Posted on 05/14/2022 8:49:27 AM PDT by ebb tide
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Wanting to go back to the way things were in the past is not Christian, Pope Francis said.
There is a difference between wanting to go back in time and drawing inspiration from one’s roots in order to move forward with Christ, he said.
Looking back to find inspiration is good because “without roots we cannot progress,” he said. “But to go in reverse is to go back in order to have a form of defense, a safety measure that saves us from the risk of going forward, the Christian risk of carrying the faith, the Christian risk of journeying with Jesus Christ.”
The pope spoke May 13 to people taking part in an international conference on moral theology sponsored by Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences.
There is a difference between wanting to go back in time and drawing inspiration from one’s roots in order to move forward with Christ, he said.
The conference, May 11-14, focused on “Pastoral practices, life experience and moral theology: ‘Amoris Laetitia’ between new opportunities and new paths” as part of a deeper exploration of Pope Francis’ 2016 exhortation on the family and how the document can help guide the church’s pastoral practice.
He said there is a risk right now, which “does so much harm to the church,” of wanting to “‘turn back,’ either out of fear or because of a lack of ingenuity or a lack of courage.”
There are “many” people who are part of the church “who crop up like mushrooms, here, there, over there, and they present themselves as a proposal of Christian life,” he said.
One example, he said, of returning to the past in the field of moral theology is with “casuistry,” that is, the practice of setting general laws on the basis of a few exceptional cases or using a form of reasoning that is legalistic and stripped of God’s love and mercy.
The pope said casuistry was “the foodstuff” of his and his generation’s studies in moral theology, and even though it is now outdated, this “decadent Thomism” can still be resurrected and disguised with proposals of what one can or cannot do.
“Amoris Laetitia,” he said, is an example of the living doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas. The saint taught that there are factors, such as ignorance, that might diminish the culpability of an objectively sinful act.
The pope said this approach “helps us move forward taking risks, but in obedience. And this is not easy.”
The pope said this approach “helps us move forward taking risks, but in obedience. And this is not easy.”
Greater reflection and dialogue are needed across different academic and theological fields to help support families and truly address “wounds of humanity,” he said.
Today the family can play an important role in the “pastoral conversion of our communities and the missionary transformation of the church,” he said. “For this to happen, it is necessary there be, including on an academic level, theological reflection that is truly attentive to the wounds of humanity.”
Priests and theologians need to recognize “the inseparable relationship, despite the ordeals and difficulties of life, between the human conscience and the good,” Pope Francis said. “Gospel morality is far from being moralism, which becomes a literal observance of norms” in order to secure being just before God, and it is not a kind of idealism, “which, in the name of an ideal good, discourages and distances from the possible good.”
The good, he said, is “an appeal, a voice that liberates and stimulates the conscience,” in which resides a law written by God—to love good and avoid evil.
The conference was one of the initiatives for the Year of the Family which concludes June 26, on the occasion of the World Meeting of Families in Rome. Pope Francis established the Year of the Family to help strengthen faith and live God's joy more fruitfully in family life.
Apostate Pope Ping
As a life long Catholic, Francis, you are an Ahole of the highest degree.
No, Pope Bucko...its you destroying the Church...doing a damn fine job of it too.
He should know 🤪
He is always purposely vague so he can trash orthodox catholics, aka those that adhere to what the church has taught for ages,while claiming he didnt
For 2010 years, the Roman Catholic Church has moved glacially in its changes in orthodoxy. However, foremost in
its progression has been the structure of Christ's Church built on a bedrock of biblical and scriptural tenets.
Today, those tenets are being eroded or demolished by post modernist revelations by a communist enraptured prelate.
Tired of the slow moving orthodoxy of the Church, Il Papa? Then, go join the Anglicans, Lutherans, or assorted Protestants.
So the church was wrong in the past? Is that what the Pope is saying? Sure, like any institutions, its record is not spotless. But ideologically was the church wrong all that time? And if so, what is right? Modern wokeness? Sorry, I’ll take the church as it was a thousand years ago rather than go woke.
Won’t be long before he just throw’s the book away. He already has in his heart.
” Pope Francis: Christians wanting to go backward ‘does so much harm to the church.’”
Says the worlds first Chrislamic Pope.
This pope with his attempts to destroy the effort of people to live according to tradition and religious background is really evident. That kind of mentality is necessary when attempts to change people’s thinking are being made. When an attempt is being made to change the thinking and feelings about things like acceptance of homosexuality into the church are being tried for example. This pope is not a man of God! If he were, he would not be trying this stuff.
Bergoglio has made himself irrelevant.
Where does the Pope draw his authority to change the laws of the Church that Christ gave humanity?
Pope Francis has a knack for impenetrable word salad no one can be expected to follow, often used to justify his personal dislikes.
Benedict in contrast was clear, unambiguous and logical.
The Leftists in the Catholic Church initiated the fall of America with Vatican II. The Leftists were able to install Leftist Popes to destroy the Church and everything started to fall like dominoes. It would not surprise me to set the after birth abortion age at 18. The Sanctity of Life no longer exists thanks to Vatican II. Our Country is run by 25 year old advisers and a White House Staff from Obozo’s term in office. Witness Rinos who use RNC money to get elected and vote Democratic. After using millions of dollars of Republican money for election they thumb their noses at Republican donors. No more RNC donations from me.
My poor, betrayed Catholic Church, led by a preening, Leftist gas bag. We must hope and pray that, as in the past, when this trail passes, an authentic Catholic believer will succeed him.
No wonder so many are leaving the church.
So just as destruction of Church tradition is deemed to be “progress” in this Pope’s view, destruction of America’s traditions is also deemed to be “progressive”. Thank God I’m a reactionary. What’s so wrong with an America that people are dying to get into?
I don’t think I am dumb, though others may disagree. But this is really hard to read. Is it a translation or does he really talk like this? It seems like he is trying not to give concrete examples and is trying to hide what he is actually speaking up against.
Even scientists and mathematicians don’t use so much jargon in their language.
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