A group of cardinals are concerned about Catholic doctrinal developments ahead of the upcoming Synod.
Cardinal Raymond Burke, Walter Brandmüller, Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, Juan Sandoval Íñiguez and Robert Sarah submitted a set of dubia, official requests to the pope and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith for clarification on the doctrine, in July.
Dubia asked for clarification on five specific issues that the cardinal believed lacked clarity from the Holy See: the inability to reinterpret divine revelation, the inadmissibility of blessings for same-sex couples, the hierarchical authority of bishops, the ordination of women to the priesthood and the need to repent for sacramental forgiveness.
Dubia is usually answered with a simple yes or no answer, but Pope Francis answered a long-form list of topics in the same month.
The response was originally sent to the cardinal in August in the pope’s native Spanish.
The Vatican issued an answer to the public Monday.
But before the answer was made public, the group of cardinals – not satisfied with the pope’s long answer – resubmitted the dubia for a simple affirmative or negative answer in the same month.
After not receiving the desired yes or no answer after the second submission, the cardinals published a renewed set of questions in various languages for lay Catholics.
“Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we have expressed our deepest concern to the Pope,” said co-signatory Cardinal Burke, one of the most prominent Catholic prelates in the US.
The cardinals asked for a more definite answer, yes or no from Pope Francis. Stefano Costantino / MEGA
Media and activists have latched onto the pope’s lengthy responses to the dubia, seeking to gain insight into the pope’s ideology and ecclesiastical goals.
Many outlets incorrectly reported that Pope Francis allowed the idea of gay marriage in the church in his response.
The Pope walked the line of church doctrine, insisting that “marriage” is an institution distinct from a man and a woman receiving the sacrament of marriage.
“The Church has a very clear concept of marriage: an exclusive, stable, and inseparable union between a man and a woman, naturally open to the birth of children. It calls this union ‘marriage.’ Other forms of union only realize it ‘in a partial and analogous way’ and therefore they cannot be called ‘marriage’,” Pope Francis wrote.
Co-signer Cardinal Burke told the crowd that the cardinals had shared their “deepest concerns” with the Pope.AP
“It is not a mere matter of name, but the reality that what we call marriage has a unique essential constitution that demands an exclusive name, not applicable to other realities. It is definitely more than a mere ‘ideal’.”
However, the pope left the question of the blessing of non-marriage between two people open to debate.
“Pastoral wisdom must adequately distinguish whether there is a form of blessing, requested by one or more people, that does not convey the wrong concept of marriage,” he said. “Because when a blessing is asked, one expresses a request for help from God, a request to be able to live better, a trust in the Father who can help us to live better.”
Pope Francis has been accused of deliberately spreading ambiguity ahead of this week’s 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which will gather cardinals, bishops, priests, religious brothers, nuns and lay people from around the world in October to discuss the Catholic Church in modern times and how best to move forward as a global community.
Pockets of conservative Catholics have expressed deep distrust of the synod’s implications, fearing that the inclusion of non-clericals in the discussions risks “democratizing” the Church.
Following this month’s discussions, the meeting will reconvene a year later, in October 2024, to draft a final document of proposals on church governance for consideration by the pope. The meeting has no binding authority.
Pope Francis has said the Synod cannot be described as a “parliament to claim rights.” He instead calls it “a journey suited to the Spirit.”
“The Pope has said it repeatedly before the Synod — that the Synod is not a parliament, not a democratic process. We don’t vote on doctrine,” Bishop Robert Barron told Fox News Digital in July.
“It’s more about strategy,” added the bishop. “A lot of people, at least in the West, I think, feel alienated from the church for different reasons. And is there a better strategy that we can use to reach out to them and re-engage with them and so on? I think that’s what we’re going to talk about. So, I’ll take his word for it. I don’t think we’re discussing doctrine.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
