What amazes is that the German cardinals made their bizarre case at the earlier synod this winter, the synod vote was taken, and their case fell through the floor. Typically the vote of the full synod is meaningful, and the subject is not then expected to be immediately resurrected and drug along into the next synod for more redress, as if the vote itself had never occurred.
It was Pope Francis who stuck it back on the agenda for this July synod.
Nevermind that the “book of five” was published by Burke and four others, dispatched to the Vatican synod for distribution and was summarily captured outside the door of deliberation and NEVER passed to the Cardinals in session.
Deemed a distraction, the Cardinals nevertheless voted well and killed the German agenda, without the armor the book had chronicled for their use.
Well, by now, they have that book and should be well armed to resist again, in July. If this foolishness continues to be entertained, and/or a clatter wagon full of bishops in Germany take the praxis into their own hands and defy the Church, then don’t we have a split on our hands, or just more “love” and “dialogue” to distract us from delivering Truth to the Church and to the real world.
I don’t think he’s “closed the door.” He’s just gone silent on his objectives because his words were causing too much controversy and he was getting more push-back than he had expected. So now he comes out and says some completely anodyne things and everybody breathes s sigh of relief.
But if you look more closely, you will find that virtually all of those supposedly orthodox statements either included an ambiguous phrase or were followed by words that cast doubt on them. Plus he is bringing more and more radicals into the Vatican everybday, ignoring the Curia and hanging out with his private, heterodox “kitchen cabinet,” and letting himself be photographed now only when he is out ostentatiously kissing a leper or two or hugging a communist dictator.