Mitigating factors in pastoral discernment 301. For an adequate understanding of the possibility and need of special discernment in certain “irregular” situations, one thing must always be taken into account, lest anyone think that the demands of the Gospel are in any way being compromised. 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. More is involved here than mere ignorance of the rule. A subject may know full well the rule, yet have great difficulty in understanding “its inherent values”,339 or be in a concrete situation which does not allow him or her to act differently and decide otherwise without further sin. As the Synod Fathers put it, “factors may exist which limit the ability to make a decision”.340 Saint Thomas Aquinas himself recognized that someone may possess grace and charity, yet not be able to exercise any one of the virtues well;341 in other words, although someone may possess all the infused moral virtues, he does not clearly manifest the existence of one of them, because the outward practice of that virtue is rendered difficult: “Certain saints are said not to possess certain virtues, in so far as they experience difficulty in the acts of those virtues, even though they have the habits of all the virtues”.342
This is a lie.
It is always "mortal sin." There is always a deprivation of "sanctifying grace." It simply does not exist. To believe otherwise is heretical.
What are these "irregular" situations that the Bergoglio would not mention? No courage to mention them specifically? How about two Catholics "shacking up"? How about a Catholic engaging in same-sex behaviour? How about a Catholic who has deserted their legitimate spouse to fornicate in an adulterous relationship with another? What about a chronic masturbator? If these people do not know that it is mortal sin, whose fault is that? What mitigation is there in these examples. Perhaps depression might lead to suicide, this might be a mitigating factor and the person is entrusted to God's mercy.
Mortal sin is mortal sin. If there is a mitigating factor that is up to God. The Church must proclaim the Truth.
Jorge Bergoglio has lied. Yes, he has lied. There is mortal sin. It will kill your soul. Mortal Sin deprives the soul of "sanctifying grace."
To believe otherwise is foolish.
If this lie is promoted in parishes it will lead people into greater sin and lead them into Hell.
Yes, that is how serious this paragraph is. Who will denounce it? What Prelate will have the courage to call out the Pope?
It will be known in history as the Bergoglian Heresy.
22 comments:
Don't hold your breath on anyone stepping out of line & denouncing AL. They have thus far demonstrated they are all club members of Modernism instituted by the spirit of Vatican II. Cardinals Brandmuller, Burke, Sarah & Bishops Schneider & Gracida have spoken recently but none show any wish to actually denounce this Papacy, even though they know where it is taking us. The positions they hold in the Hierarchy give them clout which the laity does not possess, yet they all urge us to stand-up and fight. What are they going to do - sit in their armchairs & watch us being annihilated whilst the Protestant insurrection of 500 years ago again takes the upper hand, this time supported by our Pope going to Lund to help them commemorate this grand occasion & pray with them. We Pharisees, Pharaohs & hard of heart are spurned - they now only have time & mercy for the wicked Modernist who has no intention of living by the rules laid down by Christ Himself but only want recognition of their Right to partake of the Body & Blood of Christ in Holy Communion which we were always taught was for the baptised Catholic in the state of grace.. Some aren't even Catholic, like the Lutheran woman PF advised to go by her conscience on approaching Holy Communion with her Catholic husband. Neither did he comply with the request made by a Lutheran worker in the Vatican to be accepted into the CC & also his friend Bishop Tony Palmer's similar request saying it was best they stayed where they were. Of course, this would make sense if he already knew there was going to be a capitulation to Protestantism which would show its face in 2017 - the same year as the 100th anniversary of the Fatima apparitions.
I always though it is Kaspero-Bergoglian Heresy
I too have waited and waited for the Cardinals mentioned to do more than hold small press conferences and encourage the truth from the sidelines. I still hope for it but hope begins to grow dim. This is the gauntlet. We waited for this exhortation and one can imagine a Cardinal waiting for this exhortation in order to be 100% certain that what we have is a betrayer on the Chair of Peter. There can be no such doubt at this point, no manipulations of ideas or concepts, no excuse such as old age, bullying prelates, etc. This is HIS, and even to this simple person in the pew, this exhortation is obviously a departure, a radical one, from 2000 years of Roman Catholic thought and teaching.
If there is no major press conference by at least ONE Cardinal, it is over for now, and we can consider ourselves, or at least, I will consider myself, in exile. There will be nothing for me in this church, save for the teachings we once had, and most importantly, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form, the Latin Rite.
I do believe we should mount a letter writing campaign to our faithful Cardinals, asking them and expecting them to address this scandalous outrage, this direct assault on the teachings of Christ and His Church.
Perhaps a blogger could post such addresses. I saw them posted yesterday but lost them in the blur of so many blogs.
Pray the Rosary, please for God's help, and assail our own Bishop and the Cardinals to DO something.
I don't believe many will, for the reasons Fr. Blake stated. Most exhortations are ignored and there's enough ambiguity in the documents to interpret them in an orthodox way or merely as questions that require no actions. So expect both orthodox and non-orthodox bishops to cherry pick the parts they like, denounce "wrong interpretations" of the parts. In other words, business as usually.
The only real difference is that orthodox bishops will privately grumble at the antinomianism and lack of clarity of Pope Francis and look for some one who is clear and by the book in the next Papacy. The pressure is building.
The problem is that the document fuses the concepts of objective state of grave sin (living in sin)and subjective state of mortal sin. A person can be in an objective state of sin, adultery, for instance, and not be culpable, either because they were taught wrongly (as a Protestant, for instance) or because the person was forced into a second marriage (think a kidnapped woman in Syria). Mitigating circumstances of insufficient reflection and insufficient freedom always diminish culpability. That is not rocket science. But the error of this paragraph goes further. it says that one must understand "inherent values" to be culpable, and presumes that there can be a concrete situation in which can not NOT sin. It completely overlooks the possibility of living as brother and sister (except to later wrongly apply a quote about the effects of abstinence by married couples on the marriage and children - to couples living in sin). Finally, it equates imperfect virtue with sin. It is not a sin to be imperfect in virtue. That is a heresy. And to commit adulterous acts is not an imperfection of virtue, but a sin. Sin is a failure to be good or virtuous at all in some specific way. And there is no such thing as an inability to decide not to sin, which is all that repentance requires. It does not require inability to fail. The document here denies human freedom. Later, in 301, it misquotes and appears to purposefully misinterpret the plain sense of Thomas Aquinas on natural law in order to say that general norms can not apply to particular cases, when what he says is that natural law may not be realized or expressed in particular cases because of ignorance or evil or other defect. He is speaking of peoples or people who seem unaware of certain natural laws. Sigh
I do believe the good Cardinals and Bishops will speak out about this exhortation. I would not be surprised if Pope Benedict also condemns it as well. Don't lose hope, the Church still has many good shepherds. Whatever you do, do not leave the Catholic Faith. There is no other place to go.
I think your blog, among others, is wonderful and extremely informative.
In the past few months, I noticed about myself that upon reading what is occurring in the Church, I have become more despondent. We must all come to the harsh realization, short of a divine intervention, that nothing will change for several more generations. To regain my peace, I am entrusting myself to Our Lord and His Mother and I offer my cross, my sufferings for the Church, for the conversion of sinners beginning with myself, and for the intentions of our Holy Mother. May God bless all of you.
Kathleen....let me look it up. I think I can find the addresses. Will be back.
In lieu of copying them all again: The addresses of multiple Cardinals is in the combox near the bottom of their new article: 'The Apostolic Exhortation and the abolishment of the sin of presumption.'
But....I do really think it may be more effective to send a petition to these Cardinals and maybe even more than the handful that are listed and signed by as many laity as possible. Priests could even, if courageous enough, sign it as they are the low men on the totum pole. We need Bishops and Cardinals to SPEAK OUT and denounce this thing!
I am afraid that I am going to have to disagree with you, Vox. Francis is merely reiterating the Church's teaching on mortal sin here. A mortal sin occurs when someone does something gravely wrong with full knowledge and full consent. If something gravely wrong is done without either full knowledge or without full consent, then the the person is not guilty of a mortal sin. Basically when we analyze whether someone has committed a mortal sin, we need to analyze the morality of the action itself and the responsibility of the person. The morality of the action itself is based on its object, intention and the circumstances. The responsibility of the person is based on the degree of knowledge and consent that the person has. A lack of full knowledge or consent is what Francis is referring to here as "mitigating factors." This is no innovation, this is no lie, this is fundamental Catholic moral theology.
Kathleen1031 et al -
Here's the addresses for Cardinals Mueller, Burke, Sarah, Pell and Napier:
His Eminence Gerhard Cardinal Mueller
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Address: Piazza del S. Uffizio, 11, 00193 Roma, Italy
Phone: 06.69.88.33.57; 06.69.88.34.13
His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke,
Sovereign Military Order of Malta
Magistral Palace
Via Condotti, 68 – 00187 Rome –Italy
His Eminence Robert Cardinal Sarah,
Prefect, Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
Palazzo delle Congregazioni, 00193
Roma, Piazza Pio XII, 10 Italy
His Eminence George Cardinal Pell,
Prefect, Secretariat of the Economy
Palazzo Apostolico, 00120 Citta del Vaticano
His Eminence Wilfred Fox Cardinal Napier, O.F. M.
Archbishop of Durban, South Africa,
Street address:
154 Gordon Road, Morningside, Durban, South Africa
Postal address:
P O Box 47489,
Greyville, 4023 , Durban, South Africa
I hope this helps you.
Vox & Mary Parks,
Excellent analysis.
Thank you.
I posted them already (see above).
I thought AL said even if they know it's wrong? Now there are degrees on knowing in order for it to be sin? I thought the reason that someone is in the state of not fully knowing is because their mind has been darkened by sin, as St. Paul speaks of in Romans
Kathleen1031 et al -
Here's the email address for Bishop Athanasius Schneider:
athanasius.schneider@gmx.net
The clergy who run our parishes don't believe in mortal sin, and Pope Francis might not either.
The disappearance of the Crucifix from churches speaks volumes,where there s no sin ,there is no need for Redemption ,hence a Supper in place of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass,and a Resurrected Christ on the Cross ,instead of a Crucified Christ. All these changes are arrows pointing out the way to where they are leading the Church ,no wonder they are celebrating Luther.
Francis will have to answer for this before the judgement seat of the Lord. And, contrary to what he states in AL about no punishment being forever, he will find himself roasting the the hottest fires of hell for every blasphemy and sacrilege that uses AL as its justification.
Pope Francis and his Gang of Nine are Heretics. They are out to destroy the Holy Catholic Church. It is time for Pope Francis to resign for the good of Christ's Church.
He doesn't mince words!
http://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/2422-the-apostolic-exhortation-and-the-abolishment-of-the-sin-of-presumption
There are those in the Church who would argue that there are Sodomites who think Sodomy is not a Mortal Sin so therefore it's not a Mortal Sin. First of all the Sodomites know it's Sodomy is evil and they do it because it's evil and it goes against the Natural Order of God. There are Catholic Priest, Bishops and Cardinals who are active Sodomites who know that Sodomy is evil and is against God's Divine Order so there are no excuses for them. The Sin of Omission that most Catholic Priests, Bishops and Cardinals fall from Grace everyday. Because they condone Sodomy and Adultery leading their flocks to Hell.
"If something gravely wrong is done without either full knowledge or without full consent, then the the person is not guilty of a mortal sin. [...] A lack of full knowledge or consent is what Francis is referring to here as "mitigating factors." This is no innovation, this is no lie, this is fundamental Catholic moral theology.
It is true that lack of full knowledge or consent can diminish the moral responsibility in case of a single action, but it is absurd to hold that a person can live in a permanent adulterous relationship without full knowledge what he or she is doing and without a consent to do so. Moreover even if it happens to be a case of true incomprehension of the moral law, the duty of a catholic priest is to explain to a sinner that he or she is in a state of a mortal sin in which one is not allowed to receive the Holy Communion, and not to treat someone's ignorance as a "mitigating factor" that allows to him or her to both live in a sin and remain in state of a sanctifying grace!
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