Sixty-two scholars and priests have issued a “filial correction” of Pope Francis, saying that his words and actions risk leading Catholics into false doctrines.
The signatories emphasise that they do not accuse the Pope of committing the personal sin of heresy, or the canonical crime. But they claim that the publication of Amoris Laetitia, and the Pope’s subsequent words and actions, have led to the spread of “heresies and other errors”.
Most of the document’s first signatories are academics. They include Mgr Prof Antonio Livi, formerly rector of the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome; Prof Thomas Stark, who teaches at the Benedict XVI Academy of Philosophy and Theology in Austria; and Claudio Pierantoni of the University of Chile. Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general of the SSPX, is also a signatory, as is Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, former Vatican bank president.
Another signatory, Prof Stéphane Mercier of the Catholic University of Louvain, has been disciplined by the university for voicing his pro-life views.
Some of the signatories put their names to a letter addressed last year to the College of Cardinals, asking them to request that the Pope condemn certain heresies and errors.
But the new text, which was sent to the Pope a month ago, addresses him in language unprecedented in modern Catholic history: “With profound grief, but moved by fidelity to our Lord Jesus Christ, by love for the Church and for the papacy, and by filial devotion toward yourself, we are compelled to address a correction to Your Holiness on account of the propagation of heresies effected by the apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia and by other words, deeds and omissions of Your Holiness.
Amoris Laetitia, issued in April last year, has provoked diverse interpretations. Several bishops have said that it is compatible with the Church’s perennial teaching, reaffirmed several times in recent years, that the divorced and remarried cannot receive Communion, except possibly when they resolve to love “as brother and sister”.
However, other bishops have contradicted this teaching. The bishops of Malta said that, since avoiding sex outside marriage might be “inpossible”, Communion should not be withheld from those who felt “at peace with God”.
The scholars’ letter notes that these guidelines were published in Osservatore Romano, the official newspaper of the Holy See. Addressing Pope Francis, the letter says: “No criticism of these guidelines was made by the Osservatore Romano, which presented them as legitimate exercises of episcopal teaching and authority. This publication was an official act of the Holy See that went uncorrected by yourself.”
The letter lists several other ways in which the Pope has encouraged error. These include his approval – in a leaked letter – of the diocesan guidelines of the Buenos Aires bishops; his silence when asked the dubia, which aimed to clarify that Church teaching on sin, grace and the sacraments was still valid; and several other actions.
The correction, which is in Latin, identifies seven errors which Amoris Laetitia and other papal actions could perpetrate. These include: that those who have divorced and remarried can receive the Eucharist without making a firm resolution to avoid sexual relations; that God might permit or even ask someone to have sexual relations outside a valid marriage; and other connected propositions related to the Church’s teaching on marriage, grave sin and the Eucharist.
One signatory, Dr Joseph Shaw, said he “felt an obligation” to sign the letter. He cited canon law, which says the lay faithful 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…That does not mean that I think I am or the petitioners as a group are infallible; it just means that I feel I must manifest my view.”
Asked whether the letter was disloyal to Pope Francis, Dr Shaw pointed out that the Pope “has explicitly, forcefully, and repeatedly called for honest expressions of conflicting opinions. Not only did he call for parrhesia among the participants of the Synod on the Family, but he has personally thanked those who have written or said things critical of him.”
Another signatory, Anna Silvas of the University of New England, said: “Why would I not sign the letter? Almost on a daily basis the news confirms that Pope Francis’s agenda must be resisted. His cancellation and re-invention of the John Paul II Institute so that it serves the very opposite of the entire spiritual and intellectual mandate given it by St John-Paul (and Caffara) is scary. The next item for demolition, in the usual fog of bland, ‘accompanying’, ‘discerning’ language, is the doctrine of Humanae Vitae.
“And already visible, just around the corner from that, is the formal endorsement of widening Eucharistic hospitality to those in sexually active same-sex relationships.”
Silvas predicted that Catholic teaching will be “neutered as so many nice-sounding ‘ideals’, and buried in something called ‘mercy’.”
Full story at The Catholic Herald.
A filial correction is great!
But it will not work as long as we financially support these heresies.
In other words, we must not give money to any bishop who is fighting against Church doctrine.
We MUST STOP tithing money in the dioceses of bishops like McElroy, McGrath, and Cupich.
We have been desperately in need of good Church disciploine, since Vatican II!! I hope these sixty-two scholars and priests can do smething, to help this situation! Especially, now, with the problems of Pope Francis!
I find it hilarious that one of the signatories of this “filial correction” is the head of an organization (the beloved SSPX) which itself have spread dissent, disobedience, schism, and heresy. That the beloved Fellay now turns around and says that the Holy Father is himself spreading heresy is so ironically funny. Besides, by signing this (or perhaps by organizing this “filial correction”) he may have blown away any chances of his organization being given any legal standing in the Church under the present pontificate. Good work Fellay.
Nice narrative and subject change, but the man in the Seat of Peter has done more to propagate heresy and the Catholic Church than anyone since John XXII (d. 1334).
This is all to fulfill what Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi the official papal theologian of five popes, who read the Third Secret of Fatima, wrote: “In the Third Secret of Fatima, apostasy in the church will begin at the top.”
Aren’t you turning things upside-down? The history with the SSPX didn’t start with that organization “spreading” anything as you put it. Actually, the formation of the SSPX came in response to heterodoxy in the Church in the wake of Vatican II. The filia correction is just another chapter in the unfortunate history. But there is no inconsistency here. The SSPX is simply on board once again to oppose matters in the Church which undermine the Faith.
face from none other than Fellay. Most ungrateful.
Ralph, no one has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the documents of the Second Vatican Council are heterodox. Whenever I’d ask SSPX-sympathizers in this here blog to quote to me passages in the document that are heretical or heterodox, they have consistently come up short. The best they can do is to allege that Vatican II is “vague.” Well, excuse me, but vagueness is not the same as heresy! Vagueness does not warrant the disobedient behavior of the beloved SSPX!
Vagueness permits heretical interpretation.
Those trees over there, that is indeed a forest, you are looking at.
jon, it’s an ecumenical council with documents promulgated by the Pope. It’s as legitimate as the Council of Trent.
jon, the last time I challenged you to identify heresy taught by the SSPX you remained silent. You remained silent because you cannot back up your false claims. You are committing sin against the eighth commandment.
Bradley Eli of ChurchMilitant.com back in September 2015 has written about the heresy into which the beloved SSPX has fallen. Eli writes: “The Society and its sympathizers have placed themselves above the Magisterium and the popes as the supreme judge in matters of faith and morals.” Plus, Eli writes about the group’s denigration of the Ordinary Form: “The SSPX even claims the Novus Ordo Mass is intrinsically evil and no one should ever go to a Mass unless it’s in the Old Latin Rite — and only then if it’s offered by an SSPX priest.” You can read the rest there.
Chicago cardinal invitation to Fr. Martin invites Sodom and Gomorrah consequences.
Correction: Cardinal Burke, issue the Formal Act of Correction NOW!
The Catholic Church is disintegrating because it is being torn apart. Why, because the pope has said or written on least seven topics which are heretical. It sounds like something from THE TWILIGHT ZONE or THE OUTER LIMITS, but it is true. Pope Francis has been accused to heresy, and unless he answers or corrects his errors, then possibly he will be forced to resign. Simply put: If a pope speaks heresy, he ceases to be pope.
Father Karl, remember Fr. Daniel A. Lord, SJ, (d.1955), a true Jesuit, the editor of “The Queen’s Work” magazine?
So we went from Daniel A. Lord, SJ, (and all his great little devotional leaflets, one of whom I received from a friend a few days ago) to “Fr.” James Martin, SJ, apostate, in one generation
The Pope hadn’t said any heretical things. People like Fellay SAY he has. Forces to resign? A public “filial correction” in the form of a public sign-on letter. Oh Father, you need some lessons in ecclesiology.
You have proven yourself to be a nuisance and a provocateur, as far as you possibly be from Catholic. Your comments have no value.
YFC 62 Catholic scholars who know a lot more than you on the subject clearly disagree with you… your wrong.
Thousands of bishops, hundreds of thousands of priests, and millions of lay faithful disagree with you Bohemind and your beloved 62 which includes a once excommunicated man.
YFC, much like the Arian heresy thousands of clerics and millions of Faithful believed it, and they were wrong just like those who are falling for the heresy promoted by this Pope. Of course you believe it as it is a means to the end of what you and rest of the sodomites in the Church want. The complete and total Church blessing of false gay marriage and sodomy. But we will outlast you and defeat you, it will be great watching this counterfeit church crumble in the years to come. BTW, I will take Bishop Fellay over Martin, Wuerl, Csupich, McElroy and every other gay cleric.
“We will defeat you,” Bohemond says. Is this attitude of division, antagonism, and indeed hatred for other Catholics THE fruit of your devotion to the Extraordinary Form? I would hate to think so; but Bohemond, your attitude would not attract (but rather would detract) folks who may be curious about the EF but will shy away from it: “Wow, if my hating fellow Catholics is what I am going to foster in me if I devote myself to the EF, I’d have no part in it.” Your words Bohemond are irresponsible and careless for which you will have to give an account on the Last Day.
Jon your words mean nothing, you are an arrogant know it all. Yes I do hate, heretics and sodomites, like YFC who pretends to be a Faithful Catholic while openly espousing and probably practicing homosexuality. Having a family member who was sexual harassed by a gay cleric I have special dislike for sodomites, as this family member refuses to attend mass.
Father Karl, forgive me if you know this, the filial correction did not accuse the Pope of heresy. You will find many headlines that say it did. It’s call “click-bait.” In the online world, truth is not important. Untruths such as this one (there are many others) get presented as fact because people don’t take the time to check out the first source or even to read the article.
If you genuinely know of 7 times the Pope taught heresy (real heresy as in the Catholic definition of heresy, not the secular definition which is not the same thing), I would like you to share with us, when and what they were. Heresy is gravely wrong. And a Pope who teaches heresy would be a huge problem. I’ve never seen it.
What led to the current confusion in the Church? Here is what some traditional priests are saying.
These include numerous CMRI and SSPX priests. Is it true? What do you think?
1) In the 1500’s King Henry VIII and Martin Luther created 2 big schisms in the Church.
These were the 3rd + 4th large schisms in the Church history, corresponding to the 3rd + 4th wounds of the Mystical Body of Christ. The Mystical body of Christ is another name for the Church.
2) In the 1500’s Copernicus propagated an incorrect theory that the Sun, not the Earth, is at the center of the planetary system. By extension, the Earth does not occupy a special place in the Universe, so it is not special. Currently (in 2017) there is a “cosmology crisis”…
Every schismatic has reasons for being schismatic.
You need to know the Catholic Faith better than those people.
According to traditional Catholicism, they are in mortal sin. If they do not repent, they will go to hell.
Mixing truth with untruth is one of their errors.
Pope Francis, for better or worse, “won the election” in the Conclave where he was selected as Pope. I wonder if a similar Conclave, held today, would produce similar results.
If Pope Francis has spoken heresy, what is the formal process to remove him from office? Or is it simply moral suasion from Cardinals/Bishops/Others persuading the Pope “its time to go”??
Jon: absolutely agree with your observations. The signatories to this letter are mostly extremely conservative and fear mongering academics. Stay strong Pope Francis!
A few years ago, if you wanted an affirmative answer to a question, the person answering would say, ‘Is the pope Catholic?’ Now a days that answer would not be satisfactory. To Jon I answer, both Cardinal Burke and three other cardinals, including two who have died recently, plus Bishop Schneider and Bishop Gracida have added their names. So the fact that Bishop Fellay also signed his name does not make the document less powerful. Also, Bishop Fellay has not spread heresy V2 was not a dogmatic council, just a pastoral one.
On the contrary, Vatican II may not have defined any new dogmas, but nonetheless the said Council has re-articulated many doctrines and dogmas of the Church in its documents and constitutions: doctrines and dogmas that have been perennially held by the Church!
I will only accept the true teachings of the Church which I was taught by the Carmelite Sisters. Claiming the impure are not in sin, insults the purity of Christ, His Mother and the martyrs
“jon,” your comment is idiotic. To begin, the SSPX is “irregular” only do to inconsequential and political issues, nothing to do with its Catholicism or the Faith of Bishop Fellay. SSPX priests do what all Catholic priests did until very recently, follow the True Faith correctly, and with religious zeal.
The Vatican, including Pope Francis, is stuffed with minor theological talents, who have a zest for one thing: riding the Church of its “Medieval” nature. The wish of these religiously walking dead is to revive the “promise” of Vatican II, which to them was the destruction of the Church and its melding into the “One World Order” of their beloved George Soros. It is quite transparent, jon.
Contrary to your point SC, the beloved SSPX’s irregularity has A LOT to do with its “Catholicism”. Disobedience to the Holy Father, committing a schismatic act even after repeated warnings from the Holy See, and denigration of the Second Vatican Council and of the Mass in the Ordinary Form ARE NOT the attitudes and actions of an obedient and faithful Catholic.
“he may have blown away any chances of his organization being given any legal standing in the Church under the present pontificate. Good work Fellay.” Yes it is good work, because there is no doubt Francis would have done the same thing what he did to the Friar of the Immaculate. Something tells me that the 60 signatories know a lot more about what is and what is not heresy than your self appointed knowledge.
Because Russia was not consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Russia was not converted. The Korean and Chinese mess we are in, is due to Russia. The communists that infiltrated the Church have caused modernism and heresy to spread. The communists that influenced educational systems throughout the world are responsible for the disintegration of western civilization and morality. Because of all of this, the Moslems are becoming more powerful and more numerous. Ave Maria Purrissima !
This pope is the Obama of the Catholic Church. He is a heretic. It is all part of the diabolical disorientation that has been taking place since Vatican II.Things are a million times worse in the Church than they were in 1960. The pace has quickened in the last four years since Francis was elected pope. Numbers do not lie. The closing of churches, seminaries, convents, monasteries, schools and hospitals prove my point.It is just as obvious as Detroit loosing most of its population. The Church is dying, but will never be totally destroyed as Christ said.
Anomynous, Maybe you could provide yourself some credibility by naming some of those priests in the Roman Catholic organizations that practice strictly traditional rites that you named above. If not, don’t open your big mouth to smear them with your unwarranted confusing and unproven rhetoric! Have you ever heard of the Commandment “Thou shalt not co false commit witness against they neighbor? The trouble with liberals and leftists these days is they are to dumb, lazy, and irresponsible to investigate the truth and the lies. Whatever lies support their liberal and leftist agendas they pass on to try to convince the naive that they are correct.
As Our Lord said: “Let the dead bury the dead”. As for me and my household, we will love, obey and worship Our Lord in the reverent manner which He so decreed and taught.
Correction on several counts: Firstly, I am not a liberal. Secondly, Pope Benedict NEVER said that the “SSPX are not schismatic.” No where. This is patently false. In fact, Benedict in his Letter To Bishop from March 2009 explaining the removal of excommunication to the four bishops ordained by Lefebvre, states that the beloved SSPX continues to have no legal ministry, no legitimate ministry, in the Church. The judgment that the action of Lefebvre by ordaining those men without John Paul II’s permission is a SCHISMATIC ACT remains standing; it comes from John Paul’s Apostolic Letter “Ecclesia Dei” from July 1988 where he writes: “In itself, this act was one of disobedience to the Roman Pontiff in a very grave matter and of…
supreme importance for the unity of the church, such as is the ordination of bishops whereby the apostolic succession is sacramentally perpetuated. Hence such disobedience – which implies in practice the rejection of the Roman primacy – constitutes a schismatic act” (article 3).
St Robert Bellarmine, a canon lawyer and a doctor of the Church wrote about what process takes place if a pope is found to preach heresy. Another saint , Athanasius, was responsible for the correction of Arian ideas that the reigning pope had in the 4th century.
For an excellent 400 page to learn about your Roman Catholic heritage, read Fr. James Meagher’s turn of the 19th Century book “How Christ said the First Mass”. You will all be well informed and speak from a position of education, truth, and knowledge.
A true Pope can not err in Roman Catholic Faith and Morals. So can anyone explain how all of these scandalous activities could be happening?
It must be very unfairly difficult, for priests and bishops to try to nswer questions and guide lay people, since “Amoris Laetitia”– and some bishops now refuse to accept true Catholic teaching, on the Sacrament of Holy Matrimny!! The only way to deal wth the things of God, is by honestly facing the Truth, not playing games, not trying to obscure the Truth, or lie, or deny it!! God always knows the Truth!! Are you, or are you not– sacramentally married, in the eyes of God, in the Roman Catholic Church?? Yes, or No?? And are you, or are you not– in a state of grace, eligible to receive Holy Communion?? Yes, or No?? Time for Confession, and a change of life?? Watch out!! God always knows– the Truth!!
Before Vatican II, Catholics (and non-Catholics, too!) had a great deal more respect for God, and lots of fear and repulsion towards sin — no one would ever be so arrogant and prideful (and stupid!) as to “decide for yourself,” so poor, so lowly– what is right or wrong, and what is the right teaching of Christ, on the Sacraments, and on eligibility, as well as correct preparation for, reception of Holy Communion!! Maybe only a quarter to half of the congregation, at any Mass, would go to Communion!! The reason for Mass attendance was worship of God, as a Catholic– and if eligible and properly prepared, you may go to Communion, at the altar rail. Very, VERY HOLY!!
When V2 began, the council fathers were conservative. However, soon after, it was hijacked by modernists and liberals, causing Pope John XXIII to be upset, so the original ideas were scrapped. Because of this liberal takeover, the modernists deliberately used confusing words so they could be interpreted either in traditional way, or in a liberal way. The Mass was only supposed to be modified, not rewritten with the help of Protestant theologians, which came after V2 ended.
In Church law, dogma and morality, you have to be precise, just as in logical mathematics. Being vague can cause problems, as it is unspecific. Until Vatican II , all Church documents were exact and precise. When one can turn a sentence or a paragraph into having several different meanings, you have problems. That is the way of modernism. Situation ethics and relativity are children of modernism. The sensitivity training sessions, especially those held at Immaculate Heart College in 1966 had destructive results which have aided in the destruction of the Catholic Church.
Very well. Please quote to us a vague passage from any of the documents of the Second Vatican Council. And please show to us how this is vague and how its vagueness has caused problems in the Church.
As horrible as things are, and as wretched as they will probably become for the Church, we must have confidence, as Our Lady said, ‘In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph”.