Pope Francis: ‘Rigid… this or nothing’ Catholics are ‘heretical’ and ‘not Catholic’

[Engraved-on-His-hands]

Pope Francis: ‘Rigid… this or nothing’ Catholics are ‘heretical’ and ‘not Catholic’

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pope-francis-rigid-this-or-nothing-catholics-are-heretical-and-not-catholic

by John-Henry Weston

June 9, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – The stunning introduction to today’s official Vatican Radio report on Pope Francis’ morning homily reads: “Pope Francis warned on Thursday against an excessive rigidity, saying those within the Church who tell us ‘it’s this or nothing’ are heretics and not Catholics. His remarks came during the morning Mass on Thursday celebrated at the Santa Marta residence.”

The specific section of the homily referred to in the opening is as follows:

This (is the) healthy realism of the Catholic Church: the Church never teaches us ‘or this or that.’ That is not Catholic. The Church says to us: ‘this and that.’ ‘Strive for perfectionism: reconcile with your brother.  Do not insult him. Love him. And if there is a problem, at the very least settle your differences so that war doesn’t break out.’ This (is) the healthy realism of Catholicism. It is not Catholic (to say) ‘or this or nothing:’ This is not Catholic, this is heretical.

Jesus always knows how to accompany us, he gives us the ideal, he accompanies us towards the ideal, He frees us from the chains of the laws' rigidity and tells us: ‘But do that up to the point that you are capable.’ And he understands us very well.  He is our Lord and this is what he teaches us.
Interpreting what Pope Francis is saying in a precise way has always been difficult.  However, there has been a consistent theme in his remarks against what he refers to as ‘rigid’ Catholics who hold steadfastly to the ideals proposed by Christ and to absolutes. “Fundamentalism is a sickness that we find in all religions,” said the Pope in November while flying home from Africa. “Among Catholics there are many, not a few, many, who believe to hold the absolute truth,” he added. “They go ahead by harming others with slander and defamation, and they do great harm…  And it must be combated.”

In his most recent Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis criticized the Church for often proposing, “a far too abstract and almost artificial theological ideal of marriage.”  He added that conscience can “recognize with sincerity and honesty what for now is the most generous response which can be given to God, and come to see with a certain moral security that it is what God himself is asking amid the concrete complexity of one’s limits, while yet not fully the objective ideal.”

An accusation of rigidity or heresy by Pope Francis against those who would insist on the ideal of Christ’s teaching such as marriage, would fall heavily on Francis’ own predecessor, Pope St. John Paul II, whom Pope Francis himself declared a saint.  In the encyclical Veritatis Splendor, John Paul taught: "It would be a very serious error to conclude... that the Church's teaching is essentially only an 'ideal' which must then be adapted, proportioned, graduated to the so-called concrete possibilities of man, according to a 'balancing of the goods in question'.”

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[montanajoe]

I know I am a bit of a rarity on the right but I like this Pope.

I have always been a bit mystified by those who come to see religion through the prism of their political belief's. If a Pope or other relegious leader dosen't conform to thier politics then they are wrong. To me that's ass backwards. For me relegion is part of the serious business of life and earthly political scrabbles are a mere distraction.

Religion can form the basis of a good and rewarding life, politics and political belief never can.

[Engraved-on-His-hands]

I agree wholeheartedly with your view that religion should come first, politics second.  However, I think that many people (including many Roman Catholics) have been troubled by this Pope's seeming admiration of relativism more than his holding to absolutes.  I think that distinction is a fair reflection of much of the trend in our society and culture in recent years.

[sinkspur]

I agree wholeheartedly with your view that religion should come first, politics second.  However, I think that many people (including many Roman Catholics) have been troubled by this Pope's seeming admiration of relativism more than his holding to absolutes.  I think that distinction is a fair reflection of much of the trend in our society and culture in recent years.

I don't find Francis to be relativistic.  He's realistic.  Recognizing that marriages fail is not denigrating the sanctity of marriage or compromising its lifelong nature.  Dealing with the failure of marriage in a compassionate way is something the Church should be doing.  The annulment process is degrading and demeaning, which is why so few Catholics subject themselves to it.

Excessive dogmatism can be a temptation to Pharisaism, that attitude that Jesus railed against his entire public life.   Like his patron, Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis is about faith in action, not doctrine. 

And it's a very refreshing thing to see.