Pope’s Exhortation . . . Creating a Firestorm of Commentary and Concern
The following are samples of some of the commentary around the internet this weekend about the release of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on the family, “Amoris Laetitia” (“The Joy of Love”). The Wanderer will have complete coverage and commentary on this document in the week ahead.
Beautiful, Moving, and Divisive
Pope Francis opens door to Communion for ‘remarried’ Catholics in landmark exhortation
ROME, April 8, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – The most controversial moment of Pope Francis’ new apostolic exhortation – Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love) – might be confined to a humble footnote, but the implication is clear: the pope has opened the door to Cardinal Walter Kasper’s proposal that in some circumstances divorced and remarried Catholics could be readmitted to the sacraments, including the Eucharist.
In so doing the pope appears to have taken up a position contrary to that of his predecessors, most notably Pope Saint John Paul II, who had flatly rejected . . .
In recently musing about what Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis’ much anticipated post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation, might (or might not) contain, I wrote:
I don’t think Francis is going to try to change doctrine. Even if he wanted to—and I know there is evidence he has been open to a range of possible changes in some way or another—the Final Report of last October’s Synod effectively put all of that to rest. I could be wrong. Perhaps the Apostolic Exhortation really is going to be filled with wide-ranging and revolutionary calls for X, Y, and Z. But, again, I think any hopes of that were effectively ended at the Synod. …