Let’s Blame Mother Earth..... really?

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Rather than take responsibility as a church for the churches sins, or even just leave it to simple disease progression, he says Mother Earth is throwing a fit, deifying Mother Nature.
 
How do we as Catholics receive this & other messages like this? He’s our pope. We’re required to respect him. He’s supposed to be leading the Church here on earth. For me personally, when he says things like this or makes purposely inflammatory remarks that go against what I believe our faith teaches, it makes me feel alienated, confused and like I’m committing a grave sin for not agreeing with and sometimes being angry with this behavior.

What do we do?
 
Just know your not alone. We have the greatest weapon against heresy and problems like this (pray the rosary). We can read our bible, understand the traditional teachings of the faith and lead your family! We have to hold on in these chaotic times and pass the faith on.
 
Anesis said:
How do we as Catholics receive this & other messages like this? He’s our pope. We’re required to respect him. He’s supposed to be leading the Church here on earth. For me personally, when he says things like this or makes purposely inflammatory remarks that go against what I believe our faith teaches, it makes me feel alienated, confused and like I’m committing a grave sin for not agreeing with and sometimes being angry with this behavior.

What do we do?
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First, don’t rely on inflammatory sources that are always reporting negatively on the Pope and hierarchy. If it concerns you, try to look up the source and find it for yourself. I find (for instance) the above source oftentimes negative in outlook in this area.
Secondly, note a difference between offhand remarks in an interview and actual moments where he’s trying to teach theological points.

What he says in this instance is that there is a phrase he has probably heard: “God always forgives, we forgive somethings, but nature never forgives.” He then speaks about/points out various natural disasters.

Keep in mind this is an interview and not a theological treatise, and further, that we don’t actually think that every single disaster is a punishment on man. Think of Jesus’ remarks about the building that fell on the men.

I suppose, then, the biggest issue people may have is that he says (to paraphrase) that it is nature giving us a jolt to take care of nature.

Something that comes to my mind is fracking, wherein (some claim) the actions of man cause stuff that are normally natural disasters, like earthquakes. If the coronavirus came from, say, animal abuse (animals are considered “nature”) like in a lab, or some other way (like, say, eating a bat while it is still alive) that can be considered animal abuse, it is easy to make sense of the phrase.
If, on the other hand, we don’t take it so literally, then it can just mean mostly that it’s a wakeup call.

Being that he is the pope, we should try to understand his words in the context of his Catholicity. Remember that he grew up in Hispanic culture and that in language we often use non-literal language.
 
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His words should be crystal clear to prevent confusion in these sorts of things. The Catholic laity should not have to strive and work to put his words into an orthodox box. His words should naturally be orthodox to prevent confusion and misleading wether intentional or unintentional.
He is the pope, he needs to be very clear for he is responsible for so many. This is why ambiguity itself is condemned by the church.
 
ConcernedConvert said:
His words should be crystal clear to prevent confusion in these sorts of things. The Catholic laity should not have to strive and work to put his words into an orthodox box. His words should naturally be orthodox to prevent confusion and misleading wether intentional or unintentional.
He is the pope, he needs to be very clear for he is responsible for so many. This is why ambiguity itself is condemned by the church.
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Yes, but this was just an interview. I presume he’s being asked live questions without much time to prepare (though I could be wrong).
This isn’t a theological treatise.
When you speak, the immediate context of who you are should clarify what you’re saying. He’s not a pagan voodoo priest, but the pope. If you were often recorded and someone wanted to misrepresent you, I think it wouldn’t be too hard to find some statement that isn’t so black and white unless there’s some previous assumptions.

If this were some theological treatise, then there’s greater onus to be precise compared to an over-the-screen interview.

He’s obviously not saying nature is a goddess and we’ve angered her so her wrath is being unleashed or something equally silly.
 
That’s just the problem… to you he is obviously not saying that, but because of what he said literally, myself and many others will see that he is. This wether intentional or unintentional can lead people astray.

I can tell you for sure what he hasn’t said: (church leaders repent for our sins, seek forgiveness from god for the chaos that is in the world and in the church)
 
I believe what Concerned is trying to say is that personifying the earth and saying things that make it look like it has a will of it’s own is heretical. What the Pope seems to imply is that the earth can make it’s own decisions instead of God being in 100% control of the earth. Thus deifying the earth (making it into the Nachomama the Amazonian pagans worship).
 
Problem? You mean Taylor Marshall using the event of a worldwide pandemic to sow discord against our Pope? He’s easily ignored.
Anesis said:
How do we as Catholics receive this & other messages like this?
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I as a Catholic simply roll my eyes and go back to my prayers imploring God to end this virus business.
 
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He could also say that the Trinity has been upgraded to a quartet and some would say that if you look at the context it’s fine or realize that this only ‘deepens’ the understanding of what a Trinity is (Three, but could be Four for really really high values of Three), and is perfectly orthodox.

Sadly, extremists exist on both ‘sides’.
 
ConcernedConvert said:
That’s just the problem… to you he is obviously not saying that, but because of what he said literally, myself and many others will see that he is. This wether intentional or unintentional can lead people astray.
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The issue is that he is a Catholic, and as a Catholic, is the pope. But as a Catholic, in charity we assume something another Catholic is saying is Catholic, and not suddenly neopagan.
ConcernedConvert said:
I can tell you for sure what he hasn’t said: (church leaders repent for our sins, seek forgiveness from god for the chaos that is in the world and in the church)
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Why “Church leaders” and not simply all the faithful? Here’s Pope Francis encouraging repentance:
http://w2.vatican.va/content/france...ocuments/papa-francesco_angelus_20160228.html
 
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