De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

++Kasper: #Pope ’s official endorsement of Buenos Aires bishops’ guidelines “hopefully ends” the ”tiresome” debate over Amoris. “The flaw in the critique of #AmorisLaetitia is a unilateral moral objectivism that undervalues the importance of personal conscience in the moral act.” https://t.co/5mBsW8NCWY — Edward Pentin (@EdwardPentin) December 9, 2017

Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, at the Vatican Press Office, Oct. 8, 2014. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA) As Britain's leading theological mind makes public his concerns over Amoris Laetitia , the ghostwriter of the dodgy document is wheeled out in Rome to offer a " defence ". Leaving behind any shred of journalistic objectivity he had left, Austen Ivereigh responds to both stories in predictable manner: Probably the UK's most conservative theologian -- so no, not a big deal. — Austen Ivereigh (@austeni) August 18, 2017 In case you missed Abp Fernández's carefully reasoned riposte to the opponents of magisterial teaching ... #Amoris https://t.co/nTK9H6Vwbq — Austen Ivereigh (@austeni) August 21, 2017 Except this is the response of the man who ghost-wrote the most embarrassing Apostolic Exhortation in history, so no, not "carefully reasoned". In fact, "Carefully reasoned" is pr...

Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, general secretary of the Synod of Bishops, holds his copy of Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation on the family, "Amoris Laetitia" ("The Joy of Love"), during a news conference for the release of the document at the Vatican April 8. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) Scott has responded to my post on his apologia for Amoris Laetitia . I can't say I'm enjoying this much as I didn't do well in my moral theology exams! Anyway, back to the books to try and figure out what this new argument is about. I am finding it a little confusing at this point, which is one of my main gripes about Amoris Laetitia in the first place (it is overly long and convoluted). I thought this was a dialogue well worth engaging in, because I hoped it would help me to understand more clearly what Amoris Laetitia argues, the value to that argument, or at least what Scott says it argues (by his own admission it is not explicit in the document itself). ...

There was some excitement last Wednesday when The Eponymous Flower blog posted an article which strongly suggested that Pope Francis had finally addressed the dubia and re-stated settled Church teaching on Holy Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics. The article states that Pope Francis has no longer any "doubts", according to the reports of the Chilean bishops who recently made their ad limina visit to Rome. The papal statements reported by them are a radical turn-around. "Since it is unacceptable that the President of the Chilean Episcopal Conference and his Secretary General have invented the words of the Pope, the news is of the utmost importance," said the Spanish columnist, Francisco Fernandez de la Cigoña. "As Fernandez de la Cigoña says," some of the statements sound as if Cardinal Burke had spoken. I have to say I was extremely sceptical, especially given the criticism endured by this papacy on the ambiguity so far, and the appar...

So yesterday the inevitable happened when Cardinal Nichols praised the Maltese bishops’ guidelines on Amoris Laetitia. In the Jesuit magazine America , our Archbishop of Westminster is reported as having endorsed the Maltese document , which says some divorced and remarried Catholics should be allowed to receive the Eucharist. This marks a direct split with the directives already issues in Portsmouth and Shrewsbury Diocese in the UK. In the interview, Cardinal Nichols says of the Maltese directive: “It doesn’t start by saying, ‘What about this rule or that rule?’ It starts by saying if this is your position and you feel uneasy, you want to know where you stand, what you ought to be doing, then come and we’ll talk. But let’s be honest, let’s be open and let’s see where we go,” the cardinal said. In the United States, not all dioceses are on the same page when it comes to implementing “Amoris.” The Diocese of San Diego , for example, said that it will adopt guidelines...

Those who are divorced and civilly remarried cannot receive Holy Communion. The only exception is in cases where there are children involved and in those cases the couple must live as brother and sister. This is the settled teaching of the Church. Anything different to this is heterodoxy. Yet we are in a situation where various bishops and Cardinals are giving different interpretations that contradict this settled teaching. Now Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the Vatican’s doctrinal chief, has spoken out again, saying that local bishops cannot re-interpet Church teaching subjectively. In a new interview with the German magazine Rheinische Post , Cardinal Müller said it was “not his style” to criticise publications by bishops. However, he added, “I do not think it is particularly beneficial for each individual bishop to comment on papal documents to explain how he subjectively understands the document.” In the new interview, he said: “It cannot be that the universally binding doctrine of t...

At the press conference to mark the publication of Amoris Laetitia , Cardinal Schönborn was asked twice whether the Pope intended to break with John Paul’s Familiaris Consortio . That document said that remarried people should not be allowed access to communion unless they live “in complete continence”. The key passage comes in paragraph 84 of the document. A journalist asked: “Has anything in the entirety of those paragraphs changed? Does everything still stand as is?” “I don’t see why there should be a change,” said Cardinal Schönborn. So there we have it. A long-winded fudge – as we expected. But a fudge does not change solemnly defined doctrine. http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2016/04/08/papal-exhortation-avoids-clear-statement-on-communion/ We have a very long-winded document that will be read by very few people. So after all the sound and fury – nothing has changed. People who wish to ignore the authentic teaching of the Church will continue to do so. People who don’t w...

His Excellency Bishop Athanasius Schneider, one of the most visible prelates working on the restoration of the traditional Latin Mass and faith, has penned a nearly 5,000-word response to the Synod exclusively for readers of Rorate Caeli . RC have generously allowed anyone to republish the text in full. In it, Bishop Schneider, who has become well known for his orthodoxy over many years and who I have blogged about before , analyses the Final Report of the Synod and expresses some serious concerns with what some are referring to as one of the most critical events in Church history. The Bishop sees this synod as providing a "back door" to Holy Communion for adulterers, a rejection of Christ's teaching and a Final Report full of "time bombs." And he is not alone in his conclusions. Ultimately, capitulation to secular morality has been pursued by many churches and, though such pursuit was anticipated as a means to encourage more liberal-leaning church-...