Pous Francis: A Big Heart Open to God

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Hello,

Die enigste manier hoe sukses kan behaal word met voorspellings is om gereeld te voorspel. In ‘n vorige rondte het ek aangedui hier hoe beïndruk ek met Pous Francis is maar hoe sal ‘n mens ooit weet of ‘n instelling wat 2000 jaar oud is kan verander of moet verander. Daar is hierdie uitsonderlike onderhoud wat vandag oor my tafel gekom het. En dalk  belangrik sal wees vir van die lesers hier ook.

‘n Vraag aan Pous Francis:

I mention to Pope Francis that there are Christians who live in situations that are irregular for the church or in complex situations that represent open wounds. I mention the divorced and remarried, same-sex couples and other difficult situations. What kind of pastoral work can we do in these cases? What kinds of tools can we use?

 “We need to proclaim the Gospel on every street corner,” the pope says, “preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing, even with our preaching, every kind of disease and wound. In Buenos Aires I used to receive letters from homosexual persons who are ‘socially wounded’ because they tell me that they feel like the church has always condemned them. But the church does not want to do this. During the return flight from Rio de Janeiro I said that if a homosexual person is of good will and is in search of God, I am no one to judge. By saying this, I said what the catechism says. Religion has the right to express its opinion in the service of the people, but God in creation has set us free: it is not possible to interfere spiritually in the life of a person. A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question:

Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ We must always consider the person. Here we enter into the mystery of the human being. In life, God accompanies persons, and we must accompany them, starting from their situation. It is necessary to accompany them with mercy. When that happens, the Holy Spirit inspires the priest to say the right thing.

“This is also the great benefit of confession as a sacrament: evaluating case by case and discerning what is the best thing to do for a person who seeks God and grace. The confessional is not a torture chamber, but the place in which the Lord’s mercy motivates us to do better. I also consider the situation of a woman with a failed marriage in her past and who also had an abortion. Then this woman remarries, and she is now happy and has five children. That abortion in her past weighs heavily on her conscience and she sincerely regrets it. She would like to move forward in her Christian life. What is the confessor to do?

“We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible. I have not spoken much about these things, and I was reprimanded for that. But when we speak about these issues, we have to talk about them in a context. The teaching of the church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time. The dogmatic and moral teachings of the church are not all equivalent. The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently. Proclamation in a missionary style focuses on the essentials, on the necessary things: this is also what fascinates and attracts more, what makes the heart burn, as it did for the disciples at Emmaus. We have to find a new balance; otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel. The proposal of the Gospel must be more simple, profound, radiant. It is from this proposition that the moral consequences then flow.

‘n Volgende vraag:

And what about the role of women in the church? The pope has made ??reference to this issue on several occasions. He took up the matter during the return trip from Rio de Janeiro, claiming that the church still lacks a profound theology of women. I ask: “What should be the role of women in the church? How do we make their role more visible today?”

He answers: “I am wary of a solution that can be reduced to a kind of ‘female machismo,’ because a woman has a different make-up than a man. But what I hear about the role of women is often inspired by an ideology of machismo. Women are asking deep questions that must be addressed. The church cannot be herself without the woman and her role. The woman is essential for the church. Mary, a woman, is more important than the bishops. I say this because we must not confuse the function with the dignity. We must therefore investigate further the role of women in the church. We have to work harder to develop a profound theology of the woman. Only by making this step will it be possible to better reflect on their function within the church. The feminine genius is needed wherever we make important decisions. The challenge today is this: to think about the specific place of women also in those places where the authority of the church is exercised for various areas of the church.”

‘n Volgende vraag:

I ask Pope Francis about the enormous changes occurring in society and the way human beings are reinterpreting themselves. 

The pope comments: “St. Vincent of Lerins makes a comparison between the biological development of man and the transmission from one era to another of the deposit of faith, which grows and is strengthened with time. Here, human self-understanding changes with time and so also human consciousness deepens. Let us think of when slavery was accepted or the death penalty was allowed without any problem. So we grow in the understanding of the truth. Exegetes and theologians help the church to mature in her own judgment. Even the other sciences and their development help the church in its growth in understanding. There are ecclesiastical rules and precepts that were once effective, but now they have lost value or meaning. The view of the church’s teaching as a monolith to defend without nuance or different understandings is wrong.

After all, in every age of history, humans try to understand and express themselves better. So human beings in time change the way they perceive themselves. It’s one thing for a man who expresses himself by carving the ‘Winged Victory of Samothrace,’ yet another for Caravaggio, Chagall and yet another still for Dalí. Even the forms for expressing truth can be multiform, and this is indeed necessary for the transmission of the Gospel in its timeless meaning.

Humans are in search of themselves, and, of course, in this search they can also make mistakes. The church has experienced times of brilliance, like that of Thomas Aquinas. But the church has lived also times of decline in its ability to think. For example, we must not confuse the genius of Thomas Aquinas with the age of decadent Thomist commentaries. Unfortunately, I studied philosophy from textbooks that came from decadent or largely bankrupt Thomism. In thinking of the human being, therefore, the church should strive for genius and not for decadence.

When does a formulation of thought cease to be valid? When it loses sight of the human or even when it is afraid of the human or deluded about itself. The deceived thought can be depicted as Ulysses encountering the song of the Siren, or as Tannhäuser in an orgy surrounded by satyrs and bacchantes, or as Parsifal, in the second act of Wagner’s opera, in the palace of Klingsor. The thinking of the church must recover genius and better understand how human beings understand themselves today, in order to develop and deepen the church’s teaching.”

Die volledige onderhoud kan hier gevind word:

http://www.americamagazine.org/pope-interview

Baie dankie

Wouter

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Kommentaar

  • Pieter Redelinghuys

    Beste Wouter,

     

    Hierdie Pous is oënskynlik 'n groot verbetering op die vorige een, die Duitser wat hoof van die moderne weergawe van die Inkwisisie was. Sy agtergrond is ook heelwat anders daar hy die moordadige gebeure onder die diktatorskap van die Generaals in Argentyne tydens die 70-jare meegemaak het. Wonderlik om te weet dat die Kerk ook kan leer, en aanpas, en ontwikkel.

     

    Niks is gegiet in graniet nie.

     

    Beste groete,

     

    Pieter Redelinghuys

  • CorneliusHenn

    Met respek: Pous Francis, sit gewoon die katolieke tradisie die afgelope 2000 jaar voort ...  dis jammer dat alles so gedurig ontsier moet word deur Wouter Ferns ... ek onderneem om voortaan die onderwerp ter wille van veral die Evangelie,  in Ingels te hanteer aangesien my bydraes in Afrikaans hieroor, waarskynlik nie die kognitiewe dissonansie en onkruid wat slimjanne soos Wouter Ferns daarin saai, oorkom nie.

     

     

     

  • Hello Pieter, 

     
    Op hierdie stadium kom Pous Francis as 'n baie subtiele denker oor en dit is 'n baie goeie teken en is daardie nuanse baie welkom as 'n verandering van die gewone dogmatiese denke. Die uitdaging bly, sal die Kerk soepel wees? 
     
    Baie dankie
     
    Wouter
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