|
|
Post by cato on Feb 12, 2020 22:09:37 GMT
In a move that certainly suprised me Pope Francis decided not to permit the ordination of married men in the Amazon and the creation of deaconesses in his apostolic exhortation on the controversial Amazon synod. It was widely expected "liberalisation " would be permitted and eventually grounds would be widened to permit full female ordination and an effective end to clerical celibacy in the Latin rite of the church. Perhaps this will be seen as Francis ' Humanae Vitae moment were after widespread expectation of change the pope decides for continuity.
The document is not in English as yet and is probably going to be typically Franciscan in style and content. I find his texts to be difficult and meandering. The Pope appears to back the use of controversial images at the synod. He also outlines his four dreams for the Amazon. Why papal dreams need to become a vision for the wider church is a point I hope he addresses.
Many of the traditional on line sites used to criticise (often with good reason imho) Pope Francis have been uncharacteristically silent. I suspect they may have had to hurriedly rewrite pre-prepared texts! Certainly a moment were we saw the pope of suprises do something that suprised the liberal wing of the church and the wider secular culture.
The recent book by Pope Benedict and Cardinal Sarah may have influenced matters but the Pope could have decided to change the discipline on celibacy on perfectly orthodox prudential grounds. After much prayer he chose to maintain the status quo.
|
|
|
|
Post by Séamus on Feb 13, 2020 7:57:57 GMT
In a move that certainly suprised me Pope Francis decided not to permit the ordination of married men in the Amazon and the creation of deaconesses in his apostolic exhortation on the controversial Amazon synod. It was widely expected "liberalisation " would be permitted and eventually grounds would be widened to permit full female ordination and an effective end to clerical celibacy in the Latin rite of the church. Perhaps this will be seen as Francis ' Humanae Vitae moment were after widespread expectation of change the pope decides for continuity. The document is not in English as yet and is probably going to be typically Franciscan in style and content. I find his texts to be difficult and meandering. The Pope appears to back the use of controversial images at the synod. He also outlines his four dreams for the Amazon. Why papal dreams need to become a vision for the wider church is a point I hope he addresses. Many of the traditional on line sites used to criticise (often with good reason imho) Pope Francis have been uncharacteristically silent. I suspect they may have had to hurriedly rewrite pre-prepared texts! Certainly a moment were we saw the pope of suprises do something that suprised the liberal wing of the church and the wider secular culture. The recent book by Pope Benedict and Cardinal Sarah may have influenced matters but the Pope could have decided to change the discipline on celibacy on perfectly orthodox prudential grounds. After much prayer he chose to maintain the status quo. I think there was a hint of this in the Pope's final synod-address,when His Holiness made a point of saying that the whole thing was never meant to be about factional politics. He seems to have been the only one who ever saw the Amazon Synod in this way. I read an article,by chance just before St Valentine's Day tomorrow,about mature-aged vocation Fr Sean Hyland of Kildare&Leighlin who lost his two babies to illnesses in the 1970s and his wife to cancer in the early 2000s. He insists that it was Liz Hyland's faith that sustained him through his own bitterness at the loss of his kids,eventually leading to the priesthood. And then there's the wife of Franz Jägerstätter who supported her husband's martyrdom,was present at his beatification and (most remarkably) continued the sacristy work they once shared in the village church for decades following his death. Now THERE are two genuine examples of church ministry that also underlined the marriage vocation. |
|
|
|
Post by Maolsheachlann on Feb 13, 2020 9:11:35 GMT
I had resigned myself to the gradual introduction of married priests. As Cato says, there is nothing heretical about it per se.
But I'm very glad the Pope has chosen not to go this route, on so many grounds.
I think that our sex-saturated society is, ironically, particularly impressed by the witness of priestly celibacy-- even when it pretends otherwise.
|
|
|
|
Post by Maolsheachlann on Feb 13, 2020 9:43:19 GMT
One thing I find especially interesting about the document is that the Pope once again affirms the importance of cultural heritage and the danger of cultural homogenization:
"Here I would like to point out that “a consumerist vision of human beings, encouraged by the mechanisms of today’s globalized economy, has a leveling effect on cultures, diminishing the immense variety which is the heritage of all humanity”. This especially affects young people, for it has a tendency to “blur what is distinctive about their origins and backgrounds, and turn them into a new line of malleable goods”. In order to prevent this process of human impoverishment, there is a need to care lovingly for our roots, since they are “a fixed point from which we can grow and meet new challenges”. I urge the young people of the Amazon region, especially the indigenous peoples, to “take charge of your roots, because from the roots comes the strength that will make you grow, flourish and bear fruit”."
As it happens, I'd already been reading up on what Pope Francis has to say about globalization and he very often repeats this motif.
I do wish, though, he would be more specific. For instance, I think the following quotation expresses a very beautiful ideal, but my question is-- HOW is this to be achieved, and how is the form of globalization Pope Francis denounces to be avoided?
“Less inequality, more difference” is a theme that emphasizes the manifold richness of individuals as an expression of their personal talents, and that stands at a distance from homologation, which kills and paradoxically increases inequality. I would like to translate the theme into an image: the sphere and the polyhedron. Take the sphere to represent homologation, as a kind of globalization: it is smooth, without facets, and equal to itself in all its parts. The polyhedron has a form similar to the sphere, but it is multifaceted. I like to imagine humanity as a polyhedron, in which the multiple forms, in expressing themselves, constitute the elements that compose the one human family in a plurality. And this is true globalization. The other globalization — that of the sphere — is an homologation.
|
|
|
|
Post by Séamus on Mar 4, 2020 9:05:01 GMT
Sunday saw the death of fr Ernesto Cardenal whose clerical suspension was lifted last year by Francis after three decades. The early 80s visit of John Paul to Nicaragua just before the pontiff suspended Ernesto from priestly ministry was an interesting time. Although JPII paid some difficult visits,like his first to Holland which was plagued (I can remember seeing this on the news at the time) by much protest by libertarians,homosexuals and feminists,and although he toured communist states and Islamic,Buddhist and other nations with few Christians, Catholic Nicaragua was the one place where the pontiff was booed and shouted into terminating a sermon at pontifical mass(I can remember seeing this on the tv as a child also). Cardenal seems to have been the least-offensive of the several priests serving in the Marxist governments' cabinet- at least he tried to kiss His Holiness' ring on one knee- an historically iconic moment.
In defence of Pope Francis, Ernesto seems to have distanced himself from some of the extremism of the Sandinista in the years following. Hopefully this part will be kept in mind during this month's young economists conference,called by the pope in Assisi. (Why always Assisi for social and interfaith experimentation?)
|
|
