16 January 2015

The European Doctrinal Commissions ...

 ... according to the Bollettino, have discussed the Unicity and salvific Universality of Jesus Christ; Gender Theory and Christian Anthropology; and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. 

Hrrmmmmph. The first is the exact subtitle of the very splendid CDF document Dominus Iesus, one of the cornerstones of the Magisterium of S John Paul II, and a magnificent monument to the mind of Joseph Ratzinger; a Magisterial statement which has recently been under attack from 'Bologna' and other predictable and dubious quarters. The second suggests to me some preliminary nibbling at the edges of the potentially dangerous question of women's ministries. The third makes me wonder if somebody has been pressing for General Absolution.

As Corporal Jones wisely and excitedly and invariably advises, Don't panic. But it would be good if, in the modern spirit of openness, a frank document indicating who said what about which, were provided.

Why the secrecy, why the smoke-filled rooms behind locked doors? After all, this is not a Renaissance Pontificate.

3 comments:

Scelata said...

"a frank document indicating who said what about which"

If only!

As it is, we can pretty well expect secular media to pretend it's something it's not, some Church spokesman to explain it away, and instead of it all coming out in the wash, at the next Synod it'll all be like when you do laundry without checking the pockets, and a stray tissue gets all over everything in the washer and an orange crayon dyes everything in the dryer.

(Save the Liturgy, Save the World)

Fr. Michael LaRue said...

No indeed, this is not a Renaissance pontificate at all. Then the
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" ... patronage of arts and architecture was both a matter of papal policy—to increase the prestige of the institution as a whole—and the personal preferences of individual popes. Leo X is well known for his patronage of Raphael, whose paintings played a large role in the redecoration of the Vatican. Pope Sixtus IV initiated a major drive to redesign and rebuild Rome, widening the streets and destroying the crumbling ruins, commissioning the Sistine Chapel, and summoning many artists from other Italian city-states. Pope Nicholas V founded the Vatican Library."
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Not only were they aesthetes and intellectuals, some sadly suffered from very old-fashioned sins:
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"Several of these popes took mistresses and fathered children and engaged in intrigue or even murder. Alexander VI had four acknowledged children, including Cesare Borgia and Lucrezia Borgia."
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Or they were just ordinary and boring:
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"None of these popes have been canonized as a saint, or even regarded as Blessed or Venerable."
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Not at all like today.


Mick Jagger Gathers No Mosque said...

...Gender Theory and Christian Anthropology...

One can be sure the topic was raised to alert Christians that Gender has a definition elastic enough to cover all the land mass from Portland, Maine to Portland,Oregon and so they should stick with speaking about the sexes, right?

As one infamous Watergate burglar, G, Gordon Liddy, was fond of observing : People have sex, language has gender