It is sad that there are what you might call professional Catholics who make a living on their Catholicism, but in whom the spring of faith flows only faintly, in a few scattered drops. We must really make an effort to change this.
No one is forced to be a Christian. But no one should be forced to live according to the "new religion" as though it alone were definitive and obligatory for all mankind.
One can readily admit that the Magisterium's manner of expression does not seem very easy to understand at times. It needs to be translated by preachers and catechists into a language which relates to people and to their respective cultural environments. The essential content of the Church's teaching, however, must be upheld in this process. It must not be watered down on allegedly pastoral grounds, because it communicates the revealed truth.
“If you believe what you like in the Gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.”
That Christianity gives joy and breadth is also a thread that runs through my whole life. Ultimately someone who is always only in opposition could not endure life at all.
The Bear writes, on Bergoglian mercy and it's tendency to ignore the Gospel:
It isn't an emphasis. It is simple non-Christianity. We've been worrying that Pope Francis isn't Catholic. The Bear must wonder if he is even Christian.
It is difficult to take Pope Benedict XVI seriously if he really abdicated because he was too frail to attend World Youth Day....Talk about frivolous a reason!
The jewel of Steve Skojec's piece on Bergoglio's stubborn and foolhardly twisting of Islam to defend it - and equally stubborn assault on the faith he claims to hold - is surely this:
Distinctions Matter
Distinctions Matter Forward
Missale Romanum
Pre-1951 Calendar