Pope asks mercy, pardon for ways Christians have harmed one another

[JimR-OCDS]

ROME (CNS) — After walking across the threshold of the Holy Door with an Orthodox metropolitan and an Anglican archbishop, Pope Francis invoked God’s mercy upon divided Christians and apologized for times that Catholics may have hurt members of other denominations.

“As bishop of Rome and pastor of the Catholic Church, I want to beg for mercy and forgiveness for un-Gospel-like behavior on the part of Catholics against Christians of other churches,” the pope said Jan. 25 at a prayer service concluding the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

“We ask most of all for forgiveness for the sin of our divisions, which are an open wound on the body of Christ,” Pope Francis said.

cnstopstories.com/2016/01/25/pope-asks-mercy-pardon-for-ways-christians-have-harmed-one-another/

Jim

 

[Don_Ruggero]

ROME (CNS) — After walking across the threshold of the Holy Door with an Orthodox metropolitan and an Anglican archbishop, Pope Francis invoked God’s mercy upon divided Christians and apologized for times that Catholics may have hurt members of other denominations.

“As bishop of Rome and pastor of the Catholic Church, I want to beg for mercy and forgiveness for un-Gospel-like behavior on the part of Catholics against Christians of other churches,” the pope said Jan. 25 at a prayer service concluding the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

“We ask most of all for forgiveness for the sin of our divisions, which are an open wound on the body of Christ,” Pope Francis said.

cnstopstories.com/2016/01/25/pope-asks-mercy-pardon-for-ways-christians-have-harmed-one-another/

Jim

The Pope’s presence at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls every January 25th is one of the most special of papal events each year. It was of course on this day and in that place, in 1959, just after his election, that Pope Saint John XXIII informed the world that he was convoking the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council.

 

[Pulvis]

So…Luther, Calvin, Zwinglii, Henry VIII et all deserve an apology?

 

[ComplineSanFran]

So…Luther, Calvin, Zwinglii, Henry VIII et all deserve an apology?

Seems like it. I think it goes beyond that, but yes, he is saying that the Reformers need an apology. AND that Catholics should forgive those who persecuted them in the name of the faith.

 

[ComplineSanFran]

The Pope’s presence at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls every January 25th is one of the most special of papal events each year. It was of course on this day and in that place, in 1959, just after his election, that Pope Saint John XXIII informed the world that he was convoking the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council.

I didn’t know that. I did know, however, that it is the final day of the Octave for Christian Unity.

 

[christofirst]

A sure way to impede Christian unity is to hold on to old grudges and to deny any wrongdoing in our long history of disagreements. God bless Pope Francis for reaching out with an olive branch in this way.

 

[FollowChrist34]

ROME (CNS) — After walking across the threshold of the Holy Door with an Orthodox metropolitan and an Anglican archbishop, Pope Francis invoked God’s mercy upon divided Christians and apologized for times that Catholics may have hurt members of other denominations.

“As bishop of Rome and pastor of the Catholic Church, I want to beg for mercy and forgiveness for un-Gospel-like behavior on the part of Catholics against Christians of other churches,” the pope said Jan. 25 at a prayer service concluding the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

“We ask most of all for forgiveness for the sin of our divisions, which are an open wound on the body of Christ,” Pope Francis said.

cnstopstories.com/2016/01/25/pope-asks-mercy-pardon-for-ways-christians-have-harmed-one-another/

Jim

The Pope at his…absolute best. LOVE it.

Out of this world.

 

[Convert_in_99]

So…Luther, Calvin, Zwinglii, Henry VIII et all deserve an apology?

Why not?

Martin Luther suffered from SEVERE scrupulosity (probably would be diagnosed with OCD today.) If the Church hadn’t been so overly severe at the time (Jansenism) maybe he wouldn’t have gone off the deep end and left the Church. Don’t know about the others. Maybe some of them had issues too.

 

[Convert_in_99]

A sure way to impede Christian unity is to hold on to old grudges and to deny any wrongdoing in our long history of disagreements. God bless Pope Francis for reaching out with an olive branch in this way.

:extrahappy:

The Pope at his…absolute best. LOVE it.

Out of this world.

Isn’t he though?

 

[ProVobis]

I seem to remember our previous Popes doing a lot of apologizing too. Just sayin…

 

[Justin_Swanton]

“We ask most of all for forgiveness for the sin of our divisions, which are an open wound on the body of Christ,” Pope Francis said.

It might be worth mentioning that the ‘sin of our divisions’ was committed by the Reformers who rebelled against the Church and set up their own denominations. Catholics didn’t commit any ‘sin of division’ - they just stayed Catholic.

Martin Luther suffered from SEVERE scrupulosity (probably would be diagnosed with OCD today.) If the Church hadn’t been so overly severe at the time (Jansenism) maybe he wouldn’t have gone off the deep end and left the Church. Don’t know about the others. Maybe some of them had issues too.

Many Catholics have suffered from scrupulosity without feeling the need to found another religion. Luther’s scrupulosity was not caused by Catholic teaching or by fellow Catholics and he takes full responsibility for breaking with the Church. Jansenism incidentally was an error that appeared in the Church several centuries after Luther’s death.

 

[katy]

Seems like dejavu all over again. Let me know when a major Protestant leader apologizes. Popes appear to do so on a regular basis.

 

[EmperorNapoleon]

It might be worth mentioning that the ‘sin of our divisions’ was committed by the Reformers who rebelled against the Church and set up their own denominations. Catholics didn’t commit any ‘sin of division’ - they just stayed Catholic.

Oh, I don’t know about that. Burning hundreds of people at the stake as Protestant heretics and the involvement of clergy in plots to murder Queen Elizabeth were pretty divisive things for starters.

Many Catholics have suffered from scrupulosity without feeling the need to found another religion. Luther’s scrupulosity was not caused by Catholic teaching or by fellow Catholics and he takes full responsibility for breaking with the Church. Jansenism incidentally was an error that appeared in the Church several centuries after Luther’s death.

A number of Luther’s theses concern the behavior of Catholic clergy so I’d say that if the behavior of clergy is scandalous enough to cause schism then its pretty divisive. In truth, for Luther and many of those who followed in his path, it was their complete disenchantment with the clergy because of their behavior, corruption, and abuse of authority that drove them from the Catholic Church more than any disagreement with Catholic doctrine.

 

[Justin_Swanton]

Right. Catholic teaching may not have caused his “scrupulosity”…but the behavior of fellow Catholics (clergy would surely be considered “fellow Catholics”?) is what prompted his frustration, disillusionment, and speaking out. And others who agreed with him didn’t all do so because of scrupulosity, but because they agreed with some or all of the grievances he aired.

Compare Luther with, say, St. Benedict, St Francis, St Teresa of Avila, or any reforming saint who was not content with the lifestyle of his/her fellow Catholics. The reformed the Church from within, they didn’t leave it.

It is the most obvious non sequitur to say that the bad behaviour of Catholics justifies one thinking the Church is bad. Luther like every other Catholic knew what being a good Catholic meant, but he didn’t want to be a good Catholic. He wanted a religion that accorded with the kind of lifestyle he chose for himself.

 

[LongingSoul]

Compare Luther with, say, St. Benedict, St Francis, St Teresa of Avila, or any reforming saint who was not content with the lifestyle of his/her fellow Catholics. The reformed the Church from within, they didn’t leave it.

It is the most obvious non sequitur to say that the bad behaviour of Catholics justifies one thinking the Church is bad. Luther like every other Catholic knew what being a good Catholic meant, but he didn’t want to be a good Catholic. He wanted a religion that accorded with the kind of lifestyle he chose for himself.

But the modern Church kindly as she is is tolerant of varying degrees of sedavacantism and seda-not-to-my-liking-ism. We have a new quasi schismatic that continually discredits the Pope and goes his own way while still calling himself ‘Catholic’. Luther is no different to them really. History has recorded the division in a way that makes it seem like he is different to the modern Luther who continues to claim Catholicism but not the Pope.

 

[Justin_Swanton]

But the modern Church kindly as she is is tolerant of varying degrees of sedavacantism and seda-not-to-my-liking-ism. We have a new quasi schismatic that continually discredits the Pope and goes his own way while still calling himself ‘Catholic’. Luther is no different to them really. History has recorded the division in a way that makes it seem like he is different to the modern Luther who continues to claim Catholicism but not the Pope.

Sorry, I’m not quite sure what the point of this is.

 

[Don_Ruggero]

It might be worth mentioning that the ‘sin of our divisions’ was committed by the Reformers who rebelled against the Church and set up their own denominations. Catholics didn’t commit any ‘sin of division’ - they just stayed Catholic.

This is certainly not what Blessed Paul VI and Saint John Paul II articulated.

Blessed Paul articulated in the opening of the second session of Vatican II a request for pardon for the past and it was integrated into the conciliar documents and speaks for all the Council Fathers. In Unitatis Redintegratio, we read
*7. There can be no ecumenism worthy of the name without a change of heart. For it is from renewal of the inner life of our minds, from self-denial and an unstinted love that desires of unity take their rise and develop in a mature way. We should therefore pray to the Holy Spirit for the grace to be genuinely self-denying, humble, gentle in the service of others, and to have an attitude of brotherly generosity towards them. St. Paul says: “I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace”. This exhortation is directed especially to those raised to sacred Orders precisely that the work of Christ may be continued. He came among us “not to be served but to serve”.

The words of St. John hold good about sins against unity: “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us”. So we humbly beg pardon of God and of our separated brethren, just as we forgive them that trespass against us.
*
The writings of Pope Saint John Paul II are too extensive regarding the failures of the past to quote in this context…his texts related to the execution of Jan Hus…the religious wars…the Reformation…and what was articulated during the Day of Pardon in March 2000 – the first Sunday of Lent of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 – looking to the faults and failures across the many centuries. One does well to examine the Holy See’s document from the International Theological Commission, “Memory and Reconciliation: The Church and the Faults of the Past.”

vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000307_memory-reconc-itc_en.html#The%20Teaching%20of%20the%20Council

There is also much to say about what Pope Benedict XVI has written but I always find what he wrote on this topic in a letter to the world’s Catholic bishops in July 2007 particularly expressive:

Looking back over the past, to the divisions which in the course of the centuries have rent the Body of Christ, one continually has the impression that, at critical moments when divisions were coming about, not enough was done by the Church’s leaders to maintain or regain reconciliation and unity. One has the impression that omissions on the part of the Church have had their share of blame for the fact that these divisions were able to harden. This glance at the past imposes an obligation on us today.

 

[Justin_Swanton]

This is certainly not what Blessed Paul VI and Saint John Paul II articulated.

Blessed Paul articulated in the opening of the second session of Vatican II a request for pardon for the past and it was integrated into the conciliar documents and speaks for all the Council Fathers. In Unitatis Redintegratio, we read
*7. There can be no ecumenism worthy of the name without a change of heart. For it is from renewal of the inner life of our minds, from self-denial and an unstinted love that desires of unity take their rise and develop in a mature way. We should therefore pray to the Holy Spirit for the grace to be genuinely self-denying, humble, gentle in the service of others, and to have an attitude of brotherly generosity towards them. St. Paul says: “I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace”. This exhortation is directed especially to those raised to sacred Orders precisely that the work of Christ may be continued. He came among us “not to be served but to serve”.

The words of St. John hold good about sins against unity: “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us”. So we humbly beg pardon of God and of our separated brethren, just as we forgive them that trespass against us.
*
The writings of Pope Saint John Paul II are too extensive regarding the failures of the past to quote in this context…his texts related to the execution of Jan Hus…the religious wars…the Reformation…and what was articulated during the Day of Pardon in March 2000 – the first Sunday of Lent of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 – looking to the faults and failures across the many centuries. One does well to examine the Holy See’s document from the International Theological Commission, “Memory and Reconciliation: The Church and the Faults of the Past.”

vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000307_memory-reconc-itc_en.html#The%20Teaching%20of%20the%20Council

There is also much to say about what Pope Benedict XVI has written but I always find what he wrote on this topic in a letter to the world’s Catholic bishops in July 2007 particularly expressive:

Looking back over the past, to the divisions which in the course of the centuries have rent the Body of Christ, one continually has the impression that, at critical moments when divisions were coming about, not enough was done by the Church’s leaders to maintain or regain reconciliation and unity. One has the impression that omissions on the part of the Church have had their share of blame for the fact that these divisions were able to harden. This glance at the past imposes an obligation on us today.

Yes of course. Understood in the sense not doing enough to prevent divisions from happening Catholics have been guilty of sin. But I was taking the Pope’s words in their primary sense - the actual sin of division, which means the decision to wilfully separate oneself from the Church. In that sense the Reformers are the ones who owe an apology.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

From what we know of the message Jesus of Nazareth tried to show and teach people…this pope seems to surely embody it.
I imagine that if there was an ultimate definition of what a “Christian” is or should be or strives to be…this pope is a fine example of that.

He’s also a good example of the teachings of holy teachers in other religions as well–past and present–and the sentiments and ideals of philosophers and poets since we’ve had the written word and expressed and exchanged our thoughts.

In other words: He loves his fellow human beings, he’s humble, he wants to ease people’s pain and make the world a kinder, better place…and he sees the bigger-picture spiritual ideals that are the hope of our future together in this world.

.

Jim

 

[JimR-OCDS]

We have to keep in mind that during Luther’s time, the Church had just gone through the corruption of the Borgias, especially Pope Alexander VI.

Luther, a theologian visited Rome for the first time and witnessed clergy charging people money for indulgences which they said would keep them out of purgatory and sent right to heaven upon their deaths.

Then he sees the Pope ride into the Vatican riding upon a white horse wearing gold plated military armor, as the people bowed to the ground giving him homage.

If we had seen such, we too would’ve been disgusted, well, at least we should have.

Yes, Luther didn’t follow the path that St Teresa and St John of the Cross did at that time, which was during the corrupt Spanish Inquisition.

Was it Luther’s error, or how God inspired him ?

Who knows, but to me, the best thing that happened to the Church was the reformation.

Without it, we would be like Islam is today, which has not yet had a reformation.

Pope Francis is showing the world the love and mercy of God.

This upsets those who look for God’s retributive justice over restorative justice.

Pope Francis understands that God’s justice is restorative and God desires that all humans be drawn to Him.

Mercy and love, there is no other way.

Jim