Posted on 04/08/2016 4:25:28 AM PDT by DeathBeforeDishonor1
ROME In a broad proclamation on family life, Pope Francis on Friday called for the Roman Catholic Church to be more welcoming and less judgmental, and he seemingly signaled a pastoral path for divorced and remarried Catholics to receive holy communion.
The 256-page document known as an apostolic exhortation and titled Amoris Laetitia, Latin for The Joy of Love calls for priests to welcome single parents, gay people and unmarried straight couples who are living together.
A pastor cannot feel that it is enough to simply apply moral laws to those living in irregular situations, as if they were stones to throw at peoples lives, he wrote.
But Francis once again closed the door on same-sex marriage, saying it cannot be seen as the equivalent of heterosexual unions.
The document offers no new rules or marching orders, and from the outset Francis makes plain that no top-down edicts are coming.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
To be absolutley clear......despite the headline hes caling for Gay communion and acceptance.
He did not close the closed door, he just opened it...enough for the wind to blow it off its hinges.
I suspect the ambiguity was intentional.
Is that: welcome single parents, welcome gay people, and welcome unmarried straight couples who are living together?
Or is it: welcome single parents, and welcome gay people and unmarried straight couples who are living together?
The first is entirely appropriate; it is what Jesus would do. Single parenting has been happening for many thousands of years, and the Church should not reject those single parents or their children. They are more in need of help, moral guidance, and community than are those who are married. Similarly, we all face various temptations. How can we expect celibate gay Christians to resist their temptations if we do not allow them to participate in a community that accepts them while supporting and building their desire to follow God's word? Even straight couples who are living together need to hear both "neither do I judge you" and "go forth and sin no more".
I’m sure this is just an error in translation.
I miss Pope Benedict XVI.
I miss Pius X (and I’m not SSPX).
Single parents covers a lot of territory. There is nothing morally reprehensible about being widowed, for example, unless the widow(er) has killed his/her spouse. Likewise, an abandoned spouse has not usually so transgressed, simply by being abandoned, as to justify being shunned and excluded from the Eucharist. If otherwise in the state of grace, such a person is welcomed to receive the Eucharist.
"Gay" people (why do we accept THEIR chosen fantasy terminology?) also covers a lot of territory. The intrinsically disordered person may nonetheless live a life of celibacy as a member of the laity just as normal heterosexual people are required to live when not married (in the legitimate sense of that word). The celibate person who is intrinsically disordered is welcome to receive the Eucharist is otherwise also in the state of grace.
Unmarried people living out a sexual relationship while "living together" or otherwise, whether normally heterosexual in their behavior or not are known as fornicators and are therefore not in the state of grace and therefore not eligible to receive the Eucharist unless and until their sins are forgiven after sincere repentance and exhibiting a firm intention not to sin again. This is normally achieved by the means of what used to be called the Sacrament of PENANCE and nowadays is called the sacrament of "reconciliation." Necessarily, the penitent swallows his/her pride, recognizes the priest as acting on behalf of God in granting or (in rare cases) withholding absolution, and leaves the confessional restored after a good confession.
Bergoglio's document will be viewed as a document legitimatizing the wanton indulgence of illicit lusts as somehow not sufficiently sinful to exclude the practitioner from receipt of the Eucharist.
As George Weigel has recently written, the Deposit of the Faith is not open to revision even by a pope. This is true no matter how weaselly the verbiage employed.
Before any more damage is done, it is time Bergoglio retired and that he be replaced by a genuinely Catholic pope. Meanwhile, as Bishop Rene Gracida recently observed, it is time to express the sensum fideli (sense of the Faithful) from the pews and to shout: No! That is wrong!
Arthur McGowan:
If the foregoing is erroneous, I welcome correction from you, whom I trust.
Sin is alive and well in the ashes of the Church left behind by Jesus Christ.
I believe I stand a much better chance of entering Heaven than will those popes subsequent to Vatican II.
This communist, secular humanist who some call pope will find out what an eternity truly means.
Sedevacantism is the proper choice for those who wish to keep their souls in good repair.
More specifically, "The Joy of Sodomy".
My grandparents weren’t born when he was Pope - but his warnings about how changing times/society can’t change Church teachings have probably never been more applicable than today.
:(
(*sigh*) I know I’ve said this innumerable times, already, but...
...can someone PLEASE get this man out of the Chair of St. Peter?!?!?
If he sees the Church as a hospital for souls, we may notice that he is administering poison rather than medicine to the patients.
Do people mired in such "lifestyles" have a great need for "help, moral guidance,and community (whatever that may mean in this context) and for God's Word? Of course, as do we all. As it has been observed, all men (and women) fall short of the glory of God. No one (and therefore no one in a state of sin) NEEDS to hear: "neither do I judge you." It is one thing when Jesus Christ offers that to one woman who came near to being executed for adultery. He knew her heart, her repentance and her contrition as His priests (with a scant few dead exceptions such as Padre Pio and St. Joh Vianney) do not.
It is bad enough that Bergoglio, questioned about sexually perverted priests, delivered the line: Who am I to judge? He is, of course, the Successor of Peter to whom Jesus gave the power of the Keys, to bind on earth and to bind in heaven. THAT is who he is to judge and, if he won't, he should retire in silence immediately! Now, compounding that infamous statement, Bergoglio is encouraging priests to do the same "Who am I to judge?" dance with penitents arguably seeking reconciliation with God but only on their own sinful terms.
May we have another conclave and a new and actually Catholic pope ASAP. Bergoglio does not have to die to bring this about. He can retire to a Unitarian rest home where I am confident he will be quite comfortable with his new non-judgmental friends.
As to Pius IX who bore the perfect papal name: Pio Nono, he demonstrated that even a liberal can become pope and then "grow" in office to actual Catholicism.
Agreed. This Pope is (probably intentionally, unless the media are editing his comments) not articulating the full message,. "Go and sin no more" is an essential part of any discussion on these topics - and homosexual conduct is very clearly and unambiguously one of the many sins that Satan uses to tempt people. The facts that it is a sin, and that living together outside marriage is a sin, should be core to any such discussion.
Our world is very confusing and falling apart at the seams. Our religion needs to tell us that we strive for a greater good. Folks need a core of values to believe in.
In a time when it won't be possible to feel safe in public bathrooms anymore because its anything goes for choosing ones sexual identity, we don't need to embrace those who are open about being gay and/or perverted. At a time when ISIS is winning people over by pretending to have strong unwavering beliefs, we don't need a "do your own thing" Church. We need a Church that's a warrior for Christian values.
JMHO
Sedevacantism is for those who reject the promise of Jesus Christ that He will be with the Church all days even unto the consummation of the earth. Thanks, but no thanks! He is my Savior and yours not some taste-offended schismatic looney tunes.
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