The following is the first part of the letter which Cardinal Raymond Burke and three other Cardinals forwarded to Pope Francis on September 19, 2016 calling upon the Holy Father to "resolve certain "uncertainties" and to "bring clarity" to certain doubts raised by matters addressed in Chapter VIII of the Pope's Apostolic Exhortation "Amoris Laetitia", which was written following the Synods on the Family held in 2014 and 2015.
The Cardinals' letter reads as follows:
To His Holiness Pope Francis
and for the attention of His Eminence Cardinal Gerhard L. Müller
Most Holy Father,
Following the publication of your Apostolic Exhortation "Amoris Laetitia", theologians and scholars have proposed interpretations that are not only divergent, but also conflicting, above all in regard to Chapter VIII. Moreover, the media have emphasized this dispute, thereby provoking uncertainty, confusion, and disorientation among many of the faithful.
Because of this, we the undersigned, but also many Bishops and Priests, have received numerous requests from the faithful of various social strata on the correct interpretation to give to Chapter VIII of the Exhortation.
Now, compelled in conscience by our pastoral responsibility and desiring to implement ever more that synodality to which Your Holiness urges us, we, with profound respect, permit ourselves to ask you, Holy Father, as Supreme Teacher of the Faith, called by the Risen One to confirm his brothers in the faith, to resolve the uncertainties and bring clarity, benevolently giving a response to the "Dubia" that we attach to the present letter.
May Your Holiness wish to bless us, as we promise constantly to remember you in prayer.
Card. Walter Brandmüller
Card. Raymond L. Burke
Card. Carlo Caffarra
Card. Joachim Meisner
Rome, September 19, 2016
To date, neither the Holy Father nor the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has responded to the letter.
In an interview published on Monday, November 14, 2016, in The National Catholic Register, Cardinal Burke indicated the Cardinals are contemplating a “formal correction” should the pope fail to address their concerns.
Subsequently, in a lengthy interview in Avvenire (a newspaper published by the Italian Bishops), the Pope took the opportunity to push back against his critics — he did not name them — who view the faith through the lens of “a certain legalism, which can be ideological."
“Some people — I am thinking of certain responses to Amoris Laetitia — continue to misunderstand," Pope Francis said. “It’s either black or white [to them], even if in the flow of life you have to discern."Asked about critics who accuse the pope of “Protestantizing" the Catholic church — an objection often raised by conservative Catholics in the U.S. — His Holiness said, “I don’t lose sleep over it."
He insisted that he is following the model of the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s that set the church on a path to internal reform and greater engagement with the world.
“As for opinions of others," he said, “we always have to distinguish the spirit in which they are given. When not given in bad faith, they help with the way forward. Other times you see right away that the critics pick bits from here and there to justify a pre-existing viewpoint; they are not honest, they are acting in bad faith to foment divisions."
“You see right away that a certain ‘rigorism’ is born out of a lack of something, from a desire to hide inside the armor of one’s own sad dissatisfaction," he said.
Clearly, the Apostolic Exhortation has become a flashpoint for an increasingly open struggle between old guard hard-liners and supporters of Pope Francis.
A signal that there is indeed significant tension between the Holy Father and certain members of the College of Cardinals is suggested by the fact that Pope Francis cancelled a meeting which the Pope traditionally holds with the College preceding the Consistories at which new Cardinals are formally admitted.
And so, the Church finds herself in a rare situation indeed.
In a series of articles which I will post over the course of the next few days, I shall attempt to examine this turn of events and delve deep into Church history to learn whether such situations have arisen in the past and the manner in which the Church may have addressed these at the time.
My next post will treat the second part of the letter which specificies the five particular uncertainties which the Cardinals are requesting that the Holy Father resolve and clarify.
Let us pray that good will and patience will rule the day and that the Grace of the Holy Spirit will restore a sense of tranquility to our troubled Church in these difficult and trying circumstances.
Much more to follow on this subject in the days, if not weeks, ahead.
May God bless our Holy Father and the Church always.
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