you change what's broken.
Posted on 10/17/2015 9:36:47 PM PDT by marshmallow
THE Vatican always seems to have the secrets and intrigues of a Renaissance court — which, in a way, is what it still remains. The ostentatious humility of Pope Francis, his scoldings of high-ranking prelates, have changed this not at all; if anything, the pontiff’s ambitions have encouraged plotters and counterplotters to work with greater vigor.
And right now the chief plotter is the pope himself.
Francis’s purpose is simple: He favors the proposal, put forward by the church’s liberal cardinals, that would allow divorced and remarried Catholics to receive communion without having their first marriage declared null.
Thanks to the pope's tacit support, this proposal became a central controversy in last year’s synod on the family and the larger follow-up, ongoing in Rome right now..
But if his purpose is clear, his path is decidedly murky. Procedurally, the pope’s powers are near-absolute: If Francis decided tomorrow to endorse communion for the remarried, there is no Catholic Supreme Court that could strike his ruling down.
At the same time, though, the pope is supposed to have no power to change Catholic doctrine. This rule has no official enforcement mechanism (the Holy Spirit is supposed to be the crucial check and balance), but custom, modesty, fear of God and fear of schism all restrain popes who might find a doctrinal rewrite tempting.
And a change of doctrine is what conservative Catholics, quite reasonably, believe that the communion proposal favored by Francis essentially implies.
There’s probably a fascinating secular political science tome to be written on how the combination of absolute and absolutely-limited power shapes the papal office. In such a book, Francis’s recent maneuvers would deserve a chapter, because he’s clearly looking for a mechanism that would let him exercise his powers without undercutting his authority.
The key to........
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The sex scandals that broke in about 2002 made the perfect opportunity for Catholics to give up a broken church structure and join another church committed wholly to the Lord. All too few took the opportunity to do so. But—hey!—now’s still a good time: Better late than never.
Pray tell, what church specifically in this Church you mention that “is wholly committed to the Lord”?
Nah.
He and His Church--- and I as part of His Church --- have permanent vows. He won't abandon His Bride.
That’s a really good article. How the bleep does this guy stay employed by the NY Times?
you change what's broken.
Holy cow! Reading the comments on the Times website... There is some hard core hatred there and lots of liberal heads exploding.
I often wonder the same. Ross Douthat is top drawer.
Scandal or not, Christ established ONE Church to teach ONE truth. That is the Catholic Church. The rest is, well, just the rest.
There are an inordinate number of comments that don’t get it. Does the pope refuse divorced but not remarried catholics communion? Many are talking like divorced people cannot receive communion. They can and for a long time where I live but they have held the line on divorced and remarried sans annulment catholics receiving communion.
Ask Jesus, for once.
Where the church doesn't seem to align with scripture, I have learned to keep still about it on FR.
I don't understand people that could so easily just junk their faith for an easier one..
yes, I said easier.....being a good practicing Catholic is a very difficult, very disciplined endeavor..( which is why I'm not a good one)..
so many churches seek to have fun, and kumbaya feelings...
I like Joel Osteen a lot, but what is asked of his congregation?....to be happy?...
is adultery forbidden?..is stealing?... abuse?...lying?..is anything forbidden?...
lets be real....the only major church that has spoken out against abortion has been the Catholic church....and up until now, we've been one of the few that have spoken against homosexual marriage, although with this new pope, that might change.....
I sort of look forward to the schism that is coming, between the false church and the real church of faith....
Dang. I always rely on inner prayer. Perhaps, I get cocky about that, yet- maybe I don’t. Keeping still, is not my way. All the best, to you, Aliska.
You just denied, yet accepted, the false teachings of the Romans. Right?
The percentage of Catholic priests accused of sex abuse is LOWER than among teachers in the public schools, and in most, if not all, among ministers in other Christian churches, and among rabbis. (Let’s not even get into imams.)
What is the name of this Christian church you seem to have in mind that Catholics ought to flee to? I.e., the church that doesn’t have sinners in it? Please, don’t keep this a secret?
Actually, the CDF could and would oppose it, and it's highly unlikely that Francis would be able to stand up to that or that he could get anybody except the Gemran bishops and his aging Latin American liberation theology bishops to accept his authority in that case. Authority must be accepted in order to be exercised, and his would be rejected.
But we're not ou of the woods yet. What he plans to do is to dissolve the CDF - according to a Roman correspondent who seems to be in the know - and claim that its powers now reside with the local bishops' conferences, many of which are controlled by elderly liberals and most of which don't give a darn about what happens in Rome anyway, unless it agrees with them.
He removed Burke last year and this year he will simply get rid of the whole thing, because he sees the CDF (the former Holy Office of the Inquisition) as the only serious threat to him. And he's going to act fast, before opposition can coalesce. Radical leftists like the Pope - or Obama - have mastered the technique of acting rapidly, stealthily, and autocratically, knowing that their law-abiding opposition will be caught off guard and too dumbfounded and disbelieving to react in time. They're playing by the rules, but he's not, in true Alinsky fashion.
“Radical leftists like the pope”
A radical leftist wouldn’t condemn abortion, birth control, in-vitro fertilization, gender theory, gay marriage, etc, etc. A radical leftist wouldn’t always tie environmental issues to respect for human life. Some might say he’s just saying these things but doesn’t believe them. I don’t buy it. A radical leftist wouldn’t have promoted Cardinal Sarah, who is militantly orthodox.I wish there were more nuanced interpretations of Francis on here instead of the caricatures: Communist, Socialist, etc, etc.
What’s closer to the truth? I would say that maybe Francis thinks a liberalized Communion reception among the divorced without an annulment falls within orthodoxy somehow. John Paul and Cardinal Ratzinger looked at this question and said they couldn’t change anything. Does Francis at times take mercy too far, at least privately downplaying doctrine out of a misguided compassion?
Nope
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