In Evangelium Vitae, Pope St. John Paul II betrayed his personal distaste for capital punishment, but he respected Sacred Tradition enough to acknowledge that it trumped his personal proclivities. In other words, he understood that as the Successor of Peter, his role was to safeguard and promulgate the Deposit of Faith in its entirety.
Today we heard from several sources that Pope Francis thinks the catechism should be updated to reject the death penalty. See here and here.
Ponder these considerations:
- The pope is the guardian of Church teaching, not its judge. He cannot alter it to his personal liking.
- The Teaching of the Church is immutable for it stems from God's word, which is as immutable as He is. To pretend that God's word can change is to insinuate that God is subject to change. That is impossible. Such notions strike at the very nature of God Himself - a supreme blasphemy.
- "Heresy" is defined as by St Thomas Aquinas as being "a species of infidelity in men who, having professed the faith of Christ, corrupt its dogmas". The morality of capital punishment has been promulgated by the Church for hundreds of years. It will not change. The attempt to change it is inherently heretical.
If God's teaching can be held to be subject to change in this matter of capital punishment, then all topics of doctrine and morality can be seen as subject to change. I believe this is the main goal of this latest papal move. This proposed change to declare capital punishment to be anathema is a trial balloon. If this "balloon" appears to be flying free, we'll see the heresies ensconced in Amoralis Lamentia being promulgated without nuance or apology within our Churches.
Thus far Pope Francis has opposed capital punishment as a matter of public opinion. For canon lawyers and moral theologians out there, if the pope does attempt to alter the catechism, will that constitute an act of material and formal heresy that might render his papacy invalid? I don't know, but it seems to me to be a reasonable question.
"it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil." Romans 13
ReplyDeleteOh, that is only one of the lesser of the Church teachings that he seems to be against.
ReplyDeleteTrue. He is choosing this lesser matter as a vehicle to see whether or not it dawns on the Catholic in the pew that he is attempting to mutate Church teaching.
DeleteThe only thing dawning on the average pewsitter is that Francis the Merciful gives them a tingling sensation down the leg. And would this priest please wrap it up? Brunch has already started.
DeleteI would have to disagree with you that JPII respected Sacred Tradition, and safeguarded the Deposit of Faith. He inserted his own prudential judgement into the CCC, throwing into doubt the actual Church teaching on the Death Penalty handed down through 2 millennium, and paved the way for the likes of a heretic like Bergoglio to attempt to overthrow it.
ReplyDeleteSo I guess that office of executioner for the Papal States will go up filled!
ReplyDeleteJust as well. It sounds like a glamorous job, but the pay is not that great. Have to work a lot for tips, and you sweat profusely in that black hood.
DeleteThey are still holding back. This Bergolio and his friends are still tip toeing, we have not yet seen what they will change once they fully understand that there is really no one who opposes them. Thus far they have met with some resistance, but mostly from the laity. If no Cardinals and Bishops oppose them publicly, they will release the dogs, and just like the Boy Scouts of America, they will make changes so that we do not recognize the Church. It will be indistinguishable from the Episcopal Church.
ReplyDeletePlease God, raise up men who will publicly state this is heresy and the man must be stopped.
But what if a judge discerns that, in the complexity of a given situations, imposing the death penalty (while not ideal) is the best he can do at the moment? Doesn't Pope Francis trust judges? Does he think they are infants, who can't make their own mature decisions? Why is he being so rigid, so closed to the "holy spirit" that he won't allow himself to be surprised by somebody's death sentence once in a while? Reality is more important than ideas, right--more important, presumably,than the idea that capital punishment should be abolished. (Let the Bergoglio defenders try out his logic on some of their own pet causes once in a while, and see how far it gets them?)
ReplyDeleteYou're funny. I like your style.
DeleteHe (Bergoglio) can edit the Catechism and insert heresy, because he is anti pope. Benedict XVI is still Pope. His resignation has been shown to be illegal, as has Bergoglio's election. It is clear that collusion took place to elect that heretic.
ReplyDelete