Pope Francis' Many Problems
compiled by Dudley Sharp, independent researcher, death penalty expert, former opponent, 832-439-2113, CV at bottom
editing underway
Renowned philosopher signs petition calling on bishops to investigate Pope for heresy, Maike Hickson, LIFESITE, 13 Mon May 6, 2019
(4) Open letter to the bishops of the Catholic Church Easter Week, 2019
5) IS POPE FRANCIS A HERETIC? by Thomas Weinandy, O.F.M. Cap., First Things, 5 . 7 . 19,
What are lost are measured, intelligent, nuanced responses to the present ecclesial crisis and a rational Spirit-filled fortitude to bring truth to light in the midst of deceitful darkness.
So, while the open letter hopes to be a clarion call to rectify a grievous situation within the Church, it may have unintentionally contributed to making the victory of faith even more difficult.
Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM, Cap.
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"Your Holiness (Pope Francis), a chronic confusion seems to mark your pontificate." "The main source of concern is the manner of your teaching." " . . . your guidance at times seems intentionally ambiguous . . . "." " To teach with such a seemingly intentional lack of clarity inevitably risks sinning against the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth." (1)
"The Holy Spirit is given to the Church, and particularly to yourself, to dispel
error, not to foster it." (1)
" . . . (Pope Francis) seems to regard every aspect of the Church’s tradition as a plastic instrument to be stiffened here or relaxed there in accord with ever-changing pastoral judgments." (2).
" . . . it’s reasonable to think the pontificate (of Pope Francis) will seek to muddy the Church’s teaching . . .". (2) "This papacy’s goal of aligning the Catholic Church with the bourgeois consensus has other dimensions that show how unprincipled this process will be." (2)
" . . . Francis also will denounce where denunciations are wanted. Recently, he declared capital punishment always and everywhere forbidden. " While . . . "this pronouncement is inconsistent with the Church’s two-thousand-year tradition of moral teaching on the matter, . . . that’s beside the point. The notion of Pope Francis defining any act as intrinsically evil is laughable on its face, given how often he attacks the “doctors of the law” who speak about objective moral norms. And didn’t Fr. Antonio Spadaro very clearly tell us that the time has passed when we can speak of “a norm that stands above all”? (2)
"Moreover, only where there is truth can there be
authentic love, for truth is the light that sets women and men free from the
blindness of sin, a darkness that kills the life of the soul. Yet you seem to
censor and even mock those who interpret Chapter 8 of "Amoris Laetitia" in
accord with Church tradition as Pharisaic stone-throwers who embody a merciless
rigorism." (1)
" . . . (Pope Francis) has, by his Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia, and by
other, related, words, deeds and omissions, effectively upheld 7 heretical
positions about marriage, the moral life, and the reception of the sacraments,
and has caused these heretical opinions to spread in the Catholic Church."
"(Pope Francis) has not declared these heretical positions to be definitive
teachings of the Church or stated that Catholics must believe them with the
assent of faith. The Church teaches no pope can claim that God has revealed some
new truth to him, which it would be obligatory for Catholics to believe." "The
signatories . . . respectfully insist that he condemn these heresies, which he
has directly or indirectly upheld." (3).
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2018 CCC 2267 Amendment: 11 Factual Errors
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"This kind of calumny is alien to the nature of the Petrine ministry.
Some of your advisors regrettably seem to engage in similar actions. Such
behavior gives the impression that your views cannot survive theological
scrutiny, and so must be sustained by "ad hominem" arguments." (2)
"The details don’t matter. Pope Francis and his closest associates have no interest in the sacramental coherence of their positions on matters such as divorce and remarriage, nor do they care one whit about defending the logic of the arguments they put forward." (2).
" . . . too often your manner seems to demean the
importance of Church doctrine. Again and again you portray doctrine as dead and
bookish, and far from the pastoral concerns of everyday life. Your critics have
been accused, in your own words, of making doctrine an ideology. But it is
precisely Christian doctrine – including the fine distinctions made with regard
to central beliefs like the Trinitarian nature of God; the nature and purpose of
the Church; the Incarnation; the Redemption; and the sacraments – that frees
people from worldly ideologies and assures that they are actually preaching and
teaching the authentic, life-giving Gospel." (1)
"Those who devalue the doctrines of
the Church separate themselves from Jesus, the author of truth. What they then
possess, and can only possess, is an ideology – one that conforms to the world
of sin and death." (1)
"Christianity orients us upward and toward the divine. Bourgeois religion is horizontal. It takes its cues from the consensus of the moment, the opinions of the good and responsible people. This reduces Christianity to a political religion organized to buttress the status quo. The Francis papacy largely follows this pattern, making it quite predictable." (2)
" . . . faithful Catholics can only be
disconcerted by your (Pope Francis') choice of some bishops, men who seem not merely open to
those who hold views counter to Christian belief but who support and even defend
them. What scandalizes believers, and even some fellow bishops, is not only
your having appointed such men to be shepherds of the Church, but that you also
seem silent in the face of their teaching and pastoral practice. This weakens
the zeal of the many women and men who have championed authentic Catholic
teaching over long periods of time, often at the risk of their own reputations
and well-being. As a result, many of the faithful, who embody the "sensus
fidelium," are losing confidence in their supreme shepherd." (1)
" . . . you are commissioned by the Lord himself
to promote and strengthen (Church) unity . . . your actions and words too
often seem intent on doing the opposite". Encouraging a form of "synodality"
that allows and promotes various doctrinal and moral options within the Church
can only lead to more theological and pastoral confusion. Such synodality is
unwise and, in practice, works against collegial unity among
bishops." (1)
" . . . many have learned from your pontificate
is not that you are open to criticism, but that you resent it. Many bishops are
silent because they desire to be loyal to you, and so they do not express – at
least publicly; privately is another matter – the concerns that your pontificate
raises. Many fear that if they speak their mind, they will be marginalized or
worse." (1)
" . . . your pontificate has given those who hold
harmful theological and pastoral views the license and confidence to come into
the light and expose their previously hidden darkness. In recognizing this
darkness, the Church will humbly need to renew herself, and so continue to grow
in holiness." (1)
"May the Holy Spirit lead you to the light of
truth and the life of love so that you can dispel the darkness that now hides
the beauty of Jesus’ Church." (1)
More here:
The Pope’s Pedophile?, Andrew Sullivan, New York Magazine, June 30, 2017,
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1) Letter found here:
A Theologian Writes To the Pope: There Is Chaos in the Church, and You Are a Cause, L'Espresso, 01 nov, 2017
Thomas G. Weinandy, O.F.M., Cap. July 31, 2017,
Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola
http://magister.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/2017/11/01/a-theologian-writes-to-the-pope-there-is-chaos-in-the-church-and-you-are-a-cause/
Weinandy is among the most eminent theologians, lives in Washington at the College of the Capuchins, the Franciscan order to which he belongs, is a member of the international theological commission, the commission that Paul VI set up alongside the congregation for the doctrine of the faith so that it could avail itself of the cream of the crop among the world’s theologians. He has been a member of this commission since 2014, having been appointed to it by Pope Francis.
(2) LIBERAL TRADITION, YES; LIBERAL IDEOLOGY, NO, by R. R. Reno, Editor, First Things, December 2017
(3) Correctio filialis de haeresibus propagatis (‘A filial correction concerning
the propagation of heresies’), July 16th, 2017, Feast of our Lady of Mt Carmel
full summary, here:
Full correction, here:
