Those are throwaway lines. I see the reaction on the part of the world, and Bergoglio might as well have not even added them. They are fig leaves, covering the pagan nakedness of this document, and not well at all.
Up until this encyclical, I have been careful in what I thought and said about Bergoglio. I tried to pick out what was worthy in what he said, and tried to interpret as charitably as I could what was not espcially worthy.
But this document is not Catholic. Bad at it though I may be, I am.
I am left wondering about the legitimacy of this papacy.
I don't want to see: 1) liberally-inclined Catholics following Bergoglio off the cliff into gaia worship and 2) otherwise faithful Catholics driven out of the Church because they are scandalized by a (materially?) heretical pope. No priest, no matter how important, will ever drive me from the Church. I know where Jesus is. But I see Catholics losing their faith, and it breaks my heart.
sitetest
Material heresy means that the person is ignorant of the Truth. Can a pope have ignorance as an excuse?
“I don’t want to see: 1) liberally-inclined Catholics following Bergoglio off the cliff into gaia worship and 2) otherwise faithful Catholics driven out of the Church because they are scandalized by a (materially?) heretical pope. No priest, no matter how important, will ever drive me from the Church. I know where Jesus is. But I see Catholics losing their faith, and it breaks my heart.”
Agree whole heartedly, that is exactly how I feel. That is why we need to pray, not a few words of lip service, but on our knees. We can only trust God to work this out for His glory! That’s the only truth we can believe in today’s world.