Jesuit Superior General: Satan is a Symbolic Reality.’

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Actually the pope has contradicted his words. Not just this pope but others.

But yes, he is a priest in good standing.

And he is also wrong. And if you can’t distinguish between the two then you need to reconcile that with the Catholic faith.
 
I guess if you insist on correct terminology I applaud you. In the frame of time, you are correct, the Pope has not contradicted Sosa. It is vice versa.
 
Catholic25 said:
We owe Father Sosa respect and obedience, as we would any priest in good standing.
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Catholic lay people do not owe “obedience” to random priests in good standing.

The priest here is the superior of a religious order, which means that members of the religious order owe him duties in accordance with their vows, which likely include some type of obedience. People who aren’t members of that order aren’t bound to obey him. The Dominicans for example would obey their Dominican superior. The diocesan priests of Scranton, Pennsylvania would obey the bishop of Scranton.

Likewise, I need to obey the orders given by the bishop of my diocese on matters such as Holy Day of Obligation requirements, fasting and other areas where he has authority over Catholics living in his diocese. I don’t need to obey the orders of some priest in South America who might be ordering something totally different for his flock.

It also goes without saying that if a priest in good standing was preaching that Catholics should disobey a Church teaching or believe something different from official Church teaching, we’re not supposed to obey that.

You really need to rethink your concept of “obedience” to priests because the way you are using the term on this thread makes no sense and would create an impossible dilemma for Catholics when priests disagree with each other.
 
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Here is Sosa
The devil, “exists as the personification of evil in different structures, but not in persons, because is not a person, is a way of acting evil. He is not a person like a human person. It is a way of evil to be present in human life,” Jesuit Father Arturo Sosa said Wednesday in an interview with Italian magazine Tempi.

“Good and evil are in a permanent war in the human conscience and we have ways to point them out. We recognize God as good, fully good. Symbols are part of reality, and the devil exists as a symbolic reality, not as a personal reality,” he added.
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www.ncregister.com

Jesuit Superior General: Satan is a ‘Symbolic Reality’

Father Sosa’s remarks came after he participated in a panel discussion at a Catholic gathering in Rimini, Italy, organized by the Communion and Liberation ecclesial movement.
www.ncregister.com www.ncregister.com

Here is the Pope.
In his new apostolic exhortation, “Gaudete et Exsultate” (“Rejoice and Be Glad”), released by the Vatican April 9, the Pope urged Christians not to think of the devil as an intangible construct but rather “a personal being who assails us.”

“We should not think of the devil as a myth, a representation, a symbol, a figure of speech or an idea,” the Pope wrote. “This mistake would leave us to let down our guard, to grow careless and end up more vulnerable.”
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https://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2...st-a-symbol-pope-francis-says-in-exhortation/

I mean, directly on point Catholic25 So again, do you really want to make the argument for Sosa?
 
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I further have to ask you, Catholic25:

What is your basis for this defense of Fr. Sosa? Are you a Jesuit? Do you actually think his ideas are right?

If he were to advocate that we all boycott going to Sunday Mass tomorrow, would you say we all need to “obey” him?

The only posts you’ve made on this forum are the ones defending Fr. Sosa. You have provided no background for any of your assertions. This makes me question whether you are posting here in good faith or just trying to start an argument. Your insistence that Catholics must “obey” priests also makes me think you might not know very much about Catholicism, as your posts simply do not make logical sense.

Please kindly respond with something more substantive or else it will be difficult to continue taking your posts seriously.
 
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With respect, you aren’t trying to imply that Pope Francis has somehow contradicted the teachings of all the other Popes to date, are you? That there are teachings of ‘this pontificate’ which contradict ‘previous popes’ and therefore we 'change with the times?" You aren’t saying that, are you??

Because honey, what if after Pope Francis we get Pope John Paul III who decides to bring back Latin Mass as the ordinary form as well as meatless Fridays year round, reinstitutes in the Latin Church the baptism, confirmation, and reception of the Eucharist for infants, requires communion to be received, kneeling, by intinction, etc? You’ll be totally on board with those things, right?
 
Catholic25 said:
It is not for any of us to judge Father Sosa. He is a priest in good standing, and the pope has not contradicted his words. We owe Father Sosa respect and obedience, as we would any priest in good standing.
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I haven’t made a vow of obedience to the Jesuit order, and Father Sosa has no more teaching authority than another priest who holds the view that the Church actually teaches regarding Satan. So, no, we do not owe him our obedience. Obedience is owed to the Magisterium, not individuals such as Sosa.
 
Catholic25 said:
Are you saying Father Sosa is a heretic? If so, that is completely inappropriate.
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Anyone who claims to be part of the Church while rejecting her teachings is a heretic. If he decides to go down this path, then he will be a heretic. As far as this isolated comment of his is concerned, Sosa is putting himself at odds with established Church teaching, which treats Satan as a very real person and not “just a symbol”.
 
So basically, if Fr. Sosa says the earth is flat, we should believe him up until the Holy Father comes out and says “the earth is round.”

We KNOW Satan isn’t a symbol. The conversation stops there with Fr. Sosa.
 
Just people with good erasers and/or bleach. Old symbols are hard to remove.
 
I cannot see anywhere in that article where the teachings of the Catholic Church are rejected, or where the Jesuit says satan is not real.
 
Catholic25 said:
Clergy should be respected. Father Sosa is the Superior General of a major order, one of whose members is the Pope. Father Sosa has had extensive training in theology, and is not under any sort of sanction from the Church.

Therefore, his views on the faith deserve attention, respect, and obedience.
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Not when his views are heretical. They need to be called out as such.
 
I think he means jesuit superior as in ‘Holy Father’ knows what his Jesuit superiors are doing’ , not as in ‘Holy Father knows what his boss and superior is doing’

But then, Jesus said first must be last and last first.

I could be wrong 🙂
 
Catholic25 said:
Superiors as in, the men who are superiors of religious orders. Father Sosa is one of the pope’s superiors.

It doesn’t mean that Father Sosa is the pope’s superior in the sense of, he outranks the pope. Though in religious life, as a Jesuit the pope does have a vow of obedience to his Father General.
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I was wrong. The Pope is the boss, the one who must be obeyed. The vow of obedience doesn’t run to a Pope being obedient to the head of a religious order. They must all be obedient to him.
 
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