For many people today, practical atheism is the normal rule of life...If this attitude becomes a general existential position, then freedom no longer has any standards, then everyting is possible and permissible.
To live without faith, without a patrimony to defend, without a steady struggle for truth – that is not living, but existing.
Certainly, it is difficult to make the demands of the Gospel understandable to secularized people. But this pastoral difficulty must not lead to compromises with the truth.
Celibacy is always, shall we say, an affront to what man normally thinks. It is something that can be done, and is only credible, if there is a God and if celibacy is my doorway into the kingdom of God.
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.
I certainly hate to agree with Cardinal Marx on anything but I can do no more than agree with him that Amoris Laetitia is very clear when it comes to the heretical position on Holy Communion for adulterers. Any lack of clarity has been cleared up with Bergoglio stating that "there are no other interpretations" when the question came to him from his native Argentina.
Distinctions Matter
Distinctions Matter Forward
Missale Romanum
Pre-1951 Calendar