YES, BUT WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Pelagianism, he explained, “leads us even to assuming a style of control, of hardness” stressing that “Christian doctrine is not a closed system.”
He explained: “Before the problems of the Church it is not useful to search for solutions in conservatism or fundamentalism, in the restoration of obsolete conduct and forms that no longer have the capacity of being significant culturally.”
The above is a quotation of what the Pope said in Florence recently.   My quarrel with the Pope is that he is a very poor communicator and does not speak in a way that is clarity or understandable.   Well we all know who he s talking about with his statement that Pelagiarism leads us to 'control' or do we.    Let us look at his explanation of Pelagianism.  Pelagianism he told us was a heresy that said we did not need the help of God to be saved.  So we can read into the part about power that those who do not follow the will of Christ and who do not see Christian Doctrine as a closed system, coming from Christ, will use the Church for their own use and keep power in order to avoid the doctrines they do not like whatever Christ may have said.   Are there such groups in your parish?  They twist the words of the Pope and Jesus in a way that suits them.

The second passage is about seeking solutions to the problems of the Church in Conservatism or Fundamentalism and forms no longer 'culturally' significant.  It seems obvious at first that progressives can now sit back and watch the Church being changed since they were not mentioned.    Indeed on matters of sex many would rather that the Church just kept silence and let people get on with their lives.   So is this what the Pope is talking about?   We are in a new age where the teachings of Christ on marriage and adultery no longer apply and 'conservatives' or 'fundamentalists' should realise this.  And all this kneeling in Church and receiving on the tongue are no longer significant culturally?.   Now is he talking about secular culture or religious culture?  I cannot possibly agree.   But I can think of forms of conduct he is perhaps addressing.  There are Catholic groups that will not be ecumenical.   There are Catholic groups who boast they are the True Church and demand Protestants believe this or go to Hell.   there are Catholic groups who do not believe that mainstream Catholics can be saved in what they call the Modernist Church.   There are Catholic Groups who teach that the seat of Peter is vacant because a heretic is calling himself Pope.    Yes there are a lot of questionable Conservatists and Fundamentalists to match the Pelagianist bullies      As you can see there are many ways of interpreting what the Pope says and those who look forward  to no one excluded from the table and women priests and sin being a bad word may have a long time to wait.   

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