Pope Francis is Irritated -- with a Pro-Marriage Book Published by Ignatius Press

Rorate Caeli ^ | 9/17/14 | New Catholic

[BlatherNaut]

"...However, according to a Vatican correspondent of the semi-official daily of the French Episcopate, La Croix (as authoritive a source as there can be for Catholic news in French), in an article published in today's print edition, Pope Francis is greatly irritated with this book, and specifically told Cardinal Müller not to promote it...."

[massgopguy]

Attendance has been down at my parish since he became Pope and we have lost several members of our Knights of Columbus Council because of him.

[El Cid]

Did the article say why he was ‘greatly irritated’ by the book?

[BlatherNaut]

The book apparently undermines the arguments of his favorite, hand-picked dissenter.

[SpirituTuo]

Yeah, right. A semi-sort of French source, said the Pope “...would have... would have.” It is great to know this author is a clairvoyant.

I personally think it is scandalous to create conflict in the Church where conflict doesn’t exist.

[opic]

It’s not a “semi-sort” of nothing, it’s the most important and oldest Catholic newspaper in the French-speaking world.

Plus, it completely matches everything we know about it. Since the news article author (it’s not an opinion piece) directly interviewed Kasper, there is no doubt about it really.

I personally think it is scandalous to downplay important information by refusing to face facts. Typical liberal tactic, embarrassing to see it here.

[vladimir998]

“Attendance has been down at my parish since he became Pope”

Well, I suppose that is offset by the world-wide uptick in Mass attendance since he became pope.

[Steve_Seattle]

"I personally think it is scandalous to create conflict in the Church where conflict doesn’t exist."

There is a huge amount of conflict in the church; it does not need to be "created." My guess is that only about 30% of Catholics, and about 10% of Catholics under thirty, subscribe to traditional Catholic teachings on faith and morals.

[vladimir998]

“I personally think it is scandalous to create conflict in the Church where conflict doesn’t exist.”

Yep.

[Steve_Seattle]

Uptick or downtick, the question is: Do the attendance figures correspond to an increase or a decline in the traditional faith? If attendance increased because the Church started showing porn movies during Mass, would that be a good thing?

[scouter]

Reports that he is irritated with this book, to which Cardinal Burke is a contributor, would certainly be consistent with the other reports that Burke is going to be kicked out of his job in the Vatican.

It is beginning to look like Pope Francis and President Obama read the same book: How to Get Rid of the Good Guys.

[piusv]

Pope Francis, who had expressed his attachment to the text of Cardinal Kasper at the time of the consistory, would be irritated by the publication of this collective work a few days before the Synod, according to a high-placed source close to the Argentine Pope. He would have demanded of Cardinal Müller not to take part in the promotion of the book, that also includes the texts of two Jesuits. The Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has already expounded on his position in other occasions.

Although totally believable, I much prefer when "high-placed sources" are actually named.

[Salvation]

Uptick here. We built a new church because the other one wasn’t large enough, and now this one is almost not large enough at two of our four Masses.

Go figure!

[Salvation]

Uptick at my church in another area too. Last year we had 12 people in RCIA. This year we have 23! Figure that one out!

[opic]

Where is that? All statistics point to no influence at all, from Europe to Latin America - to America.

[Salvation]

Available mid-November 2014.

In this volume five Cardinals of the Church, and four other scholars, respond to the call issued by Cardinal Walter Kasper for the Church to harmonize “fidelity and mercy in its pastoral practice with civilly remarried, divorced people”. Contributors include Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, C.S., Robert Dodaro, O.S.A., Paul Mankowski, S.J., Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, John M. Rist, and Archbishop Cyril Vasil, S.J.

Cardinal Kasper claims support for his position in early Church practice. The contributors bring their wealth of knowledge and expertise to bear upon this question, concluding that patristic and biblical texts do not support the kind of “toleration” of civil marriages following divorce advocated by Cardinal Kasper. They also examine the Eastern Orthodox practice of oikonomia (understood as “mercy” implying “toleration”) in cases of remarriage after divorce and in the context of the vexed question of Eucharistic communion. The book traces the long history of Catholic resistance to this convention, revealing serious theological difficulties inherent in past and current Orthodox Church practice.

As the authors demonstrate, the charge that traditional Catholic doctrine and contemporary pastoral practice are in contradiction is an erroneous perception that can be remedied by closer examination of the Church’s teachings.

"Because it is the task of the apostolic ministry to ensure that the Church remains in the truth of Christ and to lead her ever more deeply into that truth, pastors must promote the sense of faith in all the faithful, examine and authoritatively judge the genuineness of its expressions and educate the faithful in an ever more mature evangelical discernment."
- St. John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio

[BlatherNaut]

“Though Americans may report attending church more frequently than they actually do, our surveys find that self-reported levels of Mass attendance have remained virtually unchanged since the new pope was elected. Since April of this year, 39% of U.S. Catholics report attending Mass at least weekly, similar to the 40% attendance figure last year.”

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/11/25/no-clear-pope-francis-effect-among-u-s-catholics/

[BlatherNaut]

I personally think it is scandalous to create conflict in the Church where conflict doesn’t exist.

I personally think it is scandalous to create conflict in the Church by appointing known heretics and perverts such as Kasper and Danneels to the synod on the family.

[pieceofthepuzzle]

“My guess is that only about 30% of Catholics, and about 10% of Catholics under thirty, subscribe to traditional Catholic teachings on faith and morals.”

There has been variability in Church teaching, at the official level, so it's a bit hard to know exactly what ‘traditional’ means sometimes. That said, I don't disagree with you that people often ‘pick and choose’ what it means to ‘be Catholic’, or just to be a Christian. Fox had two priests on O’Reilly last night who were speaking about what the approach to ISIS should be, and how this fits with Christianity. The priests disagreed with each other on some major points, and neither really (IMHO) was sure what the Pope's position is on this.

As an aside, when I was a young kid I saw John Paul II in the US. He said, (paraphrasing since it has been a long time) that ‘Some of you here do not agree with all that the Church teaches. You are still welcome and part of us.’. I guess from my perspective, although there is clear right, and clear wrong, all of us are falling short, and inclusion is better than exclusion. That doesn't mean you turn your back on what is right, or that there aren't moral absolutes. It just means, to me, that if a young person is interested in Catholicism, or any other Christian denomination, but hasn't found their way to do some of the harder things that God asks, that doesn't mean they shouldn't be recognized among those with faith. Life is hard. Living as a good person is even harder. I fail each and every day, in some way.

[vladimir998]

Depends on who you talk to. In 2013 people were saying there was an uptick. Example: http://world.time.com/2013/11/11/francis-effect-boosts-attendance-at-italian-churches/

Since March this year, they’re saying there was no uptick. One thing that is happening is that lapsed Catholics are returning in some numbers.