Posted on 03/04/2014 5:54:11 PM PST by markomalley
Pope Francis’ maverick approach has aroused expectations of sweeping change in Catholicism, and nowhere is that ferment more palpable right now than on the question of whether believers who divorce and remarry without obtaining a church annulment should be allowed to receive communion and the other Catholic sacraments.
Francis seemed to signal openness to rethinking the current ban during remarks in an airborne press conference last July, leading some observers to conclude that change is only a matter of time.
Hopes are running so high that some of the pontiff’s closest advisors seem concerned he’s being set up for a fall. If the eventual decision is that such a shift on divorce is inconsistent with traditional Catholic teaching, they fret, exhilaration over the new pope could turn sour.
As a result, these prelates appear to be trying to dial down expectations, insisting that few Biblical teachings are clearer than Christ’s famous words “What God has joined, let no one separate,” and therefore allowing divorced Catholics to return to the sacraments en masse isn’t in the cards.
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonglobe.com ...
Redgolum , you’d expressed interest in this topic a while ago...
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You got the date wrong. This article was published February 21, 2014, and is way out of date, considering Francis chose Kasper to give his speech condoning adultery, with the Pope applauding.
1. Pope Francis does NOT have a "maverick" approach to anything. He is 100% "love God and love your neighbor," as we have heard from ALL the popes since the first one: Simon bar Jonah, Peter, the rock, the fisherman who became, as Jesus said, a fisher of men.
2. There won't be any "sweeping changes in Catholicism." Issues DO come up and the Pope and his Magesterium decide on things.
Some examples are contraceptives, abortion, infanticide for deformed babies and such.
There WON'T be divorce but marriages can be invalid, such as a wife who "becomes" a man. In that case, there was no marriage as the woman was not honest in her intention to be a wife. Yes, I saw a version of that...the husband was a fireman, they got divorced and he "became" a woman. [He "became" the OOOOGLIEST "woman" I had ever seen." Gag!!]
Boston Globe's John. L. Allen Jr., has some "head" trouble. His head is in the sand, in the clouds or up his ***.
Well, so far, for 2000 years God has done what He said he would—Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. God has protected the Church from officially promulgating any heresies, ex Cathedra. There have certainly been some bad and sinful popes, such as the Medicis, but no Pope or Council has ever officially promoted a heresy.
They’ve come very close a couple of times. When Constantine was Emperor, all but a few of the bishops gave in to the Arian heresy. And a new Pope was installed who had spoken earlier in favor of Arianism. But after he became Pope, he ceased to do so, and became orthodox.
There are a couple of other cases where heresy was ALMOST promoted, but was stopped. It’s speculative, but some people think that Pope John I died very early in his term because he intended to promulgate some heresy.
So. It remains to be seen still how Pope Francis will turn out. But I think we can count on God to block actual heresy from being officially promulgated from the Throne of St. Peter. One way or another.
I will just be very disappointed if Francis fails to weed out some of the trouble-makers in the Vatican and among the bishops, as we hoped he would.
Sorry, I meant John Paul I.
Are you saying the above topics are still negotiable? If not, how many times must these issues come up, again and again?
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Are you saying the above topics are still negotiable? If not, how many times must these issues come up, again and again?
These issues are absolutely NOT still negotiable.
But the SAME OLD issues keep coming up BECAUSE some people TALK THEMSELVES into believing that wrong is right.
The Big Fisherman often has to reiterate what is RIGHT and GOOD. That's what encyclicals and Papal bulls are all about.
The Pope DID have to come out and say that contraceptives are wrong. He had to SAY it. Who DIDN'T know they were wrong?
But the indissolubility of marriage is? That is what the Pope implied by allowing Kasper to singularly speak to the College of Cardinals. Keep in mind, the Pope had read Kasper's speech in advance.
On February 2, Pope Francis asked us to pray for families, and for the Church as she defends families and prepares for a world meeting of bishops on this topic. We live in a society rapidly escalating out of control. Many of us grew up watching “My Three Sons”. Today, the latest offering is “My Five Wives”. Please pray for the pope, bishops and the Church. We are now in a post-christian era.
This is beginning to sound like the campaign to pressure Paul VI to approve of contraception.
It’s NEVER going to happen.
The indissolubility of marriage, and the requirement that those involved in grave sin must not receive Communion, are central to Catholicism. Any putative “Pope” who announced that the divorced-and-remarried are free to receive Communion would be revealing himself as a non-Pope.
It is never, never, NEVER going to happen. The agitators and propagandists trying to pressure the Pope are doing a disservice to everybody.
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