Monday, September 25, 2017

Correctio Filialis De Haeresibus Propagatis

  • Correctio filialis de haeresibus propagatis Feast of our Lady of Mt Carmel. 07/16/17.
  • http://www.correctiofilialis.org/ - summary:
    A 25-page letter signed by 40 Catholic clergy and lay scholars was delivered to Pope Francis on August 11th. Since no answer was received from the Holy Father, it is being made public today, 24th September, Feast of Our Lady of Ransom and of Our Lady of Walsingham. The letter, which is open to new signatories, now has the names of 62 clergy and lay scholars from 20 countries, who also represent others lacking the necessary freedom of speech. It has a Latin title: ‘Correctio filialis de haeresibus propagatis’ (literally, ‘A filial correction concerning the propagation of heresies’). It states that the pope has, by his Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia, and by other, related, words, deeds and omissions, effectively upheld 7 heretical positions about marriage, the moral life, and the reception of the sacraments, and has caused these heretical opinions to spread in the Catholic Church. These 7 heresies are expressed by the signatories in Latin, the official language of the Church.

    This letter of correction has 3 main parts. In the first part, the signatories explain why, as believing and practising Catholics, they have the right and duty to issue such a correction to the supreme pontiff. Church law itself requires that competent persons not remain silent when the pastors of the Church are misleading the flock. This involves no conflict with the Catholic dogma of papal infallibility, since the Church teaches that a pope must meet strict criteria before his utterances can be considered infallible. Pope Francis has not met these criteria. He has not declared these heretical positions to be definitive teachings of the Church, or stated that Catholics must believe them with the assent of faith. The Church teaches no pope can claim that God has revealed some new truth to him, which it would be obligatory for Catholics to believe.

    The second part of the letter is the essential one, since it contains the ‘Correction’ properly speaking. It lists the passages of Amoris laetitia in which heretical positions are insinuated or encouraged, and then it lists words, deeds, and omissions of Pope Francis which make it clear beyond reasonable doubt that he wishes Catholics to interpret these passages in a way that is, in fact, heretical. In particular, the pope has directly or indirectly countenanced the beliefs that obedience to God’s Law can be impossible or undesirable, and that the Church should sometimes accept adultery as compatible with being a practising Catholic.

    The final part, called ‘Elucidation’, discusses two causes of this unique crisis. One cause is ‘Modernism’. Theologically speaking, Modernism is the belief that God has not delivered definite truths to the Church, which she must continue to teach in exactly the same sense until the end of time. Modernists hold that God communicates to mankind only experiences., which human beings can reflect on, so as to make various statements about God, life and religion; but such statements are only provisional, never fixed dogmas. Modernism was condemned by Pope St Pius X at the start of the 20th century, but it revived in the middle of the century. The great and continuing confusion caused in the Catholic Church by Modernism obliges the signatories to describe the true meaning of ‘faith’, ‘heresy’, ‘revelation’, and ‘magisterium’.

    A second cause of the crisis is the apparent influence of the ideas of Martin Luther on Pope Francis. The letter shows how Luther, the founder of Protestantism, had ideas on marriage, divorce, forgiveness, and divine law which correspond to those which the pope has promoted by word, deed and omission. It also notes the explicit and unprecedented praise given by Pope Francis to the German heresiarch.

    The signatories do not venture to judge the degree of awareness with which Pope Francis has propagated the 7 heresies which they list. But they respectfully insist that he condemn these heresies, which he has directly or indirectly upheld.

    The signatories profess their loyalty to the holy Roman Church, assure the pope of their prayers, and ask for his apostolic blessing.

Coverage

  • Correctio Filialis: a first appraisal, by Roberto de Mattei. Rorate Caeli 10/04/17:
    On September 25th, the day after the publication of the Correctio filialis to Pope Francis, Greg Burke, the spokesman for the Vatican Pressroom, with condescending irony, denied the news diffused by Ansa, which had reported that access to the site of the Correctio had been blocked by the Holy See: "Do you really think we would do this for a letter with 60 names?"

    The director of the Pressroom, who judges initiatives on the basis of the number of "followers", might be interested to know that www.correctiofilialis.org, eight days after being put online, had more than 180 thousand individual visitors and 330 thousand page visits. ...

  • Critics of Filial Correction of Pope Francis Weigh In National Catholic Register 10/04/17:
    Italian philosophy professor Rocco Buttiglione criticizes the signatories for standing as judges over the Pope, while a theologian and an author argue that those behind the ‘Correctio filialis’ have contravened a Vatican instruction for theologians. The Register also publishes the full text of a speech by Cardinal Marc Ouellet warning against both ‘alarmist’ and ‘permissive’ interpretations of Amoris Laetitita.
  • The Filial Correction Online, by P.J. Smith. First Things 10/02/17:
    For its part, the filial correction maintains a carefully elevated tone. The signatories take great pains to be polite and respectful. They carefully lay out their position on the Holy Father’s statements and patiently set forth arguments about Modernism and Protestantism. They even express the seven purportedly heretical propositions in Latin. Such is to be expected. But the filial correction was released into a debate shaped by a year of online discourse. In other words, it ran into the same buzz-saw that everything else does online. Its careful arguments were chopped up, slathered with snark, and hurled at opponents or approvingly tweeted to friends.

    In large part, this is simply how debates are conducted in 2017. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms are now part of daily life for millions of people. ...

  • Francis’s Critics Fall Off Their High Wire, by David Mills. Ethika Politika 09/29/17. "A massive case of begging the question."
  • Critics of Amoris laetitia ignore Ratzinger’s rules for faithful theological discourse La Stampa "Vatican Insider" :
    The supporters of the Correctio and other critics of Amoris laetitia often try to contrast what Pope Francis says in this exhortation to teachings of St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI. It is interesting, therefore, to note that many of these same critics fail to follow the guidelines for theologians published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1990 when John Paul II was pope and Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, the future Benedict XVI, was prefect of the CDF. These guidelines are contained in the instruction, Donum veritatis (Instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian) (3) — a document that traditionalist opponents of Amoris laetitia, such as Dr. Peter Kwasniewski (4), ironically claim to hold in high esteem. ...

    Donum veritatis §24 instructs theologians “to assess accurately the authoritativeness of the [magisterial] interventions (8). The Correctio filialis fails to do this. Instead, it catalogues comments made by Pope Francis in press conferences, private letters, etc., without taking into account the authoritativeness of these statements and their context (9). It also cites statements by papal associates and appointees.

    In loading down their petition with cherry-picked statements bearing little or no magisterial authority, the Correctio authors seem intent upon discrediting the Holy Father and his intentions. Can such an approach truly reflect “an evangelical spirit” and “a profound desire to resolve the difficulties” with Amoris laetitia (10)?

    Moreover, the Correctio authors omit any evidence that would invalidate their claim that Francis is operating out of a heretical mindset. They therefore make no mention of numerous unambiguously orthodox papal statements that are of a far higher level of magisterium than those that they cite.

  • Cardinal Müller Speaks Out on ‘Amoris Laetitia,’ the Dubia and the Vatican, by Edwad Pentin. National Catholic Register 09/28/17:
    All my life, after the Second Vatican Council, I’ve noticed that those who support so-called progressivism never have theological arguments. The only method they have is to discredit other persons, calling them “conservative” — and this changes the real point, which is the reality of the faith, and not in your personal subjective, psychological disposition. By “conservative,” what do they mean? Someone loves the ways of the 1950s, or old Hollywood films of the 1930s? Was the bloody persecution of Catholics during the French Revolution by the Jacobins progressive or conservative? Or is the denial of the divinity of Christ by the Arians of the fourth century liberal or traditional? Theologically it’s not possible to be conservative or progressive. These are absurd categories: Neither conservatism nor progressivism is anything to do with the Catholic faith. They’re political, polemical, rhetorical forms. The only sense of these categories is discrediting other persons.

    We have Holy Scripture, we have eschatological revelation in Jesus Christ, the irreversibility of Jesus Christ, the Incarnation, the salvation of the cross, the Resurrection, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ for the end of the world. … The responsibility of the Pope and the bishops is to overcome the polarization. Therefore, it’s very dangerous for the Church to divide bishops into friends and enemies of the Pope regarding a footnote in an apostolic exhortation. I am sure that anybody will denounce me also for this interview, but I hope that the Holy Father will read my complete interview here and not only some headlines, which cannot give a complete impression of what I said.

  • Why does Pope Francis refuse to respond?, by Phil Lawler. Catholic Culture. 09/28/17:
    In the absence of any plausible explanation, the Pope’s silence looks more and more like a tacit argument from authority. Sure enough, the surrogates are also becoming more strident in denouncing the impertinence of those who would dare to question the Pope’s authority. Yet again, that’s an odd argument to make for this Pope—and a particularly odd argument for these pundits to make. But it also misses the point, because the most pressing questions, the dubia, do not question the Pope’s authority. The cardinals (unlike the authors of the filial appeal) are not contending that the Pope’s teaching is wrong; they’re asking him to clarify: exactly what is he teaching? Silence is no answer to that question.
  • A note from CNA's Executive Director on the 'filial correction' Catholic News Agency. 09/27/17:
    I was surprised to see that my name has been added to the list of signatories on the so-called Correctio Filialis De Haeresibus Propagatis.

    I never signed this letter, nor do I intend to ever sign it.

  • A Filial Correction of those who believe Benedict is still Pope?, by Steven O'Reilly. Roma Locuta Est 09/25/17. "It appears quite evident that those who prepared this document consider it an error to doubt the validity of Benedict’s renunciation of the papacy."
  • Does Amoris Laetitia 303 Really Undermine Catholic Moral Teaching?, by Robert Fastiggi and Dawn Eden Goldstein. La Stampa 09/26/17. "When read in its original Latin, one contested passage in the document has a significantly different meaning than it does in the official English translation."
  • Group, including Detroit professor, accuses Pope Francis of spreading heresy, by Steve Reilly and Ann Zaniewski. Detroit Free Press 09/25/17:
    "We all love the Holy Father, Pope Francis. He's our father," Blosser told the Free Press. "We would like to see greater clarity and consistency in his teaching. And that’s the main reason" for the letter.
  • U.S. Bishop joins correction of Pope Francis for ‘propagating heresies’, by Matthew Cullinan Hoffman. LifeSite News 09/25/17:
    A Catholic bishop in Texas added his name to a recent declaration that accuses the pope of propagating various heresies against the Catholic faith and seeks to correct them.

    Rene Henry Gracida, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Corpus Christi, posted a message to his blog on Sunday reproducing an email he sent to the organizers of the “correction,” congratulating them on their actions and asking that his name be added to the ranks of signers.

  • Bishop Fellay: Why I Signed the Correctio Filialis FSSPX News. 09/28/17:
    Since September 2016, four cardinals have been respectfully asking the pope to “clarify” his Exhortation; this year they requested an audience. The only answer they received was silence, but silence is not an answer. On a question this serious and faced with the current divisions, the Holy Father must give a clear answer on the substance of the Exhortation.

    In this sad situation of confusion, it is very important that the debate on these important questions grows, in order that the truth may be re-established and error condemned.

    That is why I supported this approach, but it is not so much the names of those who signed the Correctio Filialis as the objective value of the arguments presented that must be taken into account.

  • The Coming Storm, by Steven O'Reilly. Roma Locuta Est 09/24/17. "Without detracting from this noble effort, the main attraction yet to come is the “formal correction” led by the remaining "Dubia Cardinals." What should we expect from it?"
  • Sixty-two scholars and priests issue ‘correction’ of Pope Francis, by Dan Hitchens. Catholic Herald 09/24/17:
    The signatories emphasise that they do not accuse the Pope of committing the personal sin of heresy, or the canonical crime. But they claim that the publication of Amoris Laetitia, and the Pope’s subsequent words and actions, have led to the spread of "heresies and other errors"
  • Cardinal Burke: Church divisions show urgent need for clarity Catholic News Agency. 09/24/17. Amid the ongoing debate surrounding “Amoris Laetitia,” dubia author Cardinal Raymond Burke said in a new interview that he’s wrongly depicted as the “enemy” of Pope Francis, but he stressed that current division in the Church demands an answer to requests for clarity.