Any sort of “creeping infallibility” that would attach the same level of authority to every papal utterance or document must be avoided. To fail to draw appropriate distinctions—whether between binding and non-binding documents of the ordinary magisterium, or between the development and the evolution of doctrine—is to dim the light of the Petrine ministry and impoverish the faithful. Continue Reading »
Will Catholics uphold the Church's teaching that the divorced and remarried cannot be admitted to communion, or will they reject it? Pope Francis has brought this question before the Church, though he refuses to formulate it so starkly. Continue Reading »
The real problem with the Argentine norms is their deviation from this larger and more fundamental principle: that grace truly sanctifies and liberates, and that baptized Christians are always free to fulfill the moral law, even when they fail to do so. Jesus Christ holds us to this standard in the Gospel. It is presumptuous of Francis—however benign his intentions—to decide that his version of “mercy” trumps that given by God himself. Continue Reading »
The conversation on Amoris Laetitia continues. All the language used by Francis of “integrating” the remarried into the Church originates in the reforms of Pope John Paul II. Continue Reading »
A father knows he should be at times severe and at times merciful, if he wants to educate his son and accompany him toward full human and Christian maturity. Continue Reading »
Communion discipline, Rocco Buttiglione says, should be changed to incorporate the difference between objective and subjective guilt. This is wrong. Continue Reading »
A response to Rocco Buttiglione’s reading of Amoris Laetitia. Continue Reading »
Healing people’s wounds means counseling them with the love of Christ, but never misleading them with erroneous teachings or allowing them to abuse Holy Communion. Continue Reading »
Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump together are likely to end this primary season with a majority of all votes cast. Add the votes for Republican bad boy Ted Cruz, and the vote total for anti-establishment candidates may reach 60 percent. This represents a stunning repudiation of the existing political . . . . Continue Reading »
Pope Francis’s recent Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia is, for the most part, a beautiful presentation of Catholic teaching on marriage and the family. But its eighth chapter strikes many readers as problematic. This chapter attempts to identify the patterns of reasoning by which a prudent . . . . Continue Reading »
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