Posted on 10/20/2014 4:52:39 AM PDT by marshmallow
The Holy Father's speech at the end of the Synod contained an interesting paragraph about his understanding of his office. I propose, soon, to discuss it. But first, some context.
Cardinal Burke is reported to have said "The pope, more than anyone else, is bound to serve the Truth. The pope is not free to change the Church's teaching with regard to the immorality of homosexual acts or the indissolubility of marriage or any other doctrine of the Faith."
This is closely in line with the words of Pope Francis' immediate predecessor: "In fact, the First Vatican Council had in no way defined the pope as an absolute monarch. On the contrary, it presented him as the guarantor of obedience to the revealed Word. The pope's authority is bound to the Tradition of faith ... the authority of the pope is not unlimited; it is at the service of Sacred Tradition"
Thus wrote Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, as part of his attack on that maximalising concept of the Papacy which, in the years after the Council, led to the notion that "the pope could really do anything in liturgical matters, especially if he were acting on the the mandate of an ecumenical council". Let's be clear about this: he was explicitly criticising, not Blessed Paul VI, but an incorrect understanding prevalent during the Montini papacy, and doing so forcefully at a time when he was Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
It is not often observed that our Holy Father the Pope Emeritus was alluding to a controversy which arose after Vatican I. Chancellor Bismarck had accused Vatican I of creating a view of the Papacy under which the Pope was an absolute monarch ... to the detriment of political and other liberties. The German bishops replied (Denzinger 3114) by denying that the conciliar decrees had this sort of effect upon the the civil loyalties of Catholics; and went on to say that "praeterea neque quoad res ecclesiasticas papa monarchus absolutus nuncupari potest, quippe qui cum subordinatus sit iuri divino et obstrictus sit iis quae Christus pro Ecclesia sua disposuit ... ". B Pius IX subsequently, formally, approved this statement.
And all this is simply the rolling-out, the explication, of the Great Negative of Vatican I in Pastor aeternus; its vitally important teaching that the Holy Spirit was not given to Roman Pontiffs so that they could teach novelties. Moreover, by defining the authority of Roman Pontiffs, that admirable Council automatically set limits upon it (this is a point emphatically made by Newman, LD. 170, 204). That is what the verb definire means.
In my view, the Petrine Ministry as defined by Vatican I and not as understood by the innovators of the 1960s is a vitally necessary gift to the Church, and far too precious for it to be damaged by being understood as something which it is not.
I wish I could be sure that the dangers of this happening, so alive and so destructive during the Montini years, have totally disappeared. I am not. Lecturing in Vienna last Wednesday, Walter Kasper chillingly asserted that the Wind, Spirit, of the Council (that icy*, withering, blast) was again blowing, within the Synod.
We all know what that means. Time to put on our overcoats, stoke up the fire, and listen to the wolves howling outside. ______________________________________________________________________________
* I'm not calling the Council icy, but the so-called "Spirit" of the Council, engendered by a hermeneutic of rupture ad encouraged by what Benedict XVI called the parallel magisterium of the media.
First post saying: “The Pope is only a man, not a god....” in 5...4...3...2...
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/standingonmyhead/2014/10/media-mutterings-about-the-synod.html
The fact of the matter is that the majority of synod fathers understood that their primary purpose is to speak clearly to the faithful and to the world about the unchanging teachings of the Catholic faith. Their main job is not to bring about a major change in doctrine or moral teaching. They do not have that power since they are the guardians of the faith that has been once delivered to the saints. They know they cannot change the core teachings even if they want to.
“......secular journalists too often have not troubled themselves to understand the Catholic faith. We do not believe that these core teachings are simply something somebody made up long ago because that was then and this is now. We do not believe that our core doctrines are simply the result of various historical circumstances and cultural conditions and that they can therefore be changed according to other historical circumstances and cultural conditions”
With each passing day the Vatican II Church looks less and less like the Holy Catholic Church.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.