Stop it!

Stop it!  Stop it right now!  Stop the bashing, the speculating, the twisting, the deflecting and the projecting at, on, and to Pope Francis.  I know that this is not going to work.  I know that no one is going to listen.  I mean, they don’t even listen to him, or the Vatican offices, so why would the faithful, unfaithful and ambivalent; lay, religious and clergy; conservative liberal and moderate mob listen to me?  Every time Pope Francis speaks everyone freaks out.  Stop it! At least I said it. I feel a little better now.

All of this goes to prove a point made by contemporary fantasy author Terry Goodkind who provides us with life lessons he calls “Wizards Rules” and in the book aptly named Wizards First Rule he tells us:

People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true.

I don’t mean to insult you. I don’t know that I would use the word stupid (though this has been used pastorally, see Galatians 3:1) But, I do find that most people are believing every media spin on Pope Francis because of one or both of those reasons listed above, that is to say, because they want what he says to be true or because they are scared that it is.

All of this leaves me sympathetic to whatever motivated this Papal Double-Facepalm.

Regarding the latest hubbub, it is important to remind us of a few things:

This is not the first, and surely the last, time the subject of those living in domestic unions apart from valid marriage in the Catholic Church have arisen in the pontificate of Pope Francis. This happened last October, and the Congregation of for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by Archbishop Muller, under the direction of Pope Francis wrote a lengthy statement in which it was reiterated that this “state and condition of life objectively contradicts that union of love between Christ and the Church which is signified and effected by the Eucharist” and further: “if these people were admitted to the Eucharist, the faithful would be led into error and confusion regarding the Church's teaching about the indissolubility of marriage”.  This, of course, comes from the teaching of Jesus who says that one who is married, divorces, and attempts to marry another commits adultery. (Matthew 19:9)

I would say a change in this teaching is unlikely.  Impossible? No.  But I would say very unlikely.  Pope Francis as of yet, has changed no doctrine, not even a discipline of the entire Church.  He has changed some papal practices, but what pope hasn't?  Pope Francis isn't changing the teachings of the Church, he is showing us how to live them. As a rule, we should apply this statement issued by the Vatican today to most of Francis’s pastoral encounters:

That which has been communicated in relation to this matter, outside the scope of personal relationships, and the consequent media amplification, cannot be confirmed as reliable, and is a source of misunderstanding and confusion. Therefore, consequences relating to the teaching of the Church are not to be inferred from these occurrences.  

He is reminding us that it is people, not ideas who we work with, and we first have to love them above all else.  While the issue of communion of those in irregular unions is difficult, it does not exempt people like me from providing pastoral care to them. All need to know that we are radically loved by Jesus Christ.  Jesus could do it and be faithful to His Gospel. Pope Francis can do it and be faithful to the Gospel.  The question I should be asking is:  Why can’t I?