Hasta La Vista Fiducia Supplicans?

I think that gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman. ― Arnold Schwarzenegger

Huh?

As Catholics, we hold the Bishop of Rome in the highest regard. He is our spiritual father. He is the shepherd of shepherds. He is the Successor of Saint Peter, the Rock upon whom Jesus Christ built His Church. And yet, like us, the pope is a human being, a creature of God, in need of our prayers.

Chaos, turbulent times, fractious debates.

In earlier days, days before the torrent of information provided by or through social media, information spread at a slower pace and was most often constrained by what we would now refer to as technological limitations, sparing the average pew dweller a veritable flood of news, good and bad, issuing from various Church closets.

Nowadays, we have immediate access to the thoughts of hierarchs and lowerarchs casting innumerable comments our way. How are we to process so much information? The obvious comes to mind: ask the Holy Spirit for the gift of discernment!

We need God's grace so that we may position ourselves in a way that further disposes us to the grace of God and His will for us. God's gift of grace can enable hearts and minds to exceed imagined limitations, so that lives may be transformed to serve God and neighbour. Glory be to God!

A confident and coherent critique of current events may be found at the blog of Dr. Edward Feser.

• https://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-scandal-of-fiducia-supplicans.html#more

If you, dear readers, have already taken the time to take in that review, then you are less likely to be taken in by specious arguments and are probably better prepared to face the frenzied feasting on the Vatican's latest document, Fiducia Supplicans.

Most of us are not theologians nor philosophers. However, whether we are lay or ordained, theologically trained or untrained, it is very important, for the salvation of souls, that we remain engaged to the best of our individual abilities. We owe it to Pope Francis to take seriously the document issued in his name, but also, as faithful sons and daughters of the Church, to acknowledge problems where problems exist and to address with charity and truth any difficulties if/when they arise.

It is enough to dissect the DDF document's text, it's theological grammar, without descending into conspiracy theories. The document contains problems that do not bear up to modest scrutiny. So, then, shed any and all preoccupations with or temptations to try and find hidden motives, and judge the script approved by Pope Francis on the most obvious of terms, which Dr. Feser does with the skill of a surgeon philosopher, as he notes others have done, too.

The one success of Fiducia Supplicans is that it is bringing together faithful Catholics to defend the unchanging doctrine of Holy Mother Church. That, and FS has provided proof that certain clerics won't be winning any prizes any time soon for excellence in theology.