Pope Francis on Love, Marriage, and the Family

[Valin]

National Review:

George Weigel

April 8, 2016

 

Weighing in at a gargantuan 261 pages, Amoris Laetitia (“The Joy of Love”) is, by my quick reckoning, the longest such document in the history of the papal magisterium, and by a good 10 percent or more. Its sheer size suggests the wisdom — although probably the futility, too — of Pope Francis’s plea that his apostolic exhortation “on love in the family” be read “patiently and carefully,” piece by piece, and then pondered as a whole.

 

The futility comes from the fact that various pre-exhortation Catholic spin machines have set a context for the reception of Amoris Laetitia that the world media will find irresistible, by focusing almost exclusive attention on the question of whether the pope would endorse one or other of Walter Cardinal Kasper’s proposals for admitting divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to holy communion (quick preview: Francis doesn’t). So look in the early going for a vast, global argument over whether a “door has been opened” or a “first step taken” to vindicating Kasper. Those who will say that Kasper has not been vindicated seem to me to have the better of the argument, on a close reading of the text of the exhortation. But that won’t prevent others, including German-speaking bishops and theologians who don’t seem capable of recognizing that their proposals were rejected by two synods of bishops, from claiming victory.

 

The other problem with the Pope’s plea for patience and care in reading Amoris Laetitia is that most Catholics (not to mention others) are simply not going to wade through a text of this length. And that is a shame, because the exhortation says many important things about love, marriage, the family, and the current cultural crisis of a world in which the imperial autonomous Self is running roughshod over just about everything, leaving a lot of human unhappiness in its wake.

 

Thus it might be a useful orientation for those who are going to take a cut at reading this vast, sprawling text to highlight some of what impress me as the exhortation’s most striking arguments — which may also serve as a mini-summary for those who have neither the time nor the inclination to read Amoris Laetitia (hereafter, AL) in full.

 

(Snip)

[Geee]

Vatican Invites Sanders to a Conference to Discuss a 'Moral' Economy

 

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/pope-invites-sanders-vatican-discuss-moral-economy

[Geee]

Vatican official accuses Sanders of 'monumental discourtesy'

 

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/275628-vatican-official-accuses-sanders-of-monumental-discourtesy

[SrWoodchuck]

The Church struggles to stay relevant in an increasingly secular society. If the depth of your belief is shallow, you can be easily directed to a life of easy choices & I don't think that leads to a happy life, because you live "in the world" and further from God. You cannot be afraid to admit your sinfulness & ask for mercy from Him...rather than assuming that there is no complete & eternal forgiveness, so why try?

 

IMO-The purpose of asking forgiveness has a duality of self-criticization to find a path to growth & understanding (which can bring peace) and the release of guilt; which accomplishes much of the same. The goal is re-alignment with God & the world. If we are made in the image of God (in the Spirit), we need to have a path back to the wholeness that implies. The whole purpose of Christ was to create that path. It only works if we can forgive, as Christ has forgiven us...something extremely hard to do, because we are human and it goes against our nature. Free will is not absolutely free. It is conditioned on conscience...knowing right from wrong + the consequence of making a wrong choice. That consequence, or consequences, are what have blurred the lines in secular society. The path of our present government...and the One World Order...is to homogenize our consciences & strip that responsibility for right & wrong...replacing it with an elite entity, that assumes the role of God on earth...to tell us what our boundaries are and issue secular consequences based on their fiat. There would be no more forgiveness, nor any asking...only punishment or reward based on obedience to that secular god.

 

I'm not comfortable with Pope Francis's love of socialism. He is a product of his culture. The model of socialism that he sees is the ideal, which has never worked for humanity...because it is a product of enforced, capricious & select charity. Capitalism has it's problems, but charity freely given from bounty...made through hard work & the struggle to better yourself & your loved ones...is more noble than being forced to contribute an ever increasing amount of your blood, sweat & treasure to a communal pot that is then distributed by a soul-less entity that makes it's decisions of giving due to political reason and not need. This is demeaning to the recipient as well. Witness the destruction of the black family, which is due in large part to the liberal policies of LBJ & the politics of the 1960's.

 

I can see some of the infallibility of the Pope in this summary. It exists only in matters of faith...which he has grounded in the texts of the New & Old Testaments. In his actions on the world stage, I think he frames his duties as St. Peter's successor through the lens of socialist idealism, which really troubles me. It makes his actions awkward to those of us that have known freedom in our capitalist society...but I can forgive him...because there is no forgiveness without forgiving. Agreement is not necessary for forgiveness.

[SrWoodchuck]

Vatican official accuses Sanders of 'monumental discourtesy'

 

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/275628-vatican-official-accuses-sanders-of-monumental-discourtesy

 

Sweet @Geee! I'm confused...Sanders invited himself to the event & then thanked Pope Francis for the invite? If so...typical.

 

"Schwing (ever) low(er), sweet chariot (of the campaign)"

[Geee]

 

Vatican official accuses Sanders of 'monumental discourtesy'

 

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/275628-vatican-official-accuses-sanders-of-monumental-discourtesy

 

Sweet @Geee! I'm confused...Sanders invited himself to the event & then thanked Pope Francis for the invite? If so...typical.

 

"Schwing (ever) low(er), sweet chariot (of the campaign)"

 

 

My take on the two articles is that Bernie invited himself but tried to make it look like it was an invite from the Pope, so it would almost look like an endorsement.