A Murderer Who Goes to Confessions Presumably Agrees Not to Murder Again

One Ross Douthat has said a few things about the so called Pope Francis (a k a Bergoglio). This has sparked some dissent, in support of "Pope Francis" or of what Ross Douthat suspects him of.

I'll pick the first letter:

To the Editor: Re “The Plot to Change Catholicism” (column, Oct. 18): I was stunned by Ross Douthat’s negative view of Pope Francis. The phrases “ostentatious humility,” “maneuvers” and “plot” really jump off the page. The pope’s humility in rejecting limo rides and the swanky papal apartments is not ostentation but a genuine expression of his personal vocation. He chose Francis as his name and honors St. Francis of Assisi by emulating his rejection of wealth and privilege and in his outreach to the poor, the ill and God’s creatures. Furthermore, I have never understood why a murderer has only to go to confession to receive the sacrament of the Eucharist, while a divorced and remarried Catholic, or a Catholic who marries a divorced person, is barred from receiving the sacrament in perpetuity. And how is a divorce so different from an annulment? I also don’t understand how a more welcoming church is viewed as a threat by pious Catholics. Jesus told us to forgive seventy times seven, so the church’s inability to forgive divorced Catholics runs counter to that spirit. Pope Francis is nothing but consistent in adhering to Jesus’ calls for forgiveness and love. SARA STEVENSON Austin, Tex.

Now I'll go into detailed answers:

Sara

I was stunned by Ross Douthat’s negative view of Pope Francis. The phrases “ostentatious humility,” “maneuvers” and “plot” really jump off the page. The pope’s humility in rejecting limo rides and the swanky papal apartments is not ostentation but a genuine expression of his personal vocation.

HGL

If his personal vocation is poverty, perhaps he should have turned down papacy.

Sara

He chose Francis as his name and honors St. Francis of Assisi by emulating his rejection of wealth and privilege and in his outreach to the poor, the ill and God’s creatures.

HGL

But giving an indulgence for following him on Twitter (account Pontifex) was perhaps not emulating his desire to be forgotten?

Sara

Furthermore, I have never understood why a murderer has only to go to confession to receive the sacrament of the Eucharist, while a divorced and remarried Catholic, or a Catholic who marries a divorced person, is barred from receiving the sacrament in perpetuity.

HGL

As said in title: a murderer who goes to confession presumably agrees not to murder again. If a remarried person agrees to take a one way train ticket after confession and try to patch things up with real spouse, presumably that remarried person will not be blocked from receiving the Blessed Sacrament.

Sara

And how is a divorce so different from an annulment?

HGL

A divorce was under Jewish law and is under Secular law a kind of makeshift. It does NOT give a Catholic any right to marry someone else and does NOT belong to the Canon Law of the Church.

An annulment is like: you find out your spouse was adopted, she does some research, she finds out her birthmother is the woman you also honour as a mother, you realise she is your half sister. Now, half siblings cannot marry, therefore you realise you have a cause for annulment. Even secular and Jewish courts would grant you annulment in that case.

You only need the documents to prove it.

Or you find out that when your spouse married you, her father was held captive, and he was released when you had your wedding night, and she is sad about not having had the opportunity to marry her real love, who is still unmarried, since he rejected the mafiosi related girl who was your wife's rival. The Church will fix that, if you have something like a court verdict against the mafiosi, or perhaps a sworn statement from your father in law. Your consent to marriage is not valid if given under a threat.

In such a case, a secular court would also probably annul the marriage licence as opposed to granting you divorce, supposing that mafia intrigue had been proven in court.

Sara

I also don’t understand how a more welcoming church is viewed as a threat by pious Catholics.

HGL

If his version of "more welcoming" is extending annulments so as to make them hard to distinguish from divorce, and you seem to have some problem with that, with making the difference, then he is not respecting Church law and indeed not respecting the Gospel. Christ made indissolubility of marriage a prime item on Christian morality.

Sara

Jesus told us to forgive seventy times seven, so the church’s inability to forgive divorced Catholics runs counter to that spirit. Pope Francis is nothing but consistent in adhering to Jesus’ calls for forgiveness and love.

HGL

I seem to recall Protestants of Lutheran confession saying same thing, or even of Non-Conformist ones, back when I was recently converted to Catholicism.

Christ forgave an adulteress. But he told her to go and sin no more. He told the truth to a Samaritan woman - that truth being a remarriage is not a marriage, or in other words, the husband she then had was not her husband.

John 4: [17] The woman answered, and said: I have no husband. Jesus said to her: Thou hast said well, I have no husband: [18] For thou hast had five husbands: and he whom thou now hast, is not thy husband. This thou hast said truly.

John 8:[10] Then Jesus lifting up himself, said to her: Woman, where are they that accused thee? Hath no man condemned thee? [11] Who said: No man, Lord. And Jesus said: Neither will I condemn thee. Go, and now sin no more.

In other words, you must realise the truth and decide to sin no more in order to be forgiven.

Now I will quote Douthat:*

... And Francis himself, in his daily homilies, has consistently criticized Catholicism’s “doctors of the law,” its modern legalists and Pharisees — a not-even-thinly-veiled signal of his views. (Though of course, in the New Testament the Pharisees allowed divorce; it was Jesus who rejected it.) And yet his plan is not necessarily succeeding. There reportedly still isn’t anything like a majority for the proposal within the synod, which is probably why the organizers hedged their bets for a while about whether there would even be a final document. ...

Hans Georg Lundahl
St Germain en Laie
St Basil of Caesarea
2-I-2016

* With agreement, of course!