Even more disturbing, in some interpretations, is the Pope’s admonition that by seeing things narrowly, the church “close(s) off the way of grace and growth” to those like gays and the divorced who, unwelcomed, might otherwise fall away.
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The Pope announced on Friday the new approach to issues like divorce, birth control, and gay relationships in a 256 page document called “The Joy of Love”.
Current Catholic teaching does not explicitly allow divorced Catholics to receive communion and remarriage is only possible if they obtain an annulment of their first marriage.
“He’s making a case for bishops and priests in the Church to be more flexible in the application of Church law when it comes to divorced Catholics”, Curran said.
Minnesota Catholics say that may be one of the biggest consequences of the pope’s “exhortation” – namely the clear directive that religious leaders should better tie their “individual conscience” with Catholic doctrine when addressing the complexities of modern families.
“There each one is alone with God”, he wrote, “whose voice echoes in the depth of the heart”.
“We tend to focus on the infidelity to the other spouse – that is a reality”, he said. I have found, by and large, Catholics across the spectrum – however they identify themselves as liberals or conservatives – really live day-to-day with family members who are falling short, as they would say, of the ideal.
The pontiff also addressed gender identity, where he said to “accept our humanity, as it was created”, without specifically calling for the acceptance the transgender community has sought from the Catholic church.
“The difficulty for older people is they are seeing the mood music change”, he said.
“He wants the pastoral advice that priests give to be relevant to the experiences of real people”, Pope said.
“For instance, he says that a healthy dose of self-criticism is in order for us pastors in the way that we treat people and the way that we present the church’s teaching”, Mr. Cupich said Friday at a press conference. “He’s trying to inject this sense of morality into how we do economics … and we need that absolutely desperately”.
“It’ll take a long time to reflect up on this and to understand and reflect on all the challenges the Holy Father has given us”, he said.
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Margaret Archer, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which is hosting the event, said that Sanders didn’t follow proper protocol by failing to contact her office – which she termed a “monumental discourtesy” – and that his presence threatens to make the event political.
