Posted on 12/06/2016 10:41:51 AM PST by ebb tide
If you have ever been a follower of CatholicCulture.org, you may well have given up on getting any but the most biased coverage of the papacy from them some time ago. But while Jeff Mirus has demonstrated remarkable resilience to the red pill (with cracks only just beginning to show), Phil Lawler has been on a steadily accelerating trajectory to Truthville.
Today, he offers one of his simplest and best pieces to date, entitled, Three things the Pope can’t say. This is sort of a 101, everyman level attempt to tackle what those Divinely-guided papal powers really entail, and I suspect it’s going to be very valuable to those Catholics who have only just recently started catching on to the war brewing in Rome:
*The Pope can’t say that 2+2=5. Nor can he repeal the laws of logic. So if the Pope makes two contradictory statements, they can’t both be right. And since every Pontiff enjoys the same teaching authority, if one Pope contradicts another Pope, something is wrong. Thus if Amoris Laetitia contradicts Veritatis Splendor and Casti Connubi—earlier papal encyclicals, which carry a higher level of teaching authority—the faithful cannot be obliged to swallow the contradiction.
*The Pope can’t tell you what you think. He can, within certain limitations, tell you what you should think. But he cannot, simply by the force of his authority, change your mind. Father Anthony Spadaro, a close adviser to Pope Francis, insists that Amoris Laetitia is perfectly clear . “The Pope leaves no room for doubt about the teaching of the Church,” he claims. Even if that statement came directly from the Pope himself (which it does not, obviously), it could not be authoritative. If you have doubts, then evidently there is room for doubt; not even the Pope can gainsay that fact. Ideally the Pope and his surrogates would help you to remove those doubts, rather than suggesting that doubt implies disloyalty.
*The Pope cannot teach authoritatively by dropping hints. On the most controversial issue discussed at the last two meetings of the Synod of Bishops, Amoris Laetitia is vague, allowing for radically different interpretations. Father Spadaro and Cardinal Schönborn and the Argentine bishops can all make a compelling argument that they know what Pope Francis had in mind—especially because the Holy Father himself has endorsed the Schönborn and Argentineinterpretations. But what the Pope had in mind does not carry the same weight as what the Pope actually wrote. And that is especially true when there is such abundant evidence that the Holy Father deliberately left the question unresolved…
The whole piece is worth a read, and I’d recommend it to the people in your life who are trying to grapple with what this all means. If nothing else, it’s a good tool to have in your bookmarks when the topic of infallibility comes up in conversation.
The 7 words Popes can’t say...
wait, never mind.
I haven't even read it.
I don't need to read it because there is absolutely nothing about Church doctrine and/or moral teachings on marriage that needed to be addressed here in the second decade of the 21st century.
The faithful are not qualified to say that there is a contradiction.
Ditto.
The child novel, “Heidi”, is preferable to the word plays and vagueness of the pope’s mutterings “AL”, both on paper and out loud.
It is at least a scandal how he treats the flock and starves us at the same time.
“The faithful are not qualified to say that there is a contradiction.”
The good Lord equips everyone with a brain capable of reason, so that they can detect contradictions.
The faithful who have not become mentally disabled are indeed qualified to say something is a contradiction.
Anyone who promises each morning, when putting their socks on, to love God with their “whole mind,” ought to take up this most indispensable task: thinking.
I swear, if I don’t get in before the first few replies I miss my chance.
>>I swear, if I don’t get in before the first few replies I miss my chance.<<
Nov 8 re-energized FR — you gotta be fast these days :)
“The 7 words Popes can’t say...”
Of course, someone might come up with seven heretical words a Roman Catholic Pope can’t say...
“Penitenziagite!” ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penitenziagite )
is my contribution.
Of course they are! Otherwise they would not be faithful.
Please God, we have now been punished for several years by this servant of satan posing as "pope." Can we PLEASE have a CATHOLIC pope ASAP, preferably young, healthy, thoroughly Catholic and absolutely determined to expunge each and every stain imposed upon your Church by the evil Argentinian and those he has appointed to the Sacred College as electors and as bishops and those cardinals who conspired to elect him.
Aw c’mon, BlackElk, don’t hold back. Tell us what you *really* think...
Similarly there was nothing about Church doctrine that needed to be addressed at Vatican II. But John XXIII wanted to “Throw open the windows of the Church and let the fresh air of the Spirit blow through”. There was no real need to open that ecumenical council.
And here we are 50+ years later and most Catholics know nothing about Church teaching prior to Vatican II.
Don't underestimate the Modernists. They've already proven themselves to be stalwart, extremely effective enemies of the Catholic Church and the Catholic Faith.
May God bless you and yours!
Kasper, Marx, Wuerl and Madariaga were all elevated to the college of cardinals by Pope John Paul II.
So you could call "Frankie", JP II's pope.
AND, if you experience ecclesiastical lust or enthusiasm for Frankie the Apostate, you must, perforce, experience the same for Frankie's popemakers: Walter Kaspar, Reinhard Marx, Donna Wuerl, Sean O'Malley, and Madariagaand the others. Sorry that Comrade Apostate Carlo Maria Cardinal Martini of Milan did not live to do a far more competent job of destroying the Church and you guys had to settle for Bergoglio of the avian excuse for a brain?.
What would dead excommunicated Marcel, patron demon of ecclesiastical defiance and disobedience have done. Ask de Mallerais the foulest mouthed survivor, only "Catholic" at this point by the unwarranted "mercy" of Benedict XVI. When will you conclude that Comrade Imam Obongo is superior to Donald Trump?
No, I don't. And once again you are knowingly and falsely associating me with the SSPX. You know full well I attend FSSP Masses of the society approved by JP II.
I have long since accepted your word that you are not a member of SSPX and that you attend the Masses of FSSP, which was founded by those traditionalist priests who understandably fled the SSPX schism. Nonetheless you have been a relentless defender of the schismatics of SSPX who were justly excommunicated by Pope Saint John Paul the Great and have joined here in the attacks on Pope Saint John Paul the Great. Now you dabble in supporting Frankie the Apostate. I doubt that there are many FSSP priests who would do so. Maybe those at your parish are somehow different but probably not.
Show me one post where I have supported Bergoglio.
I merely pointed out that Pope John Paul II appointed most of the cardinal electors that you had mentioned.
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