Francis does it again
No impediments remain to full communion, Pope tells Orthodox Patriarch : News Headlines | Catholic Culture:
This is another of the species of pronouncement I have dubbed "Francisism." The Pope says something that sounds really agreeable to his audience of the moment. When carefully considered, the words mean less than they seem to. Is there any impediment, anywhere, to anything, that cannot be overcome by "prayer, the purification of hearts, dialogue and the affirmation of truth"?
What truths, exactly, would need to be affirmed? We have some little details to work out like what to do about Rome's claims to supremacy and general authority over churches throughout the world, and that pesky little part of the Nicene Creed that the East never signed off on... Then there is the question of Western tradition as developed via councils in which the East had no part. But yeah, nothing's impossible... But once again, in a narrowly logical sense, what Francis said is true. It is the connotations that are out of whack with what the Church of Rome will be able, later, to say and do.
'via Blog this'
November 30, 2015
"In a message to the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, Pope Francis wrote that 'there is no longer any impediment to Eucharistic communion which cannot be overcome through prayer, the purification of hearts, dialogue and the affirmation of truth.'
The Pope’s message to the Ecumenical Patriarch was timed for November 30, the feast of St. Andrew, patron of the Constantinople see. Each year the Holy See sends a delegation..."
This is another of the species of pronouncement I have dubbed "Francisism." The Pope says something that sounds really agreeable to his audience of the moment. When carefully considered, the words mean less than they seem to. Is there any impediment, anywhere, to anything, that cannot be overcome by "prayer, the purification of hearts, dialogue and the affirmation of truth"?
What truths, exactly, would need to be affirmed? We have some little details to work out like what to do about Rome's claims to supremacy and general authority over churches throughout the world, and that pesky little part of the Nicene Creed that the East never signed off on... Then there is the question of Western tradition as developed via councils in which the East had no part. But yeah, nothing's impossible... But once again, in a narrowly logical sense, what Francis said is true. It is the connotations that are out of whack with what the Church of Rome will be able, later, to say and do.
'via Blog this'
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