Posted on 10/27/2014 6:12:31 AM PDT by EBH
Vatican City, Oct 26, 2014 / 12:52 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In an audience with members of an international Marian movement, Pope Francis warned that the sacrament of marriage has been reduced to a mere association, and urged participants to be witnesses in a secular world.
“The family is being hit, the family is being struck and the family is being bastardized,” the Pope told those in attendance at the Oct. 25 audience.
He warned against the common view in society that “you can call everything family, right?”
“What is being proposed is not marriage, it's an association. But it's not marriage! It's necessary to say these things very clearly and we have to say it!” Pope Francis stressed.
He lamented that there are so many “new forms” of unions which are “totally destructive and limiting the greatness of the love of marriage.”
Noting that there are many who cohabitate, or are separated or divorced, he explained that the “key” to helping is a pastoral care of “close combat” that assists and patiently accompanies the couple.
Pope Francis offered his words in a question-and-answer format during his audience with members of the Schoenstatt movement, held in celebration of the 100th anniversary of its founding in Germany.
Roughly 7,500 members of the international Marian and apostolic organization, both lay and clerics from dozens of nations around the world, were present in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall for the audience.
In his answers to questions regarding marriage, Pope Francis explained that contemporary society has “devalued” the sacrament by turning it into a social rite, removing the most essential element, which is union with God.
“So many families are divided, so many marriages broken, (there is) such relativism in the concept of the Sacrament of Marriage,” he said, noting that from a sociological and Christian point of view “there is a crisis in the family because it's beat up from all sides and left very wounded!”
In regard to Mary, the Roman Pontiff said that her visit to her cousin Elizabeth is a strong symbol for the movement’s mission, and emphasized how no Christians can call themselves orphans because they have a mother who continues to give them life.
Pope Francis recalled this history of the movement’s foundation, noting how it was started by Fr. Joseph Kentenich during the First World War. It was after his time in a concentration camp during World War II, the Pope noted, that the priest traveled to the peripheries of the world in order to preach the Gospel.
Witness is key to spreading the Gospel, he said, explaining that true witness means living “in such a way that the will to live as we live is born in the heart of others…Living in a way (so that) others are interested and ask: ‘why?’”
However, the Bishop of Rome emphasized that although we are called to give this witness, “we are not the saviors of anyone,” but rather are the transmitters of Jesus, who is the one that already saved us all.
True witness propels us out of ourselves and into the streets of the world, the Pope continued, repeating his common declaration that a Church, movement or community that doesn’t go out of itself “becomes sick.”
“A movement, a Church or a community that doesn't go out, is mistaken,” he said. “Don't be afraid! Go out in mission, go out on the road. We are walkers.”
In answer to questions regarding how he can be defined as “reckless,” the Roman Pontiff admitted that although he can be considered “a little reckless,” he still surrenders himself to prayer, saying that it helps him to place Jesus at the center, rather than himself.
“There is only one center: Jesus Christ – who rather looks at things from the periphery, no? Where he sees things more clearly,” the Pope observed, saying that when closed inside the small worlds of a parish, a community and even the Roman Curia, “then you do not grasp the truth.”
He explained how reality is always seen better from the peripheries rather than the center, and noted how he has seen some episcopal conferences who charge for almost every small thing, where “nothing escapes.”
“Everything is working well, everything is well organized,” the pontiff observed, but they could do with less “functionalism and more apostolic zeal, more interior freedom, more prayer, (and) this interior freedom is the courage to go out.”
When asked about his process of reforming the Roman Curia, Pope Francis explained that often renewal is understood as making small changes here or there, or even making changes out of the necessity of adapting to the times.
But this isn’t true renewal, he said, noting that while there are people every day who say that he needs to renew the Vatican Bank or the Curia, “It's strange (that) no one speaks of the reform of the heart.”
“They don't understand anything of what the renewal of the heart means: which is holiness, renewing one's (own) heart,” the Pope observed, saying that a renewed heart is able of going beyond disagreements such as family conflicts, war and those that arise out of the “culture of the provisional.”
He concluded by blessing the missionary crosses of those present, who are called to missionaries in the five continents of the world, and recalled how some time ago he was given an image of the Mother of Schoenstatt, who prays and is always present.
The movement’s encounter with Pope Francis came on the second day of their visit to Rome, which culminated with a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica presided over by Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz.
"Social Rite," what an interesting way to term it.
God Bless the Pope!
Finally! His words are clear!
Breaking news: the Pope is still Catholic.
Marriage is a covenant defined by God, not a contract defined by man and thus able to be regulated by man’s governments.
In Matthew chapter 19, Jesus stated it was God’s intention that only one man and one woman can be married. God defines other sexual relations including homosexual ones as immoral. People who practice them will not be granted eternal life. (Rev 22:15).
However, we have a secular government and a First Amendment. But this cuts both ways, a fact most forget.
Because too many government officials are now hostile to how God defines marriage, government is being used to force me to recognize and even enable “marriage” that God tells me is morally repulsive. Just as we have a separation of church and state, we must now have a separation of marriage and state. When marriage is a private matter, then anyone can enter into any manner of relationship they please, but they cannot use government to impose their definition on others.
“God Bless the Pope! Finally! His words are clear!”
How can you be sure he was not mistranslated??
In all our focus on homosexuality and homosexual marriage, let us not lose site of the bigger picture and other (lost) battles in the areas of:
— teen sex
— pre-marital sex
— no-fault divorce
— cohabitation
— acceptance of adultery
— pornography
— equivalence of males and females
— our acceptance of entertainment’s acceptance and normalization of all the above
BUT, to be consistent he would need to condeem all supposed “marriages” that are not performed by a religious leader as simply “social rites”.
These people who run off and get “married” by a judge are not really married either!
Finally! His words are clear!
^^^This!^^^
It could be a mistranslation but I don’t think it is inaccurate. I trust this source over secular sources.
It has been obvious to me that other secular news sources have seemingly and deceitfully altered Francis’ words and their meaning. This has caused a great amount of dismay.
The Catholic News Agency source has been consistent and free from propaganda from everything I have seen. It was founded after JP II. The author seems credible.
The article is paraphrases Francis’ comments before members of the International Marian Movement.
More importantly many other credible sources agree with the character of this article. Here is one:
Francis needs to come to firm decisions and stick to them. This isn’t funny anymore. Either uphold Church values and morals, or announce you’re not in communion with the
Church and resign.
This week.
“It has been obvious to me that other secular news sources have seemingly and deceitfully altered Francis’ words and their meaning. This has caused a great amount of dismay.”
Maybe, but he seems unable to communicate clearly. The Vatican seems unable to put out a clear statement from their office on Translation.
[I’ve read on FR that the Vatican employs formerly homeless people in the translation office, who are using Google Translate to put out these statements.]
From a Catholic perspective it is the couple who are the actual ministers of the sacrament. The priest is there present only to witness the marriage and to give the Church’s blessing. The need of the priest is not of the essence of the sacrament and was only required after the Council of Trent in order to assure that marriages were publicly known and entered into freely. The need for the priest to witness a Catholic wedding is a question of positive law and not doctrine. It is also only applicable to Catholics. The essence of marriage is the free exchange of vows by the couple.
He always was. This Pope has enemies. Not that they matter, if God wants to change Popes, he will in a heart beat.
When the RCC excommunicates Catholic politicians and pundits that support homosexual ‘marriage’ and abortion, I’ll believe the RCC is serious.
Until then, talk is cheap.
These people who run off and get “married” by a judge are not really married either!
...such a ‘marriage’ would already be recognized by the Church as not valid...and stable grounds for annulment...
Agreed. It’s been a long slippery slope and we’re all guilty. It happened over generations, one generation not appreciating the “backwardness” of the prior generation.
The only good news is that I see many parents that grew up in the 80’s and 90’s that have standards for their children that are higher than those imposed upon them when they were children. Of course this isn’t the case for many but there are those that are learning from these cultural shifts and they’re the types of people that want many children.
It’s the problem liberals will always have eventually, they don’t have enough children. They can only become a collective voice that is disproportionately loud to society. They might never stop but it is ultimately a losing battle, they have few children of their own to indoctrinate - so they try to confuse ours.
How is the entertainment industry not committing child abuse? At the very least they’re exploiting our children, influencing them in ways the parents find repugnant. In this connected world the biggest challenge for any parent is to shield them from all the distractions in life.
Marriage is a sacred covenant between the couple and God.
If the ceremony didn't involve God it not a wedding in my opinion.
The homo's can call what they are doing whatever they want, but it's NOT a wedding!
Most gay-hated man since Eddie Murphy.
I would be even “kinder”
Send a Bishop declaring them in MORTAL sin -and
will be losing their soul forever if they do not repent
and try to cure the EVIL they have inflicted on their
fellow man- if no change forthcoming... excommunicate
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