There is some confusion in
our Church at the moment with regards to our pope and Church
teaching. Some more conservative groups within the Church have even
started saying that Pope Benedict is the true pope and that they
won’t accept Pope Francis as their pope. That might seem hard to
believe, but it has happened in some quarters. So I would like to try
and clear up a few ideas.
First of all, Pope Francis
has not changed any Church teaching and if you ever have any doubt
about what exactly the Church’s teaching is in regards to something, just
look up the Catechism. That is where you will find exactly what we
believe. What is great about having such a resource is that it gives
us the sure guidelines about what we do and don’t believe God has
revealed to us, so that you don’t have to depend on the opinions of
individual people.
Why is Church teaching so
important? Because we believe that it is the teaching of Christ, of
God. They are God’s teachings, not human teachings. Our
understanding of those teachings deepens all the time, but the basic
teachings of our faith don’t change. We often talk about Church
teaching and it would be easy to get the impression that we are
talking about the teachings of some men in Rome, but that is not
true. We mean what God has taught us and that is why they are so
important to us.
Pope Francis is a radical
and he is not afraid to step outside the box and reach out to people
in the messiness of our lives. That is also what Jesus did, which is
why He drew down so much criticism from the religious authorities of
the time. He made them very uncomfortable, because He wasn’t afraid
to reach out to people and bring them to a deeper level of understanding. The religious authorities wanted
everything in a clear, black and white box. This is the Law as handed
on to us by Moses, anything outside of that is wrong. Jesus was
helping them to have a deeper understanding of that Law. He did
things that ‘holy men’ were not supposed to do.
Think of the story of the
woman caught in adultery. The Pharisees brought a woman to Jesus who
had been caught in the very act of committing adultery. According to
the Law (of Moses, which came from the Ten Commandments), she could
be stoned to death. Jesus helped them to see that it was not that
simple, that God was not there to condemn us, but to help us find him
and grow beyond our sins. ‘Let he who has not sinned cast the first
stone.’ They wanted it black and white, but they had to admit that
Jesus was right. Pope Francis is doing something very similar, not
being afraid to reach out to people and reminding us that not
everything is black and white. Remember, he has not changed any
Church teaching, but people’s lives are not black and white. Let me
give you another example: the sin of adultery.
A man who is happily
married, notices a young attractive woman at work, begins to fantasize about her and decides he
wants to seduce her. He does and sleeps with her, cheating on his
wife. That is adultery.
Another man is trying to be faithful in a very difficult marriage, with a lot of pressure at work
and under financial strain in his family. He is very stressed and
just about coping. He gets to know a woman at work who is very
supportive and encouraging. They talk a lot and one day in a moment
of weakness, ends up sleeping with her. He is wrecked with guilt and
determined that it won’t happen again. It is also the sin of
adultery, but the circumstances are very different. Not everything is
black and white and that is what Pope Francis is showing us,
demonstrating that the mercy of God is greater than the sinfulness of
our lives, but he has not changed any Church teaching. It is interesting that many of the criticisms of Pope Francis are the same criticisms the Pharisees made against Jesus.
One thing that is not
helpful is that in certain circumstances Pope Francis has not
clarified some things which have caused confusion. For example,
during the Amazon Synod recently, Pope Francis allowed a statue,
which represents what is important to the Amazonian people, to be
brought into the Vatican. Candles were lit in front of it and this
upset a lot of people saying that is was worship of a pagan god. I
don’t believe that is true, but I think it would have been helpful
if the Vatican had clarified this, but they didn’t. I think that
was a mistake. Just because a mistake was made doesn’t mean the
Church’s teaching was compromised.
Recently a book was
published by a priest in the Vatican saying that it was ok for
Catholics to be Free Masons. The Church has issued 38 documents over
300 years, condemning Free Masonry, because it is anti-Church,
anti-priesthood, anti-Eucharist, although they don’t say that
publicly. In spite of that book being published, saying that it is ok
for a Catholic to be a Free Mason, the Vatican so far have not said
anything. I think that is not helpful as it causes confusion.
Jesus said to Peter, ‘You
are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. and the powers of
hell will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the
kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be considered
bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be considered
loosed in heaven’ (Matt 16:18-19). He also said, ‘Whoever listens
to you, listens to me. Who rejects you rejects me’ (Luke 10:16). In
saying this, Jesus was giving his authority to the Apostles to teach
in his name. But Jesus also gave them the gift of the Spirit who
would guide them and continues to guide them.
If our Church wasn’t from
God, it would have disappeared centuries ago, but it is still here
and it continues to grow. The Spirit continues to speak to people and
to move people to seek God. And God continues to teach us through his
Church. 366 times in the Bible and in today’s Gospel, are the
words, ‘Do not be afraid.’ ‘You have faith in God, have faith
also in me.’ The Church is in the God’s hands and we just do our
best to be faithful to his teaching.
Remember, if you have any
doubt about something being correct Church teaching, just read the
Catechism.
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