It is far easier to accept every word coming out of the Vatican, than to stop and wonder aloud if it is sound. The people speaking out are in a very small minority and it takes courage to raise these concerns especially when the people in the majority make accusations about our fidelity to Christ and His Bride, the Church. The people who raise questions about the soundness of Vatican declarations would be quenching the spirit within them if they were quiet. That spirit bubbles up and bursts forth. The Holy Spirit guides and protects His people, should we have to suffer for a time, He surely will reveal the necessary things for us to make our personal choices for our salvation.
https://www.ewtn.co.uk/news/holy-se...-change-doctrine-on-marriage-says-card-muller No angel, pope, council, or bishop has power to change doctrine on marriage, says Card. Müller Cardinal Müller, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has given an interview with the Italian Catholic magazine Il Timone, during which he stated categorically that communion for the divorced and remarried was "impossible" and that "no power in heaven or on earth, neither an angel, nor the pope, nor a council, nor a law of the bishops, has the faculty to change it.” Though Cardinal Müller does not refer to the dubia submitted by Cardinals Caffarra, Burke, Brandmüller and Meisner, the Prefect for the CDF does respond to some of their concerns. Cardinal Müller makes it clear that there are no circumstances or decisions of private conscience that could render adultery NOT a mortal sin: Q: Can there be a contradiction between doctrine and personal conscience? Cardinal Müller: No, that is impossible. For example, it cannot be said that there are circumstances according to which an act of adultery does not constitute a mortal sin. For Catholic doctrine, it is impossible for mortal sin to coexist with sanctifying grace. In order to overcome this absurd contradiction, Christ has instituted for the faithful the Sacrament of penance and reconciliation with God and with the Church. Cardinal Müller states categorically that Pope St John Paul II's Familiaris Consortio remains the Church's doctrine on the prohibition of the divorced and civilly "remarried" receiving Holy Communion, unless they abstained from sexual intimacy, lived together as brother and sister, and didn't cause scandal. Q: The exhortation of Saint John Paul II, “Familiaris Consortio,” stipulates that divorced and remarried couples that cannot separate, in order to receive the sacraments must strive to live in continence. Is this requirement still valid? Cardinal Müller: Of course, it is not dispensable, because it is not only a positive law of John Paul II, but he expressed an essential element of Christian moral theology and the theology of the sacraments. The confusion on this point also concerns the failure to accept the encyclical “Veritatis Splendor,” with the clear doctrine of the “intrinsece malum.” [...] For us marriage is the expression of participation in the unity between Christ the bridegroom and the Church his bride. This is not, as some said during the Synod, a simple vague analogy. No! This is the substance of the sacrament, and no power in heaven or on earth, neither an angel, nor the pope, nor a council, nor a law of the bishops, has the faculty to change it. It is significant that Cardinal Müller also upholds the validity of Pope St John Paul II's “Veritatis Splendor", responding to a concern expressed by the dubia cardinals, who mentioned this seminal magisterial document on morality ten times in the dubia and explanatory notes: After the publication of the post-synodal exhortation Amoris Laetitia (304), does one still need to regard as valid the teaching of St. John Paul II’s encyclical Veritatis Splendor, 79, based on sacred Scripture and on the Tradition of the Church, on the existence of absolute moral norms that prohibit intrinsically evil acts and that are binding without exceptions? Cardinal Müller also strongly criticises bishops who interpret Amoris Laetitia in discontinuity with the Church's perennnial magisterial teaching: Q: This is a question that is being extensively discussed with regard to the debate surrounding the post-synodal exhortation “Amoris Laetitia.” Cardinal Müller: “Amoris Laetitia” must clearly be interpreted in the light of the whole doctrine of the Church. [...] I don’t like it, it is not right that so many bishops are interpreting “Amoris Laetitia” according to their way of understanding the pope’s teaching. This does not keep to the line of Catholic doctrine. The magisterium of the pope is interpreted only by him or through the congregation for the doctrine of the faith. The pope interprets the bishops, it is not the bishops who interpret the pope, this would constitute an inversion of the structure of the Catholic Church. To all these who are talking too much, I urge them to study first the doctrine [of the councils] on the papacy and the episcopate. The bishop, as teacher of the Word, must himself be the first to be well-formed so as not to fall into the risk of the blind leading the blind. [...] Q: How can one resolve the chaos that is being generated on account of the different interpretations that are given of this passage of Amoris Laetitia? Cardinal Müller: I urge everyone to reflect, studying the doctrine of the Church first, starting from the Word of God in Sacred Scripture, which is very clear on marriage. I would also advise not entering into any casuistry that can easily generate misunderstandings, above all that according to which if love dies, then the marriage bond is dead. These are sophistries: the Word of God is very clear and the Church does not accept the secularization of marriage. The task of priests and bishops is not that of creating confusion, but of bringing clarity. One cannot refer only to little passages present in “Amoris Laetitia,” but it has to be read as a whole, with the purpose of making the Gospel of marriage and the family more attractive for persons. It is not “Amoris Laetitia” that has provoked a confused interpretation, but some confused interpretations of it. All of us must understand and accept the doctrine of Christ and of his Church, and at the same time be ready to help others to understand it and put it into practice even in difficult situations.
I think from a layman's view point, most are clueless as it pertains to church doctrine (faith and morals) which come from God and can never change and church disciplines, which come from man (pope and bishops united to the pope), which can and do change. They can change, because they are a matter of prudence for the church in its time, and not a divine eternal law (doctrine) from God himself in matter pertaining to faith and morals. Do not be fooled. Heavens latest message to Pedro Regis just confirmed and warned the faithful on this divine truth 1/30/17. Pay heed you who judge by feelings and not divine truth.
With all due respect, Fatima, that ignorance argument has been done to death. Jesus called simple fishermen and trusted them rather than the learned scribes and pharisees. It doesn't take a doctorate in theology to understand the meaning of adultery. What St. John Paul said was impossible only a couple of decades ago is still impossible today and anyone trying to change that with subterfuge, fancy language or claims to intellectual superiority is resorting to deceit. Now, this being the feast of St. Brigid and traditionally the first day of Spring, here's a little prayer that the Hierarchy would be better promoting rather than telling all and sundry that God's grace isn't enough for us to resist temptations of the flesh: O God, Who gives us joy by the power of the intercession of Blessed Brigid the Virgin, graciously grant that we may be assisted by her merits by the example of whose chastity we are enlightened. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. I copied that prayer from this website: http://catholicheritage.blogspot.ie/ La Fheile Bhride Shona Dhuit (which means Happy St. Brigid's Day to you).
Thank God and God bless EWTN for staying faithful to church doctrine as well. Many have criticized them for their defense of unchanging truths. Mother Angelica must be very happy she still has her show defending holy mother church.
My main point is, most in the past 40 years have not been well educated in the faith. They hear what they want to hear, but most parishes in the world have not taught on church doctrine, rather social justice. Blessed are they who have found the faithful churches and priests who have taught the fullness of the faith. Most who fall will do so in ignorance. The clergy do not have this ignorance. They know what the church teachings are, yet dismiss them.
Yes, Fatima, and we have seen an example of that here on the forum from people twisting themselves inside out trying to fudge a crystal clear teaching because some Bishops grasped the opportunity presented by a footnote in Amoris Laetitia to divorce (pun intended) the practice of the Faith from the Doctrine of the Faith. Playing smart-alec games with people's souls and the Blessed Eucharist is nothing to be proud of no matter how clever or theologically informed they are. Neither is casting aspersions on the integrity of good, holy men like Cardinal Burke and Bishop Schneider. Thank God that Cardinal Muller has finally stepped up to the plate. It remains to be seen whether we will see the clarity in an official Church document similar to the one issued by then Cardinal Ratzinger when he was Prefect of the CDF under St. John Paul's papacy when Cardinal Kasper was pushing the same issue. I fear that there won't be such a document and that Cardinal Muller will be replaced in the not too distant future by someone very much his inferior. We mustn't ease up on praying for the Church. We must pray especially for the Pope. Remember that when Jesus said he prayed that St. Peter would keep the faith, he didn't guarantee that Peter would keep the faith. Rather, He promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against the Church.
Perhaps this gives Pope Francis' comment a few years ago about parents 'breeding like rabbitts" some deeper meaning.
The truth living in faith through grace is the only salvation. It does not come from a pope, unless he is teaching in unison with the unchanging doctrines of Christ and his church.
Thousands of Priests Worldwide Call for Clarification of Amoris Laetitia Appeal made [by the International Confraternities of Catholic Clergy] as Cardinal Gerhard Müller gives new interview upholding traditional teaching of the Church on contentious issues, and German bishops issue guidelines saying remarried divorcees can receive the sacraments “in individual cases”. http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edwa...ide-call-for-clarification-of-amoris-laetitia
FYI - in Spanish it doesn't sound as bad or the English translation isn't the same as what was said in Spanish.
Father Gabriel Amorth, who died in September 2016, was severely criticized when he repeatedly said in interviews that there were satanic sects in the Vatican. Now another exorcist, "I wish that one day a Great Exorcism will be carried out in the Vatican." http://eponymousflower.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/exorcist-i-wish-that-one-day-great.html
I would find it much, much easier to keep my mouth shut about what is gowon. It tortures me to speak out. We are never required to be obedient to hersy or heretics
It is because I have chosen the much more harder path of speaking outI know that it is the right one,
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2017/02/card...s-laetitia-informally-answers-the-five-dubia/ Card. Müller weighs in on ‘Amoris Laetitia’, informally answers the Five Dubia Posted on 1 February 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf The Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is doing his job. His Eminence Gerhard Ludwig Card. Müller, has given a long interview to the Italian Catholic monthly Il Timone. Title: “You don’t negotiate Truth.” He comments on the relationship of personal conscience, ecumenism and the interpretation of the controversial, confusing Amoris laetitia. Card. Müller doesn’t explicitly respond to the Five Dubia submitted by the Four Cardinals. Not explicitly. But he does happen to respond to the points raised in the Five Dubia. Here is a solid gold quote, in my translation: Amoris laetitia “must be read as a whole, in any case an act of adultery is always a mortal sin and the bishops who cause confusion on this point ought to study the Church’s doctrine.” That is directed, of course, at the ludicrous statement of the Bishops of Malta, guidelines on the implementation of chapter 8 of Amoris (aka The Maltese Disaster). I see that Sandro Magister has already provided translations of some of the interview. HERE Let’s have a look at these “key passages of the interview” with my emphases and comments: Q: Can there be a contradiction between doctrine and personal conscience? A [Müller]: No, that is impossible. For example, it cannot be said that there are circumstances according to which an act of adultery does not constitute a mortal sin. For Catholic doctrine, it is impossible for mortal sin to coexist with sanctifying grace. In order to overcome this absurd contradiction, Christ has instituted for the faithful the Sacrament of penance and reconciliation with God and with the Church. Q: This is a question that is being extensively discussed with regard to the debate surrounding the post-synodal exhortation “Amoris Laetitia.” A: “Amoris Laetitia” must clearly be interpreted in the light of the whole doctrine of the Church. […] I don’t like it, it is not right that so many bishops are interpreting “Amoris Laetitia” according to their way of understanding the pope’s teaching. This does not keep to the line of Catholic doctrine. The magisterium of the pope is interpreted only by him or through the congregation for the doctrine of the faith. The pope interprets the bishops, it is not the bishops who interpret the pope, this would constitute an inversion of the structure of the Catholic Church. To all these who are talking too much, [Maltese, et al.] I urge them to study first the doctrine [of the councils] on the papacy and the episcopate. The bishop, as teacher of the Word, must himself be the first to be well-formed so as not to fall into the risk of the blind leading the blind. […] Q: The exhortation of Saint John Paul II, “Familiaris Consortio,” stipulates that divorced and remarried couples that cannot separate, in order to receive the sacraments must strive to live in continence. Is this requirement still valid? A: Of course, it is not dispensable, because it is not only a positive law of John Paul II, but he expressed an essential element of Christian moral theology and the theology of the sacraments. The confusion on this point also concerns the failure to accept the encyclical “Veritatis Splendor,” with the clear doctrine of the “intrinsece malum.” […] For us marriage is the expression of participation in the unity between Christ the bridegroom and the Church his bride. This is not, as some said during the Synod, a simple vague analogy. No! This is the substance of the sacrament, and no power in heaven or on earth, neither an angel, nor the pope, nor a council, nor a law of the bishops, has the faculty to change it. [Do I hear an “Amen!”?] Q: How can one resolve the chaos that is being generated on account of the different interpretations that are given of this passage of Amoris Laetitia? A: I urge everyone to reflect, studying the doctrine of the Church first, starting from the Word of God in Sacred Scripture, which is very clear on marriage. I would also advise not entering into any casuistry that can easily generate misunderstandings, above all that according to which if love dies, then the marriage bond is dead. These are sophistries: the Word of God is very clear and the Church does not accept the secularization of marriage. The task of priests and bishops is not that of creating confusion, but of bringing clarity. One cannot refer only to little passages present in “Amoris Laetitia,” but it has to be read as a whole, with the purpose of making the Gospel of marriage and the family more attractive for persons. It is not “Amoris Laetitia” that has provoked a confused interpretation, but some confused interpretations of it. [Wellll…okay… Amoris, alas, is less than perfectly clear, which has allowed some to go to the zoo.] All of us must understand and accept the doctrine of Christ and of his Church, and at the same time be ready to help others to understand it and put it into practice even in difficult situations.
If anyone thinks my path of speaking out did not involve one of the severest spiritual trials of my entire life they are very much mistaken. It has been a complete agony to me
http://www.onepeterfive.com/cardina...mortal-sin-to-coexist-with-sanctifying-grace/ Cardinal Müller: “It is Impossible for Mortal Sin to Coexist with Sanctifying Grace” Maike Hickson February 1, 2017 0 Comments Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has given a new interview in which he has made some comments with regard to the papal document Amoris Laetitia, and which may now be seen as an indirect response to the Four Cardinals’ own dubia. Cardinal Müller spoke with the Italian journal Il Timone, and the interview was just published in the February issue of that journal. Dr. Sandro Magister, the Italian Vatican specialist, first reported on this interview and has today already published in English certain passages from that interview. Magister says that the German Cardinal had at first not responded to the dubia when they were sent to him directly, but, he adds: To make up for this, however, now Müller is bringing clarity, and how [?], in an extensive interview that is coming out today [1 February] in the magazine Il Timone, conducted by editor Riccardo Cascioli and by Lorenzo Bertocchi. In the interview, the cardinal does not use the word dubia, but he says “apertis verbis” [with open words] precisely what the four cardinals were asking to have clarified. And he does not fail to lash out against those bishops who with their interpretive “sophistries” – he says – instead of acting as leaders for their faithful, are falling “into the risk of the blind leading the blind.” In the interview, Cardinal Müller answers to the question as to whether there can be a contradiction between doctrine and personal conscience with a clear: “No, that is impossible.” He continues: For example, it cannot be said that there are circumstances according to which an act of adultery does not constitute a mortal sin. For Catholic doctrine, it is impossible for mortal sin to coexist with sanctifying grace. In order to overcome this absurd contradiction, Christ has instituted for the faithful the Sacrament of penance and reconciliation with God and with the Church. [my emphasis] With this quote, the Prefect for Doctrine rejects the confusing comments – stemming from Amoris Laetitia – which indicate just the opposite. Cardinal Müller insists that “Amoris Laetitia must clearly be interpreted in the light of the whole doctrine of the Church”; and he adds that he does “not like it, it is not right, that so many bishops are interpreting Amoris Laetitia according to their way of [more subjective] understanding the pope’s teaching.” Müller continues: This [more subjective individual way] does not keep to the line of Catholic doctrine. The magisterium of the pope is interpreted only by him or through the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The pope interprets the bishops, it is not the bishops who interpret the pope, this would constitute an inversion of the structure of the Catholic Church. To all these who are talking too much, I urge them to study first the doctrine [of the councils] on the papacy and the episcopate. The bishop, as teacher of the Word, must himself be the first to be well-formed so as not to fall into the risk of the blind leading the blind. [my emphasis] In a 1 December 2016 interview, Cardinal Müller also insisted that the local bishop is strictly bound by the Church’s doctrine. This part of that interview, as we then said, unfortunately was – and still is – largely overlooked. We also recently reported that Cardinal Müller has recently again insisted upon that part of the post-synodal document Familiaris Consortio – paragraph 84 – which very clearly states that the “remarried” divorcees must live in permanent and sincere continence if they wish to access the Sacraments. This is what he also importantly repeats in this new interview, thereby answering some of the dubia himself: Q: The exhortation of Saint John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, stipulates that divorced and remarried couples that cannot separate, in order to receive the sacraments must strive [sic] to live in continence. Is this requirement still valid? A: Of course, it is not dispensable, because it is not only a positive law of John Paul II, but he expressed an essential element of Christian moral theology and the theology of the sacraments. The confusion on this point also concerns the failure to accept the encyclical “Veritatis Splendor,” with the clear doctrine of the “intrinsece malum [intrinsically evil].” [my emphasis] Müller repeats what he has done before, namely he insists that not even a pope can change the substance of the Sacrament of Marriage: For us marriage is the expression of participation in the unity between Christ the bridegroom and the Church his bride. This is not, as some said during the Synod, a simple vague analogy. No! This is the substance of the sacrament, and no power in heaven or on earth, neither an angel, nor the pope, nor a council, nor a law of the bishops, has the faculty to change it. Cardinal Müller then proposes that we study the doctrine of the Church more deeply, in order to avoid chaos and further confusion. He also rejects the use of sophistries with regard to marriage: I urge everyone to reflect, studying the doctrine of the Church first, starting from the Word of God in Sacred Scripture, which is very clear on marriage. I would also advise not entering into any casuistry that can easily generate misunderstandings, above all that according to which, if love dies, then the marriage bond is dead. These are sophistries: the Word of God is very clear and the Church does not accept the secularization of marriage. The task of priests and bishops is not that of creating confusion, but of bringing clarity. One cannot refer only to little passages present in Amoris Laetitia, but it has to be read as a whole, with the purpose of making the Gospel of marriage and the family more attractive for persons. It is not Amoris Laetitia that has provoked a confused interpretation, but some confused interpretations of it. All of us must understand and accept the doctrine of Christ and of his Church, and at the same time be ready to help others to understand it and put it into practice even in difficult situations. [my emphasis] This new interview comes as a surprise, since Cardinal Müller only recently had rebuked the Four Cardinals for their publication of the dubia, thereby, he said, putting the pope under pressure to answer. He then also had said that there will be no public correction of the pope because “there is no danger to the Faith.” Moreover, he additionally had claimed that “Amoris Laetitia is very clear in its doctrine.” Therefore, while Müller still essentially upholds this prior claim, he now implicitly and substantially rejects those parts of Amoris Laetitia which are causing much of the confusion (as he had done already in May of 2016). And he effectively thereby includes the newly presented episcopal guidelines, for example, the ones in Malta and in Argentina – all of which confusions were the cause for the dubia in the first place. It is to be hoped that this statement by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will bear, in some enduring way, good fruit for the sincere termination of these equivocating and demoralizing confusions.
