8 May 2019

Common Sense

Here is an old post from 2014, together with its old thread.

 I think it would be for the best if the Holy Father henceforth confined his public utterances to formal texts which had been passed by the appropriate and responsible Roman Dicasteries. If he wishes to publish some views qua private theologian, he should, as Professor Ratzinger did, indicate this formally and explicitly.

The present situation simply cannot be allowed to continue.

I now add ... in 2019 ... the following response to the thread.

The august and necessary Teaching Authority of the Roman Pontiff does not adhere to him as an individual. It applies to him as the Bishop of S Peter's See, Rome. That is why Blessed John Henry Newman argues that what some popes said or signed after being beaten up in Byzantine prisons does not create a problem for the doctrine of Papal Infalibility. Such a pope was not speaking as Bishop of Rome surrounded by  the Council of his Presbyters or his Synod of Suburbicarian and visiting Bishops.

I argued, and still argue, that a Pope, if he wishes to act as pope, cannot act as a whimsical individual. He lost that privilege the moment he accepted election.

I think I was right in the apprehensions I felt early in this pontificate. 

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Agreed, but I wouldn't hold my breath!

GOR said...

Agreed, Father.

Now if Facebook and Twitter had been around circa 32 AD one might have read the following:

Woman taken in adultery on Facebook: “Jesus said: ‘I’m OK. You’re OK. Who am I to judge?’…”

Samaritan Woman at the Well on Twitter: “The Messiah said: ‘You can have five husbands but not a sixth’ So, there…!”

Unknown said...

The Pope has the authority to do what he desires,see the following:
In Matthew 16:19 Jesus gives this authority over his Church to Peter: "Whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in heaven." So Father, [perhaps with all your learning, you may wish to reconsider having the Pope get prior approval to what he says and does??

Steve Kellmeyer said...

Father, if one of your parishioners, or a group of your parishioners, came up to you and told you to stop talking to parishioners because they felt too many people found you confusing, would you listen?

I doubt you would. Why? Because it isn't their business to monitor your conversations. And it isn't your business to monitor papal conversations. Mind your business.

David said...

The pope cannot contradict a direct teaching of Chriat.

Anonymous said...

"The pope cannot contradict a direct teaching of Chriat."
The only caveat I would add to this is: THE POPE CANNOT PUBLICLY MAKE A MAGISTERIAL TEACHING IN CONTRADICTION OF CHRIST. Private conversations and opinions notwithstanding.

Fr. Michael LaRue said...

I must second what you have to say, Fr. As for those who appear to believe that the papacy confers some kind of arbitrary power, Or renders the occupant of the Apostolic See above correction, I think that this cannot be reconciled with right reason or Tradition.

PDLeck said...

@Steve Kellmeyer: There is a huge difference between Fr. Hunwicke and the pope. Any rational person who hears a conversation Fr. Hunwicke mY have knows those are simply the personal opinions of a retired priest. Even if he were correctly recounting Catholic dogma some may still ignore him. However, the pope has much greater responsibility because what he says is repeated worldwide in the media. Even if what he says is nothing more than his personal opinion the entire world gets to know and they treat it as if he is making an infallible statement. They should not but they do. Therefore, the pope as the head on earth of the Church has a much greater responsibility to take much greater care over what he says.

Mick Jagger Gathers No Mosque said...

Dear Messers Paul and Steve. You both seem to think the Bishop of Rome is a dictator whose heteropraxis and heresies are not to be questioned.

When the Bishop of Rome claims that The Lord Himself succors some of the behaviors involved in Adultery, ought you remain silent before such an eruption from Hell?

Is such an malign and mephitic heresy also bound in Heaven because Matt 16:18?

As Catholics, do you think you have a right to orthodox teaching?

One positive result of this papacy is that it is a puissant praxis of raising awareness of the danger of ultramontanism.

Mick Jagger Gathers No Mosque said...

It is a quaint experience to read the old Catholic Encyclopedia entry on "The Pope"

...He is to be the principle of unity, of stability, and of increase. He is the principle of unity, since what is not joined to that foundation is no part of the Church; of stability, since it is the firmness of this foundation in virtue of which the Church remains unshaken by the storms which buffet her; of increase, since, if she grows, it is because new stones are laid on this foundation.

Anna said...

I think you're right too. You and everyone else who followed their conscience and acted out of love for Christ and His Church, in this and similar ways, are heroes to those of us left languishing.

SilverDog said...

The new book is signed by no other than, ..."“Pontifex Pontificum“...

https://www.amazon.it/amore-Benedetto-XVI-Joseph-Ratzinger/dp/8868796996

Have a pleasant day.

Gilbert said...

Pope Francis' off-the-cuff utterances could use some starch. That is, as you mentioned, he should stick to scripts vetted by appropriate Roman dicasteries. If you'll pardon the bad pun: a lack of dicastery leads to disastery.

Badcatholic said...

So, if Francis marries a Muslim, converts to her religion and decree prior Catholic teaching a fraud, we just suck it up and agree? After all, he’s the Pope.