The Pope is also morally obliged to show respect for all Catholics. As Pontiff, he is the servant of the servants of God. He shows far more respect for atheists, non-Christians, Protestants, lapsed Catholics and the dogs in the street than he does to Catholics trying to live the faith handed down to us, not to mention his fellow Bishops who haven't gone down the road of approving Communion for all and sundry.
Another vote of confidence in the Pope from Dolours.... Pope Francis has respect for all, yes including those like yourself who constantly criticize him. If he didn't respect the traditionalists he would avoid warning them about the mistaken path some of them are choosing.
You say all this as though you have sure knowledge of what goes on in the minds and hearts of the Cardinals as well as the Pope.
I think the Pope needs to respond. If he ignores those who are Cardinals with the concerns of most true Catholics, then he will obviously not feel the need to respond to the least of Christ's brothers either. The Catholic Church has NO authority to CHANGE or reverse the teachings of Christ, and when I say "true Catholics" I mean those who adhere to His teachings and follow Him in their own lives. For a Pope or anyone else to label these persons as "traditionalists" and imply that they are lacking in mercy, charity, and knowledge of modern society is of the devil's workings. I'm sure our Pope is of course being GREATLY tempted by the devil, and he needs prayers. But he also needs to buck up and stop being afraid of offending the nasty evil ones in the Church and do his job of upholding the original teachings of Christ and all that the Holy Spirit has revealed to the Church since then. The Church is only being passed on from us to future generations, and it is very important to pass it on in all truth. Society and their "gods" come and go throughout history, but the truth of the gospel of salvation never changes.
Today's Gospel was about Zaccheus. A miserable little man in the eyes of most faithful Jews at that time. Yet Christ saw him in that tree. Christ called out to him, by name. How did Christ know his name? Was Christ informed about Zaccheus beforehand? No matter. Christ called out to him. And, lo and behold, Zaccheus -- that miserable little tax collector -- responded to that call with an amazing conversion of heart. There is a lesson there. The final verse of today's Gospel passage: "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost." I humbly submit that all of us here should keep this Gospel in mind during these difficult times, because there are so many of us that are "lost" in this world. I appreciate the four Cardinals trying to keep Pope Francis on the straight and narrow, but I will not begrudge Pope Francis reaching out to the lost.
Well, the way I put it was a bit cheeky wasn't it but I was responding to Brian who was solemnly maintaining canon law required the pope to respond! After the 'blitz' of posts about the letter from the 4 Cardinals, it is a bit easier to view the situation more clearly. The letter was sent in September so it is clear that the Pope did not respond directly to it and I believe that is correct because the letter was not actually a letter asking for guidance but it was effectively an accusatory letter 'demanding' a response. The fact that Cardinal Burke had a private audience with the Pope last week indicates that Francis was ready to respond to individual concerns from the Cardinals. We do not know if the Pope had similar meetings with the other Cardinals. I have not the slightest doubt that Pope Francis is ready to speak to any of his Cardinals on the phone if they individually requested it. But responding to something like the letter the Cardinals wrote is quite different.
I know, David, that you were being sarcastic but I'll give you an honest response despite that. I'm afraid that I have very little confidence in Pope Francis. I used to defend him, naively believing that he was going to deal with the "all dogs go to heaven" tripe that is rotting the Church from the inside. At first I appreciated his reaching out to the lost sheep, as someone else referred to them. There are times now when I wonder whether his non-Catholic friends are converting him rather than the other way around. My eyes have been opened and the more I learn about him the less confidence I have in him to the point where I'm beginning to doubt the validity of his election as Pope. I doubt we will ever know the whole truth of the shenanigans surrounding his elevation to the papacy, so I accept that he is the valid Pope but as time goes on I'm coming to the conclusion that he is possibly among the worst popes we have ever had. Not even the Borgias tried to subvert Christ's teaching on marriage, despite their personal lifestyles.
