German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer Posted on 07/13/2023 6:23:37 PM PDT by ebb tide
VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - The new head of the Vatican's doctrine watchdog is hinting at the prospect of ending the requirement of celibacy for priests in the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church.
German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer
Asked if abolishing mandatory celibacy would "undermine doctrine," Abp. Víctor Manuel "Tucho" Fernández, prefect-designate of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, said that it would be Pope Francis' prerogative to make a considered judgment on the matter.
"It is a possible hypothesis, as indeed happens in the East. But this is a prudential decision that the pope must weigh," Fernández told Italian newspaper Quotidiano Nazionale in an interview published Tuesday.
Responding to a majority of the synod fathers at the Amazon Synod calling for married priests, the prefect-designate said he could not expect "very concrete answers" but preferred "to wait to see where the Spirit wants to take us."
The archbishop, who will be elevated to the cardinalate in September, further lamented the "problem of theological language" used to describe the phenomenon of homosexuality as "objectively disordered" in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Such terminology "sometimes ignores the effect it can have on people's hearts, as if it were indifferent to the pain it produces," Fernández explained. "But, as you know, this is not the case for Pope Francis, who would undoubtedly use different language."
The cardinal-elect, who has been appointed as head of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, expressed his disagreement with the way traditionalist Catholics interpreted the biblical texts on homosexual relations.
"There are biblical texts that cannot be interpreted in a 'material' way. I don't mean 'literal,'" the theologian, who has a licentiate in biblical theology, remarked. "The Church has long understood the need for hermeneutics that interprets them in their historical context."
"This does not mean that they lose their content, but rather that they should not be taken completely at their face value. Otherwise, we should obey the command of St. Paul which requires women to cover their heads, for example," the archbishop argued.
Fernández recently revealed that his methodology in interpreting biblical texts has been "deeply influenced" by the agnostic philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002), who was brought up as a liberal Protestant in Germany.
Gadamer, one of the most influential thinkers in philosophical hermeneutics, emphasized the dialogical nature of interpretation, highlighting that the reader is in conversation not only with the text but also brings his own preconceptions and prejudices to the text.
While Gadamer dethrones the Enlightenment focus on rationalism and empiricism in hermeneutics, he encourages the interpreter to move beyond questions of historical context and engage in applying the biblical text to their own context.
But since people are conditioned by their own prejudices, a text is never approached in the same way twice. As a result, a text contains an "inexhaustible multiplicity of answers," and "to understand at all is always to understand differently."
In an earlier interview, Fernández clarified that Pope Francis was referring to the Inquisition, the forerunner of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, when the pontiff spoke of how the doctrinal watchdog had historically used "immoral methods" to suppress dissenters.
"Today, there is a widespread acknowledgment that the Church no longer employs "immoral methods" in its teachings of the Faith. It is evident that the Pope's reference is directed towards the era of the Inquisition," the archbishop elaborated.
Woodcut depicting a scene from the Spanish Inquisition
"However, it is important to recognize that over the past few decades, numerous theologians have voiced their concerns about a prevailing sense of persecution and constant scrutiny from ecclesiastical authorities," he added.
The prefect-designate said that the stifling environment has had a detrimental effect on theological discourse, as it has resulted in a repetitive cycle of regurgitating established ideas to avoid any potential risks.
"Francis understands that without unfettered theological debate, the teaching of the Church will hardly grow and develop," the archbishop stressed, arguing that while doctrine and objective morality remain fixed, there is a "spiral growth" in the development of doctrine.
Fernández continued:
During the era when modernism was being vigorously contested, a discernible system of surveillance persisted, albeit in a more veiled manner. Nonetheless, if I am to share my most vivid recollections, focusing on the recent years, I must acknowledge that under the leadership of Cdl. [Luis] Ladaria as prefect, a notably tranquil atmosphere prevailed.
Earlier, expressing openness to overturning the Vatican's ban on same-sex blessings, a ban that was categorically asserted by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2021, Fernández candidly urged, "It wouldn't be bad to rethink it," Church Militant reported.
"If a blessing [to same-sex couples] is given in such a way that there will be no such confusion, it will have to be the subject of analysis and confirmation," Fernández insisted.
The prelate reiterated that "the greatest care" must be taken to "avoid rites or blessings that could feed this confusion" between the sacrament of marriage and liturgies offering blessings to homosexual couples.
But "there is a point where it [the issue of same-sex blessings] moves from a proper theological discussion to a more prudential or disciplinary question, as you will see," the prefect-designate explained.
Ping
I thought the pope did not make a mistake so why do the want to go back to priests getting married?
Oh no! here they come.
I don’t know the answer and have asked it before.
When was the decision made that Catholic Priests are to be celibate and not allowed to marry or have a family, when damn near every other religion allows their ‘clergy’ to do it?
I had heard it was during the Plague or something like that.
If you want to see roots, go back and reflect on Exodus 19.
When it has not been observed, the problem isn’t who the priests leave their private wealth to, but who the priests try to leave the property that belongs to the Church to.
To keep them from porking the choir boys.
Yeah, I reflected on that. This was a direct command from God on this one time event where He was going to interact with the people. Sort of like when Moses had to take his shoes off at the burning bush because the ground was holy (because of Gods presence). Do your priests wear shoes?
the priests try to leave the property that belongs to the Church to.
Right. That's when the Church was like our government. EVERYTHING should belong to them. So, if they're celibate they won't steal the silverware? Or hock the gold candlesticks at the local pawnshop type of thing? Sorry. I'm not buying it.
The Church instituted the discipline of a celibate Priesthood,
1. Because not only is it practical,
Priestly life is not conducive for wife snd family.
and 2. CHRIST thought it was a pretty good idea too.
Matt 19
...and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs
for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.
He who is able to receive this,
let him receive it.”
Bob, the Church lets those receive celibacy for a higher calling.
Absolutely should stop requiring celibacy.
How many priests are married? How many Cardinals are married? How many Popes have been married?
Now which of us is living in a non-existent reality? The RCC requires their priests and even higher positions in the Church to be unmarried. This is un-Biblical.
not me...
As it is right now you have an inordinate amount of closeted homo priests. It’s become known as a job for homos like male flight attendants. Notice that the pedophile scandals that rocked the Church had almost entirely young boys as victims, not girls. At it’s root it’s a problem of homosexuality but no one wants to admit it. If there’s any hope of fixing it then the priesthood needs to be purged of homos, allowing priests to marry (women, not other men) is a way to attract more straight men.
Papal infallibility is the Holy spirit preventing the pope from making dogma errors when he pronounces a dogma ex cathedral.
It does not mean he cannot and does not make errors about policy, politics or which football team will win.
And in this case it is a discipline not even a dogma.
There are 23 rites in the Catholic church. You probably only know of the Latin rite. All the other rites allow married men to become priests.
So you have married men who are Maronite Catholic priests, who are Syro Malabar, Malankara, Byzantine Catholic etc priests.
#1 Paul encouraged celibacy in his letters. He himself was celibate
#2 no, the Catholic church had celibate monks right from the 2nd century. People felt these celibate monks were better than their married priests and clamoured for priests to be celibate from the 8th century, hence the rise of the Norbertines, the Premonstratians. Only in the 13th century with the expansion of the Franciscan mendicant friars was celibacy made a discipline.
At no point was it to gain inherited estates. If you inherited a property while a priest it skipped you and went to the next in line
The tradition of clerical continence developed into a practice of clerical celibacy (ordaining only unmarried men) from the 11th century onward among Latin Church Catholics.
The universal requirement to celibacy was imposed upon the clergy with force in 1123 and again in 1139. But those decrees reflected a much longer tradition in the Church in which the self-imposed discipline of asceticism – including sexual continence, poverty and abstinence – became the defining characteristics of piety, and of the priesthood.
Note that this was in response to the high middle ages question of the latter Anglicans “vicar’s wife must be held to a higher standard “
We can agree on your #1 point. But not on the rest. Peace be unto you.
The shoe symbolism is an interesting parallel—in the culture, servants don’t wear shoes indoors—Moses, as a servant, approaching the Holy Place, should remove his shoes.
On the other hand, family does wear shoes in-doors—hence the prodigal son being shod. We are now sons—shoes are appropriate if one is to use shoes as symbolism.
In Exodus 19, the people are given a chance to be a Holy People, a Nation of Priests etc.—but they blow the optimal covenant opportunity of the time. They are given, IIRC, five conditions, and have clearly fulfilled three. The washing of the garments and the not touching women are the possible places that they have fallen down, and they are aware they have fallen down—they don’t go near the mountain.
God then says OK—not a nation of priests, I’ll set asside priests and give you something inferior, and then begins to speak to them directly until the people conclude this is going to be too hard and ask for something easier.
Abstaining from marital relations before partaking in sacrifice was standard under Judaism, and remained so when Christ completed Judaism. St. Pius X (1903-1914) was the one who abolished the three days of fasting from marital relations as a condition for receiving Holy Communion. If one has that in place and is to make the Bread available Daily, priests need to be celibate.
If they are celibate they won’t attempt to leave the cow and the chickens that belong to the parish for the sake of providing the priest with some of his food, and the land on which the animals depend, or the parish wood lot, to their children.
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