. R.D.
This excommunication was likely in the works WELL before Francis took the helm.
Kind of disingenuous to give him too much credit.
Why would you say that?
Vatican Chief Justice: Nancy Pelosi Must Be Denied Communion (LINK)
Problem is, Abp. Wuerl in Washington DC is like Pezzy Obama: refuses to enforce laws he doesn't like. He should get about 2,000 letters from FReepers, seems like to me:
Street Address:
5001 Eastern Avenue
Hyattsville, MD 20782-3447
301-853-4500
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 29260
Washington, DC 20017-0260
Pope Francis could ask for Wuerl's resignation if he continues refusing to enforce the law, but I don't know how likely that is. Generally the Bishop of Rome doesn't like to play Big Cop over other bishops (I mean, there are thousands of bishops: how often can he do this?)
But the fact that he did it in the case of this JudasPriest in Melbourne --- going right over the Bishop's head --- is a very good sign.
This is good news. I’m still in the “wait and see” phase; almost ready for “trust, but verify.”
Why would I say that?
Because the Roman Catholic Church never does anything even remotely quickly, being a behemoth that cannot turn on a dime. In the case of heretical priests, it seems that they field warnings from parishioners for years, sometimes decades, before even starting any kind of investigation, and then issuing warnings before a final, extreme decision is made.
Yes, Francis signed off on this excommunication, but it isn’t likely that he had much else to do with it.
Actually, it was the priest’s bishop who was dragging his heels (a covert supporter, obviously) and while the defrocking had been in the works for some time, the excommunication was obviously added by Francis because the priest continued to celebrate mass even though he’d been ordered not to.
I think he deserves credit for this.
Read Robert Burns’ Ode to a Mouse.
It is not so much ‘hope and change’ as it is ‘guess and fear’.
If the decree had Pope Francis' signature on it -- and apparently it did ---it's something he could have left in the filing cabinet til Christ comes again, if he didn't want to deal with it.
My guess is that it WAS "in the pipeline" on Benedict's initistive, but Francis looked it all over, checked on the details of the case himself, and then said, "This Melbourne priest is clearly out of line, and the local Bishop's not doing a dang thing,so --- bam, he's out."
So yeah, I'm giving Francis credit. Popes don't sign off on anything unless they want to.
>>>TOLD YOU SO!!! HE’S OK! IN FACT, HE’S GREAT!!!>>>
They’ll do everything they can to make him look bad.
Keep the faith.
Henry VIII is responsible for whats happening on the streets of Chicago today.
That charge is more than a little outre. I suspect you’re just saying that to be provocative.
Every new pope, unless he comes with his Conservative and Catholic bona fides already established and denounced by the press, is hailed as the great Episcopalian who will paganize modernize the Church and thereby marginalize it. They hope that they can snow the new Pope to make him feel Approved so that he will act and begin to think as the Press and the Pagans desire. They see new popes as new hires, as if they just got through the HR office. They can’t quite understand that these fellows all have many decades of experience as Catholics and would not be such as to be even on the radar if they were naive credulous newcomers.
I am still laughing about all the leftwing praise for the Pope “moving left” and the GOP can learn a lesson.... I happen to come across the editorial-opinion page of USA TODAY and I am still laughing.
Apparently the left really thinks/thought that murdering babies and the perverted homo fascist agenda were a part of the “small minded rules” the Pope was talking about. Sure, it might be the first thing that pops into people head when seeing that quote, but anyone who thinks for another 3 seconds will realize the difference between core issues and trivial ones.
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