Over 60 conservative Catholic clergy and scholars have written a 25-page
letter to Pope Francis, charging that he has upheld and propagated
heretical opinions "directly or indirectly" on marriage, morality and
the sacrament of the Holy Communion.
The letter, delivered to the pontiff at his Santa Marta residence, explains that believing and practicing Catholics have the right and duty to issue such a correction to the pope.
It quotes from Amoris Laetitia, the pontiff's document on marriage and family life, and accuses Francis of "insinuating or encouraging" heretical positions.
One of the signatories said, "In particular, the pope has advocated the beliefs that obedience to God's moral law can be impossible or undesirable, and that Catholics should sometimes accept adultery as compatible with being a follower of Christ."
In the letter, the signatories urge that "Pope Francis condemn the heresies that he has directly or indirectly upheld, and that he teach the truth of the Catholic faith in its integrity."
The seven heresies are:
1). ‘A justified person has not the strength with God’s grace to carry out the objective demands of the divine law, as though any of the commandments of God are impossible for the justified; or as meaning that God’s grace, when it produces justification in an individual, does not invariably and of its nature produce conversion from all serious sin, or is not sufficient for conversion from all serious sin.’
2). ‘Christians who have obtained a civil divorce from the spouse to whom they are validly married and have contracted a civil marriage with some other person during the lifetime of their spouse, who live more uxorio [Note: in the manner of a married couple, that is, engaging in intimate relations] with their civil partner, and who choose to remain in this state with full knowledge of the nature of their act and full consent of the will to that act, are not necessarily in a state of mortal sin, and can receive sanctifying grace and grow in charity.’
3). ‘A Christian believer can have full knowledge of a divine law and voluntarily choose to break it in a serious matter, but not be in a state of mortal sin as a result of this action.’
4). ‘A person is able, while he obeys a divine prohibition, to sin against God by that very act of obedience.’
5). ‘Conscience can truly and rightly judge that sexual acts between persons who have contracted a civil marriage with each other, although one or both of them is sacramentally married to another person, can sometimes be morally right or requested or even commanded by God.’
6). ‘Moral principles and moral truths contained in divine revelation and in the natural law do not include negative prohibitions that absolutely forbid particular kinds of action, inasmuch as these are always gravely unlawful on account of their object.’
7). ‘Our Lord Jesus Christ wills that the Church abandon her perennial discipline of refusing the Eucharist to the divorced and remarried and of refusing absolution to the divorced and remarried who do not express contrition for their state of life and a firm purpose of amendment with regard to it.’
The letter was delivered on Aug. 11, but has now been made fully public.
This is not the first time clergy and laity have expressed concerns about the Pope's teaching.
Two years ago, a petition was signed by 800,000 individuals and associations, urging the pope to clarify the Church's teaching on marriage and family.
Christian post/gloriatv
*Wow...this is so unlike Roman Catholics who believe the Pope is infallible.
The letter, delivered to the pontiff at his Santa Marta residence, explains that believing and practicing Catholics have the right and duty to issue such a correction to the pope.
It quotes from Amoris Laetitia, the pontiff's document on marriage and family life, and accuses Francis of "insinuating or encouraging" heretical positions.
One of the signatories said, "In particular, the pope has advocated the beliefs that obedience to God's moral law can be impossible or undesirable, and that Catholics should sometimes accept adultery as compatible with being a follower of Christ."
In the letter, the signatories urge that "Pope Francis condemn the heresies that he has directly or indirectly upheld, and that he teach the truth of the Catholic faith in its integrity."
The seven heresies are:
1). ‘A justified person has not the strength with God’s grace to carry out the objective demands of the divine law, as though any of the commandments of God are impossible for the justified; or as meaning that God’s grace, when it produces justification in an individual, does not invariably and of its nature produce conversion from all serious sin, or is not sufficient for conversion from all serious sin.’
2). ‘Christians who have obtained a civil divorce from the spouse to whom they are validly married and have contracted a civil marriage with some other person during the lifetime of their spouse, who live more uxorio [Note: in the manner of a married couple, that is, engaging in intimate relations] with their civil partner, and who choose to remain in this state with full knowledge of the nature of their act and full consent of the will to that act, are not necessarily in a state of mortal sin, and can receive sanctifying grace and grow in charity.’
3). ‘A Christian believer can have full knowledge of a divine law and voluntarily choose to break it in a serious matter, but not be in a state of mortal sin as a result of this action.’
4). ‘A person is able, while he obeys a divine prohibition, to sin against God by that very act of obedience.’
5). ‘Conscience can truly and rightly judge that sexual acts between persons who have contracted a civil marriage with each other, although one or both of them is sacramentally married to another person, can sometimes be morally right or requested or even commanded by God.’
6). ‘Moral principles and moral truths contained in divine revelation and in the natural law do not include negative prohibitions that absolutely forbid particular kinds of action, inasmuch as these are always gravely unlawful on account of their object.’
7). ‘Our Lord Jesus Christ wills that the Church abandon her perennial discipline of refusing the Eucharist to the divorced and remarried and of refusing absolution to the divorced and remarried who do not express contrition for their state of life and a firm purpose of amendment with regard to it.’
The letter was delivered on Aug. 11, but has now been made fully public.
This is not the first time clergy and laity have expressed concerns about the Pope's teaching.
Two years ago, a petition was signed by 800,000 individuals and associations, urging the pope to clarify the Church's teaching on marriage and family.
Christian post/gloriatv
*Wow...this is so unlike Roman Catholics who believe the Pope is infallible.
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