I have to rely upon second-hand accounts of how things went in the Q&A session which followed the Cambridge lecture. But I gather that His Eminence launched into lengthy and impassioned assertions of the the authority of the Magisterium. The answer offered to one questioner was the further question (asked in deeply shocked tones) as to whether those expressing doubts or concerns about Amoris laetitia perhaps failed to believe that the Pope was inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit in writing it. Thus the Magisterium was invoked not only in all its panoply, but in that crude form which, in the heyday of the old Catholic Evidence Guild, that Guild's speakers justly dismissed as being a misinformed Protestant or rationalist notion of what Infallibility means in Catholic theology.
More, later, on Cupich, Deo volente.
Well - I liked Benedict’s reply yo the “Hily Spirit” defense: Just because the Holy Spirit is always guiding the Church doesn’t mean the Church is always listening.
ReplyDeleteLiberal Catholics like Cdl Cupich indulge themselves with an ultramontanism against which the Magisterium has warned us time and again. Apart from the fact that they look and sound pretty stupid, they exhibit an abysmal grasp of Catholic teaching and lead the flick of Christ astray. Cupich? Ye gods and little fishes.
ReplyDeleteIt would seem, from current comments by several of the periti surrounding H.H. Pope Francis that the invocation of the Holy Spirit is the new trump card which ceases all debate. One must wonder when the Third Person of the Holy Trinity will tire of this!
ReplyDeleteAfter my Sunday Rosary I pray the Litany of St. Joseph for the Church Universal. This has been my practice since the beginning of this current pontificate. Wish I had started doing it sooner.
ReplyDelete“Inside the Holy Trinity they’re all arguing behind closed doors,” Cuda says Francis told them, “but on the outside they give the picture of unity.” - Francis Bishop of Rome - As reported in Crux Magazine 25 March 2017
ReplyDeletehttps://cruxnow.com/vatican/2017/03/25/woman-knows-read-pope-francis/
"But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, shall never have forgiveness, but shall be guilty of an everlasting sin." Mark 3:29
Perhaps Cardinal Cupich ought be more careful when he drags the Holy Ghost in to defend Francis' 'infallibility'.
Touché
DeleteIn the book, "El Jesuita: Conversaciones con el cardinal Jorge Bergoglio", then-cardinal Bergolio makes a joke about Our Lord's Crucifixion.
ReplyDelete[Note however the following text was edited out of the English edition of the Spanish original edition of the book]...
"At this point, Bergoglio turns smiling, perhaps to ease the talk.
Can I tell a story that comes to mind, he (Bergoglio) asked?
Sure.
It is about a Jewish boy who thrown out of all schools for being unruly until another Jew recommends to the father a "good Catholic school." And it encourages him that, surely, there (they) are going to straighten (him out). The father takes the advice. Thus passes the first month and the boy is very well behaved, without warning (surprisingly). Nor has he behavior problems in the coming months. The father, won by curiosity, goes to the rector to know how he managed this transformation. “It was very simple," replied the priest. "On the first day I took him by the ear and said pointing to the crucifix, ‘That was a Jew like you, if you misbehave, you will end up the same.’"
https://callmejorgebergoglio.blogspot.ie/2014/03/jorge-jokes-about-our-lords-crucifixion.html
If PF really did say that the Persons of the Trinity are at variance with one another, the charge of heresy against him must be taken seriously. It is one thing to tinker with social teaching on matters such as divorce and same-sex relationships, quite another to promote an erroneous understanding of the central tenet of Christian belief.
ReplyDeleteI disagree; I don't think it is heresy, but Tritheism. I think the Mormons believe something along these lines, which was why the CDF declared their baptisms invalid. But, more probably, this is probably what is deemed to be a "joke" in the more elite circles of the Argentine Church. Which is revealing.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree that this likely meant to have been a joke, but not a particularly funny one. If the Pope is a tritheist then he certainly is a heretic. But, if he telling a joke, he is not a tritheist. Speaking against the sublime Holy Trinity is blasphemous and heretical, but I don’t think that is what is going on here.
ReplyDeleteBut the core question should perhaps be: Why do so many things he does and says cause unease among the Faithful? I don't think it's a case of carelessness or a quirky, unfunny sense of humor; I think it is more like a modus operandi. What a strange and enigmatic man we have for a pope!
ReplyDeleteI think it's a joke that was nonetheless meant to make a serious point. Not a doctrinal point; he doesn't seem to care much about all that anyway. The point he was making is that conflict is the very heart of life: 'Hey, I bet you'll even find it at the beginning of all things in the eternal life of the Creator (and look, I can joke about these things because we don't have to be po-faced and pious about religion as if it's all sacred and unapproachable)'. It's really a sort of psycho-social Marxism. Conflict and contradiction are seen as the creative conditions from which all progress comes. ¡Hagan lio! Make a mess! Sow confusion. Let many flowers bloom. Don't be afraid of it. You have to break down the old certainties and rigid structures so a new reality can emerge out of the chaos. It's the way of The Spirit, the very nature of 'the God of history'. So maybe, just maybe, deep down he wasn't really joking after all. Many a true word is spoken in jest …
ReplyDeleteAn "argumentative" Trinity of course makes changes in teaching so much easier to promote. Take the subject of divorce and remarriage. Is PF imagining a feisty and trendy Holy Spirit arguing along the lines of: "Well Jesus, I know you said it was wrong, but with all due respect society was very different 2000 years ago when you were on earth, and since you sent me to inspire them all, I've seen some very happy 2nd and 3rd marriages and I for one feel privileged to be part of them even if you don't!"?
ReplyDelete