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To: Catholicguy
Once again, you are wrong. We are not Protestants. We believe exactly what Catholics have always believed for two thousand years. We practice what Catholics have always practiced. We fully accept the authority of the pope when it is legitimately exercised. We recognize, however, there are times to draw the line, especially in times of crisis. Popes are men and potentially culpable. It is not Catholic to believe that all their deeds, however unwise and harmful to the Church, are nevertheless infallible and blessed.
143 posted on 01/21/2003 12:32:55 PM PST by ultima ratio
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To: ultima ratio; Catholicguy
We fully accept the authority of the pope when it is legitimately exercised.

Here's another example of a bishop following his conscience.

"In a rare disciplinary move, Pope John Paul II has stripped a German bishop of some of his authority, after the bishop refused to follow a direct order from Rome to stop abortion counseling in his diocese.

The Pope's action, announced on March 8, came after Bishop Kamphaus-- alone among the 28 diocesan bishops of Germany-- refused to comply with a Vatican policy that had been set in 1999. The policy called for an end to the issuance of certificates that could be used to fulfill the legal requirements for obtaining an abortion.

Under a German law that went into effect in 1995, women who wish to procure abortions must produce a certificate showing that they have received counseling on their options. Among the counseling centers authorized to issue such certificates, many were affiliated with the Catholic Church. Some prelates, following the lead of the late Archbishop Johannes Dyba of Fulda, immediately recognized the moral hazards involved, and insisted that Church-related agencies must not issue the certificates. Others reasoned that if they continued to offer counseling for pregnant women, they might dissuade some of them from having abortions.

Eventually the German bishops asked Pope John Paul to settle that deabte, and-- after months of inconclusive haggling-- in 1999 he issued his clear judgment: the Church-sponsored agencies must cease to issue these certificates. After a lengthy "transition period" that lasted through the end of the 2000 calendar year, the German bishops complied, with one notable exception.

In the Limburg diocese, which includes the city of Frankfurt, Bishop Franz Kamphaus refused to follow the directive from Rome. In February, the Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung reported that Bishop Kamphaus received a personal letter from Pope John Paul, hand-delivered by the papal nuncio in Germany, Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, informing him that he must follow the new policy or relinquish his responsibilities. Still the bishop held firm; the German media reported that he might be willing to resign rather than implement the Vatican policy."

Bishop Kamphaus, like Lefebvre, supports dissent via a false freedom of conscience: "Conscience can oblige the individual to acts that are in contradiction of Church teachings .... It is the responsibility of the individual alone."

156 posted on 01/21/2003 1:54:49 PM PST by NYer
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