Dear readers,
 |
|
Despite the terrible Church crisis that followed Vatican II, it
seems there remains an area where Catholic Doctrine has often
being reasserted by modern Popes. It is that of morality. Indeed,
hardly a week goes by without the Pope or Roman Curia members
reaffirming that adultery, pre-marital sex, abortion, contraception
etc. are to be avoided. Let’s take as an example the message Pope
Benedict XVI gave during his trip to Brazil a few months ago.
The May 11th, 2007 edition of the Regina (SK) Newspaper
“Leader-Post” reports the following: “SAO PAULO, Brazil
(Reuters). Pope Benedict told young Brazilians to avoid sex before
marriage and say no to drugs at a huge rally Thursday (…). Young
men and women should build their lives around their families and
stay faithful to their spouses once married, the Pope told more
than 30,000 excited youths packed into a soccer stadium in Sao
Paulo. ‘Be promoters of life, from its beginning to its natural
end,’ he said, seated on an elaborately carved red throne. On
his first trip to Latin America since taking office, the Pope
is reinforcing Roman Catholic teachings against abortion and in
support of traditional family values. (…) In a long speech, he
urged them to live their lives by a strict moral code and not
to waste their youth. (…) ‘I send you out, therefore, on the great
mission of evangelizing young men and women who have gone astray
in this world like sheep without a shepherd,’ he said.”
Nevertheless,
these interventions seem to have little impact on people, especially
on the youth. Let us continue our reading of the Leader-Post:
“Even so, many teenage couples kissed and groped each other
as they waited on the sports field for the Pope to arrive. (…)
Robson de Campos, 20, took a 16-hour bus ride from Minas Gerais
state to attend the rally. ‘It's great that he's speaking to young
people, so many young people in this country need guidance,’ he
said. But on the issues of contraception and sex, he said: ‘It's
wrong; the Church needs to be more flexible.’” When we consider
the attitude displayed by young Brazilian clergymen and nuns while
they were awaiting the Pope, we are entitled to ask ourselves
whether young Robson’s wishes are not on the brink of becoming
true. Indeed, while teenagers were busy doing what we know, consecrated
souls were having a blast. Their complete lack of dignity make
us fear for Brazil’s future!
Yes,
what modern Catholics want from Rome is not a return to the moral
limitations of the past, but rather a condoning of their laxity.
Indeed, people would like the Pope to make them feel good about
themselves, without having to change their way of life. They don’t
have the notion of an objective ground for moral righteousness.
In other words, they don’t understand that even the Pope cannot
change the moral code, that he cannot make good what is evil.
Their terrible lack of knowledge of Catholic doctrine, and even
of natural ethics, makes them blind to the real state of their
souls. And we cannot throw them any stones, because they are not
the prime cause of their own blindness. Indeed, their Pastors
have failed to guide them.
At
this point, you will maybe think I am contradicting myself, since
I just said that Rome repeatedly proclaims the necessity to abide
by the moral code. This contradiction is only apparent. As a matter
of fact, the real contradiction lies with the Pope and other Roman
officials. Let me explain: On the one hand, they tell the people
they must conform to the Catholic strict code of morality but,
on the other hand, they promote an ecumenism that basically says
you can be saved in any religion. Or maybe you think Pope Benedict
XVI is different from his four predecessors? Listen to what he
said about the 1986 Assisi ecumenical meeting, and you will see
that the rumor according to which he had been against it is false:
“I cannot forget in today's context the initiative of John
Paul II, my Predecessor of holy memory, who in 1986 wanted to
gather here at a ‘Prayer Meeting for Peace’ representatives of
the Christian denominations and of the different world religions.
It was a prophetic intuition and a moment of grace, as I said
a few months ago in my Letter to the Bishop of this Town on the
occasion of the 20th anniversary of that event. The choice of
celebrating the meeting at Assisi was prompted precisely by the
witness of Francis as a man of peace to whom so many people, even
from other cultural and religious positions, look with sympathy.”
(Cf. Benedict XVI’s homily in Assisi, on June 17, 2007, as reported
by www.vatican.va). Even if in the same speech
the Pope took the precaution to warn against any danger of indifferentism,
it does not make such ecumenical meetings less harmful to the
souls. It is like a father who would encourage his son to go on
a camping trip with a girl, and would at the same time tell him
to remain chaste!
How
could people indulge in ecumenism and not become indifferent in
religious matters? Indeed, as Bishop Williamson said, “if all
religions are true, then none of them is”. Indeed, knowing
that the concept itself of God implies there can be only one,
then this unique God cannot reveal contradictory things about
Himself and His will. In other words, to the concept of a unique
God corresponds that of a unique true Religion. Therefore, the
promotion of a false ecumenism, like what we have today, can only
lead to the abandonment of the true Religion. From then on, faith,
morals, everything becomes blurry and foggy. If the Pope and the
Roman Curia really want to lead people on the path of true morality,
they should start by getting straight ideas on ecumenism. Otherwise
their minds and that of their followers would remain full of fog,
and we will remain the sad witnesses of a situation already denounced
by Our Lord:
“Let
them alone: they are blind and leaders of the blind.
And if the blind lead the blind, both fall into the
pit.” (Matt. 15:14). ←
