A Pope's Dubious Response To The Latest Dubia

Fire in Rome by Hubert Robert (1785)

[ 6 minute read ] 

"...Now started the most terrible and destructive fire which Rome had ever experienced. It began in the Circus, where it adjoins the Palatine and Caelian hills. Breaking out in shops selling inflammable goods, and fanned by the wind, the conflagration instantly grew and swept the whole length of the Circus. There were no walled mansions or temples, or any other obstructions, which could arrest it. First, the fire swept violently over the level spaces. Then it climbed the hills - but returned to ravage the lower ground again. It outstripped every counter-measure. The ancient city's narrow winding streets and irregular blocks encouraged its progress. - Duruy, Victor, History of Rome vol. V (1883); Grant, Michael (translator), Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome, (1989)

Mixing fact with fiction is common enough these days. However, when faux moral theology equal to a dirty bomb is launched against the faithful, by no less than a Bishop of Rome, nothing but contamination will spread and consume the health of the body.

https://catholicherald.co.uk/pope-responds-to-cardinals-dubia-says-yes-to-blessing-some-same-sex-unions-no-on-woman-priests/

However, Pope Francis stressed the need for compassion in the Church’s pastoral care of homosexual individuals, and signaled an openness to blessing same-sex unions on a case-by-case basis.

There is no compassion in blessing sinful behaviours of any kind (cf. https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/568/). Is the Holy Father so blind that he cannot foresee how any policy that lends support for sinful relationships will be abused? That is, used to authorize sinful lifestyles?

“In dealing with people we must not lose pastoral charity, which must pass through all of our decisions and attitudes,” he said, saying “the defense of the objective truth is not the only expression of this charity, which is also made of kindness, patience, understanding, tenderness, and encouragement.”

“Consequently, we cannot become judges who only reject, deny and exclude,” he said.

This is mere sophistry. The Holy Father is attempting to supplant care for the eternal souls of individuals with a provision that only obscures the need for authentic charity. That is, the mission to bring people to an awareness of the obstacles they place in the way of God giving them peace so that they may choose a better a path, a holier path that is pleasing to God.

For this reason, the pope said, “pastoral prudence must adequately discern if there are forms of blessing, requested by one or various people, which do not convey a wrong concept of marriage”.

Love the sinner; speak the truth with love in a beautiful way. Call him to turn from sin and to embrace the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Our Lord Jesus Christ did not soften the demands of the Kingdom of God when He confronted the woman at the well (St John 4:4–42), nor when he engaged the young man who - when commanded by Jesus to reprioritize his values (St Matthew 19:16–30, St Mark 10:17–31, St Luke 18:18–30) - could not give his full commitment to God. Jesus did not attempt to cushion the confrontation between grace and sin, between choosing the Kingdom of God and newness of life or choosing the world, the flesh and the devil... the kingdom of death.

This, (Pope Francis) said, is because “when we ask for a blessing, we are expressing a request for help from God, a prayer to be able to live better, a trust in a Father who can help us to live better”.

However, he cautioned against making any norms to this effect, saying, “Decisions which, in certain circumstances may be part of pastoral prudence, do not necessarily have to become a norm”.

Timid religion.

The last two sentences are a disaster. The Gospel is not a ploy nor a toy to dangle in front of sinners.

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. - Hebrews 4:12

The Holy Father repeatedly fails to call people to their senses. Instead, Francis offers sinners a way to avoid asking God for the grace to turn from sin and to enjoy the authentic freedom God offers in Jesus Christ. "Living better" is a only half-speak for living for God and neighbour. Half-truths do little to heal the wounds of sin.

For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. - St Matthew 16:25

Yes - a blessing orients a willing sinner to seek and accept the grace to change. A person asking for a blessing commits to God's agenda. Are we willing to accept that God-given grace on God's terms, or are we merely pretending to conform our hearts and minds to that grace and receive approval (at least to one's disordered way of thinking) for our choice to remain in sin? Someone content with his or her sinful social arrangement is probably not going to abandon the cozy and comfortable until, perhaps, chaos coalesces into a crisis. By then, the chaos that could have been avoided is likely to cripple and cause the helpless sinner to kill himself.

To say that Pope Francis' approach is imprudent is an understatement. If there can be blessings for homosexual couples, why not blessings for polygamists? or adulterous couples? or a man and his dog? or a woman and her cat? Hyperbole? Don't be so naive.

Francis is merely offering a drug - call it false accompaniment - to those addicted to sinful behaviors. Those mired in addiction are not capable of rational thought while imprisoned in their addictions. Rather, the prisoner must be set free from the jail that Satan and his minions build in order to trap and destroy souls.

The Pillar captures a sobering thought.

“Although signed by Francis, the letter (of response to the dubia) displayed the writing style of his trusted theologian, the Argentine Victor Manuel Fernández, who would soon take on the new role of prefect of the dicastery for the doctrine of the faith,” Magister wrote in an Oct. 2 post on his Settimo Cielo blog.

The five cardinals then sought to reformulate the questions so that they could only be answered “yes” or “no.”

Pope Francis has not responded to the rephrased dubia more than 40 days after they were submitted, Magister said.

A Pope who has repeatedly called for making a mess seems unwilling to offer anything but a 'yes' or 'no'. To do so would be far too binary for someone who places his trust in a theologian given to blending egoism and foggy thinking with contemporary ideology.

The best response to the latest round of obfuscatory Vatican dodges comes, of course, from Scripture.

Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil. - St Matthew 5:37

Despite the madness and confusion likely to multiply in Rome in coming weeks, let us make our own the thought of a brilliant and holy theologian, Fr. Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM, Cap.

I myself still live in hope. I believe the Catholic faithful, especially in the United States, Poland, and the developing world, particularly in Africa, will remain loyal to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to the ever-living magisterial tradition of the Catholic Church. In so doing, the Church will resist evil and remain the ever-holy bride of Christ. We can be confident that, in God’s good time, truth will win the day. And we have it on the best authority that the gates of Hell will not prevail (St Matthew 16:17-19).

Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.