Pope Francis, in Newspaper Interview, Laments ‘Moral Decay’ of Society

Catholic Culture ^ | 7/1/14

[marshmallow]

In an interview with Franca Giansoldati of the Roman newspaper Il Messaggero, Pope Francis decried society’s moral decay.

Among the highlights of the interview, which was published on June 29:

* “For us [who came of age after the Second Vatican Council], the great light was Paul VI. For me, Evangelii Nuntiandi [Paul VI’s apostolic exhortation on evangelization] remains a pastoral document never surpassed.”

* our “epoch of change” is one of “moral decay,” manifested in the worldwide phenomenon of corruption and the sexual exploitation of the young, at times by people who are old enough to be their grandparents

* the Pope, who expressed concern about Europe’s low birth rate, said he is equally concerned by material poverty and moral poverty

* the Gospel, said the Pope, does not condemn the rich, but riches that have been made into an idol

[livius]

Well, one of the reasons for this moral decay, IMHO, is that the Church after Vatican II completely abandoned its responsibility to teach and preach the truth.

We wouldn’t have such a low birthrate had Vatican II, with its implicit rejection of the traditional teaching authority of the Church, not given people the feeling that it was ok to reject Humanae Vitae. There are many things that would not have happened - the hugely high divorce rate, for example - had the Church stuck with its mission and not gone off into wishy-washy leftwing political activity and warmed over Freudianism.

[piusv]

But Francis talks about the “enormous fruits” of Vatican II. He clearly sees nothing wrong with it at all.

[icwhatudo]

[miss marmelstein]

I have a lot of problems with Vatican 2 (the destruction of the beauty of the church) but I don’t think the Catholic Church is responsible for world wide promiscuity, corruption and moral decay, lol. The pill, Hollywood, bad educational system, radical feminism, divorce,gay rights all had a hand in our destruction.

[livius]

Oh, absolutely. But just when it was needed most, the institutional Church stopped offering any sound teaching or the support that is so necessary for a moral life, especially if the world around one is going crazy.

Instead of the Church exercising an influence on the world, the world took over the Church.

[miss marmelstein]

Just more blame, I’m afraid. My mother disliked the changes of Vatican 2 and so we were schlepped around to various conservative Catholic Churches and on occasion, Russian Orthodox - just to escape shaking hands with the guy she was going to run over in the Church’s parking lot. In other words, as Coriolanus said, there are other worlds. We found them and it certainly influenced us in a positive way. To this day, she contributes to a parish in Northern New Jersey that is staunchly conservative. My father was buried from there and I must say! I thought it was 1959 again.

[livius]

just to escape shaking hands with the guy she was going to run over in the Church’s parking lot.

LOL! I was living in California during the worst of Vatican II's excesses (with some truly execrable bishops, both from the point of view of doctrine and the point of view of their own personal morality) and we actually went to an Orthodox church for awhile. It was very ethnic, but at least not insane. We then changed rites and became Byzantine Rite, which was a little more protected, but unfortunately the Byzantine Rite doesn't exist in many parts of the country.

[Bridesheadfan]

The “enormous fruits” of Vatican II are the fat,over pampered and effeminate priests who seem to rule the Church in America.

[miss marmelstein]

Obviously, we shared the same background! How many other Catholics in the 60s ended up in Orthodox churches, I wonder.

[MomwithHope]

My late mother was raised in a parish in either Garfield or Trenton New Jersey and she came out staunchly conservative. She said the parish was run by Franciscans.