JD Vance has now been rebuked by two Popes. That is quite something. No one tells Douglas Wilson, Brooks Potteiger, Paula White or Franklin Graham to “keep out of politics”. If the Pope should “stay in his lane”, then what about the Bible-quoting Pete Hegseth? But of course this is the Pope’s lane. If war and peace, death and life, are not the stuff of morality, then, oh, I cannot even be bothered to finish that sentence. The criteria for a just war are very specific, and they all have to be met, yet the war with Iran has met none of them.
Nor does it matter whether or not this was an extremely rare definition ex cathedra, protected by the charism of infallibility. Although there are several undisputed examples, there is no definitive list of such definitions, and in any case, your local bishop’s teaching is not his mere opinion. By that bishop’s authority, your parish priest’s teaching is not his mere opinion. And the Pope’s teaching is not his mere opinion, either. In the words of Bishop James Massa, Chairman of the Committee on Doctrine of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “When Pope Leo XIV speaks as Supreme Pastor of the Universal Church, he is not merely offering opinions on theology, he is preaching the Gospel and exercising his ministry as the Vicar of Christ. The consistent teaching of the Church is insistent that all people of good will must pray and work toward lasting peace while avoiding the evils and injustices that accompany all wars.”
Who are the cafeteria Catholics now?
ReplyDeleteSame as they always were. They have never been the only ones. But they have always been at the hatch with the others.
DeleteIs Stuart Reid still alive? He used to write about this in the Catholic Herald 20 years ago.
DeleteAs far as I know, but he must be in his eighties. His Charterhouse column was superb, as you say. And he probably saved The Spectator as Deputy Editor while it was nominally being edited by Boris Johnson.
DeletePublic officials may opine about theology, as is their right. The Successor of Peter teaches. This is his office. If what he teaches doesn’t sound like what we want to hear, we should admit the likelihood that the problem is in what we want to hear, and not in what he teaches.
ReplyDeletePrecisely.
Delete"The Successor of Peter teaches."
ReplyDeleteIt's only non-Catholics who make this mistake about the Pope. As Jacob Rees-Mogg tells Owen Jones of the last Pope at 2:47 "I have great respect for the Pope... but he's not infallible when he's speaking about capitalism." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-dVqmCh_Jc
The same is true of his (rather batty) views on immigration, war and the rest. Thank heavens Catholics aren't required to follow any of his views on any of that.
I had a Google, and that entire comment at 18:11 was in fact a tweet yesterday by Daniel E. Flores, Bishop of Brownsville, Texas.
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