Tuesday, September 26, 2017

"Conservatives" Accuse the Pope of Spreading Heresy


Just as the media falsely describes right wing Republicans and evangelical Christians as "conservatives" even though their agenda is not truly conservative and instead is focused on hatred of others, so to are reactionary Catholics called "conservatives" despite a similar reactionary agenda.  In both cases, the adherents of these agendas have, in my view, a very sick need to condemn others and to feel superior that is the true motivation for their policies of division and exclusion.  Indeed, some in the Catholic Church seem hell bent to bring back the Tridentine mass and the Inquisition of the Medieval Ages rather than accept modernity and the more inclusionary, less animus based policies that Pope Francis is seemingly trying to implement albeit in a halting and haphazard manner. A piece in CNN looks at attacks launched by extreme elements in the Church (check out the site Church Militant for a taste of the extremism) that have gone so far as to accuse Francis of spreading heresy. Here are article excerpts:
Several dozen conservative Catholic scholars and clergy have charged Pope Francis with spreading heresy, a bold but perhaps futile salvo against Francis and his reform-minded papacy.
The widely publicized, theologically dense letter was delivered to the Pope with 40 signatures on August 11, according to its organizers. It has since gained 22 more signatures and was released to the public on Saturday. In a press release, the organizers say they speak for "a large number" of clergy and lay Catholics who "lack freedom of speech."
The letter does not accuse the Pope himself of being a heretic, but of supporting "heretical positions" on "marriage, the moral life and the Eucharist."
Francis has not responded to the letter publicly and the Vatican declined to comment.
 Specifically, the letter charges Francis with promoting seven "heresies," most notably through his openness to allowing some divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion.
"Scandal concerning faith and morals has been given to the Church and to the world," the letter states. It accuses the Pope of imposing "strange doctrines on the faithful," and asks him to publicly correct his teachings.
The lightning rod for complaints is the Pope's 2016 document, Amoris Laetitia -- which has opened the possibility for some divorced and remarried Catholics to receive communion -- and the differing interpretations of the document, which conservatives say have sown confusion among Catholics. A number of the signees are members of a traditionalist group that has already broken away from the Catholic Church.
Still, the heresy charge crystallizes some conservatives' deep anxieties about Pope Francis, especially his teachings and impromptu statements about how to apply centuries-old Catholic doctrine to the complexities of modern life. None of the heresy letter's signees are cardinals or bishops in good standing within the Catholic church. The most prominent is Bishop Bernard Fellay, the head of the Society of St. Pius X, a traditionalist group which broke away from the Vatican under Pope John Paul II over doctrinal issues. Conservatives contest that the Pope is tinkering with what is written in the Bible and has been affirmed throughout centuries in the Catholic Church on marriage: that a divorced person who is remarried without an annulment may not receive communion, because the second marriage is considered adulterous. The question is whether Francis can hold together the church's left and right flanks while implementing reforms in how the church applies those teachings.
Monsignor Robert Wister, a professor of church history at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, said he can't recall anything similar to the heresy letter in recent times. Pope John XXII was rebuked in the 1330s for teaching that the souls of the dead do not see the face of God until the Last Judgment.
"In the grand scheme of things, it will fuel some of the more extreme anti-Francis websites," Wister said. "And I think it will encourage various priests and bishops who do not like his pastoral direction."
"But, if you look in the pews or even at polls, most people like Francis," he said. "They see in him a compassion they have not seen in the church, an understanding of the very difficult reality of living in this very complicated world."

I am no fan of Pope Francis who has failed to hold to account the bishops and cardinals who aided, abetted and protected sexual predators within the ranks of the clergy.   Likewise, he has done absolutely nothing to end the Church's anti-gay jihad.  This said, Francis is far better than his "conservative" opponents who refuse to accept modernity and the common humanity of others, and who would bring back some of the Church's worst past practices that lacked both compassion and decent treatment of others.   Also so that these people can fee superior to "sinners" and inflict their foul dogma on others. 

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