UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Michael Sean Winters | Jul. 12, 201
A group of forty-five “scholars, prelates and clergy” have sent an appeal to the world’s cardinals, asking them to implore Pope Francis to correct what they deem to be “erroneous propositions” in Amoris Laetitia, according to this report from the National Catholic Register’s Edward Pentin.
Pentin reports:
“We are not accusing the Pope of heresy,” said Joseph Shaw, a signatory of the appeal who is also acting as spokesman for the authors, “but we consider that numerous propositions in Amoris laetitia can be construed as heretical upon a natural reading of the text. Additional statements would fall under other established theological censures, such as scandalous, erroneous in faith, and ambiguous, among others.”
Phew! I am so glad this group doesn’t think the pope is a heretic, at least not necessarily, and provided he agrees to withdraw the propositions in question. And, at least only parts of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation are “scandalous, erroneous in faith, and ambiguous” not the whole thing.
It would be nice to see the entire text, not merely what Mr. Pentin chooses to share with us. For instance, do these scholars and prelates and clergy acknowledge that Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation followed quite closely the consensus document produced by the synod, a document in which each and every paragraph received a 2/3 majority vote?
According to Pentin, the appeal asks the cardinals “to approach the Holy Father with a request that he repudiate the errors listed in the document in a definitive and final manner, and to authoritatively state that Amoris laetitia does not require any of them to be believed or considered as possibly true.” I am guessing that, since the pope wrote the document just this year, he thinks the items at issue are “possibly true.” Why then would he retract them? Do the scholars and prelates and clergy who penned this appeal think he should lie? Isn’t lying an intrinsic evil? If they are inviting the pope to commit a sin, isn’t that itself the sin of scandal?
These people will not even publish their names. One of the organizers told Pentin they chose to remain anonymous because they “fear reprisals, or they are concerned about repercussions on their religious community, or if they have an academic career and a family, they fear they might lose their jobs.” This is rich.
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