Posted on 07/18/2013 4:39:44 AM PDT by markomalley
Here were the tantalizingly weird headlines: “Follow pope online, get to heaven sooner - Facebook likes don't count.” “Cut your time in purgatory by following pope on Twitter.” And, worst of all, from Slate: “Pope now offering indulgences in exchange for Twitter followers.”
Similar headlines popped up on more than 190 news sources on Wednesday.
Ha ha. Is the Catholic Church offering time off in hell– or purgatory, depending on the website - just for checking your Twitter feed every few hours? Is the church really that dumb? And here I thought Pope Francis was cool, or as Esquire recently termed him, “awesome.”
This is (another) case of how the media misunderstands and misreports a story from “The Vatican.”
Here’s how it seemed to have happened.
On June 24, the Apostolic Penitentiary (the Vatican office that deals with matters concerning sin,) issued a document that said the faithful who attend the upcoming World Youth Day in Brazil would receive a “plenary indulgence” for their efforts during pilgrimage.
That’s a traditional Catholic term for the full remission of the “temporal punishment” in the afterlife due to sin. The theological idea is that by doing good works on earth, or by engaging in pious practices like a pilgrimage, you can help “work off” some of the temporal punishments that may await you after death.
(Excerpt) Read more at religion.blogs.cnn.com ...
Purgatory:
1 Cor 3:9-16 For we are God' s coadjutors: you are God' s husbandry; you are God' s building. According to the grace of God that is given to me, as a wise architect, I have laid the foundation; and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation no man can lay, but that which is laid; which is Christ Jesus. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble: Every man' s work shall be manifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire; and the fire shall try every man' s work, of what sort it is. If any man' s work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man' s work burn, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.
Relying upon the MSM:
We make a very serious mistake if we rely on media like the New York Times, Newsweek, CNN, or MSNBC for reliable news about religion. These news media simply don’t provide trustworthy information about religious faith—and sometimes they can’t provide it, either because of limited resources or because of their own editorial prejudices. These are secular operations focused on making a profit. They have very little sympathy for the Catholic faith, and quite a lot of aggressive skepticism toward any religious community that claims to preach and teach God’s truth.
Archbishop Charles J Chaput, World Youth Day, 2011
Thankfully, CNN decided, rather belatedly, to provide the accurate answer after publishing the ridiculousness.
And, for what it's worth, Here is the actual decree from the Apostolic Penitentiary
Bless you, dear!
Dang, I’ve been up all night retweeting...
The passage has nothing to do with “Purgatory”
;-)
You omitted the caveat, "in my unlearned opinion"
"And account the longsuffering of our Lord, salvation; as also our most dear brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, hath written to you: As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction." 2 Peter 3:15-16
The silence from the usual suspects is deafening.
Thanks for the info. But it’s a moot point if there is no purgatory where suffering can be “worked off” by doing good works now.
“That’s a traditional Catholic term for the full remission of the “temporal punishment” in the afterlife due to sin. The theological idea is that by doing good works on earth, or by engaging in pious practices like a pilgrimage, you can help “work off” some of the temporal punishments that may await you after death.”
This smells like a disinformation campaign intended to discredit Pope Francis and make all us Catholics out here look like raving nutballs.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3044475/posts
Here it is again, this time from CBS, such a knowledgeable source ...
The truth does not need a caveat.
If you were blind you would have no sin, but because you say ‘I see’ your sin remains.
‘wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction.’
You deserve your destruction.
So based on the title, Catholics are (still) going to Hell?
Your particular judgment is going to be a very unpleasant experience. You had better be prepared.
Last month, I was told that Catholics "canonize, but do not demonize". I wish Catholics would get their stories straight!
CNN, isn’t that the network that used to be owned by that bigot Ted Turner who openly mocked employees with black crosses on their forehead?
It has to do with a man whose "works" were kind of a mixed bag, but who - in the Day of the Lord -- is purified of the worthless stuff, which is burnt; he himself is saved, but only as through fire.
There is reference to judgment, and purification, and fire, and the soul being saved, but only after going through this purifying fire.
Am I understanding you correctly?
Did the title say Catholics were going to hell?
For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!
Galatians 2:19-21
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?
Galatians 3:1-3
I ask this honestly—why is the plain teaching of Scripture that the work of Christ on the cross seemingly ignored or distorted? I don’t understand the connection between these indulgences and the grace offered through Jesus Christ. To me, this is a clear indication that the believer carries NO PENALTY of sin. Period. As Martin Luther would say, I would betray my conscience if I believed anything otherwise.
It is permitted, and sometimes a great act of charity and justice, to tell somebody the truth about the morally obectionable nature of their observable acts (what they've said or done.)
Ow. I can see us all elbow to elbow making a lurid flambeau, clutching to our bosoms that stinking, smouldering straw.
That's what the sentence says. Catholics can't "get out of" something unless they're already in it.
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