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Pope Francis and 'situational doctrine'

Maybe Amoris Laetitia doesn't mark a millennial shift but for Catholicism now, it is a hugely significant document
Pope Francis and 'situational doctrine'

Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, left, and Cardinal Christoph Schonborn hold a copy of the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), new guidelines on a range of issues related to the family, on April 8 at the Vatican. (Photo by AFP) 

Published: April 08, 2016 02:23 PM GMT
Updated: April 08, 2016 03:08 PM GMT

Several weeks ago Cardinal Walter Kasper predicted that Pope Francis' much-awaited document on the family would be the beginning of the biggest reform in 1,700 years.

He probably jumped the gun.

But then again it all depends which of those words, one stresses — "beginning," "biggest " or "reform."

The new papal text — an apostolic exhortation called, Amoris Laetitia (Joy of Love) — was released today in a standing-room-only press hall at the Vatican.

And the general reaction was disappointment, at least among those who were expecting the pope to issue general guidelines for readmitting divorced and remarried Catholics to the sacraments or to declare that the Church could identify that there are positive elements in stable same-sex unions.

"Nothing has really changed," shrugged my colleagues who work in center-to-left-leaning media. "This just a lot of Jesuit casuistry," said those from the more conservative press.

But that’s not exactly true.

Maybe Amoris Laetitia doesn't mark a millennial shift or constitute a bombshell by certain standards, but in the current state of Catholicism it is a hugely significant document.

Pope Francis has totally changed the conversation, not only about what constitutes a "regular" or good Catholic marriage. But, even more significantly, he has introduced a new language and method for the Church to teach and apply its rules and doctrine.

Don't expect him to offer black-and-white, unambiguous answers for sticky problems. After many years as a real pastor among his people, he knows that life is not black and white and that people struggle with difficult situations that are often anything but unambiguous.

Instead, in this 264-page document, the pope challenges Catholics to do the hard and necessary work of undertaking the journey of discipleship, which does not consist only in following rules. It calls for discernment, dialogue, prayer and sometimes-painful growth.

But the bottom line is that Pope Francis admits that we all fall short of the Christian ideal (thats why we are called not to judge), whether that pertains to marriage or anything else that has a moral or ethical component.

A more thorough analysis of the apostolic exhortation will come next week. For now it is important to see that the pope — against lethargy and opposition among many bishops — is opening up a new path.

At the risk of over-exaggeration let’s say he's setting before us something akin to situational ethics, which takes into account the particular context of an act when evaluating it ethically, rather than judging it according to absolute moral standards.

The Catholic magisterium has rejected this principle. But listen to what the pope says at the very beginning of Amoris Laetitia:

"Since 'time is greater than space,' I would make it clear that not all discussions of doctrinal, moral or pastoral issues need to be settled by interventions of the magisterium. Unity of teaching and practice is certainly necessary in the Church, but this does not preclude various ways of interpreting some aspects of that teaching or drawing certain consequences from it."

The pope knows full well that he will be opposed on this point. 

"I understand those who prefer a more rigorous pastoral care which leaves no room for confusion," he writes. "But I sincerely believe that Jesus wants a Church attentive to the goodness which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness, a Mother who, while clearly expressing her objective teaching, 'always does what good she can, even if in the process, her shoes get soiled by the mud of the street,'" he says.

Goodness in the midst of human weakness. This requires a Church whose priests and people offer mercy, patience and accompaniment to those who don’t meet the standard.

Perhaps the most divisive issue has been how the Church deals with divorced and remarried Catholics or people in other so-called "irregular" unions. For starters, Pope Francis says we should stop saying they are "living in sin," because that is not always the case.

"The Church possesses a solid body of reflection concerning mitigating factors and situations. Hence it is can no longer simply be said that all those in any 'irregular' situation are living in a state of mortal sin and are deprived of sanctifying grace," he says.

In fact, the pope says that because of "conditioning and mitigating factors, it is possible that in an objective situation of sin — which may not be subjectively culpable, or fully such — a person can be living in God’s grace, can love and can also grow in the life of grace and charity, while receiving the Church's help to this end."

He calls for a greater respect for the conscience of the individual, which he says, can "recognize with sincerity and honesty what for now is the most generous response which can be given to God, and come to see with a certain moral security that it is what God himself is asking amid the concrete complexity of one’s limits, while yet not fully the objective ideal."

Pope Francis is sure to unsettle doctrinal hardliners most of all by opening the door for divorced and remarried Catholics to receive communion on a case-by-case basis. And he will anger them by calling into question the validity of an ironclad prohibition on such a possibility that St John Paul II issued in 1981 in a similar text on the family called Familiaris Consortio.

The late Polish pope said that the only way civilly remarried Catholics could receive the sacraments was by leaving their spouse or living with them as brother and sister. Pope Francis has taken a text from the Second Vatican Council to at least express doubt about that teaching, if not refute it.

In a footnote he says "many people" in this situation "point out that if certain expressions of intimacy are lacking 'it often happens that faithfulness is endangered and the good of children suffers' (Gaudium et Spes, 51)."

Amoris Laetitia may not be the beginning of the biggest reform in 1,700 years, but perhaps in 34 or so…

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