Thursday, September 19, 2013

Pope Francis - "Not Necessary To Talk Of Abortion All The Time"

The Catholic blogosphere is all aghast and atwitter about remarks attributed to Pope Francis made during interviews he gave to certain Jesuit publications - America being one of them.  From that article, here is the key phrase in question, in what I believe is proper context (from America):  "We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible. I have not spoken much about these things, and I was reprimanded for that. But when we speak about these issues, we have to talk about them in a context. The teaching of the church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time."

I think the operative phrase here is "in a context".  What is this context of not the entirety of Christ's teaching through His Church?  There is the mystery of the Trinity.  There are the truths of the Sacraments, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments, Our Lord's Crucifixion and Resurrection.  Of course there are also what we call the Last Four Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell.  Of course there is more to consider.  Quite frankly, I think a lot of pro-life efforts fall short of their goals because the leaders don't proclaim the eternal realities that are the underpinnings behind our pro-life beliefs.  The Apostle Paul said so much himself in 1 Corinthians 15, when he stated that our belief and hope in the resurrection of the dead is our prime motivator for living as Christians and not as amoral heathens.

Perhaps the Holy Father didn't state things in a concise manner, but this is what I've gleaned from that quote in the interview.  I also hope that our clergy understand that comprehensive catechesis needs to be happening in the pulpit and in the classrooms.  For too many of them, the problem is not talking of these matters too much, but not all.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks. This is a good clarification.

    ReplyDelete

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