Pope Francis opens possibility for blessing same-sex unions

[PointyHaired Calvinist]

https://archive.ph/Ncypj

Yep, he’s going there. No surprise but still…

 

[retroGRAD3]

I mean, he is an antichrist. I don't even think this is the worst thing he has ever done.

 

[Phil D.]

This is in keeping with the current plunge of the world as a whole into the abyss of utter immorality and wickedness.

Francis' proposal is also a marked reversal from the Vatican’s current official position, which as recently as 2021 added a note into the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which said flat-out that the church couldn’t bless gay unions because "God cannot bless sin." But I have little doubt that will now change.

At the same time, the Church recalls that God Himself never ceases to bless each of His pilgrim children in this world, because for Him “we are more important to God than all of the sins that we can commit." But he does not and cannot bless sin: he blesses sinful man, so that he may recognize that he is part of his plan of love and allow himself to be changed by him. He in fact “takes us as we are, but never leaves us as we are."​

(Responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to a dubium regarding the blessing of the unions of persons of the same sex, 15.03.2021)​

 

[ZackF]

May the Lord use this insanity to drive RCs to the Gospel of Christ.

 

[joebonni63]

yeah I think it's time that the RCC needs to become Reformed like they should have in the 1500's when it was pointed out to them.......... Nothing good is coming from the RCC maybe this is the GOOD that will wake them up finally ..........

 

[DanSSwing]

Even more concerning was his response to the question of whether Divine Revelation should be re-interpreted to fit with cultural changes.

a) The answer depends on the meaning you give to the word "reinterpret." If it is understood as "interpret better," the expression is valid. In this sense, the Second Vatican Council affirmed that it is necessary that with the work of exegetes - and I would add of theologians - "the judgment of the Church may mature" (Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, 12).

b) Therefore, while it is true that the Divine Revelation is immutable and always binding, the Church must be humble and recognize that she never exhausts its unfathomable richness and needs to grow in her understanding.

c) Consequently, she also matures in her understanding of what she has herself affirmed in her Magisterium.

d) Cultural changes and new challenges in history do not modify Revelation but can stimulate us to express certain aspects of its overflowing richness better, which always offers more.

e) It is inevitable that this can lead to a better expression of some past statements of the Magisterium, and indeed, this has been the case throughout history.

f) On the one hand, it is true that the Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but it is also true that both the texts of the Scripture and the testimonies of Tradition require interpretation in order to distinguish their perennial substance from cultural conditioning. This is evident, for example, in biblical texts (such as Exodus 21:20-21) and in some magisterial interventions that tolerated slavery (Cf. Pope Nicholas V, Bull Dum diversas, 1452). This is not a minor issue given its intimate connection with the perennial truth of the inalienable dignity of the human person. These texts need interpretation. The same applies to certain considerations in the New Testament regarding women (1 Corinthians 11:3-10; 1 Timothy 2:11-14) and other texts of Scripture and testimonies of Tradition that cannot be materially repeated today.

g) It is important to emphasize that what cannot change is what has been revealed "for the salvation of all" (Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, 7). Therefore, the Church must constantly discern between what is essential for salvation and what is secondary or less directly connected with this goal. In this regard, I would like to recall what St. Thomas Aquinas affirmed: "The more one descends to matters of detail, the more frequently we encounter defects" (Summa Theologiae I/II q. 94, art. 4).

h) Finally, a single formulation of a truth can never be adequately understood if it is presented in isolation, detached from the rich and harmonious context of the entire Revelation. The "hierarchy of truths" also implies placing each of them in proper connection with the central truths and with the entirety of the Church's teaching. This can ultimately lead to different ways of presenting the same doctrine, even though "for those who long for a monolithic body of doctrine guarded by all and leaving no room for nuance, this might appear as undesirable and leading to confusion. But in fact such variety serves to bring out and develop different facets of the inexhaustible riches of the Gospel" (Evangelii gaudium, 40). Every theological current has its risks, but also its opportunities.

 

[alexanderjames]

May the Lord use this insanity to drive RCs to the Gospel of Christ.

It is astounding that many of the more serious RCs are so wedded to Rome but don't even recognise Pope Francis' statements as having any weight because he's not speaking "ex cathedra" and so continue on regardless.

 

[ZackF]

Even more concerning was his response to the question of whether Divine Revelation should be re-interpreted to fit with cultural changes.

a) The answer depends on the meaning you give to the word "reinterpret." If it is understood as "interpret better," the expression is valid. In this sense, the Second Vatican Council affirmed that it is necessary that with the work of exegetes - and I would add of theologians - "the judgment of the Church may mature" (Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, 12).

b) Therefore, while it is true that the Divine Revelation is immutable and always binding, the Church must be humble and recognize that she never exhausts its unfathomable richness and needs to grow in her understanding.

c) Consequently, she also matures in her understanding of what she has herself affirmed in her Magisterium.

d) Cultural changes and new challenges in history do not modify Revelation but can stimulate us to express certain aspects of its overflowing richness better, which always offers more.

e) It is inevitable that this can lead to a better expression of some past statements of the Magisterium, and indeed, this has been the case throughout history.

f) On the one hand, it is true that the Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but it is also true that both the texts of the Scripture and the testimonies of Tradition require interpretation in order to distinguish their perennial substance from cultural conditioning. This is evident, for example, in biblical texts (such as Exodus 21:20-21) and in some magisterial interventions that tolerated slavery (Cf. Pope Nicholas V, Bull Dum diversas, 1452). This is not a minor issue given its intimate connection with the perennial truth of the inalienable dignity of the human person. These texts need interpretation. The same applies to certain considerations in the New Testament regarding women (1 Corinthians 11:3-10; 1 Timothy 2:11-14) and other texts of Scripture and testimonies of Tradition that cannot be materially repeated today.

g) It is important to emphasize that what cannot change is what has been revealed "for the salvation of all" (Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, 7). Therefore, the Church must constantly discern between what is essential for salvation and what is secondary or less directly connected with this goal. In this regard, I would like to recall what St. Thomas Aquinas affirmed: "The more one descends to matters of detail, the more frequently we encounter defects" (Summa Theologiae I/II q. 94, art. 4).

h) Finally, a single formulation of a truth can never be adequately understood if it is presented in isolation, detached from the rich and harmonious context of the entire Revelation. The "hierarchy of truths" also implies placing each of them in proper connection with the central truths and with the entirety of the Church's teaching. This can ultimately lead to different ways of presenting the same doctrine, even though "for those who long for a monolithic body of doctrine guarded by all and leaving no room for nuance, this might appear as undesirable and leading to confusion. But in fact such variety serves to bring out and develop different facets of the inexhaustible riches of the Gospel" (Evangelii gaudium, 40). Every theological current has its risks, but also its opportunities.

Yeah…the “overflowing richness” of homosexuality.

 

[Phil D.]

Carlo Maria Viganò, the maverick archbishop that exposed the Vatican financial scandals and pushed hardest against the coverup of sexual misconduct by priests, has now called Pope Francis an inimicuse ecclesiae, an enemy of the church. He even invokes language similar to the papal bull of Pope Leo X, Exsurge Domine, in which Luther was excommunicated as "a fox arisen, seeking to destroy the vineyard." Quite interesting. The first 6 minutes tells you all you need to know.

 

[joebonni63]

It is astounding that many of the more serious RCs are so wedded to Rome but don't even recognise Pope Francis' statements as having any weight because he's not speaking "ex cathedra" and so continue on regardless.

It's like the Left in politics BTW most Catholics are on the Left and all this adds up to the RCC always is going against everything........... I think this is deeper than a cult ........ Some people still go to the RCC and think this isn't so bad (I challenge you match what they do to the Bible)........ They don't like when you do that to compare them to the Bible they say the Bible is incomplete my answer is how come most people lived by it then if its incomplete......