Pope Francis: 'God is not afraid of new things' - USA Today
Pope Francis: 'God is not afraid of new things'
(Photo: Andrew Medichini, AP)
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Sunday, as he beatified Pope Paul VI who implemented the Second Vatican Council's vast changes, called on the church to adapt to "changing conditions of society."
His remarks took on added meaning as the bishops ended a two-week conference by rejecting landmark wording that would soften the church's stance toward homosexuality and divorce.
"God is not afraid of new things," Francis pointedly said during the beatification Mass.
Whether the document issued Saturday by the bishops is viewed as a setback for the pope, the conference did show the church can discuss difficult topics — such as the role of gays, lesbians and divorced Catholics. It also exposed a wide rift between conservative and liberal-minded leaders.
"The bishops did what Francis asked them to do, which was to talk about these topics in an open way with no issues left off the table," said Robert Mickens, a veteran Vatican commentator with Global Pulse magazine, which focuses on Catholic affairs. "The plan was to take the bishop's pulse on these issues, and in the end that's what happened, and it accurately showed a split between reformers and conservatives."
An interim document issued last week by the bishops halfway through their synod included wording that welcomed the "gifts and qualities" of gay Catholics and called on pastors to "avoid any language or behavior" that could discriminate against divorced Catholics.
Such reconciliatory language was left out of Saturday's report.
Some experts drew a parallel between Francis' efforts to reshape the church as a more progressive and open institution with Paul's tumultuous implementation of the Second Vatican Council, which dramatically modernized the church in the 1960s and 1970s by doing away with the Latin Mass, among other changes.
"It's a wonderful fact that these two reforming popes were brought together by this ceremony, after the synod," said Filippo d'Aosta, 80, a retired professor of religion and philosophy who brought his two grandchildren to St. Peter's.
Sunday's ceremony leaves Paul, who was pope from 1963 until his death in 1978, just one step short of sainthood. Popes John XXIII and John Paul II, who came before and after Paul, respectively, were made saints six months ago. Also attending the beatification Mass was Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI.
Since Francis became pope last year, he has repeatedly broken with tradition.
While the bishops failed to build on the tone Francis set last year when he famously said, "Who am I to judge?" when asked whether gays can be good Christians, observers applauded the openness of addressing the contentious issues.
The end of this synod starts a year-long debate and discussion before a three-week synod a year from now. That meeting will produce a document to be used as pastoral guidelines. Saturday's document is just a starting point.
Michele Ippolito, a Vatican watcher with the Italian news site Fanpage, predicted Francis would spend the year making his case with bishops in hopes of building a consensus for a more tolerant view toward gays and divorced Catholics, as well as in other areas.
"The next year could go one of two ways," Ippolito said. "You could see support coalesce around the kinds of statements that fell just short of the two-thirds majority in this synod, or you could see the split between the two sides grow, which could lead to some very serious issues."
Evidence of the wide gap among church leaders is clearly visible. Conservative church groups have blasted Francis' outreach toward gays and the divorced, as well as the pope's critiques of capitalism and dialogues with other faiths. A group of cardinals and bishops, including U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke — who has since been reassigned to a lower-profile role — was hostile toward the earlier language more accepting of gays and divorced Catholics.
Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest and Vatican expert with the National Catholic Reporter, said the apparent gap between the two sides is less of a problem than it seems.
"If Pope Francis wanted to be a dictator, he could have just ordered whatever he wanted. Rather, he invited the bishops to an open, collegial discussion," Reese said. "This is not the end of the process. The report, and hopefully the pope's address, will become the point of departure for a much richer discussion. The synod was a big win for openness."
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Susan on
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Sure, God likes new things. The obliteration of Sodom and Gomorrah comes to mind. The Flood. The Jew's punishments....yup. God is willing to try new things when humanity chooses to disobey Him, and not serve. Do we really want to see God's next "surprise". Gee, I can't wait, can you?
All sarcasm aside, the arrogance of Frances just blows me away. From The Vatican Insider'
“Dear brothers and sisters, now we still have one year to mature, with true spiritual discernment, the proposed ideas and to find concrete solutions to so many difficulties and innumerable challenges that families must confront; to give answers to the many discouragements that surround and suffocate families.”
Yes, the maturing to outright apostasy, and the condoning and celebration of mortal sins. Spoken with the spirit of a true progressive.
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Permalink Reply by Nicola Wansink on
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Funny man Pope Francis. Has he not heard of the immutability of God. That was for me one of the greatest beauties of the Catholic faith. A real rock in a frighteningly unstable world.
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Permalink Reply by Alan on
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I was going to post but this is near enough what I was planning to say.
Susan said:Sure, God likes new things. The obliteration of Sodom and Gomorrah comes to mind. The Flood. The Jew's punishments....yup. God is willing to try new things when humanity chooses to disobey Him, and not serve. Do we really want to see God's next "surprise". Gee, I can't wait, can you?
All sarcasm aside, the arrogance of Frances just blows me away. From The Vatican Insider'
“Dear brothers and sisters, now we still have one year to mature, with true spiritual discernment, the proposed ideas and to find concrete solutions to so many difficulties and innumerable challenges that families must confront; to give answers to the many discouragements that surround and suffocate families.”
Yes, the maturing to outright apostasy, and the condoning and celebration of mortal sins. Spoken with the spirit of a true progressive.
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Permalink Reply by Alley on
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Gird up your loins everybody it's going to be a bumpy ride. Pope Francis has given us a time line
a year in which to totally destroy what is left of the true Catholic Faith...to destroy God in souls!
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Permalink Reply by Sue K on
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If Pope Francis (a closet protestant...or as you say, perhaps agent of the devil) is the anti-Christ, his reign will come to an end on the Feast of St. Michael, Sept 29, 2016, if you count 1290 days (according to the Book of Daniel) from his inauguration.
Matthew Joseph Michael Gendzwill said:Any way one looks at it Francis has actually won the recent battle because further now is perceived that the Church is a democracy or parliament. When the notion of two poles of governance in the Church, aka as Collegiality, was forced upon the majority of bishops at vii, it was only a matter of time before a guy like Martini or Bergoglio would emerge to culminate the trajectory of Collegiality as it has been occurring since the close of the Council. And the process of Collegiality depends upon public opinion. And the intent is to use these to obliterate the Sacraments and the fact that God is the Author of the Natural Law and that He has made it possible for men and women in their natural conditions to conform the the Humanity of Christ, the Son of Man, by means of consuming His Body and Blood, His Sacred Humanity and in this to be faithful to the marriage vow.
And it is not true that the Bishop of Rome has somehow lost a battle with conservatives. There are no "conservatives" in the Church. There are no "liberals" in the Church. These are political terms. The world uses these terms. The guys in Rome, not in communion with the Church, are subject to these terms, although they don't like these terms because these terms tell the lie about the facade these guys in Rome are fronting. The media facade is that these guys in Rome decked out in clerical garb are the Church. But political terms don't help to persist the image.
So the Bishop of Rome blathers on about the "God of surprises". He thinks he can make a set of words which is not political, which will allow himself to secure public opinion and to persist the assistance of the media despite their unfortunate use of political terms. The Bishop of Rome is in for a big, fat surprise.
Recently Dawn Marie opined that the Bishop of Rome might be the one referred to in the Alta Vendita. There is one coming who will completely convince the world of the lie that in himself is vested divinity.
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