Pope Leo has been traveling in Turkey and Lebanon, doing what popes do on such occasions: Visiting religious and political leaders, signing agreements about further “dialogue,” calling for peace and respect for human dignity. All good things, and this pope does them with notable dignity. But they’re not the main thing. And without the main thing, other things have quite limited prospects. The main thing, the reason for the trip in the first place, was and is the truth confirmed at the Council of Nicaea (Iznik, Turkey today) in 325 A.D. that Jesus was not only a great man – as even many secular people today concede – but that He is the eternal Son of God and the Savior of the world.
Indeed, though Leo has spoken vaguely of some theological controversies as no longer relevant, he also made a point of warning in Turkey that among our many postmodern problems, “there is also another challenge, which we might call a ‘new Arianism,’ present in today’s culture and sometimes even among believers. This occurs when Jesus is admired on a merely human level, perhaps even with religious respect, yet not truly regarded as the living and true God among us.” Arianism may seem to be one of those obscure theological controversies that no one much cares about anymore. But at Nicaea, exactly 1700 years ago, it was a hot topic because Arianism was widespread. And continued to be for centuries. And now, again….
Leo’s emphasis on Jesus as “the living God among us” also ties in with his warnings about another heresy. As an Augustinian, he’s quite sensitive to contemporary “Pelagianism,” which the great bishop of Hippo famously combatted about a century after Nicaea. Pelagius was a Celtic-British theologian who was thought to believe – recent scholars, of course, clash about this – that we are capable of following the precepts of the law, without the need for divine grace.
I’ve seen Pelagius described in some popular accounts as quite reasonable. There are rules. We are rational beings. We can follow them. Which of course ignores our daily experience, to say nothing of St. Paul: “the law is good. . . .but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.” (Romans 17:16 & 23) Augustine, the Doctor of Grace, went after Pelagianism hammer and tongs, and left a great legacy of understanding how dependent we are on God – not our own will.
The Last Judgment (mosaics), end of the 12th century [Church of Santa Maria Assunta (Torcello Cathedral, Torcello, Italy]
Pope Leo has recalled this main current in the tradition as well:
the greatest mistake we can make as Christians is, in the words of Saint Augustine, “to claim that Christ’s grace consists in his example and not in the gift of his person” (Contra Iulianum opus imperfectum, II, 146). How often, even in the not-too-distant past, have we forgotten this truth and presented Christian life mostly as a set of rules to be kept, replacing the marvelous experience of encountering Jesus – God who gives himself to us – with a moralistic, burdensome and unappealing religion that, in some ways, is impossible to live in concrete daily life.
This classic Augustinian view should not be understood as denying moral rules. Rather, it puts grace and the love of God first, which are the deep realities that make it possible for us to live the Christian life. Pope Benedict put it trenchantly: “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”
One notable thing about Pope Leo’s pilgrimage is his decision not to pray in Istanbul’s Blue Mosque, something which Popes Benedict and Francis both did. He took off his shoes, visited “as a tourist,” but maintained a bit of distance from Islam. And rightly so. Alongside the neo-Arianism that denies Christ’s divinity, and the neo-Pelagianism that implies that we can save ourselves, a false universalism and indifferentism – “God wills a multiplicity of religions” as Pope Francis said in a careless moment – has arisen in the modern world, even in the Church.
Pope Leo’s seeming resistance to that in the Blue Mosque is a small gesture, to be sure. But it’s worth noting, nonetheless, because it’s in such small details rather than the usual worldly “issues” that interest the mainstream media that we glimpse the necessarily countercultural nature of the Faith today.
From Robert Royal in the Catholic Thing
I appreciated reading this article, which was recently published in “The Catholic Thing.” I always enjoy the informative insights of Robert Royal and Fr. Gerald Murray, on Raymond Arroyo’s “Papal Posse” on the “World Over Live” EWTN weekly show, and the “Prayerful Posse” on the “Arroyo Grande” weekly podcast. Loved watching Pope Leo’s recent trip to Turkey and Lebanon, too.
Today is the First Saturday in December. All in the Church should do the Five First Saturdays requested by Our Lady and her Divine Son, Jesus, in a holy apparition to Sister Lucia, by Our Lady of Fatima. Here is a link to a beautiful and awe-inspiring video from EWTN, about the Five First Saturdays:
https://youtu.be/oFF8U9hfj1w?si=6xBybhs_inT3vMjw
A wise priest once encouraged me to be dogmatic where the Church is dogmatic and not dogmatic where she is not.
For those of you called to do the First Saturdays, I encourage you to do so and even commend you. That said, it’s not true that “all in the Church should do” First Saturdays or any other particular devotions. I believe the Mother of God appeared at Fatima (and elsewhere). We should all follow the commandments of God and the precepts of the Church, but not necessarily devotions given in private revelation. We Eastern Catholics have ancient devotions that are more a part of our tradition than 20th century ones, like Fatima, or even medieval ones. Blessed First Saturdays or other prayers and devotions to which any of us might be called, especially during this Advent/Nativity Fast season.
I agree with you, but what I really meant was not a “dogmatic” sense of religious devotions. I meant that it would be very helpful to the world, suffering in serious mortal sin— if many Catholucs would do as Our Lady suggessted, with the Five First Saturdays. So many souls today, even in the Church, are unknowingly “slaves to Satan,” and live and die with no instruction nor guidance in leading a good, Christ-like life– and so many are drenched in and stained by the blackest of sins– pornography, human trafficking, violence, drug selling/addiction, the filthy kids’ “hook-up” sex, abortion, filthy gay sex acts/gay “marriage,” and much more. Devotions given by Our Lady would surely help!
In recent years, I have heard only one or two sermons regarding the dangers and evils of serious mortal sin in our society– including abortion. In one sermon, a priest mentioned that he believed many Catholic men who are regular Mass-goers, suffer with the sin of pornography. But he did not mention any helpful Catholic religious devotions or penances, to seek a cure. What an unspeakable horror, for poor, young Catholic girls to date and marry a filthy “pornography addict”– or a filthy “sex pervert”– extremely Satanic and destructive to a future Catholic Marriage, fatherhood, and family home. There were no such dangers as “pornography addiction” — nor “drug addiction”– with big excuses, like “addiction is all in the brain,” when I was young. These young Catholic girls must avoid such sinful young men like a fatal case of COVID! Morality is a big responsibility, and must be taught by the Church. Religious devotions and penances will help.
Yes, I would encourage any Christian devotions that help one grow closer to the Lord. Union with Him is the goal of the spiritual life (actually, the goal of life itself). And, that delivers us from sin. Sadly, I’ve met more than a few deacons who preached about the evil of abortion and it was the last homily their pastors allowed them to preach. Being aware that Catholic girls and women too have suffered from abortion, I’m fortunate to be able to sensitively preach about that violation of babies and their mothers with the support of my pastor and bishop. (In fact, a previous bishop of mine gave every parish an icon of the Theotokos and Christ to be used when praying, in our clerical garb, in front of Planned Parenthood.) And, you’re right about the tragedy of pornography among Catholics, even girls and women. In ministry to men, it’s one of the perennial issues. Even unbelieving divorce attorneys note it’s often the cause of the breakup of families. Some dioceses offer resources to help people get free, while others seem to ignore the issue. Ask any priest, they’ve heard of pornography in Confession regularly, so they are not unaware of the problem. And, deacons and others involved in ministry to men, youth ministry, men’s small groups or even honest friendships are aware of this scourge. There’s much more than can be posted here, of course. So, prayer practices and good resources are both necessary.
As Dr. Royal noted, “Pope Leo comes in for a lot of careful scrutiny, for obvious reasons, after the controversies generated by his predecessor. That’s useful in many ways to the mission of the Church, but sometimes unnecessarily critical. … in several fundamental ways, he’s pursuing the right track – which we’d like to see him do even more openly and vigorously. In online forums, going negative often means more ‘clicks,'” The temptation of “going negative” is something we should all resist. Yes, there are times for respectful, truthful criticism. But, do we fail to see the good, the true and the beautiful at times? And, do we fail to commend it in gratitude? Just as dissenters have their narratives, orthodox Catholics should not stick to the script of conservative narratives. What a person, Pope or anyone, actually says and does is more important than labels and preconceived ideas and judgments. The Truth is broader than categories like conservative and liberal because the Truth is the infinite God Incarnate Who came to give us life, upon Whom we reflect in a special way at Advent. (John 14:6)
Unfortunately, labels often have a history. For instance, in the later Roman Empire, educated pagans who scorned the faith called themselves “philosophers”, so that the terms for a time became synonymous, so that even thoroughly Christian writers who used Plato or Aristotle’s ideas cautiously avoided applying the term to their work. The first modern “liberals” were self-proclaimed defenders of often libertine notions of liberty, militantly anticlerical and often boastfully anti-Catholic. In 18th or 19th century France or much the Continent you could not be both a Catholic and a liberal, as both sides would disown you. Political terms are protean and that antagonism softened, especially in the Anglosphere, until the modern liberals turned antifamily with their support of abortion, gay “marriage”, and utopian notions of governance. A Catholic cannot be either a libertine or a utopian, so if that’s what “liberal” means de facto, a Catholic cannot be a “liberal”. We may regret the regression, but we can hardly refuse to recognize it.
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is Dec. 8th. On Dec. 9th, we will observe the 46th anniversary of the passing of dear Ven. Abp. Fulton J. Sheen into Eternity, to be with Our Lord and His Most Blessed Mother. Not sure what is currently happening with Sheen’s Canonization Cause at the Vatican. Miss the wonderful Ven. Abp. Sheen, always.
Here is a link to the Presidential Message on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. It is outstanding! All Catholics — and all Americans– should read this:
https://share.google/FYa4F3be0BEGrFNWm