The Papal Privilege and Erroneous Messages

One can't help noticing...

From various sources it was reported that the responses to the Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia were as follows:

Australian Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, who attended the 2015 Synod of Bishops on the family, said the document “is full of contemplative vistas but also down-to-earth practical wisdom which could come only from long pastoral experience of spouses and their families. It moves constantly between the ideal and the real.”

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin called Amoris Laetitia an “encyclopedic document and, like all encyclopedic documents, much of its most valuable content runs the risk of being bypassed by a preoccupation with one or two of its aspects. It is not just a collection of separated chapters,” Archbishop Martin said in a statement. “There is a unifying thread: The Gospel of the family is challenging and demanding, but … with the grace of God and his mercy, is attainable and fulfilling, enriching and worthwhile.”

Bishop Richard J. Malone said the exhortation invites the Church to heal wounds that families experience because of poverty, human trafficking, immigration, domestic violence and pornography. We also have room to grow and improve and we welcome the Pope’s encouragement for the renewed witness to the truth and beauty of marriage of a more tender closeness and families who are experiencing real difficulties.”

These three prelates are among the others who have condemned perceived errors within the Maria Divine Mercy messages. The Church deserves consistency from Her prelates. It is widely reported that the messages contained within Maria Divine Mercy contain errors which could confuse the faithful and lead the Faithful astray.

In Bishop Andreas Laun, auxiliary bishop of Salzburg, we at least have some consistency in as much as he added his name to a statement signed by other bishops and cardinals defending the Magisterium of the Catholic Church on the Sacraments. Quite possibly, there are other prelates who have defended the Magisterium but who, listed here, condemned Maria Divine Mercy's messages prophesying apostasy, schism and an all out war on Catholic Truth and those who uphold it from the Pope and members of the Hierarchy. Since that signature, however, even this Bishop has fallen silent. Perhaps now he will speak in support of the four Cardinals who seek clarification from the Pope? Right now, every bishop matters! These four Cardinals deserve support because they are acting in the service of Christ and His Church.

Unfortunately, members of the Sacred Hierarchy are making Maria Divine Mercy's prophecies look pretty good and attractive as a navigational tool and spiritual support during this apocalyptic crisis in the Church. The intrinsic power of the MDM messages is not that the messages are believable. It is that the messages were unbelievable but that events make them appear credible, one recent example being the messages that 'many will be stripped of their titles'. Do the Pope and those who offer him advice really wish to fulfill these strange messages and give them credibility? I've always maintained that the greatest promoters of the MDM messages are the Pope and the Hierarchy who at many and varied times confirm the basic premises of these messages by their actions and words.

So on MDM the three prelates listed above acted as follows:

Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin, issued a statement condemning Maria Divine Mercy stating that her messages have 'no ecclesiastical approval and many of the texts are in contradiction with Catholic Theology'. His condemnation is binding for the whole Church since he is the Ordinary of the 'seer'.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane upon examination has found the messages to be fraudulent and corrosive of the Christian faith.

Bishop Richard. J. Malone, apostolic administrator for the Diocese of Portland has issued a letter forbidding dissemination of MDM messages in the Diocese.

Of course, two wrongs do not make a right, but it seems just a little unjust to permit error to flourish without any reproach in a papal document while condemning error in the messages of a lay person. The whole Church deserves consistency and Truth. The papal privilege is not the privilege to spread error without censure or at least requests for clarification from the competent authority. If the competent authority is equipped enough to condemn error when it is perceived in the messages of members of the laity, then it, too, is competent and equipped enough to condemn or at least raise questions over errors perceived in the messages - especially Exhortations - of a Pope.

Unfortunately, instead of raising questions, these prelates have publicly lauded the papal document that is much more divisive and more damaging to the unity of the Church than those promoted by the MDM crowd. This document is that which is being forced upon the Faithful with full ecclesiastical approval, containing errors and suggestions which meet the descriptions of 'corrosive of the Christian faith' issued by Archbishop Mark Coleridge or the description, 'in contradiction with Catholic Theology', issued by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin. While the competent authority to judge MDM has no qualms with condemning those messages out right in the strongest possible terms, instead of applying the same just criteria to the Exhortation, they have done the opposite and publicly praised it. They must be consistent!

The Exhortation of desolation: Free from error?

If the Truth, divine truth, the Deposit of Faith is not safeguarded, proclaimed and defended by the Pope supported by the Sacred Hierarchy of the Holy Catholic Church, it is a scandal to the Faithful. If the Faithful are not fed Truth by the Sacred Hierarchy and if error is allowed to flourish within the highest ranks of the Hierarchy then can such men really be surprised if Catholics go looking for Truth to be fed by visionaries be they true or false, because at least, in terms of teaching people the most basic truths about sin, salvation and the Sacraments, these people have something substantial to offer? At least these people actually preach a messages which positively believes in the supernatural, not a merely humanistic philosophy like that emanating from Rome. Yes, be they true prophets or false prophets, the greatest recruiters for self-proclaimed prophets are not the prophets and visionaries themselves, but those who fawn over Papal documents containing serious errors and scandalous assertions concerning faith and morals, laud them and then recommend them to the Faithful and who then say nothing in defense of the just when the few just men say that serious errors are contained therein.

In order for the message of the Gospel to be credible, error must be opposed and challenged, whether it comes from the laity, or comes from the Pope himself, perhaps with the due deference with which that Office demands, but nevertheless, opposed. The Pope himself is not served by obsequious prelates who overlook elements within his documents which could cause the little ones to stumble. Are such men working in the service of the Truth Himself if they do not speak up? The most controversial element of the MDM messages is that Pope Francis is the False Prophet of Revelation working within the Church to dismantle it and create a new One World Religion which forgets Jesus Christ and condones sin. If the Pope and Cardinals and Bishops want to lay those messages to rest, they have the power to do just that. They can turn around, repent, stop working towards the destruction of Christian morals and worship and serve God instead of promoting error and condoning or excusing sin in the service of God's chief adversary. Quite frankly, just condemning MDM seems a little pointless, if you're content to just go ahead and fulfill the general content of the messages yourself regardless. I assume that having condemned these apocalyptic messages, these prelates have actually read them?

Such behaviour only serves to break down trust in the Sacred Hierarchy only for that trust to go towards others who have not been appointed as Shepherds of the Faithful, but who are deemed by those faithful trustworthy enough to feed them, lest they starve to death in a spiritual wasteland! It costs the ecclesiastical careers of prelates nothing to condemn error when it is perceived in the work of a member of the laity. That is easy pickings indeed. In terms of prestige, title, ecclesiastical career, rank, status, privilege, it may cost the four Cardinals everything, if not their lives to bring to the Faithful's attention errors contained within Amoris Laetitia on which they only seek clarity. Canon law allows them to do what they have done. Justice demands that what they have done is not belittled or condemned, since they act in good faith. Their motives are not sinister nor should they be presumed as such without firm, concrete evidence. They simply ask Pope Francis to clarify that which appears at odds with the perennial faith within his own document. It is no threat to the Supreme Pontiff's authority for them to do that. Simply answering the dubia will put many minds at rest and confirm his brethren in that faith which he has received to be defended and proclaimed.

May Bishops and Cardinals be bold and come forward in defense of the One True Faith and those remaining Cardinals and Bishops who are brave enough to defend it when it seems to be at risk of violation by the Successor of St Peter.