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From Kenneth D. Whitehead’s article on ewtn:
ewtn.com/library/MARY/TOMOR500.HTM
THE 500TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF SAINT
"Fr. Bede Jarrett observed in this connection: “Remember the papacy More lived under. He lived under the worst of the Renaissance popes; Alexander VI ruled and died within More’s lifetime. That is to say, the papacy he knew was not the papacy that you and I know and reverence—great, purified, outstanding, spiritual. That is the marvel of his faith. That is where so much of his exquisite discernment shows up against his time when the rest of the world went astray. He died for a papacy that, as far as men could see, was little else than a small Italian princedom ruled by some of the least reputable of the Renaissance princes” (14).
“If he(the Pope) had ruled immediately against the divorce, as he finally did rule against it, he might have caught Henry off guard, before the latter had been able to prepare all the ground necessary to make it possible to lead England right out of the Church; as it was, the Pope failed to act.”
Such a request is not typically a two minute decision in the best case. It may take a lot of time. But Henry was acting out of conscience anyway.
Whitehead quotes Jarrett’s explanation of More’s rightful loyalty to the Church in spite of the poor conduct of those charged to minister it, in order to present an argument in Henry’s favor on the same grounds.
The rules on divorce and how to respond to answers for a request for annulment were available to all of his subjects at the time, long before Henry presented his sealed request.
More’s loyalty was to the Word as defined by Christ, the megisterium deserving of merit depending on it’s disposition at that time.
ewtn.com/library/MARY/TOMOR500.HTM
THE 500TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF SAINT
"Fr. Bede Jarrett observed in this connection: “Remember the papacy More lived under. He lived under the worst of the Renaissance popes; Alexander VI ruled and died within More’s lifetime. That is to say, the papacy he knew was not the papacy that you and I know and reverence—great, purified, outstanding, spiritual. That is the marvel of his faith. That is where so much of his exquisite discernment shows up against his time when the rest of the world went astray. He died for a papacy that, as far as men could see, was little else than a small Italian princedom ruled by some of the least reputable of the Renaissance princes” (14).
“If he(the Pope) had ruled immediately against the divorce, as he finally did rule against it, he might have caught Henry off guard, before the latter had been able to prepare all the ground necessary to make it possible to lead England right out of the Church; as it was, the Pope failed to act.”
Such a request is not typically a two minute decision in the best case. It may take a lot of time. But Henry was acting out of conscience anyway.
Whitehead quotes Jarrett’s explanation of More’s rightful loyalty to the Church in spite of the poor conduct of those charged to minister it, in order to present an argument in Henry’s favor on the same grounds.
The rules on divorce and how to respond to answers for a request for annulment were available to all of his subjects at the time, long before Henry presented his sealed request.
More’s loyalty was to the Word as defined by Christ, the megisterium deserving of merit depending on it’s disposition at that time.