Posted on 05/09/2019 1:13:12 PM PDT by ebb tide
ROME - In the wake of an April 30 open letter accusing Pope Francis of heresy signed by 19 clergymen and scholars, demanding the pontiff’s resignation, theologians and cardinals at a conference in Rome on Wednesday instead praised Francis’s theology and magisterium.
“Pope Francis is the pope, and when he speaks it’s magisterium,” Italian Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, general secretary of the Synod of Bishops, told Crux after the event.
The symposium, called “Theology and Magisterium in the Church with Pope Francis,” took place May 8 in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University to present a new collection of books titled The Theological Seeds of Francis.
The series of 11 books touches on some of the recurring themes, or “seeds”, present throughout Francis’s pontificate from discernment and reform to neo-gnosticim and integration.
Nineteen conservative critics of Francis released an open letter accusing the pontiff of committing heresy and calling on the world’s bishops to censure him and - if necessary - to declare that he is no longer pope.
In a message to the event, Italian Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, looked at how Francis’s documents and speeches depict a renewed path for theologians that is rooted in reality.
“The ease with which the texts and documents of Pope Francis can be read must not fool people or lead them to hurried conclusions,” he said.
“His thought is not at all improvised, but the fruit of a deep and lively theological reflection drawn from his experience as a pastor and theologian.”
According to Father Maurizio Gronchi, professor of Christology at the Urbaniana Pontifical University, the impact of Francis’s style could be compared to the 13th century introduction in Italy of the Dolce Stil Nuovo literary style, due to its poetic and emotional charge.
“Francis’s approach is elliptic, and gravitates around two permanent hearts, the heart of man and the heart of the gospel,” Gronchi said.
Citing Francis’s March speech to theologians at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, Bassetti said the pope is trying to “teach theologians a style” that draws them away from their ivory towers and into real life.
“I know that one can study by closing himself in academic circles with no air, playing with concepts rather than interpreting life, clutching to formulas but distancing oneself from the real existence of people,” Francis said at the March 26 event calling for “a radical paradigm change” and “a brave cultural revolution.”
According to Bassetti, Francis’s apostolic exhortation on the environment Laudato Si is an example of his pragmatic and concrete approach.
“The pope exhorts and invites theologians humbly but with force to take their duty seriously and begin that journey that Pope Francis himself has already begun,” he said.
The Italian prelate also emphasized the strong connection between the magisterium of Francis and the theological heritage of the Second Vatican Council. Theologians speaking at the symposium agreed that this connection is crucial to understanding this pontificate.
“In this moment, the fundamental thoughts of the Second Vatican Council have a chance to take hold like never before,” said Dario Vitali, director of the Department of Dogmatic Theology at the Gregorian.
While cautioning against those who would like to see in Francis a theologian, Vitali said that his magisterium contains “theological informarions.”
“Some dare to treat this magisterium as if it were an opinion,” he said, pointing the finger at economic and traditionalist lobbies.
Pierangelo Sequeri, one of the curators of the new books and Director of the Pontifical Theological Institute John Paul II, also criticized those who vocally oppose Francis’ pontificate during his speech.
“Those who always repeat the same old song don’t honor the revelation,” he said making an analogy with music, “but those who think that everything you play is music, are greatly mistaken.”
According to Sequeri there is a need for a better formation of theologians capable of interpreting and deepening the knowledge of the Gospel and the understanding of the Catholic faith.
“The world of ecclesiastic chatter is inhabited by weak nobodies who act as if they are Pope Gregory the Great, Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventura,” he added.
Theologians are called to bring new life and enthusiasm to the Church, he continued, which has become “excessively melancholic” and therefore prone to aggression and polarization.
....
“The pope exhorts and invites theologians humbly but with force to take their duty seriously and begin that journey that Pope Francis himself has already begun,” he said.
The Italian prelate also emphasized the strong connection between the magisterium of Francis and the theological heritage of the Second Vatican Council. Theologians speaking at the symposium agreed that this connection is crucial to understanding this pontificate.
“In this moment, the fundamental thoughts of the Second Vatican Council have a chance to take hold like never before,” said Dario Vitali, director of the Department of Dogmatic Theology at the Gregorian.
Ping
That is deep thinking right there. /s
Well, they are certainly out in the open now, huh?
That's a debatable proposition
and when he speaks it’s magisterium,”
Not sure this individual actually understands what the magisterium is.
Elliptic = situation ethics = moral relativism = heretic
Reports: Card. Baldisseri ordered interception of copies of book mailed to Synod participants
Not sure this individual actually understands what the magisterium is.
If he is being accurately quoted, and he does understand, then he is misrepresenting himself. Idiot, liar, or faulty journalist. Who am I to judge which is the truth?
According to Sequeri there is a need for a better formation of theologians capable of interpreting and deepening the knowledge of the Gospel and the understanding of the Catholic faith.
“The world of ecclesiastic chatter is inhabited by weak nobodies who act as if they are Pope Gregory the Great, Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventura,” he added.
At least I can agree with these statements. Of course, I may disagree with him on who these weak nobodies are. But the guy with the red hat who doesn’t have a clue about the Vatican II teaching on the magisterium is a nice place to start. And the Greg which hosted this nonsense may be a hotbed of the problem.
I’m sure these folks were tripping all over themselves when Summorum Pontificum came out to master the intricacies of the Extraordinary Form.
I think I’ll go back to the thread where it has been discovered that the Irish drink. That is more news than there being a bunch of white washed sepulchers full of dead men’s bones rattling around in cassocks (or more likely nowdays clerical suits when a press conference is called) in Rome.
I remember seeing a cartoon that illustrated the foolishness of it for us young'uns: a line of cummerbunded cardinals all poised to grab an array of umbrellas, hands paused in midair, all eyeing the first cardinal in line who is asking the Pope, "Is it going to rain?"
Well at least he’s right that the magisterium is not what the media says that he thinks. If I happen to be personally present when he gives a homily or makes a statement, I’ll try to pay attention (I’ll also do my best to avoid such an unfortunate situation). If the media attempts to tell me what he has said or to tell me what somebody else says that he said, they can go suck eggs.
That he opts to make this view known through an interview with an Argentinian newspaper boggles the mind.
He tells the media to say to the faithful that it is not what the media says to the faithful that he thinks that matters.
Got it.
Maybe Alberta’s Child’s retardation theory has some merit.
Or the dude is a Pavlovian problem. Long rectangles are rewarded, squares are punished—then slowly make the rectangles more square like and turn the squares into gradually longer rectangles until you can’t tell the difference. We have ourselves a reforming Pope here to complete Benedict’s work.
The present pontificate has turned a perfectly good Doonesbury cartoon into a farce. https://politicalprof.tumblr.com/post/44227538770/teachers-will-understand-doonesbury-teaching
Many cardinals belong in the classroom illustrated by Trudeau.
Ah, for the simple days of John XII, when Popes were sinners, and knew they were sinners.
Maybe the dude is going to get all the idiots together and God will unleash a new Jehu.
So if the Pope says black is white or predicts it will be sunny tomorrow or declares that apples are better than oranges, it's magisterium? The heretic Baldisseri, who manipulated the 2014 and 2015 synods to promote homosexuality, exemplifies the deficient catechesis and shallow thinking that passes for theology in the aftermath of Vatican II.
So is this Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri a homosexual too?
I believe he is:
Cardinal: We’re not removing ‘LGBT youth’ from Vatican Synod working text
Everything this or any pope says is not infallible or dogma. Any good Catholic should know that. For instance pope Pius XI said that the League of Nations was wrong because only Christ can save the world. Would pope Francis agree with that? He seems to think that the UN will save the world from Climate Change, a completely political expression of thought
The elites always circle the wagons.
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