De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Leaving aside the arguments about reduced culpability for a moment, I would like to post, for the record, some of my more fundamental concerns regarding the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia . Reading this document was, I found, not like reading anything else promulgated by the Church, and I have read a lot of Church documents! Even a perfunctory reading left me feeling uneasy with simple and obvious errors contained therein, it felt like it was a different faith! As I cited in this post , the Professor who taught me Moral Theology has pointed out some of these glaring and obvious errors with respect to the misrepresentation of Magisterial texts: Magisterial texts in AL are distorted when quoted selectively or ignored almost completely. Repeatedly presenting conscience as the sanctuary where man finds himself alone with God ( Gaudium et spes , 16) suggests it is only a private matter between the individual and God, while references to invincible ignorance and to other ...

Joe Shaw has written a brilliant blog here which articulates my own concerns about the Synod perfectly. They are not that doctrine will change, but more concerned with the reality that popular piety seldom follows the mainstream of theology in any case. Especially in this media mad world, most people just hear the gist of a story and match their conclusions to suit their own prejudices. This has been the huge issue I have with the "messy" style of Pope Francis.  The problem as I see it, as someone who tries to preach the faith in my community, is when people contradict the revelation or the teaching of the Church, saying it doesn't matter or has been superseded somehow. I think the work of Evangelisation was greatly aided under Pope Benedict XVI in that everyone was pretty clear what we were about. That encouraged people to talk about it, to share it, and to study it more. Joe cites Vatican II as an example of the way the truth becomes distorted, as at that Counci...

Cardinal Péter Erdö This man, Cardinal Péter Erdö, is known for his efforts to combat secularisation. Much has been said about his opening speech at the Synod on the Family. In this important post , Damian Thompson explains:  Cardinal Péter Erdö is Primate of Hungary and a much-admired canon lawyer who received his red hat at the age of 51. He’s still only 63. As ‘general relator’ of the 2014 and 2015 synods, it has been his job to deliver an opening address setting out their goals. Though emollient in manner, he is unquestionably a conservative — but, last year, his speech was full of liberal platitudes. What went wrong? The journalist Edward Pentin claims in his book The Rigging of a Vatican Synod? that Erdö had his arm twisted by Baldisseri, who forced him to rewrite his 2014 address to make it more Francis-friendly. ‘Baldisseri wanted a lot of mercy, less truth,’ says Pentin’s source. This week, by contrast, Erdö gave the opening address that conservatives wer...