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Pope Francis: Catholic Church must focus beyond "small-minded rules"
CBS ^ | 19 Sep 13 | CBS staff writer

Posted on 09/19/2013 2:46:04 PM PDT by SkyPilot

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis has warned that the Catholic Church's moral structure might "fall like a house of cards" if it doesn't balance its divisive rules about abortion, gays and contraception with the greater need to make it a merciful, more welcoming place for all.

Six months into his papacy, Francis set out his vision for the church and his priorities as pope in a lengthy and remarkably blunt interview with La Civilta Cattolica, the Italian Jesuit magazine. It was published simultaneously Thursday in Jesuit journals in 16 countries, including America magazine in the U.S.

John Allen, a senior correspondent with the National Catholic Reporter, told CBS Radio News the pope is not changing church policy but makes it clear that he wants a less judgmental church.

"I think he is conscious that he's at a sort of make-or-break moment where the kind of pope he wants to be - if he wants to affect real change - he's got to be explicit about it," Allen said.

Play Video Pope's comments on gays could have ripple effect

Play Video Cardinal Dolan: Pope's views on gay priest are not a shift in church teaching

In the 12,000-word article, Francis expands on his ground-breaking comments over the summer about gays and acknowledges some of his own faults. He sheds light on his favorite composers, artists, authors and films (Mozart, Caravaggio, Dostoevsky and Fellini's "La Strada") and says he prays even while at the dentist's office.

But his vision of what the church should be stands out, primarily because it contrasts so sharply with many of the priorities of his immediate predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. They were both intellectuals for whom doctrine was paramount, an orientation that guided the selection of a generation of bishops and cardinals around the globe.

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: abortion; catholic; homosexuality; pope; popefrancis
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To: icwhatudo

SHEESH ...

“c) do not seek salvation from their urges to relentlesslya and dogmatically enforcement function as a Nationalizing Thought Police Force WHO ARE IN JUDGMENT OF YOU AND YOURS,”

SHOULD HAVE BEEN:

c) do not seek salvation from their urges to relentlessly and dogmatically function as a Nationalizing Thought Police Force WHO ARE IN JUDGMENT OF YOU AND YOURS,


141 posted on 09/19/2013 7:34:40 PM PDT by First_Salute (May God save our democratic-republican government, from a government by judiciary.)
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To: FreeReign

You won’t know that based on some of the FR posts and replies.


142 posted on 09/19/2013 7:35:47 PM PDT by svcw (Stand or die)
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What I see are some particularly sinful people relishing their new found status of acceptance (as they see it) within the church, not rushing into confession or RCIA. Maybe the tide will turn, but scoring the early innings of this doesn’t show God’s team in the lead. Maybe the pope thought he needed a Hail Mary pass?


143 posted on 09/19/2013 7:45:36 PM PDT by steve86 (Some things aren't really true but you wouldn't be half surprised if they were.)
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To: stockpirate
the HCB has a requirement that we start getting the chip implants in 2014.

I've heard that if you cross your fingers behind your back when getting the implant/injection it doesn't really count.

144 posted on 09/19/2013 7:48:11 PM PDT by steve86 (Some things aren't really true but you wouldn't be half surprised if they were.)
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To: Talisker

“What could you possibly know about Jesus’s infinite mind? What Jesus held back on, and what he didn’t? You think you’re qualified to judge as Jesus judged? YOU?!”

Wow, the Catholic self-righteousness knows no bounds.

Yes, me. I am filled with the Holy Spirit and as such He directs me and gives me wisdom and knowledge of His word (His mind).

The Pharisees had an equally hard time believing that anyone outside their religion could know the mind of God, and Jesus did not hold back on them. Neither do I hold back on you. Come out of that abomination and dead religion called Catholicism. Until you do and are born again and filled with the Spirit, this self-righteous indignation will be all you have, along with a whole lotta ritual and sacrament and what-not.

If you are not totally foolish and blinded to truth, perhaps you will see yourself in this video, which is wonderful by the way. Both people, former Catholics, told of how insulted, indignant, and self-righteous they felt when anyone dared tell them they were wrong and dead in their sin. When anyone outside the Catholic church dared say they knew the mind of God and the things in His word.

What do you think the Spirit is for and why He comes to live in the hearts of a believer? Precisely to impart God’s wisdom and mind as He reveals it. It is not a secret nor is it rocket science, but you’d rather have your piety and religion than truth. You’d rather go to your grave shouting me down as arrogant while you are surely on your way to hell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOR3JuQuvqo

I do not consider Catholics to be Christian even though they wail and flail that they are, so Matthew 18:21-22 does not apply here. None of your verses do as you are not a true believer (being Catholic). The only thing I am to do with unbelievers is speak truth and I am not required to do it softly or quietly.

I tell you exactly as Jesus did:

Luke 18:9-14 ESV

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ...

Matthew 21:31-32 ESV

“Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, ‘The first.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.’”

You too can know the mind of God by being born again and indwelt with His Spirit. Or you can keep your religion and self-righteous indignation and let it lead you straight to hell. Your choice, Talisker.


145 posted on 09/19/2013 7:50:06 PM PDT by jodyel
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To: Bridesheadfan

“NARAL posted a “Thanks to Pope Francis from all pro choice American women” on their Facebook page. I think I’m gonna be sick.”

This Pope will muddle Truth. Jesuits are not simple minded. They are systematically schooled in philosophy, logic and theology. He is not saying anything lazily.

His ambiguity and omissions of the Fullness of Truth are purposeful. The gleeful choice Catholics on Arroyo’s FB page are spiking the football on the “religious right”

We have mostly conservative or orthodox Catholics on FR. They will see, in time, that their reactionary and weak defenses of this Pope’s comments won’t hold up to flailing defenses regarding the media and the misused, “judge not...or be judged”, select a verse strawmen.

Tough times are coming for the Catholic Church.
Expect more rollback of JPII and Benedict and more caving in to the secular culture.


146 posted on 09/19/2013 7:59:34 PM PDT by rbmillerjr (We have No Opposition to Obam a's Socialist Agenda:)
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To: SkyPilot

The pope’s message is disturbing. Some claim that his message is being misinterpreted by the liberal media.

I can read his words for myself. Maybe I’m slow, but his message IS disturbing.


147 posted on 09/19/2013 8:13:05 PM PDT by Girlene (Hey, NSA!)
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To: Girlene

*8misinterpreted by the liberal media.**

It always is. Wait for stories from Catholic sources tomorrow.


148 posted on 09/19/2013 8:22:42 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: Girlene

You’re not slow. His message is crystal clear. This man is to the papacy what BHO is to the presidency.


149 posted on 09/19/2013 8:31:23 PM PDT by WhistlingPastTheGraveyard (If you don't stand up, you don't stand a chance.)
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To: GreyFriar

Good post. We would be wise to take this report with a grain of salt.


150 posted on 09/19/2013 8:39:45 PM PDT by PghBaldy (12/14 - 930am -rampage begins... 12/15 - 1030am - Obama's advance team scouts photo-op locations.)
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To: svcw

Yes, those small-minded rules like, “I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Way too restrictive.


151 posted on 09/19/2013 8:55:50 PM PDT by Henry Hnyellar
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To: Henry Hnyellar

He is trending towards moral relativism and social gospel.


152 posted on 09/19/2013 9:18:18 PM PDT by BurningOak (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2830849/reply?c=1)
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To: jodyel
Every man, and woman, will disappoint but Jesus.

And even He disappoints me when I am wanting wrong things which He, in love & righteousness, will not send my way.

In the end, though, further understanding turns that momentary disappointment into thankfulness.

"Grace is receiving that which we do not deserve; Mercy is NOT receiving what we DO deserve!" - David Jeremiah

153 posted on 09/19/2013 9:55:35 PM PDT by BwanaNdege ("Life is short. It's even shorter if you suggest going out for pizza on your anniversary" Peter Egan)
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To: GreyFriar
In a broad-ranging interview, Pope Francis has underlined the need for the Church “to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful.” “Ministers of the church must be ministers of mercy above all,” the Pope insists in the course of a 12,000-word interview. Conducted by Father Antonio Spadaro, the editor of the Italian Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica, the interview was translated and published simultaneously by other Jesuit publications, including the American magazine America.

And...The Vatican vets all content in Civilta Cattolica, and the pope approved the Italian version of the article, which America magazine, the Jesuit journal in the U.S., translated into English. (http://news.yahoo.com/pope-criticizes-church-emphasis-abortion-gays-220829409.html)

154 posted on 09/19/2013 10:06:24 PM PDT by boatbums (God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
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To: Arthurio

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


155 posted on 09/19/2013 10:18:11 PM PDT by Anti-Hillary (Soon everything in America will be "free", except it's people.)
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To: SkyPilot

.

Praise GOD that LOVE is the Only Reality ..and GOD is LOVE.

Something Pope Francis seems to reflect quite Lovingly.

.


156 posted on 09/19/2013 10:40:07 PM PDT by ALOHA RONNIE ("ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer/Veteran-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965 http://www.lzxray.com)
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To: SkyPilot

Wonder how many folks had a knee-jerk reaction w/o hearing Pope Francis’s entire quote, w/o the spin.


157 posted on 09/19/2013 10:40:53 PM PDT by Sun (Pray that God sends us good leaders. Please say a prayer now.)
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To: GreyFriar

Thanks for the link. It sounds like a “hate the sin; love the sinner” message.


158 posted on 09/19/2013 10:47:18 PM PDT by Sun (Pray that God sends us good leaders. Please say a prayer now.)
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To: GatorGirl

“..as reported by the National Catholic Reporter ..”

The NON-Catholic National “Catholic” Reporter did this? Leave it to C-BS to pick this publication.

The National “Catholic” Reporter has been asked to leave Catholic out of their name by Catholic leaders, but they’d rather continue their spin.


159 posted on 09/19/2013 10:52:06 PM PDT by Sun (Pray that God sends us good leaders. Please say a prayer now.)
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To: stockpirate

What is the HCB?


160 posted on 09/19/2013 11:38:09 PM PDT by mdmathis6
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