Do I commit a sin if I refused to acknowledge the authority of this current vicar of Christ? . Since I know his actions bring disaster to many souls. I never choose him and he is not bestow by God as God choose my parents. He had.been elected by crooked cardinal. Need much advise . Thank you in advanced
Is this the fundamental error in the Pope's thinking that mercy is God's greatest attribute? This would explain a lot. It is a faulty logic. Because mercy does not trump truth. Jesus says he is the way the truth and the life. He was crucified because he always spoke the truth. So truth is the fundamental attribute and nature of Jesus Christ for he is the truth, the logos.
From my reading I have found this.. Because of the 4th commandment we are obliged to honor him as our father. We must not show disrespect to him and in all that is not sinful we must give a respectful listen. But where he is gravely in error we must pray for him and not obey the error. We may call out his errors respectfully. I believe this is what the Dubia Cardinals are doing. For the sake of their souls they are treading this careful path. This is what Fr Ripperger has said as well.. I am trying to follow their example. Its hard. I have been to confession about it more than once.
Is it unreasonable for a son or daughter to feel anger at a father who completely negates his duties as a father? Could it be said that such anger represents a longing and respect for the true virtues of fatherhood, which are being denied? He's facilitating the effort to declare one of the small number of sins that 'cry out to Heaven for vengeance' ought to be blessed. This is incomprehensively monstrous and wrong. It is infernal and devilish. People were burned at the stake for far less. Rightfully, too. Regarding those who believe that he's not a pope, I wonder is this a form of denial? Like it or lump it, no matter how far he goes, he's the pope.
Its a tough tough road we are all on. I hear what you are saying. It is a horrific situation for all Catholics. What he is doing, what he is allowing. We have been " led into hard testing" ( alternative translation of lead us not into temptation.) What we pray in every Our Father. But God has seen fit to give us this hard testing. Everyone has to follow his own conscience on this. Its not easy. As I said I have taken this to confession more than once.
From what I read (admittedly some time ago and my memory isn't great) Pope Honorius didn't just make a mistake when he gave the instruction to stay quiet about the two natures of Jesus. He was probably afraid of alienating Sergius and his influential friends and hoped to avoid a schism. Back then schisms could lead to wars but even avoiding a war doesn't justify failure to protect the Faith from corruption. In the few accounts I have read about what was happening then, I haven't seen anything that suggests St. Sophronius showed any disrespect towards Pope Honorius. Divisions in the Church back then preceded losing Jerusalem to the Muslims. It's probably thanks to St. Sophronius being gracious towards the Muslim leader that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre wasn't turned into a mosque. I dread to think what disaster will follow our current divisions. In fairness to the four Cardinals who submitted the dubia on Amoris Laetitia, they all seem very respectful of Pope Francis. Others go too far, looking for faults in everything he says and does and always attributing the worst motives to him. Some of it smacks of politics. I haven't changed my opinion that Francis is a bad Pope. I had noticed in myself a tendency towards nit picking everything he said and did, probably looking to confirm my low opinion of him. That's not a healthy mindset and it's certainly not Christian. I needed to correct it so watched as much as I could of Michael Lofton. Some of Michael Lofton's stuff addressing the criticisms of Pope Francis is good. Not great but better than most of the Francis can do no wrong crowd and good enough to allay some of my worst fears. It's a pity he's so unpleasant in his attitude towards what he calls rad trads. Claiming charitable motives doesn't gloss over toxicity. I'm leaning towards the view that Pope Francis's main goal is giving Bishops more freedom from Rome, possibly believing that less Rome will ease the path to Christian unity. He seems to have a view of the papacy more in line with the "First Among Equals" with a lot more emphasis on the equals than we got from Vatican 1. That might be rooted in some resentment he had towards Rome when he was Bishop of Buenos Aires. He might believe that easing the Church's attitude to divorce and indulging the German Bishops is a small price to pay for Christian unity. If so, I believe he's gravely mistaken but I don't have the special grace conferred on a Pope. In fairness to Francis, Pope John Paul didn't seem to consider the Orthodox position on contraception and divorce an insurmountable obstacle to unity. I also think that he could retire very soon. I pray now that if what he is doing is God's will, that God will give me the grace to see and understand it. What else can we do?
You may be right Padraig, “…we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff. —Unun Sanctum, Bull of Pope Boniface VIII ” “They, therefore, walk in the path of dangerous error who believe that they can accept Christ as the Head of the Church, while not adhering loyally to His Vicar on earth. —POPE PIUS XII”
Yes but on the other hand....these are difficult times with a very,very difficult Pope. I can understand why people are confused, I am often confused myself.
I try to talk as little as possible about him and I think he speaks with a forked tongue which is not good. I pray for him but with grinding teeth. I'm doing my best to ignore him really but sadly I always distrust him. It's like having an alcoholic father never knowing what is going to happen next. It's very difficult.
I have been praying for the Synod and the Church and the Pope. Tomorrow I will pray for the people (including me).(me me me ha) Thank you for the re-direction Padraig. St Joseph and St Patrick pray for us.
Yes. I try not to think about it too much myself. It is far too upsetting. Life can be difficult enough as it is without adding to it. I have been in and out of bed all week with strong pain killers and pain, no need to add to things. Thinking about the Pope is meant to cheer you up and inspire you, instead of that currently it makes me feel like throwing myself out the nearest window. So why do it?
Firstly, you say that much criticism of Pope Francis is simply political, and therefore not really justified, then you find no problem in sacrificing Church teaching on contraception and divorce in the interests of the politics of unity with the Orthodox. The title of this thread is 'No one can change the Truth'. Either the teaching on contraception and divorce, and on so many other issues, is the Truth or it isn't. If it isn't, we might as well all pack our bags and abandon the Church and this website, or it is, and it can be changed for no reason whatsoever, no matter how laudable.
