A recent letter from Pope Emeritus Benedict. Part 2

Pope John Paul II, who knew very well the situation of moral theology and followed it closely, commissioned work on an encyclical that would set these things right again. It was published under the title “Veritatis splendor” on August 6, 1993, and it triggered vehement backlashes on the part of moral theologians. Before it, the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” already had persuasively presented, in a systematic fashion, morality as proclaimed by the Church.
I shall never forget how then-leading German moral theologian Franz Böckle, who, having returned to his native Switzerland after his retirement, announced in view of the possible decisions of the encyclical “Veritatis splendor” that if the encyclical should determine that there were actions which were always and under all circumstances to be classified as evil, he would challenge it with all the resources at his disposal.

I think we can say that if theologian Franz Bockle had listened to Jesus as he preached he would never have become on of his followers.    Jesus made excuses for no one.    "What God has joined together let not man pull assunder"   "Thou shalt not commit adultery"  These things and others were totally forbidden by Jesus and when contradicted on divorce, he made no exceptions.   And he made no excuses for anyone, nor did he tell anyone to follow his or her own conscience.   He was of course ready to forgive.    Franz Bockle was very proud indeed to make the remark he would challenge any  teaching that determined there were actions which were always and under  all  circumstances to be classified as evil.   He portrayed a terrible ignorance both of Christ and Scripture.    All deliberate sin is evil because we are turning away from Christ on the Cross.   And the graver the sin the more we have turned against the Cross.   But the Church has always taught that there are two elements to sin - a formal element and an actual element.   The formal element is the deed itself.    Gassing hundreds of people to death is an evil action and always will be an evil action.    Abortion is an evil action and always will be an evil action,   Murdering someone is an evil action and always will be an evil action, they will always be and under all circumstances will be evil actions and can be described as formal sin.   In circumstances however where a person has been brought up to believe or has a mental illness, or finds themselves in circumstances where they have been taught that actions such as abortion are a good and as right and acts in good faith then there is no actual sin or the blame does not all lie with the person and God sees the heart.   But let us be careful of one sin Jesus told us would never be forgiven  and that is to sin against the Holy Ghost.    For Bishops, priests, and lay members of the Church to mislead others in the teachings of Jesus could be such a sin and to damn the souls of others by false teaching could be unforgivable.

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