Thursday 3 May 2018

Pope Francis said ....

h/t to Abbey Roads for the link: Pope Francis on ...

In the year during which Pope Paul VI is expected to be canonised, I was particularly pleased to see reference here to Pope Francis' clear affirmation of the magisterium of Paul VI.

The principle underlying Pope Francis' response presented in the section on persons struggling with their sexual identity has since been developed more fully by the Holy Father. As I post I can't find the relevant passage (I will update when I have found it), but Pope Francis' well argued suggestion was that truth in it's more objective sense is also to be spoken about and lived with a respect for the truth of the person to whom we speak or with whom we live, and that there is no contradiction in doing this.

UPDATE: I have found the passage referred to above. It comes from Pope Francis homily at the Chrism Mass on 29th March 2018:
Closeness, dear brothers, is crucial for an evangelizer because it is a key attitude in the Gospel (the Lord uses it to describe his Kingdom). We can be certain that closeness is the key to mercy, for mercy would not be mercy unless, like a Good Samaritan, it finds ways to shorten distances. But I also think we need to realize even more that closeness is also the key to truth; not just the key to mercy, but the key to truth. Can distances really be shortened where truth is concerned? Yes, they can. Because truth is not only the definition of situations and things from a certain distance, by abstract and logical reasoning. It is more than that. Truth is also fidelity (émeth). It makes you name people with their real name, as the Lord names them, before categorizing them or defining “their situation”. There is a distasteful habit, is there not, of following a “culture of the adjective”: this is so, this is such and such, this is like… No! This is a child of God. Then come the virtues or defects, but [first] the faithful truth of the person and not the adjective regarded as the substance.
Note carefully: the "not only ... more than" and the "... then come the virtues or defects...". Pope Francis is affirming, not denying, the objective truth or definition of a situation. He is affirming that there is something additional to this, that is, the fidelity to the truth of the person, and is suggesting that in the pastoral action of the priest this has, in a very specified meaning, a certain priority.

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