Even more examples of Pope Francis banging his head against the Law of Unintended Consequences.

Please pray for the Vicar of Christ and the One True Church on Earth.


From a leading darkness of the Christ Last Media, the Associated Press:

Conservative criticism of pope sparks rally of support

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis' top advisers are rallying to his defense amid an unprecedented wave of conservative criticism that represents the biggest challenge to his mercy-over-morals papacy.

In an unusual gesture, the nine cardinals from around the world who advise Francis on running the church made a public show of support for the pope and his teachings this week after posters featuring a scowling Francis appeared around Rome. The posters referenced some perceived heavy-handed moves against conservatives and asked "Where's your mercy?"

And on Tuesday, the Vatican published a book by the Holy See's top canon lawyer fully endorsing Francis' controversial opening to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics — the main bone of contention between the pope and conservative and traditionalist Catholics.

The book's author, Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, said the Vatican bureaucracy and cardinals exist to help and serve the pope. "He knows we love him and we are with him," Coccopalmerio said in an interview with The Associated Press.

He called the anti-pope posters "odious" and "from the point of view of civility and manners, not nice and not condonable."

Conservatives and traditionalists have been wary of Francis ever since he emerged on the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica after his 2013 election without the red velvet cape of his predecessors. More recently, they have been alarmed by his takeover of the Knights of Malta sovereign religious order and the public sidelining of its conservative patron, Cardinal Raymond Burke.

But the conservatives' greatest complaint concerns Francis' 2016 document "The Joy of Love," in which he seemed to open the door to letting divorced and civilly remarried Catholics receive Communion. This sparked heated debate and division within the Catholic Church and led to different interpretations from one parish to the next.

Four conservative cardinals, led by Burke, formally asked Francis to clarify certain questions, or "dubia," raised by the document, but Francis hasn't responded.

Coccopalmerio penned his 51-page book to help explain the text, though he said his was neither a formal response to his four fellow cardinals, nor an official document of the Vatican's legal office. However, his book was published by the Vatican's publishing house at the height of two years of tension over the issue, and was presented Tuesday at a press conference at Vatican Radio.

Church teaching holds that unless divorced and civilly remarried Catholics receive an annulment, or a church decree that their first marriage was invalid, they cannot receive Communion if they are sexually active. Citing Jesus' teaching on the indissolubility of marriage, some conservatives have insisted the teaching is fixed in the Gospel and that the only way these Catholics can receive Communion is to abstain from sex. Progressives have sought wiggle room to balance doctrine with mercy and look at each couple on a case-by-case basis.

In the book, Coccopalmerio repeats church doctrine and says Francis' text falls squarely within Catholic tradition. But he says sometimes these couples find abstaining from sex "impossible," even if they want to, and should not be denied the sacraments as a result.

"The church therefore, must admit to confession and the Eucharist those faithful who find themselves in illegitimate unions, as long as there are two essential conditions: they want to change their situation, but they cannot act on their desire," he wrote.

Those conditions, he stressed, must be verified by priests and bishops, suggesting that arriving at that decision in one's own conscience isn't enough.

The Rev. Robert Gahl, a moral theologian at the Pontifical Holy Cross University, said Coccopalmerio "has a very broad reading of impossibility" as far as abstaining from sex is concerned. And Gahl said the book, while contributing an authoritative legal voice to the debate, certainly doesn't answer the ambiguities in the pope's document, known by its Latin title "Amoris Laetitia."

"The developing debate will tell, but it seems that Coccopalmerio is advancing an open contradiction for how to read Amoris Laetitia," Gahl said. "And it's to resolve that contradiction that the four cardinals wrote the dubia."

American canon lawyer Edward Peters, an adviser to the Vatican's high court, was more direct. In a blog post, Peters said Coccopalmerio's book represented "more blows upon a swollen bruise" caused by the pope's original document and subsequent liberal interpretations by Maltese and German bishops.



Still more from ZENIT.ORG:

INTERVIEW: Cardinal Ravasi: 'Finally a Feminine Voice in the Roman Curia ...

“It is necessary to begin with the presence of women in the Vatican, and it must not be an ornamental or cosmetic presence, said, in an exclusive interview with ZENIT, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture.

The cardinal spoke in an aside from the presentation of the Feminine Consultation

Group instituted by his dicastery on Tuesday, March 7, 2017. The Italian prelate stressed that he wished to create this new organism “in rosa” to give the dicastery’s activities a “feminine look,” which “offers pointers that we men don’t even suspect,” he specified.

Moreover, he added that this group does not stem from the need to reward “claims” of “quotas for women,” just as – explained the cardinal – “he did not want it even as a cosmetic element, a “beautiful presence” in a solely masculine horizon.” The 37 women chosen will, in fact, be active and heard.

Speaking to journalists, Cardinal Ravasi then offered a witty remark of the writer of Polish origin Joseph Conrad: “To be a woman is extremely difficult, because it is necessary to have something continually to do with men. And to have to do with priests – I add – is even more grave!”

* * *

ZENIT: Can you explain the criteria with which the women of the Feminine Consultation  of the Pontifical Council for Culture were chosen? How were they selected?

Cardinal Ravasi: This is an important question because it was perhaps one of my most difficult and demanding tasks. I thought, first of all, of the international “question.” Therefore, there are women from the United States, Ireland, Iran, Chile, Turkey and so on. Second, the inter-religious “question”: different “points of view” are represented, especially Islam, Judaism, Christianity, in their different forms, also the Protestant. The third was the criterium of professions, of activities, privileging, for example, women who work in the realm of culture, hence university, women artists, medicine, science, but in order to cover other realms, such as sport, see Fiona May, to have the whole horizon of the professions. The fourth criterium is that of family experience. There are unmarried women but also women who have a family, therefore, they experience all the problems of the growing up of children, etc. The last criterium is that of “sensibility.”

ZENIT: What do you mean by “sensibility,” Your Eminence?

Cardinal Ravasi: For instance, for politics – because I also wanted politics represented – I chose a person who is interested in the question of “waste,” namely, the waste of food, the recovery of food that otherwise would be wasted, and we speak be it for Italy be it for the world, of a third of all the food produced. And she is also a person interested in volunteer work, she is part of the Parliamentary Commission in charge of refugees, and so on. Moreover, I also wanted to consider the great questions of poverty, of migrations, in the spirit of Pope Francis.  We can say that these topics are also represented in the Consultation, given that there are women who have engaged in activities of a charitable type, although we don’t want to have it noted, they exist. These are the criteria about which you asked me.

ZENIT: Does the Pope have thoughts about this consulting group? What’s his impression?

Cardinal Ravasi: Yes.

ZENIT: So you spoke about it . . .

Cardinal Ravasi: Yes, we certainly spoke about it. He shares very much the idea of this Consultation, because he has always spoken of the lack of feminine voices in the Roman Curia. We know that difficulties exist, the structures are complex, the past history is somewhat “heavy,” but it’s necessary to begin somewhere. And in fact, I repeat it again, because it is very important for me: the presence of women of the Consultation must not be only “ornamental,” only because some woman in the Vatican  should be there by force, the ‘rose’ quotas, as is usually said!

It is necessary that there be space for all, then persons must enter these spaces with their competencies, not because they are women or men who enter automatically, as in the past: they were men, so they entered the Roman Curia automatically, even without any competence, without preparation …

Therefore, I also say: the function of these women is a real function, they are called to express judgments; they have already criticized me on some proposals and have put forward others! For instance, in connection with the forthcoming Plenary Assembly of the dicastery, on neuroscience, artificial intelligence, genetics, robotics, information technology, etc. on all these issues these women have expressed – as scientists and as women – judgments that we would be unable to formulate.

So true is it, I can say this, that the opening event of the forthcoming Plenary, which is the most important moment of the dicastery’s activity, is being organized by the feminine consultation; it will be a television show on which they have already begun to work.

ZENIT: Hence, this group is beginning to activate itself within the dicastery over which you preside. But would you say that this feminine consultation group is a kind of “experiment,” also to understand if something similar would potentially be instituted in other dicasteries?

Cardinal Ravasi: I hope so, in keeping with the principle of imitation . . .  Then everyone has his way of acting and of functioning. However, I think that what Pope Francis said is possible, namely, that some functions in the Vatican dicasteries can be done by women, entrusted to women: I am speaking of women who would in fact enter in the dicasteries. Women are found only in positions as secretaries, or administrative positions. And this is a mistake! Therefore, I think of the principle of imitation for the future.

More from the same page at ZENIT.ORG:



Pope’s Interview With ‘Die Zeit’: Priestly Celibacy, Crisis of Faith, Forthcoming Trips

Optional priestly celibacy, ordination of married men, the crisis of faith, future apostolic journeys: Pope Francis discusses all these subjects in an interview published on March 9, 2017 in the German weekly Die Zeit. Vatican Radio made a summary in French of this first interview granted to the German media.

“I’m a sinner, I can be mistaken” headlined ZEIT. In the interview, the Pontiff confided: “I don’t have the impression of being an exceptional man (. . .) I’m just a man who does what he can.”

Optional Celibacy and Viri Probati 

He referred to the lack of vocations, “a problem the Church must resolve.” To address it, he recommends prayer but also, as he has explained several times, social work with young people “who are the great forgotten ones of modern society as they don’t have work in numerous countries.”

However, the lack of priests should not lead to suspend discernment, he cautions: “Today there are so many youths and then, those who will ruin the Church because they are not priests by vocation. The vocation is important.”

“Optional celibacy isn’t the solution,” assured the Pope, who thinks that the ordination of married men — viri probati — is a possibility to be studied. “But one must also decide the sort of tasks they must assume, for instance, for the isolated communities.”

The Forthcoming Apostolic Journeys

In the course of the interview, the Holy Father enumerated the apostolic journeys to come: he confirmed trips to India, Bangladesh and Colombia. As he did during his visit to the Anglican Church of Rome, he expressed the wish to go to South Sudan. A trip to Egypt is also being studied.

Certain destinations he would like to go to are difficult to implement at the moment, he specified: Congo-Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Russia, which implies going also to Ukraine.

Questioned about the crisis of faith, the Pontiff stressed that “Faith is not an acquisition” but “a gift” and that “crisis is part of the life of faith.” Thus, “a faith that doesn’t enter in crisis to grow” remains “infantile.”

The Pope, who affirmed he is at peace, explained that he prays for the grace “of a sense of humor,: and to react jokingly to the affair of the anonymous pamphlets directed against him, the placards in the streets of Rome: “ the romanaccio (a Roman dialect) used in those manifestos was magnificent.”

In regard to the recent crisis between the Holy See and the Order of Malta, Pope Francis hopes for the solution of problems. “It is why I appointed a delegate capable of resolving it, with a charism that Cardinal Burke doesn’t have,” the latter remaining nevertheless, Patron of the Order. It’s Monsignor Angelo Becciu, Substitute for General Affairs of the State Secretariat, who was appointed papal delegate last February 4.

In a first summary made by Zenit yesterday, the Pope also expressed his concern given the mounting populisms in Western Europe and his rejection of a papal cult.

TheChurchMilitant: Sometimes anti-social, but always anti-fascist since 2005.