We need to use the past as a source of inspiration while moving forward, instead of wanting to go back to the way things were in the past, says Pope Francis. It’s not Christian. Wanting to go back in time is different from drawing inspiration from one’s roots in order to move forward with Christ. Read more
Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia” was released five years ago. The 264-page document, whose title is Latin for “The Joy of Love,” is one of the longest papal writings in history. It meanders through an introduction and nine chapters, offering everything from grandfatherly advice on family life to Scripture reflections to South American love Read more
Next month a conference on the theme “This Catholic Moment” will be held at the Napa Institute, the so-called headquarters for the anti-Pope Francis resistance in the United States. John Meyer, the Executive Director of the Institute, says the conference will be an opportunity to discuss “Catholic renewal in a time of great crisis in Read more
Pope Francis has been known to make off-color or politically incorrect jokes from time to time. For example, he has provoked sighs and raised eyebrows with stereotypical mother-in-law asides and occasional references to women as strawberries on the cake. Then there’s his constant harping about modern-day Pharisees, as he frequently labels those Catholic priests and Read more
A group of priests and scholars from around the world have signed an open letter accusing Pope Francis of heresy. Dissatisfied with Francis’s reform agenda, the 19 Catholic priests and academics sent the 20-page letter to the College of Bishops, asking for the college to investigate Francis for the “canonical delict of heresy”. The appeal Read more
There will be two World Meetings of Families (WMOF) in Dublin this August. The official one and an alternative parallel conference planned to take place in nearby Ballsbridge. The alternative conference, entitled the Conference of Catholic Families, is sponsored by the Lumen Fidei Institute. It will focus on defending the Church’s teaching on sexuality. It Read more
Last weekend, Washington’s Cardinal Donald Wuerl issued a pastoral plan on the implementation of Amoris Laetitia. This text makes an important step towards moving the church beyond the controversies generated by the document, controversies largely confined to the pages of the Catholic press, and focuses on what Amoris Laetitia is really about, revitalizing the church’s Read more
Pope Francis has approved the Argentinian bishops’ interpretation of his apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia (Joy of Love). The bishops have published a document saying some divorced and remarried Catholics may receive Holy Communion. Francis says the document “explains precisely the meaning of Chapter VIII of ‘Amoris Laetitia.’ There are no other interpretations.” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Read more
You may remember me as your predecessor as executive director of the Secretariat for Christian Doctrine at the U.S.C.C.B. You replaced me in January 2005. I am writing this open letter to you in response to your open letter to Pope Francis in which you address what you describe as a “chronic confusion” that seems to mark Read more
In what he calls a “final plea”, Cardinal Raymond Burke has again gone public. He wants Pope Francis to clarify his apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia. Burke was one of four cardinals who wrote to Francis last year questioning aspects of Amoris Laetitia. The questions, called dubia, led to the four cardinals being called “the dubia Read more