Can the Pope Decide a Sin is No Longer a Sin (Like Eating Meat on Fridays)? (Catholic Caucus)

Aleteia ^ | April 13, 2015 | JOHN MARTIGNONI

[NYer]

Q: Can the pope or the Catholic Church change, eliminate, or discontinue mortal sins — such as  missing Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation — as they did with the mortal sin of not eating meat on Fridays and eliminating some of the holy days of obligation?      
 
A: The short answer is, “No.” Something either is a mortal sin or it isn’t a mortal sin and neither the Pope nor the Church can change that. In order to commit a mortal sin, three conditions have to be met:

1) Full awareness of the intellect;

2) Full consent of the will; and

3) grave matter. 

These conditions cannot be changed.  However, there is something that you have misunderstood that we need to clear up. 

The Church once required, as a discipline not a doctrine, that its children not eat meat on Fridays. The Church has since changed this discipline to require that we make some sacrifice on Fridays — even Fridays outside of Lent — in remembrance of our Lord’s sacrifice for us on that Friday afternoon on Calvary so long ago. 

This sacrifice could be abstaining from meat, but it doesn’t have to be. It could be abstaining from some other food that you really like, fasting, offering additional alms, going out of your way to do something for someone who really annoys you — in other words, offering a sacrificial act of kindness and love.  So, we are still called by the Church to offer a sacrifice on Fridays, but now the Church leaves the particular form of the sacrifice up to us.

The question is, then, does the fact that the Church has allowed the form of our Friday sacrifice to change, mean that the Church has somehow changed a mortal sin? Absolutely not. You need to understand that even during the days when the Church required its children to abstain from meat on Fridays, the act of eating meat on Friday was not, in and of itself, a mortal sin. Eating meat on Friday does not, in and of itself, constitute grave matter.  It is not a serious sin.       

However, to knowingly disobey the authority of the Church is another matter entirely.  If one was fully aware of what the Church taught regarding abstaining from meat on Friday, yet they went ahead and ate meat on Friday knowing full well that they were in defiance of Church teaching, then that could indeed constitute a mortal sin. 

1) They ate meat on Friday with full awareness of their intellect that it was Friday, that they were eating meat, and that the Church required abstinence from meat on that day. 

2) They ate the meat of their own free will, no one forced them to do it. 

3) Willful disobedience to Church authority constitutes grave matter.  So, all the requirements for a mortal sin would have been there. 

I once heard someone say that the Church no longer requiring abstinence from meat on all Fridays must have really upset all the people who were in Hell for having committed the mortal sin of eating meat on Friday. That statement showed a woeful lack of understanding of Church teaching. Again, if anyone is in Hell because they ate meat on Friday, it is not because of the act itself of eating meat, but rather it is because they willfully disobeyed the Church in eating that meat and never repented of their willful disobedience. 

So, whether the Church changes a discipline, or does away with a discipline altogether, it is not “changing” a mortal sin.  The willful disregard of Church authority in regard to any Church discipline is what would constitute the mortal sin, if a mortal sin was indeed committed.

[NYer]

hat whole meat on Fridays thing? It’s changed about a dozen times since I was a kid.

Actually, it has never changed. Like you, it came as a surprise to learn this when I first joined FR.

Most Catholics think that Vatican II did away with the requirement of not eating meat on any Friday of the year. Most think it is now just Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent that we cannot eat meat.

This is what the new Code of Canon Law brought out in 1983 says about the matter:

Canon 1251
Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Canon Law still requires that Catholics not eat meat on Fridays!

Of course, most Episcopal Conferences have determined that, instead of abstaining from meat, Catholics may perform an act of penance of their choosing. But, do you ever remember to abstain from a particular food or do some other penance on Fridays? And, at any rate, the main rule is still to abstain from meat on Fridays, the performance of another penance instead is an optional alternative.

[miss marmelstein]

It wasn’t for our family - except that my mother did not know how to cook either fish or spaghetti and generally, she was a good cook.

As a student of English medieval history, in the 15th century, there were 180 non-meat days (which may have included eggs). Which is why our medieval friends were quite healthy with good teeth (add in no sugar)!

[DuncanWaring]

I’ve been for a long time perplexed that one could go to Red Lobster on Friday, have a shrimp cocktail appetizer, lobster dinner with a nice bottle of wine, and a cheesecake dessert in a State of Grace, whereas if you stayed home and had a cold can of beans-and-franks you were in a State of Sin.

[tomsbartoo]

Maybe I’m misreading your question, but I believe Canon Law 915 would protect a priest from administering Holy Communion to someone known to not be in a State of Sanctifying Grace.

But if the issue was something different, like say, a traditional-minded Catholic priest refusing to deliver a sermon wherein the priest was required to preach that the doctrine of Religious Liberty allowed any person to have the right to practice any false religion that they so chose, and he refused to do so. I believe in that case it would not be a mortal sin despite the fact that his decision would be in direct disobedience to Church doctrine as proclaimed by Vatican II.

Of course modern bishops would disagree with that opinion, but that is largely what the current debate is all about that is going on today between the SSPX and Rome. Obviously it involves more than simply the teaching of Religious Liberty, but all of the heretical doctrines proclaimed by the Second Vatican Council.

[miss marmelstein]

Medieval English food was amazingly diverse, healthy and spicy. At least, among the upper classes. For the lower classes, food was just healthy. Salad was an everyday event for the nobility. It wasn’t until much, much later - perhaps during the Industrial Revolution and probably the rationing during the 2nd World War that food became bland and poor. Today, the food in England is wonderful.

If cookbooks are anything to go by, food during the Victorian era - with its tentacles in India - was amazing.

[vladimir998]

“Point is, sin by Biblical standards is immutable. God is holy He doesn’t change His position on sin.”

Okay, is picking grain on the Sabbath a sin or not?

Just sayin’.

[GeronL]

I read somewhere that one queen had to import salad from Denmark

[Salvation]

**Actually, it has never changed. Like you, it came as a surprise to learn this when I first joined FR.**

[vladimir998]

“Never believed it to be a sin. It was a kick for the fish industry”

I’m always amazed that people are dumb enough to believe that. Seriously, it’s not even a logical claim. And why would the always thriving trade in fish need a “kick” from anyone?

[NYer]

In the case of eating meat on Fridays, that was a Church-created sin in the first place, as there is absolutely nothing in Scripture that addresses the topic.

As the article noted, this is a discipline and is related to Scripture. Jesus died on a Friday. Do you love Jesus? He laid down His life for you! Would you be willing to make a small sacrifice out of love for Him?

This is a Catholic Caucus thread. Are you a Catholic?

[married21]

The idea of no longer requiring meatless Fridays was that you could choose your own thing to do that reminded you of the suffering of Christ on the cross. You could refrain from meat, or you could do something like give alms to the poor, help someone, pray, or something else that you had to think about. The problem was/is, many people remembered they didn’t have to fast, and forgot to do anything as a substitute.

[BuddhaBrown]

Would and should Christians make personal sacrifices as they see fit and beneficial...

" ...out of love for Him? "

Yes.

...out of fear that the church's definition of valid love gestures controls the destination of my soul?

No.

[piusv]

It says “or some other food”. Did Catholics always have a choice?

[piusv]

I have to wonder with the recognition in Argentina whether the SSPX will continue to fight the heresies or if they will become just another conciliar indult group.

But otherwise a major thumbs up for your post.

[NYer]

So the church can declare something a sin outside of God’s Word?

Again, perhaps you misread the article. This is a discipline. The sin aspect enters when one applies the conditions for a mortal sin, as defined above.

This is all based on scripture. Consider Mark 12:30. From the KJV:

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

The one thing I know for a fact is that my non-catholic brethren in the forum LOVE our Lord, Jesus Christ. How do you show it in daily life?

One way we Catholic show our love for Jesus is by making a personal sacrifice. Have you ever done that? Have you ever offered up a personal pain or discomfort out of love for Jesus? He gave His life for you, out of love!

The Catholic Church encourages its members to reciprocate that love by making the personal sacrifice of giving up meat on Fridays, the day on which our Lord was nailed to a cross, out of love for us. Of course, it is not much of a sacrifice if one substitutes a lobster dinner for a t-bone steak. The notion is one of personal discipline.

So what is actually accomplished by following this discipline? Personally speaking, on Fridays, I CHOOSE to follow this discipline out of total LOVE for Jesus. There have been times when I was hungry and the only food being offered at an event I was attending, was meat. My focus remained fixed on Christ. He suffered and died for me and I can certainly forego a hamburger, offering up any discomfort, out of love. Of course, there are many Catholics who do not understand the concept of self sacrifice. For them, the Church has provided the option of substituting some other form of personal sacrifice.

Regardless of whether or not you understand or agree with this concept, it is driven by love. Christ is ever present in my life but on Friday, the relationship tightens and becomes very close knit: I do this out of love for my Savior!

BTW, this is a Catholic Caucus thread. Out of love for YOU, I am offering this detailed and very personal explanation.

[HoosierDammit]

Does the caucus tag mean nothing to you anymore?

[SevenofNine]

My mom so old school she remember not eating meat on Friday until mid 1960s