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A parish priest writes to the Pope re: the confusion caused by his recent interview [Cath Cauc]
Rorate Caeli ^ | 2/24/16 | Father Richard G. Cipolla

Posted on 02/24/2016 3:22:28 PM PST by ebb tide

Dear Pope Francis:

I write this letter to you as a priest to the Bishop of Rome and as a son to a father. I write with a heavy heart, and I know that heaviness of heart is shared by many of my Catholic brethren both clergy and laity.

I watched the early news one morning last week to find that one of the headlines proclaimed that in an interview on the flight from Mexico to Rome you indicated that the Church's teaching on contraception may be undergoing a change. As in the past, I went to the official translation of the interview to ascertain what you said. You never said that the teaching contained in Humane Vitae is no longer part of Church teaching. But you did speak about contraception not being an absolute evil and then went on to offer an example concerning Paul VI's allowing nuns to use contraceptives because they were in danger of rape, which, even if that were the case, is a context quite different from marriage. You must be able to see how secular reporters could take your words and jump to the conclusion that your words were a signal that the Church's teaching on the moral evil of contraception is undergoing a change toward a more permissive view.

Dear Pope Francis, you are not a good teacher in these situations. Teaching the truth about good and bad is a difficult task in a secular and self-centered world. It requires both clarity and nuance, neither of which was present in any of the conversations you had with the reporters. Often when I am perplexed or disheartened I turn to the writings of Blessed John Henry Newman. Please allow me to send you the two following passages from his writings that I believe would be of great benefit to you and to all who are commissioned to teach the Catholic faith in an authentic manner. The first quote is from Newman's Letter to the Duke of Norfolk, that amazing work in which Newman talks about conscience and its relationship to the teaching of the Church, specifically the teaching of the Petrine Office.

The sense of right and wrong, which is the first element in religion, is so delicate, so fitful, so easily puzzled, obscured, perverted--so biased by pride and passion, so unsteady in its course, that, in the struggle for existence amid the various exercises and triumphs of the human intellect this is at once the highest of all teachers, yet the least luminous.

Dear Pope Francis, what Newman is telling you and me is that teaching right and wrong is very difficult and must be approached with great humility and careful use of reason. Emotion and off-the -cuff remarks have no place in the teaching of right and wrong, and certainly no place in random remarks with reporters who are much more savvy than you are on how to get headlines in the morning news.

The second quote from Newman is from Development of Christian Doctrine, which some consider his magnum opus. This section deals with the need for Revelation in matters of faith and moral and the teaching role of the Church.

The common sense of mankind...feels that the very idea of revelations implies a present informant and guide, and that an infallible one; not a mere abstract declaration of Truths unknown before to man, or a record of history, or the result of an antiquarian research, but a message and a lesson speaking to this man and that...We are told that God has spoken. Where? In a book? We have tried it and it disappoints; it disappoints us, that most holy and blessed gift, not from any fault of its own, but because it is used for a purpose for which it was not given. The Ethiopian's reply, when St. Philip asked him if he understood what he was reading, is the voice of nature: "How can I, unless some man shall guide me?" The Church undertakes that office.

The teaching Office of the Church is as important as Scripture. We do not believe in sola scriptura. And you, Pope Francis, are the head of that Teaching Office. But you are not the Church. You are the Pope, the Supreme Teacher of the Church. But you are not the Church, nor can the Church be reduced to you alone. The latter error of reductionism is embraced not only by worldly reporters but also by faithful Catholics. This is the result of the transformation of the papacy in the past fifty years into a world super star, which transformation is a deformation in the development of the doctrine of the papacy. That you bear the burden of the Supreme Teacher of the Church in an unbelieving world is the reason why you are loved by the Catholic faithful and are the object of their prayers. But please remember that your burden is the burden of the Cross, and therefore you must always be seen as a sign of contradiction by the world, such that when the world sees you and hears you, they see through you to the Cross of Jesus Christ and the love and mercy of God that the Cross shows forth.

Please accept a piece of filial advice from a humble priest. Make a long, silent retreat this Lent and do what has to be done to listen to the God who is not heard in earthquake, storm or fire but in a tiny whispering sound.

Yours faithfully,

Father Richard G. Cipolla


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: abortion; catholic; contraception; contraceptives; doubleeffect; eugenics; francis; francischurch; humanaevitae; moralabsolutes; paulvi; pope; popefrancis; popepaulvi; rape; vatican; zika
And you, Pope Francis, are the head of that Teaching Office. But you are not the Church. You are the Pope, the Supreme Teacher of the Church. But you are not the Church, nor can the Church be reduced to you alone. The latter error of reductionism is embraced not only by worldly reporters but also by faithful Catholics. This is the result of the transformation of the papacy in the past fifty years into a world super star, which transformation is a deformation in the development of the doctrine of the papacy.
1 posted on 02/24/2016 3:22:28 PM PST by ebb tide
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To: ebb tide

Leading us in the wrong direction.


2 posted on 02/24/2016 3:26:30 PM PST by stocksthatgoup (Trump for me. I want to see Hillary, Bernie or any demoncrap crushed)
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To: ebb tide
Sola scripturea....haven't heard that in a while.

Popes come and go. This one is already almost 80 years old. The cardinals are probably already looking ahead for the next pope.

3 posted on 02/24/2016 3:31:53 PM PST by cloudmountain
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To: ebb tide

Very good letter from Fr. Cipolla.


4 posted on 02/24/2016 3:36:25 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o (Point of Clarification)
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To: ebb tide

Good advice by Father Cipolla.


5 posted on 02/24/2016 3:37:37 PM PST by FourtySeven (47)
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To: ebb tide
Dear Pope Francis, you are not a good teacher in these situations.

Au contraire, he is an exceptionally adept [Modernist] teacher and manipulator, who is now so emboldened that he dares to openly green light intrinsic evil.

6 posted on 02/24/2016 3:52:27 PM PST by BlatherNaut
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To: BlatherNaut

http://stmarynorwalk.net/


7 posted on 02/24/2016 4:13:34 PM PST by Rocky Mountain Wild Turkey ("I have an open mind ... just not so open that my brain falls out onto the floor!!")
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To: BlatherNaut
"Fundamentalism is a sickness that is in all religions, "said the Pontiff. "We Catholics have some -- and not some, many -- who believe they possess the absolute truth and go ahead dirtying the other with calumny, with disinformation, and doing evil. They do evil. I say this because it is my Church."

Pope Francis criticises 'fundamentalist' Catholics

And from the same article linked immediately above:

Pope Francis responded that an ongoing question for Catholic moral theology is whether condoms in that case are an instrument to prevent death or a contraceptive -- in which case they would violate church teaching on openness to life.

But, he said, the question is too narrow. People are dying because of a lack of clean water and adequate food. Once the world takes serious steps to solve those problems, then it would be "legitimate to ask whether it is licit" to use condoms to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS.

8 posted on 02/24/2016 4:30:07 PM PST by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: ebb tide
"We Catholics have some -- and not some, many -- who believe they possess the absolute truth

His comment reveals a clear contempt for Church teachings. If the Bishop of Rome does not believe that absolute truth is embodied in the Deposit of Faith entrusted to the Church by Jesus Christ, then he is occupying Peter's chair under false pretenses, and ought to resign immediately.

9 posted on 02/24/2016 5:10:36 PM PST by BlatherNaut
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To: BlatherNaut

He’s making a mess...leave him alone.


10 posted on 02/24/2016 6:53:48 PM PST by piusv (The Spirit of Christ hasn't refrained from using separated churches as means of salvation:VII heresy)
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To: ebb tide

I was not impressed with the cult of celebrity surrounding Pope John Paul II, and I am less impressed with the current situation.

Humility keeps a man within the confines of his responsibilities. Hubris makes a man believe his will is larger than his title.


11 posted on 02/24/2016 7:45:59 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (People are idiots.)
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To: Rocky Mountain Wild Turkey

Yes, beautiful church. I went to St Thomas across town but attended Mass at St Mary’s on many occasions. Thanks for the memories! Good letter too.


12 posted on 02/25/2016 2:59:47 AM PST by Shark24
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To: piusv
He's making a mess

from which the stench of sulfur is emanating...

13 posted on 02/25/2016 9:02:29 AM PST by BlatherNaut
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