More wordplay from the Catholics. Every word this man utters in public is teaching and every action he does is teaching. People see it and hear it and think "well that's what I need to do or think". To try and protect your denomination and this man with "He wasn't speaking ex-cathedra so it doesn't matter". If that's the case he needs to take a vow of silence until he has something to say worth saying. The whole life of Jesus was teaching in every word and deed. If the Pope were actually "the vicar of Christ", he would do the same. You may as well have Satan as Pope if you're going to play word games on what is teaching and what is not.
“He wasn’t speaking ex-cathedra so it doesn’t matter”.
I’m starting to wonder if the Pope ever does speak ex-cathedra.
Anyone have an example of recent ex-cathedra pronouncements which aren’t long settled and widely accepted (in and out of Catholicism)?
My daily prayer!
But it is essential to understand that there is a difference between papal opinion and Catholic Magisterium.
It could not be otherwise. We have had 266 popes. Almost all of them, before this one, have served at times when the pope's every word, wink and raised eyebrow was not transmitted in real time 24/7/365. Therefore the vast majority of Catholics in the past could lead good Catholic lives to their dying day, without being much influenced, for good or ill, by any given pope.
At any time and place, one can and must live a good Catholic life, in intimate union with Jesus Christ Our Lord.
When it took months to get word from Rome to Oslo, not much was delivered in the papal diplomatic pouch except the kind of official pronouncements that come written in Gothic lettering and gold leaf. You weren't inundated by an inhuman torrent of human utterance known as "the pope's opinions" from our Chatty Cathy-lic Care Bear.
This is a new situation. A uniquely dangerous one. And good Catholics are only slowly learning how to stand and resist.