Beauregard's Shakespearean take on theological controversy recently, I was struck by how closely Touchstone's catalogue of evasion tracks the dodgeball played by those who criticize the critics of Pope Francis's
apostolic exhortation on marriage, Amoris Laetitia, but who never engage the substance of the criticisms.
♦ Early in July, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia issued a set of guidelines for implementing Pope Francis's
apostolic exhortation on marriage and family, Amoris Laetitia.
So it was unfortunate that Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of the Holy See, recently described Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis's
apostolic exhortation on marriage and the family, as a «paradigm shift.»
And the Pope of the Family, Saint John Paul II had already offered
his apostolic exhortation on the pastoral challenges facing the family in his 1981 apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio.
Not exact matches
The pope's
apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia is «intentionally ambiguous»
on grave moral and doctrinal matters.
I could just as easily have added Love and Responsibility; the Theology of the Body; the 1981
apostolic exhortation, Familiaris Consortio; the 1988
apostolic letter
on women, Mulieris Dignitatem; and the 1995 Letter to Families.
Liberal commentators, both religious and secular, have cheered what they take as the recent comeuppance Catholic and other religious conservatives received in the sections of Evangelii Gaudium, the Pope's recent
apostolic exhortation, that touch
on market economics.
John Paul II wrote in the
apostolic exhortation Christifideles Laici: «The common outcry, which is justly made
on behalf of human rights — for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture — is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition of all other personal rights, is notdefended with maximum determination.»
It said: «With profound grief... we are compelled to address a correction to Your Holiness
on account of the propagation of heresies effected by the
apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia and by other words, deeds and omissions of Your Holiness.»
In the
apostolic exhortation Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, Pope John Paul II reflects
on the nature of the sacrament of Penance:
Father John Boyle,
on his blog «South Ashford Priest» (the sudden rise of these excellent clergy blogs seems to be a sign of the times), reports that he has discovered contrasting translations of Sacramentum Caritatis, which lead him to comment that he will «have to re-read the
apostolic exhortation in a completely different light... Where, in the English, the Pope might be saying «It would be awfully decent of you chaps to...» I shall have to interpret it as: «What I want / command from now
on is that...».»
The Kasper spin was then picked up by some of the usual media suspects, who called
on the usual Catholic talking heads
on the port side of the Barque of Peter, who took matters further by speculating that the
apostolic exhortation would open up even more revolutionary paths, involving the Church's eventual acceptance of same - sex marriage and other matters
on the LGBT agenda.