Subversive Christian Unity

Interesting blog post from L'Espresso My reflection: The pope may not feel he has delegitimized China's underground Catholics, but that is exactly how the Beijing government will look at it in time to come. Losing and gaining face is an inscrutable concept lost on the popularity pope. 'via Blog this'

This does not have to do with Christian unity, directly, but it does have to do with how Pope Francis looks at things, something that has bearing on efforts toward unity within Christendom. I have reported on many " Francisisms " and am now thinking of discontinuing my coverage of this pope's predilection for saying startling things that later have to be re-explained or even walked back by the rest of the Catholics. I suppose that by now everyone who is paying attention to Catholicism has developed some idea of how to take Pope Francis. The Washington Times - Monday, June 9, 2014 For the first time in Vatican history, the pope allowed for the reading of Islamic prayers and Koran readings from the Catholic facility. The readings and prayer came as Pope Francis met with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Vatican City... Read more: Vatican makes history: Pope allows Islamic prayers, Koran readings - Washington Times...

Islam and Christianity share 'idea of conquest', says Pope Francis | World news | The Guardian Oh dear. 'via Blog this'

Click for article:  Pope calls for commission to study reinstating female deacons - Vatican Radio As I have previously remarked , I do not really object to Pope Francis's constant launching of trial balloons in matters of Catholic thought and church policy. In a way, I admire him for using his office to provoke conversation, even if sobersided churchmen later walk back some of his remarks. I have dubbed these forays Francisisms and tagged under that name the more notable examples. In this one, he has floated the idea of females in the diaconate. Here he might usefully consider the experiences of others, by taking a look at the 19th-century revival of the office of deaconess in the Lutheran and Anglican churches. 'via Blog this'

Here is another of the species of papal pronouncements that I have dubbed Francisisms : headline-grabbing, crowd-pleasing remarks by Pope Francis that later need to be walked back by others in his church. What you thought you heard was not what was truly said, or meant at least. "May 4, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – The head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, considered second only to the pope as the Vatican's authority on doctrinal matters, has responded to the question of whether Pope Francis’ recent exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, has opened the door to giving Communion to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics. Cardinal Gerhard Müller’s response is unambiguous: the Church’s teaching cannot be changed, and the exhortation did not do so." Read more:  Cardinal Müller: Pope’s exhortation does not allow Communion for divorced/remarried | News | LifeSite : 'via Blog this'

The first time I used the word I used it in attempting to explain some of Pope Francis's headline-grabbing remarks. This is what I said: This strikes me as another one of those Francisisms that generates lots of good press for Francis and then is walked back via more careful statements by others in the Church. I have remarked before on his tendency to do things like this. But it was not the first time I had encountered the concept. My remarks on this habit of Francis's go back a couple of years, to the early days of his pontificate. Francis tends to make sweeping-sounding statements that sound nearly un-Catholic in their generosity, toward gays, socialists, atheists, Lutherans and others. But when the statements are unpacked in light of Catholic faith and practice, they do not mean all that they seem to suggest. The statements are narrowly and logically true in some sense but really say less than they seem at first to say. Before I coined the word I wrote Pope Franc...

No impediments remain to full communion, Pope tells Orthodox Patriarch : News Headlines | Catholic Culture : 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"?...

This just in, at the Subversive Unity newsroom: Francis suggests Lutherans might discern taking Catholic communion individually | National Catholic Reporter : "ROME: Pope Francis has strikingly suggested that Lutherans married to Catholics can personally discern whether to take Communion in the Catholic church, saying it is not his role to give permission to such persons but to encourage them to listen to what God is telling them about their situations. . . " This strikes me as another one of those Francisisms that generates  lots of good press for Francis and then is walked back via more careful statements by others in the Church. I have remarked before on his tendency to do things like this. 'via Blog this'

Pope Francis has veered  all over the place in his public statements, making some remarks that are later walked back by his church. These statements have been, in general, political ploys, to garner headlines and popularity: about gays, about socialism, about capitalism, and so on. Here, though, he is not playing to the grandstand of political opinion but speaking on a spiritual topic. He is here addressing Catholicism's Charismatic Renewal in remarks made earlier this month. I do not think this one will need walking back. Read his full remarks at the link below; I have quoted the parts I find most interesting with respect to this blog's mission and focus. Pope's Address to Charismatic Renewal | ZENIT - The World Seen From Rome : (Excerpt) "There is another strong sign of the Spirit in Charismatic Renewal: the search for unity of the Body of Christ. You, Charismatics, have a special grace to pray and work for Christian unity, because the current of grace go...

"I am convinced it won't be theologians who bring about unity among us. Theologians help us, the science of the theologians will assist us, but if we hope that theologians will agree with one another, we will reach unity the day after Judgement Day." --Francis Read the complete transcript of the Pope's remarks here:  http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/text-of-pope-s-videomessage-for-day-of-christian-unity-in-us It still appears to me that the Roman communion has no ecclesial mechanism toward unity besides conversion of others to Roman Catholic. Thus, as this pope has done before, in other matters such as accommodating gays and affirming atheists, he may sound like he is signalling something beyond what his Church is ready to deliver. We see the durable old Roman attitude toward other churches--my way or the highway--in the 'concession' to Anglicans through the Ordinariate. Anglicans may become Roman Catholics who happen to have something resemblin...

. . . the distressing spectacle of a Jesuit trying to do public relations. . . I've noticed something about the current pope that I do not find engaging and clever, though doubtless he means it so. I find it disturbing instead. I refer to his habit of making broad and sweeping statements that put the friendliest, worldliest face possible on Catholicism. He then leaves it to others to backtrack a bit, and do his explaining for him. The problem is in what he leaves unsaid. I reported some time ago on his remarks seeming to suggest universalism--the belief that everyone gets saved in the end, non-Christians, atheists, everybody. What he was talking about is a rabbit hole in Catholic theology, one that leads to the conclusion that the Church cannot say positively who is not saved. It is an uninteresting corollary to the idea that God can do whatever he wants and has not told us everything he does. While seeing their way clear to say who is truly in heaven, the Church cannot...

Some remarks by Pope Francis, widely reported in the press, have alarmed many Christians in and out of the Catholic Church. It seemed like he was endorsing universalism, the idea that, somehow, everyone gets saved in the end. He did not quite say that. Instead, Francis was echoing a certain strain in Catholic thought that is not quite universalism. The view was given a clear explanation by Avery Cardinal Dulles, in his article " The Population of Hell ." It has since been given a popular treatment by YouTube's Father Barron, in his video "Is Hell Crowded or Empty?" Read the article and watch the film for fuller particulars. My short synopsis is that here is a way to assert that we may not say for certain who is not saved, and may at least hope that all will be saved, even non-Christians, and even those non-Christians who decline the gospel. It begins by saying that anyone might be saved, and proceeds from there to the idea that everyone could be--holdi...