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The
promulgation of the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia by
Pope Francis marks the conclusion of a synodal process that has been
dominated by attempts to undermine Catholic teaching on matters
relating to human life, marriage and the family, on questions
including, but not limited to, the indissolubility of marriage,
contraception, artificial methods of reproduction, homosexuality,
“gender ideology” and the rights of parents and children. These
attempts to distort Catholic teaching have weakened the Church’s
witness to the truths of the natural and supernatural order and have
threatened the well-being of the family, especially its weakest and
most vulnerable members.
The
Apostolic Exhortation Amoris
Laetitia is a very lengthy document, which discusses a
wide variety of subjects related to the family. There are many passages
that faithfully reflect Catholic teaching but this cannot, and does
not, lessen the gravity of those passages which undermine the
teaching and practice of the Catholic Church. Voice of the Family
intends to present full analyses of the serious problems in the text
over the coming days and weeks.
Voice
of the Family expresses the following initial concerns with the
greatest reverence for the papal office and solely out of a sincere
desire to assist the hierarchy in its proclamation of
Catholic teaching on life, marriage and the family and to further the
authentic good of the family and its most vulnerable members.
We
consider that in raising the following concerns we fulfil our duty as clearly
laid out in the Code of Canon Law, which states:
"According
to the knowledge, competence, and prestige which they possess, they
have the right and even at times the duty to manifest to the sacred
pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the
Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian
faithful, without prejudice to the integrity of faith and morals, with
reverence toward their pastors, and attentive to common advantage and
the dignity of persons." (Canon 212 §3)
Admission
of the "divorced and remarried" to Holy Communion
Amoris
Laetitia, over the course
of Chapter VIII (paragraphs 291-312), proposes a number of approaches
that prepare the way for “divorced and remarried” Catholics to receive
Holy Communion without true repentance and amendment of life. These
paragraphs include:
(i)
confused expositions of Catholic teaching on the nature and effects of
mortal sin, on the imputability of sin, and on the nature of conscience
(ii) the
use of ideological language in place of the Church’s traditional
terminology
(iii)
the use of selective and misleading quotations from previous Church
documents.
A
particularly troubling example of misquotation of previous
teaching is found in paragraph 298 which quotes the statement of Pope
John Paul II, made in Familiaris
Consortio, that there exist situations “where, for
serious reasons, such as the children’s upbringing, a man and woman
cannot satisfy the obligation to separate.” However in Amoris Laetitia the
second half of Pope John Paul II’s sentence, which states that such
couples "take on themselves the duty to live in complete
continence, that is, by abstinence from the acts proper to married
couples” (Familiaris
Consortio, No. 84), is omitted.
Furthermore,
in the footnote to this misleading quotation, we read:
“In
such situations, many people, knowing and accepting the possibility of
living ‘as brothers and sisters’ which the Church offers them, point
out that if certain expressions of intimacy are lacking, ‘it often
happens that faithfulness is endangered and the good of the children
suffers’ (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on
the Church in the Modern World Gaudium
et Spes, 51).”
The
document makes reference to this erroneous view but does not
explain why it is a false approach, which is namely that:
(i)
All sexual acts outside of a valid marriage are intrinsically evil and
it is never justifiable to commit an intrinsically evil act, even in
order to achieve a good end
(ii)
“Faithfulness is endangered” by acts of sexual intimacy outside of
marriage but faithfulness is lived when two individuals in an invalid
union refrain from sexual intimacy in fidelity to their original union,
which remains valid
(iii)
The quotation implies that children will suffer because their parents,
with the help of divine grace, live chastely. On the contrary, such
parents are giving their children an example of fidelity, chastity and
trust in the power of God's grace.
The
document cites Gaudium
et Spes but the passage is quoted out of context
and does not support the argument made. The context makes clear
that Gaudium
et Spes is speaking of married Catholics, in the
context of procreation, not those cohabiting in an invalid union. The
full sentence is as follows:
“But
where the intimacy of married life is broken off, its faithfulness can
sometimes be imperilled and its quality of fruitfulness ruined, for
then the upbringing of the children and the courage to accept new ones
are both endangered” (Gaudium
et Spes, No. 51).
It
is therefore difficult to avoid the conclusion that the Apostolic
Exhortation is at least raising the possibility that adulterous sexual
acts might in some cases be justifiable and has misquoted Gaudium et Spes as
if to provide grounds for this.
Other
approaches that undermine Catholic doctrine on reception of the
sacraments will be discussed by Voice of the Family in due course.
Parental
rights and sex education
Amoris
Laetitia includes a
section entitled “The Need for Sex Education” (paragraphs 280-286).
This section spans more than five pages without making even one
reference to parents. On the other hand there is reference to
“educational institutions”. Yet sex education is “a basic right and
duty of parents” which “must always be carried out under their
attentive guidance, whether at home or in educational centers chosen
and controlled by them” (Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio,
No. 37). The omission of this teaching seriously fails parents at
a time when parental rights regarding sex education are under serious
and sustained attack in many nations of the world, and at the
international institutions. In this section Amoris Laetitia does not
cite any of the previous Church documents that clearly affirm this
right; it does however cite a psychoanalyst, Erich Fromm,
associated with the Frankfurt school. The document’s earlier references
to parental rights (paragraph 84), while welcome, cannot compensate for
the exclusion of parents from this section.
Homosexual
unions
Amoris
Laetitia, following an
approach similar to that previously adopted in synod documents, implies
that “same-sex unions” may offer a “certain stability” and can have a
kind of similarity or relation to marriage. It states that:
“We
need to acknowledge the great variety of family situations that can
offer a certain stability, but de facto or same-sex unions, for
example, may not simply be equated with marriage.” (Paragraph 53)
There
is great pressure at the international institutions for the rejection
of the traditional understanding of the family through the
adoption of language which refers to "variety" or
"diversity" in the forms of the family. The implication that
"same-sex unions" form part of the "great variety of
family situations" is precisely what pro-family groups are
fighting hard to oppose. By using such language the Apostolic
Exhortation undermines the pro-family movement's work to protect
the true definition of the family and, consequently, to protect
children who depend on the family structure willed by God for their
well-being and healthy development.
It
should be noted that in paragraph 251 the authentic teaching of the
Church, that "there are absolutely no grounds for considering
homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous
to God’s plan for marriage and family" is restated.
"Gender
ideology"
Amoris
Laetitia endorses a
central aspect of “gender ideology” by asserting that it "needs to
be emphasized" that biological sex and socio-cultural 'gender' can
be "distinguished but not seperated" (paragraph 56). This
acceptance of the underlying principle of gender theory undermines the
document’s otherwise welcome criticism of the ideology and its effects.
The false notion that biological sex is distinguishable from so-called
"gender" was first proposed in the 1950s and is the
foundation of "gender ideology". Opposition to the
consequences of "gender ideology"will be impossible if its
erroneous first principle is accepted.
Attacks
on innocent human life
Amoris
Laetitia fails to
grapple with the scale of the threat to unborn children, the elderly
and the disabled. Conservative estimates indicate that over one billion
unborn lives have been destroyed by abortion over the last
century. Yet in a document addressing challenges to the family,
which is 264 pages long, there are only a small number of passing
references to abortion. There is no mention of the destruction caused
by artificial methods of reproduction, which have also resulted in the
loss of millions of human lives. The absence of serious discussion of
attacks on unborn life in this context is a grave omission.
There
is also minimal reference to euthanasia and assisted suicide despite
the increasing pressure for their legalization across the world.
Failure to adequately discuss this threat is likewise another very
regrettable omission.
Contraception
Amoris
Laetitia fails to
adequately restate Catholic teaching on the use of contraception. This
is a troubling oversight given that (i) the separation of the
procreative and unitive ends of the sexual act is a major catalyst for
the culture of death and that (ii) there is widespread disobedience and
ignorance of the Church’s teaching in this area precisely because of
the failure of the hierarchy to communicate this truth. The
document's discussion of conscience is likewise flawed both in
paragraph 222, which deals with "responsible parenthood", and
in Chapter VIII which deals with the admission to the sacraments
of those in public adultery. Paragraph 303 is of
particular concern, especially in the following assertion:
"Yet
conscience can do more than recognize that a given situation does not
correspond objectively to the overall demands of the Gospel. It can
also recognize with sincerity and honesty what for now is the most
generous response which can be given to God, and come to see with
a certain moral security that it is what God himself is asking amid the
concrete complexity of one’s limits, while yet not fully the objective
ideal. In any event, let us recall that this discernment is dynamic; it
must remain ever open to new stages of growth and to new decisions
which can enable the ideal to be more fully realized."
This
statement seems to adopt a false understanding of the "law of
gradualness" and suggest that there are certain occasions when sin
is not only unavoidable but even actively willed by God for that
person. This would clearly be unacceptable.
Conclusions
This
is only a brief introduction to the very numerous problems to found
within Amoris
Laetitia. It will take further study to fully draw out
all the implications of the text but it is already abundantly clear
that the document fails to give a clear and faithful exposition of
Catholic doctrine and leads inescapably to conclusions that
could result in violations of the immutable teaching of the
Catholic Church, and those disciplines which are inextricably founded
upon it. Our initial overview provides sufficient cause to regard this
document as a threat to the integrity of the Catholic faith and the
authentic good of the family.
We
reiterate once again that we make these criticisms with great reverence
for the office of the papacy but with the consciousness of our
duties as lay Catholics towards the good of the Church, and our duties
as pro-life/pro-family campaigners to work to protect the family and
its most vulnerable members.
Voice
of the Family is an international coalition of 26
pro-life/pro-family organisations and was present in Rome throughout
both the Extraordinary (2014) and Ordinary Synods of the Family (2015).
Voice of the Family has published in-depth analyses of the Synods' official documents.
Voice
of the Family can be contacted on:
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