Notification to Christ’s Faithful (can. 212 § 3) Regarding Dubia Submitted to Pope Francis

[Dawn Marie]

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We, members of the Sacred College of Cardinals, in accord with the duty of all the faithful “to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church” (can. 212 § 3) and, above all, in accord with the responsibility of Cardinals “to assist the Roman Pontiff … individually … especially in the daily care of the universal Church” (can. 349), in view of various declarations of highly-placed Prelates, pertaining to the celebration of the next Synod of Bishops, that are openly contrary to the constant doctrine and discipline of the Church, and that have generated and continue to generate great confusion and the falling into error among the faithful and other persons of good will, have manifested our deepest concern to the Roman Pontiff. By our letter of July 10, 2023, employing the proven practice of the submission of dubia [questions] to a superior to provide the superior the occasion to make clear, by his responsa [responses], the doctrine and discipline of the Church, we have submitted five dubia to Pope Francis [select the link below to read them]. By his letter of July 11, 2023, Pope Francis responded to our letter.

Having studied his letter which did not follow the practice of responsa ad dubia [responses to questions], we reformulated the dubia to elicit a clear response based on the perennial doctrine and discipline of the Church. By our letter of August 21, 2023, we submitted the reformulated dubia [select the link below to read them] to the Roman Pontiff. Up to the present, we have not received a response to the reformulated dubia.

Given the gravity of the matter of the dubia, especially in view of the imminent session of the Synod of Bishops, we judge it our duty to inform you, the faithful (can. 212 § 3), so that you may not be subject to confusion, error, and discouragement but rather may pray for the universal Church and, in particular, the Roman Pontiff, that the Gospel may be taught ever more clearly and followed ever more faithfully.

                       Yours in Christ,
 
 
                        Walter Cardinal Brandmüller
 
                        Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke
 
                        Juan Cardinal Sandoval Íñiguez
 
                        Robert Cardinal Sarah
 
                        Joseph Cardinal Zen Ze-kiun
 

Rome, 2 October 2023

LINK TO DUBIA CAN BE FOUND HERE

[Jake]

I was always taught that, once a Pope, invoking infallibility, declares definitively on an issue, that issue is no longer up for discussion and cannot be changed, even by a subsequent Pope.  Considering that, in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis Pope John Paul II used the required words "define, decree, and declare," and specified that it must be held by all the faithful, it seems to me that any attempted change to this decree would be completely invalid.  I was also taught that what Christ revealed, not even a Pope has the authority to change, because God is immutable, as Scripture teaches; He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  If, throughout the Bible, in both the OT and NT, homosexuality is called an abomination, how can we bless it now?  Pope Francis himself said, some time ago, that sin cannot be blessed; why is he changing his tune now?    

[Dawn Marie]

Michael Haynes

@MLJHaynes

·

3h

In his July 11 reply to the 5 dubia Cdls' 1st letter, #PopeFrancis expressed his openness to same-sex blessings. It is a direct contradiction of Catholic teaching, Scripture and Tradition. The dubia Cdls' 2nd letter went unanswered.

[Dawn Marie]

Edward Pentin

@EdwardPentin

Pope Francis appears to open the door to same-sex blessings in his response to dubium no. 2, saying that priests may use their discretion in giving such blessings, so long as they don’t imply a same-sex union is equivalent to a heterosexual marriage:

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a) The Church has a very clear conception of marriage: an exclusive, stable, and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to the begetting of children. It calls this union “marriage.” Other forms of union only realize it “in a partial and analogous way” (Amoris Laetitia, 292), and so they cannot be strictly called “marriage.”

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b) It is not a mere question of names, but the reality that we call marriage has a unique essential constitution that demands an exclusive name, not applicable to other realities. It is undoubtedly much more than a mere “ideal.“

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c) For this reason the Church avoids any kind of rite or sacramental that could contradict this conviction and give the impression that something that is not marriage is recognized as marriage.

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d) In dealing with people, however, we must not lose the pastoral charity that must permeate all our decisions and attitudes. The defense of objective truth is not the only expression of this charity, which is also made up of kindness, patience, understanding, tenderness, and encouragement. Therefore, we cannot become judges who only deny, reject, exclude.

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e) For this reason, pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or more persons, that do not transmit a mistaken conception of marriage. For when a blessing is requested, one is expressing a request for help from God, a plea for a better life, a trust in a Father who can help us to live better.

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f) On the other hand, although there are situations that from an objective point of view are not morally acceptable, pastoral charity itself demands that we do not simply treat as “sinners“ other people whose guilt or responsibility may be due to their own fault or responsibility attenuated by various factors that influence subjective imputability (cf. St. John Paul II, Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, 17).

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g) Decisions which, in certain circumstances, can form part of pastoral prudence, should not necessarily become a norm. That is to say, it is not appropriate for a diocese, an episcopal conference or any other ecclesial structure to constantly and officially authorize procedures or rites for all kinds of matters, since everything “what is part of a practical discernment in particular circumstances cannot be elevated to the level of a rule,“ because this “would lead to an intolerable casuistry“ (Amoris Laetitia, 304). Canon law should not and cannot cover everything, nor should the episcopal conferences claim to do so with their various documents and protocols, because the life of the Church runs through many channels in addition to the normative ones.

[Dawn Marie]

Nick Donnelly Wrote:

Cardinal Müller speaks out in support of the new dubia. His message contains this wonderful passage:

"At present, there is a career-enhancing but heretical position that God reveals Himself only to Pope Francis through direct information in the Holy Spirit, and that bishops have only to blindly repeat these heavenly illuminations and mechanically pass them on like speaking puppets."

https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/cardinal-muller-endorses-cardina...