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 ...
Indeed.
I'd like to know what you think about this article, posted elsewhere on FR, (and the commentary after it): http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3069378/posts
What Pope Francis is saying here, is that it's not enough to just repeat law, and more law, and yet again law; the Church must first, and always, evangelize, which means to draw people into the love of Christ our God.
The moral law doesn't mean much to people who see it as just an irrelevant restriction on their freedom, imposed on them by busybodies who are irritating interlopers in their lives; but once they are attracted to Christ and begin to acquire the mind of Christ, gradually it makes sense to them: they grasp the horror of what they're doing, AND they have the grace from Him which strengthens them to do good and avoid evil.
What the Pope said to the gynecologists is beautiful: that the unborn child has the face of Jesus Christ, the face of the Lord! That is not "shying away from condemning sinful behavior"; it is, rather, showing exactly why these things are to be condemned.
Bedtime for me. Good night and God bless you!
“Popes aren’t “worshiped”.”
Then why do you kneel at his feet, kiss his ring, and call him “Holy” “Father”???????
I asked this same kind of question on another thread and was told to “not be a Catholic” and that way, “I wouldn’t have to worry about it.”
Will any ONE of you Catholics give me a straight answer???
Next thing he will be saying is that Jesus didn`t really die for our sins.
Or is he going to come out and say that homosexuality and abortion are now OK? Or has he already said that?
If he was to say now that they are not sins, it would not matter
The Pope does not even know Jesus...That`s what I think
Thank you as we’ll. We will agree to disagree. but must say, there is a gulf between those who are my brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, and good people like you. There are those who have submitted to Christ, and I know them. I do not know you. Do you understand?
Absolutely it will, and its basically foretold in The Bible
Not just the Catholic Church either btw
Any person, whether they are a layperson, or cleric, is WRONG if they do not follow God’s laws, but that doesn’t mean that the religion itself is wrong - the person, who doesn’t follow Church teachings is wrong.
I’m glad you read the Bible, but where does it say that you can leave the religion that Jesus started?
“And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,* and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”
Jesus started the Church. The Church gets us to go to Mass each weekend, as well as other rules. Human nature would cause many of us to stay home on many Sundays, but the requirement to attend Church gives us more grace, because we are adoring God in the Church that Jesus fiounded.
“..Note he points out the example of a not sexually active gay priest...who are we to judge? ..”
Very good.
Temptation is not wrong; only giving in to the temptation is wrong.
btw, the Catechism calls homosexuality a disorder.
“.. read MSM accounts with a huge grain of salt. “
We all certainly need to do that EACH AND EVERY TIME, and thanks for the link. I’ll check it out!
Some of your remarks are valid, but some atheists might sincerely not know all you said.
But God knows their hearts, and he will judge accordingly.
“There are not over a 100 people in the U.S. that hate the Catholic Church, there are millions however, who hate what
they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church — which is, of course, quite a different thing.” — Bishop Fulton J. Sheen
As I said in previous post:
MATTHEW Chapter 16 “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,* and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”
Jesus started the Church. The Church gets us to go to Mass each weekend, as well as other rules. Human nature would cause many of us to stay home on many Sundays, but the requirement to attend Church gives us more grace, because we are adoring God in the Church that Jesus founded.
For anyone interested in reading the Pope’s actual words, without the media spin:
http://americamagazine.org/pope-interview
SkyPilot says: “The Bible says that we are to spread the Good News (the “Great Commission”).
Pope Francis says: “We need to proclaim the Gospel on every street corner,” the pope says’
snip http://americamagazine.org/pope-interview
What’s this? Do you and Pope Francis have an area of agreement? :)
I bet you will find mega areas of agreements, but you won’t find them through LMSM.
The Church that I put stock in is the Church that Jesus started.
It’s very clear:
MATTHEW Chapter 16 “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,* and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”
Please don’t ignore this from the Bible, SkyPilot. It’s plain and clear.
“Perhaps the most revealing detail in Pope Francis’s lengthy interview, conducted by the Italian Jesuit Antonio Spadaro and published yesterday in English translation in the Jesuit journal America, is the pontiff’s reflection on one of his favorite Roman walks, prior to his election:
When I had to come to to Rome, I always stayed in [the neighborhood of the] Via della Scrofa. From there I often visited the Church of St. Louis of France, and I went there to contemplate the painting of “The Calling of St. Matthew” by Caravaggio. That finger of Jesus, pointing at Matthew. That’s me. I feel like him. Like Matthew. . . . This is me, a sinner on whom the Lord has turned his gaze.
The Calling of St. Matthew is an extraordinary painting in many ways, including Caravaggio’s signature use of light and darkness to heighten the spiritual tension of a scene. In this case, though, the chiaroscuro setting is further intensified by a profoundly theological artistic device: The finger of Jesus, pointing at Matthew, seems deliberately to invoke the finger of God as rendered by Michelangelo on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Thus Caravaggio, in depicting the summons of the tax collector, unites creation and redemption, God the Father and the incarnate Son, personal call and apostolic mission.”
more: http://www.eppc.org/publications/the-christ-centered-pope/
Do not think you can throw around what your grandmother taught you and have that stand before The Lord. Come to this debate with His Word, and His Word only. No one is impressed by your Catholic "credentials" except you. God is approached in humility.
My grandmothers was a wonderful woman, and got on her knees and prayed all the time, using the chair, as an altar, and didn’t care who was around.
BUT I did NOT quote my grandmother.
I quoted the Bible.
Is it because I quoted from the Bible, showing Who started the Catholic Church that upsets you?
Don’t pick and choose quotes from the Bible.
When I have listened to EWTN Catholic radio, more than once I heard FORMER nonCatholics, including a former Protestant pastor say they converted to the Catholic religion because it’s the religion Jesus started.
BTTT
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