[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Kasper Doubles Down on the Big Lie Concerning Amoris Laetitia

Fatima Perspectives ^ | March 6, 2018 | Christopher A. Ferrara

[ebb tide]

As faithful Catholics the world over rise in opposition to the confusion and division engendered by Amoris Laetitia (AL) — a subversive document without precedent in the 2000-year-long history of the papacy — the Modernist whose book on “mercy” started the ball rolling for the admission of public adulterers to Holy Communion now doubles down on the Big Lie concerning AL.

In a recent interview with Patheos, Cardinal Walter Kasper repeats the deceptive claim that as heresy “is a tenacious disagreement with formal dogma,” AL cannot in any sense be considered heretical because “the doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage has not been called into question on Pope Francis’ part!”  Like the sophist he is, Kasper points to the narrow canonical definition of heresy — the obstinate, post-baptismal denial of an article of divine and Catholic faith — while ignoring the broader sense of heresy as any error against the Faith. 

In this case, the error is that the Sixth Commandment’s application can vary according to the “complexity of various situations” and the “concrete complexity of one’s limits” (cf. AL ¶¶ 296, 303), so that conduct constituting a mortal sin for some people may not be so for others.  Kasper continues to pretend that this utter moral nonsense, destructive of the entire moral order, is sound doctrine instead of an unparalleled departure from what the Church has always taught regarding the absolutely binding and exceptionless character of the negative precepts of the moral law. So John Paul II insisted in line with all of Tradition. To quote his teaching in Veritatis splendor:

“The negative precepts of the natural law are universally valid. They oblige each and every individual, always and in every circumstance. It is a matter of prohibitions which forbid a given action semper et pro semper, without exception, because the choice of this kind of behavior is in no case compatible with the goodness of the will of the acting person, with his vocation to life with God and to communion with his neighbor. It is prohibited — to everyone and in every case — to violate these precepts. They oblige everyone, regardless of the cost, never to offend in anyone, beginning with oneself, the personal dignity common to all.”

Doubling down on the Big Lie, Kasper claims that a radical break with the constant teaching of the Church that John Paul defended is actually “development” of his teaching:

Q. Specifically speaking of the contested article 351 of Amoris laetitia regarding the admission to the Sacraments of the divorced and remarried, you affirm in your book that this article should be read in the light of the Decree of the Council of Trent on the Eucharist. For what reason?

R. – The Council of Trent says that in the case in which there is no grave sin, but venial, the Eucharist removes that sin. Sin is a complex term. It not only includes an objective principle, but there is also the intention, the person’s conscience. And this needs to be examined in the internal forum — in the Sacrament of Reconciliation — if there is truly a grave sin, or perhaps a venial sin, or perhaps nothing. If it is only a venial sin, the person can be absolved and admitted to the Sacrament of the Eucharist. This already corresponds with the doctrine of Pope John Paul II and, in this sense, Pope Francis is in complete continuity with the direction opened by preceding Popes. I do not see any reason, then, to say that this is a heresy.

Here we have the hissing of a serpent, who tells people living in adultery that if only they contrive a sufficient excuse for their behavior, a priest in the confessional will “downgrade” their objective mortal sin to a venial sin or even a petty fault and admit them to Holy Communion based on nothing more than a claim of “conscience” in “complex circumstances.”

This grotesque falsehood, says Kasper the lying sophist, “corresponds with the doctrine of Pope John Paul II.”  In truth, it is precisely the error John Paul II condemned in precisely the context of the demand for the admission of the divorced and “remarried” to Holy Communion based on “conscience,” which ignores the truth that one’s conscience must be informed by the moral teaching of the Church:

Veritatis splendor:

“In order to justify these positions, some authors have proposed a kind of double status of moral truth. Beyond the doctrinal and abstract level, one would have to acknowledge the priority of a certain more concrete existential consideration.

“The latter, by taking account of circumstances and the situation, could legitimately be the basis of certain exceptions to the general rule and thus permit one to do in practice and in good conscience what is qualified as intrinsically evil by the moral law. … On this basis, an attempt is made to legitimize so-called ‘pastoral’ solutions contrary to the teaching of the Magisterium, and to justify a ‘creative’ hermeneutic according to which the moral conscience is in no way obliged, in every case, by a particular negative precept.

“No one can fail to realize that these approaches pose a challenge to the very identity of the moral conscience in relation to human freedom and God’s law.”

1998 Instruction of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:

“In other words, if the prior marriage of two divorced and remarried members of the faithful was valid, under no circumstances can their new union be considered lawful and therefore reception of the sacraments is intrinsically impossible. The conscience of the individual is bound to this norm without exception.”

It must be said in all simplicity: This entire project of undermining the Church’s teaching respecting the intrinsic impossibility of public adulterers being admitted to Holy Communion, no matter what they subjectively claim “in conscience,” is a work of the Father of Lies.  And Kasper is one of the many liars the devil is employing for this work of subversion. 

But, to recall the consoling words of Sister Lucia to the late Cardinal Caffarra:

“Father, a time will come when the decisive battle between the kingdom of Christ and Satan will be over marriage and the family. And those who will work for the good of the family will experience persecution and tribulation. But do not be afraid, because Our Lady has already crushed his head.”