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[Catholic Caucus] Sexual Morality, Pope Francis, and Ascetic Christianity
The Public Discourse ^ | July 17, 2024 | Richard A. Spinello

Posted on 07/27/2024 9:27:44 AM PDT by ebb tide

[Catholic Caucus] Sexual Morality, Pope Francis, and Ascetic Christianity

To the chagrin of many Catholics, Pope Francis’s pontificate has tended to deemphasize the gravity of sexual sins. The Pope has stated on more than one occasion that sexual sins or “sins of the flesh” are far less serious than other sins, especially “sins of the spirit.” His remarks are problematic because virtues like chastity and temperance matter a great deal in Catholic teaching and theology. As the sexual revolution advances, will it now face little protest or resistance from its major adversary, the Catholic Church?

The Eclipse of Traditional Sexual Morality

In a 2018 book-length interview, the Pope initially conveyed his convictions about the seriousness of sexual transgressions, stating: 

There is a great danger for preachers, and it is that of condemning only the morality that ispardon me“below the belt.” But other sins that are more serious, hatred, envy, pride, vanity, killing another, taking a life . . . these are rarely mentioned.

He goes on to explain that “sins of the flesh are the lightest sins, because the flesh is weak.” On the other hand, the most dangerous sins are those of the spirit. “I’m talking about angelism,” the Pope explains. “Pride, vanity are sins of angelism.”

Pope Francis’s statements, however, are highly dubious. First, as he has done so often, the Pope constructs a convenient straw man: the impassioned Catholic preacher preoccupied with sexual sins who glibly dismisses many other moral transgressions. Yet Catholics rarely hear homilies that address sexual misbehavior or condemn sexual perversion. Second, and more importantly, the Pope’s remarks falsely minimize the gravity of sexual sin and sensual egoism.


(Excerpt) Read more at thepublicdiscourse.com ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Moral Issues; Worship
KEYWORDS: amoralpope; apostatepope; frankenchurch; morepopenews
Our Lady of Fatima warned the three children that, "More souls go to hell for sins of the flesh than for any other reason”.

It's no surprise that Bergoglio and Tucho are downplaying any miraculous apparitions that have negative messages. It diminishes their claim of an all-merciful "god" and that Hell could be empty.

1 posted on 07/27/2024 9:27:44 AM PDT by ebb tide
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To: Al Hitan; Fedora; irishjuggler; Jaded; kalee; markomalley; miele man; Mrs. Don-o; ...

Ping


2 posted on 07/27/2024 9:28:11 AM PDT by ebb tide ("The Spirit of Vatican II" is nothing more than a wicked "idealogy" of the modernists.)
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To: ebb tide

Sexual sins can cause tremendous destruction. They break families. They prevent the formation of families. They bring children into this world who have no loving family to raise them. They lead to the conception of children who are put to death before birth. They spread disease often fatal. There’s AIDS but also diseases fatal or crippling to babies. Sexual sins lead to human trafficking, abuse of children, rape.

And the glorification of sexual fulfillment - the spirit of the age - is leading to the destabilizing and mutilation of children, and the worship of the perverse and the transgressive, the demonic drag queen as icon.

So maybe living together before marriage isn’t all that bad, compared to some other things, but the spirit of the age is insatiable.


3 posted on 07/27/2024 9:48:04 AM PDT by heartwood (If you're looking for the /sarc tag, you just passed it..)
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To: heartwood

The Pope is partially to blame for things like the drag queen Last Supper mockery done in Paris. I’m waiting for him to condemn it.....zzzzzzx!


4 posted on 07/27/2024 10:13:40 AM PDT by Trumpette1954 (Live laugh love!cper)
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To: ebb tide

Why don’t more people ask why sins of the flesh are so grave a matter? It is not because God hates sex. It is because the right action of sex within the bonds of holy matrimony for the purpose of unifying the two and the hopeful coming of children speaks very deeply about the trinitarian nature of God.

To put it simply the wrongful use of our sexuality is blasphemy. It’s wrongful use also often gives rise to the other deadly sins.

We are flesh and spirit. When we over indulge the flesh we weaken the spirit. If we ignore the flesh we can also fall into error. No one ever got in trouble by not over doing stuff.


5 posted on 07/27/2024 10:18:39 AM PDT by lastchance (Cognovit Dominus qui sunt eius.)
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