Which is not, of course, a defense of Pope Francis's Chapter 8 "teaching." I see Civilta Cattolica is already using Amoris as an all-purpose doctrine solvent. It illustrates the old truism that "Confusion is mightier than the sword."
Unfortunately, confusion is also an indication that a sword is coming.
The parts in this that are acceptable are old news and have been the doctrine and practice of the Church since forever. And the Pope’s setting up of straw men (the torture chamber confessors, the Catholics who “throw stones”) to argue against is ridiculous and I can’t imagine that either he or the people who wrote this document (Fernandez and Spadaro) really believe this.
That said, the real problem is that people were worried about the Pope “opening a door” to error, while all the time what he was engaged in was tearing down the walls to the house. From his words, it appears that there’s no objective standard for anything - for morality, for faith - and that Tradition (meaning 2000 years of history) has simply been a place holder waiting for the advent of Jorge Bergoglio. He truly believes he’s a prophet sent to reform Christianity, and this is simply the weak point that he and his buddies have magnified and are using to tear down the entire structure.
To imply that due to “forms of conditioning and mitigating factors”, personal conscience may trump Divine Law must be material heresy, at the very least. The insinuation is blindingly clear (despite the sly wording within which it is couched).
“Because of forms of conditioning and mitigating factors, it is possible that in an objective situation of sin – which may not be subjectively culpable, or fully such – a person can be living in God’s grace, can love and can also grow in the life of grace and charity, while receiving the Church’s help to this end. [Footnote 351 here]
351 In certain cases, this can include the help of the sacraments. Hence, “I want to remind priests that the confessional must not be a torture chamber, but rather an encounter with the Lord’s mercy” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium [24 November 2013], 44: AAS 105 [2013], 1038). I would also point out that the Eucharist “is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak” (ibid., 47: 1039).”