VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis has warned an influential, Vatican-based theological commission against “going backward” in “Tradition,” instead urging them to promote the Gospel by consulting non-Catholic “experts.”
The 85-year-old Pontiff made the comments Thursday to the International Theological Commission, a body of theologians set up by Pope Paul VI in 1969 to advise the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).
Francis first highlighted how the Commission was to fulfil its task “in the wake traced by the Second Vatican Council, which – sixty years after its inception – constitutes the sure compass for the journey of the Church.”
Don’t go ‘backward’ with Tradition
Re-iterating his oft-repeated remarks against devotees of Tradition and the traditional Mass, Francis called the commission’s 30 members to practice a “creative fidelity to Tradition.” By doing so, said Francis, the theologians could work “for the progress of the apostolic Tradition, under the assistance of the Holy Spirit.”
“Tradition, the origin of faith, which either grows or dies out,” said Francis. “Tradition – I want to emphasize this – makes us move in this direction: from down up, vertical.”
#PopeFrancis warned the International Theological Commission (which advises the CDF) against “indietrists,” saying traditionalists “remain fixed in time.”
He also urged them to continue “inculturation of the Gospel” by “the consultation of experts, including non-Catholics.” https://t.co/AdlP3qhNPb pic.twitter.com/TkFua1g1aL— Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 (@MLJHaynes) November 24, 2022
The Argentine Pontiff continued by making his trademark comments against traditional Catholics: “Today there is a great danger, which is to go in another direction: ‘indietrism.’ Going backward. ‘It has always been done this way’: it is better to go backward, which is safer, and not to go forward with tradition.”
Such a position, said Francis, “has moved some movements, Church movements, to remain fixed in a time, in a backward. They are the indietrists.”
He made reference to un-named movements which emerged after Vatican I which he observed had been “trying to be faithful to tradition, and so today they develop in such a way as to ordain women, and other things, out of this vertical direction.”
Francis criticized those who promoted “indietrism” which, he argued, “leads you to say, ‘That’s the way it’s always been done, it’s better to go on like this,’ and doesn’t let you grow. On this point, you theologians think a little bit about how to help.”
READ: Pope calls for an end to ‘intransigent defense of tradition’
***MAJOR UPDATE, November 10, 2022*** LifeSiteNews reported the bombshell statement issued by Archbishop Viganò, declaring that members of the “Bergoglian church” are no longer in union with the Church of Christ.
According to Archbishop Viganò:
the visible church, to which the world gives the name of Catholic Church and of which it considers Bergoglio as Pope, is no longer Church…
This statement was long overdue, and Archbishop Viganò is finally sounding the alarm — Pope Francis is leading the Church into something radically different than the Church established by Christ. Pope Francis cannot continue betraying the faithful by abdicating his duty as Universal Shepherd.
The time to redouble our efforts and fervently request that Pope Francis repent and be reconciled with the Church is NOW.
SIGN and SHARE. Defend the Church and demand that Pope Francis faithfully uphold the authentic Catholic faith!
Bishops from across the world have raised concern over Pope Francis’ unfaithfulness to the 2,000+ years of Catholic teaching, and the recent statement by Archbishop Viganò is truly the breaking point into a new era for faithful Catholics.
READ THE FULL STATEMENT FROM LIFESITENEWS AND SIGN THIS PETITION TO DEFEND THE CHURCH NOW.
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Bishop Joseph Strickland, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Fr. James Altman, and two dozen more faithful Catholic priests & scholars are publicly calling out Pope Francis for his outrageous, dangerous, and heretical teaching concerning reception of Holy Communion.
Pope Francis stated that “faith” is the only requirement for those who wish to receive Holy Communion in his June 29 Apostolic Letter on the liturgy, Desiderio desideravi.
This statement is dangerous because:
- The Council of Trent explicitly anathematized those who make this claim calling it ‘heresy’
- Pope Francis omitted the essential step of repentance for sin to worthily receive the Eucharist.
- Pope Francis is thereby allowing the faithful to eat and drink condemnation on themselves, should they receive Holy Communion unworthily
- Pope Francis is supporting moral relativism, eradicating the clear distinction between good and evil
- Pope Francis is eradicating the need for the Sacrament of Confession
- Pope Francis is damaging the teaching office of the Church by sowing doubt and division among faithful Catholics
But there is a way to stop Pope Francis’ modernist attack and defend the true Catholic teaching on Holy Communion.
Catholics everywhere must renounce Pope Francis’ heresy and uphold the truth: only Baptized Catholics in the state of grace, and therefore free of mortal sin, can receive Holy Communion*.
For those in mortal sin, repentance and absolution must first be sought in the Sacrament of Confession before receiving the Eucharist*.
Pope Francis’ statement would mislead many souls, which is why we need your help today to stand with Bishop Strickland, Fr. Altman, Bishop Schneider, and more.
TELL POPE FRANCIS: HOLY COMMUNION CAN ONLY BE RECEIVED IN THE STATE OF GRACE!
The growing list of faithful Catholics who are standing for the truth and bravely resisting Pope Francis’ attempt to dilute the Church’s moral authority is only growing. This is great news, but the news can’t simply stop with you.
You must join the growing list of supporters to but a STOP to Pope Francis’ heresy.
WATCH: LifeSiteNews’ co-CEO and Editor-in-Chief, John-Henry Westen, fully breaks down the growing list of faithful Catholics choosing to resist Pope Francis’ attack on the faith.
Stand with these faithful Catholics: Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, Bishop André Gracida, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Bishop Robert Mutsaerts, Father Gerald E. Murray, Father James Altman, Father John Lovell, Professor Claudio Pierantoni, Dr. John Lamont, Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, Professor Anna Silvas, Dr. Anthony Esolen, Professor John Rist, Professor Paolo Pasqualucci, Julia Meloni, George Neumayr, and LifeSite’s John-Henry Westen.
*However, if a Catholic is unable to attend Confession but has a grave reason for receiving the Eucharist (such as a priest who may be required to celebrate Mass at a given time but who is unable to go to Confession), such a person must be confident to the best of his ability that he have perfect contrition for any mortal sins that he may have committed before receiving Holy Communion in an exceptional situation.
MORE INFORMATION:
Full statement by Catholic bishops and scholars correcting Pope Francis’ heresy – LifeSiteNews
This is by no means the first time that Francis has made such remarks, appearing to single out Catholics devoted to the traditional Mass and criticising them for it.
On one such occasion the Pope suggested that those clerics who opt to don more traditional clerical garb, such as cassocks and clerical hats, possess a “rigid clericalism,” behind which there are “serious problems.”
However, while Francis has used the texts of St. Paul on one occasion to make such an attack on “rigidity,” it was St. Paul himself who wrote: “Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle.” (2 Thessalonians 2:14)
Then, in his letter to Titus, St. Paul stipulated that bishops must faithfully adhere to the doctrine of the Church: “Embracing that faithful word which is according to doctrine, that he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine, and to convince the gainsayers.”
Promote Catholic faith by seeking opinion of ‘non-Catholics’
Offering a second guideline to the members of the Commission to continue their studies, Francis advised them to promote the Catholic faith by seeking the advice of those outside the Church.
The Pope spoke of the “appropriateness – in order to carry out with pertinence and incisiveness the work of deepening and inculturation of the Gospel – to open prudently to the contribution of the different disciplines through the consultation of experts, including non-Catholics, as provided for in the Statutes of the Commission.”
In this manner the theologians could practice “transdisciplinarity,” he said, suggesting that by consulting non-Catholics the theologians could draw from their knowledge as it comes from the “Light and Life offered by the Wisdom streaming from God’s Revelation.”
While he urged catechists to “give the right doctrine,” Francis told the ITC to “go further” than the “solid doctrine” as the magisterium will assume the role of informing the theologians when they have gone too far.
Catholics question wisdom of Pope’s advice
Reacting to yet another of the Pope’s attacks upon Tradition, Catholics were swift to rebuff his comments online. Henry Sire, a former Knight of Malta and author of The Dictator Pope, highlighted an apparent contradiction in the Pope’s words.
Regarding Francis’s idea of “backward-looking” as opposed to genuine tradition:
Definition of tradition: following the 2,000 year teaching of the Church.
Definition of backward-looking: insisting on a Council that took place between 1962 and 1965 as the only guide to doctrine. https://t.co/TNnB8C5o2x
— Dictator Pope official site (@DictatorPope) November 24, 2022
In comments to LifeSiteNews, U.K. catechist Deacon Nick Donnelly responded to the recommendation to consult “non-Catholics” by questioning its wisdom.
Pope St John Paul II’s statutes for the International Theological Commission allowed for consultation with experts, including non-Catholics (Apostolic Letter, Tredecim Anni, 10). Whilst this allowed for a broad consultation, the wisdom of such a provision is questionable under the pontificate of Pope Francis where such ‘consultation’ is being given primacy.
Continuing, Donnelly summarized Francis’ increasingly heterodox activities with regard to Catholic doctrine. “Since 2013, he has appointed non-Catholic experts who, among other things, advocate eugenics, contraception, and abortion.”
“Pope Francis’ enthusiasm for non-Catholic experts goes so far as him advocating that the Church learns from pagan religions and ‘spiritualities’,” Donnelly said, before warning against such a practice:
The problem with drawing on the expertise of non-Catholic experts to help the Church proclaim the Gospel is that they have, de facto, rejected our Lord Jesus Christ’s institution of the Catholic Church as the ‘sacrament of salvation.’ Such a fundamental antagonism against the Church, and the intentions of our Lord Jesus Christ, surely taints any knowledge or advice they propose to the International Theological Commission.