There have been many arguments which articulate the possibility that Francis may not be pope after all. This document is an attempt to place statements of Francis alongside the teaching of the Church; to quote Pope Francis and offer an opinion of what I think a real pope should say.
1 Pope Francis on contraception. Speaking after his triumphant visit to Mexico, the pontiff said the use of contraceptives to prevent a dangerous disease from harming a fetus may be the lesser of two evils. That would seem to open the door for limited use of artificial contraception, which has long been banned by the conservative church. This time, Pope Francis is on right side of fence over contraception https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1916018/time-pope-francis-right-side-fence-over-contraception Good Roman Catholics do not need to breed like "rabbits", the Pope has said, but should practise "responsible" parenting instead. Birth Control https://www.catholic.com/tract/birth-control Church teaching on contraception In 1968, Pope Paul VI issued his landmark encyclical letter Humanae Vitae (Latin, “Human Life”), which reemphasized the Church’s constant teaching that it is always intrinsically wrong to use contraception to prevent new human beings from coming into existence. Humanae Vitae (July 25, 1968) | Paul VI http://w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae.html What a real pope might say: Contraception is the idea that a human knows better than God. It frustrates a supernatural gift, whereby God permits man to cooperate in His design of creation. That is, man is allowed to take part in creation of new life. Man decides not to accept the children God wills to provide. This evil has become the norm in many societies, and is always a grave offence. Part of the guilt attached may be placed with priests and bishops who fail to constantly teach the dangers and eternal consequences of this great offence to God. 2 Pope Francis on eternal damnation Amoris Laetitia 297: No one can be condemned for ever, because that is not the logic of the Gospel! Church teaching on Hell. Catechism 1135 The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs. Catechism of the Catholic Church - I believe in life everlasting http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a12.htm What a real pope might say: The Church teaches formally that Hell exists and is eternal. To obstinately doubt this infallible teaching is to incur automatic excommunication. Christ teaches that most people go to Hell. The fathers of the Church place this at an overwhelming majority. These days, with a small minority going to Mass each Sunday, and each deliberately-missed Mass a mortal sin, few will enter by the narrow gate. 3 Pope Francis on capital punishment “The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” reads the Catechism of the Catholic Church now on the death penalty, with the addition that the Church “works with determination for its abolition worldwide.” Church teaching on capital punishment. The Catechism of the Council of Trent, composed under the supervision of St. Charles Borromeo, stated: “Far from being guilty of breaking this commandment [Thou shall not kill], such an execution of justice is precisely an act of obedience to it. For the purpose of the law is to protect and foster human life. This purpose is fulfilled when the legitimate authority of the State is exercised by taking the guilty lives of those who have taken innocent lives.” The Traditional Case for Capital Punishment - The Catholic Thing https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2015/03/16/the-traditional-case-for-capital-punishment/ What a real pope might say: Capital punishment for certain offences has been commanded by God. As the author of life, God has the right to take it, and to delegate this right to others. At no time in history has God or the Church provided any indication that capital punishment is incompatible with His will. 4 Pope Francis on headship of the family. Amoris Laetitia 156: Every form of sexual submission must be clearly rejected. Church teaching on headship. St. Paul in chapter five of Ephesians says (v. 22 - 24) "Let wives be subject to their husbands as to the Lord: because a husband is head of the wife, just as Christ is head of the Church, being himself savior of the body. But just as the Church is subject to Christ, so also let wives be to their husbands in all things." The rest of what St. Paul says makes quite clear that this subjection is not a slavish subjection, but one which holds for both husband and wife an obligation to love each other. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loves the Church, St. Paul starts his chapter with an exhortation to be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. In chapter six, he exhorts slaves to obey their masters as they would Christ. The various passages have been construed as reflecting the cultural situation of the time. The dwelling on headship and love in regard to husband and wife, however, link headship and love together in a much stronger way. Paul wants them to be co-existent and he draws out and refers to "the mystery" of Christ and the Church. The union of husband and wife illustrates this mystery of close unity. It is a unique unity, but as the unity of Jesus and the Church has him as the head to the body, so the unity of husband and wife has the husband as head to his own body. It is rather difficult to relegate this strong comparison to the area of culture only. The stronger indication is that St. Paul is teaching a truth about God's plan for marriage in its fullest beauty and ideal state. Library : Wives, Obey Your Husbands https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=1409 What a real pope might say: Scripture teaches that the husband is the head of the family, and that his wife must submit to his authority, as he represents God. Any attack on this teaching is an attack on the family, and thus a grave insult to God. 5 Pope Francis on Virginity. Amoris Laetitia 159: Rather than speak absolutely of the superiority of virginity, it should be enough to point out that the different states of life complement one another, and consequently that some can be more perfect in one way and others in another. Church teaching on virginity: Council of Trent, 24:10: “If anyone says that the married state surpasses that of virginity or celibacy, and that it is not better and more blessed to remain in virginity or celibacy than to be united in matrimony, let him be anathema”. What a real pope might say: The Church has treasured virginity from its early days, and continues to do so. Priests and religious remain celibate in order to place their work of serving God above all other activities. 6 Pope Francis indicates that the Eucharist can be received by the divorced and remarried. Amoris Laetitia 305: Because of forms of conditioning and mitigating factors, it is possible that in an objective situation of sin – which may not be subjectively culpable, or fully such – a person can be living in God’s grace, can love and can also grow in the life of grace and charity, while receiving the Church’s help to this end. In certain cases, this can include the help of the sacraments. Hence, “I want to remind priests that the confessional must not be a torture chamber, but rather an encounter with the Lord’s mercy. Church teaching on Communion for divorced and remarried. Familiaris Consortio 84: However, the Church reaffirms her practice, which is based upon Sacred Scripture, of not admitting to Eucharistic Communion divorced persons who have remarried. What a real pope might say: The thought that a man might dare approach the sacred species in the state of mortal sin is greatly offensive to our Creator and Saviour, just as it is for the numbers of those who attend Mass only at Christmas and Easter inflict a wave of sacrilege, to the horror of all those watching from above. 7 Pope Francis on moral absolutes. Amoris Laetitia 304: It is true that general rules set forth a good which can never be disregarded or neglected, but in their formulation they cannot provide absolutely for all particular situations. At the same time, it must be said that, precisely for that reason, what is part of a practical discernment in particular circumstances cannot be elevated to the level of a rule. That would not only lead to an intolerable casuistry, but would endanger the very values which must be preserved with special care. Church teaching on moral absolutes: Veritatis Splendor 79: One must therefore reject the thesis, characteristic of teleological and proportionalist theories, which holds that it is impossible to qualify as morally evil according to its species — its "object" — the deliberate choice of certain kinds of behaviour or specific acts, apart from a consideration of the intention for which the choice is made or the totality of the foreseeable consequences of that act for all persons concerned. What a real pope might say: There are acts which of themselves are absolutely wrong, and cannot be 'explained away'. 8 Pope Francis on Sodomy. "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?" But Pope Francis said gay clergymen should be forgiven and their sins forgotten. Who am I to judge? https://www.bbc.com/ne9 ws/world-europe-23489702 Church teaching on sodomy. Catechism 2357: Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,141 tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."142 They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. What a real pope would say (from St Peter Damian): Without fail it brings death to the body and destruction to the soul. It pollutes the flesh, extinguishes the light of the mind, expels the Holy Spirit from the temple of the human heart, and gives entrance to the devil, the stimulator of lust. It leads to error, totally removes truth from the mind. ... It opens up Hell and closes the Gates of Paradise. ... It is this vice that violates temperance, slays modesty, strangles chastity, and slaughters virginity. ... It defiles all things, sullies all things, pollutes all things. ... This vice excludes a man from the assembled choir of the Church. ... it separates the soul from God to associate it with demons. This utterly diseased queen of Sodom renders him who obeys the laws of her tyranny infamous to men and odious to God. ... She strips her knights of the armor of virtue, exposing them to be pierced by the spears of every vice. ... She humiliates her slave in the church and condemns him court; she defiles him in secret and dishonors him in public; she gnaws at his conscience like a worm and consumes his flesh like fire ... this unfortunate man (he) is deprived of all moral sense. his memory fails and mind's vision is darkened. Unmindful of God, he also forgets his own identity. This disease erodes the foundation of faith, saps the vitality of hope, dissolves the bond of love. It makes way with justice, demolishes fortitude, removes temperance, and blunts the edge of prudence. Shall I say more? ST. PETER DAMIAN: CITATIONS ON THE VICE OF SODOMY REGARDING CLERICS http://www.catholictradition.org/deceit-damian.htm 9 Pope Francis tells others to stop calling people names. Stop labeling and call people by their names, Pope tells African youth. Stop labeling and call people by their names, Pope tells African youth https://cruxnow.com/pope-in-madagascar/2019/09/07/stop-labeling-and-call-people-by-their-names-pope-tells-african-youth/ Pope Francis adds some names of his own. "Old maid!" "Fomenter of coprophagia!" "Specialist of the Logos!" "Rosary counter!" "Functionary!" "Self-absorbed, Promethean" "neo-Pelagian!" "Restorationist!" and many, many more. The Pope Francis Little Book of Insults http://popefrancisbookofinsults.blogspot.com/ What a real pope would say. Nothing. Summary Even from the abbreviated sample above, it is clear that Pope Francis has placed himself at odds with Catholic teaching, a rather difficult situation for a successor of St Peter. Perhaps they can be explained away, but so far no one seems to be coming forward to do so. And this is a serious problem, since it indicates that bishops and priests are unable to discern that a problem exists, and have become comfortable with error.
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