The Pope of Ambiguity

So now a group of 62 theologians, priests, and lay scholars have written a 25-page letter detailing what they regard as seven heretical positions propagating from Amoris Laetitia, Francis’ apostolic exhortation on marriage and the family. The letter is called a “filial correction” and such a thing has not been done in almost 700 years. The group sent the letter to Francis on August 11, and, as per Francis’ way of dealing with criticism, has been ignored for six weeks. Four days ago the group decided to publicize the letter.

The content of the filial correction as well as the signers can be seen here:

http://www.correctiofilialis.org/

You can even sign up to support the document at the website. I did.

I recommend reading it. I did.

Those in the know recall the “dubia” (Latin: doubts), a document sent to the Pope from four Cardinals asking for clarifications on five main points, such as, for example, “Can adulterers receive Holy Communion?” In the Pope’s exhortation Amoris Laetitia, one can vaguely read a “yes” to that question if one wishes to. And believe me, there are many out there who wish to.

Amoris Laetitia was released in April of 2016. The dubia was sent to Francis in July of 2016.

There was no response from the pope.

The Cardinals made the dubia public the following September, a year ago.

Still no response.

Then, in April of 2017, the Cardinals sent Francis a respectful letter requesting an audience regarding the dubia.

It was, and continues to be, ignored.

In the interim, two of the four writers of the dubia, Joachim Meisner and Carlo Caffaro, have died.

And now I expect the filial correction to be ignored as well.

So, regarding an apostolic exhortation that may – or may not (I’d like to know) – be filled with propositions antithetical to 2,000 years of Church teaching, there is utter silence coming from the Vatican. Fourteen months’ worth of silence.

Francis, the Pope of Ambiguity …