Pope Francis' claim that God is a God of surprises. What does this mean?

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I thought that God’s revelation was revealed in scripture and further revelation could no longer be manifested after the death of the last of Jesus’ disciples. How is God supposed to surprise us-- with some new doctrine or novelty?
 
I think we should assume he does not mean new Public Revelations. Rather that we cannot expect to know the mysterious workings of the Lord. Even in Scripture some received the Holy Spirit at hearing, others at Baptism, and others still at Laying of Hands.

We cannot presume to have God figured out. His plan is always received by us in faith and trust. James said:

James 4 (RSVCE)
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain”; 14 whereas you do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
 
The phrase “God of surprises” has been around for a very long time. Just google it and you’ll see tons of references. And then there’s the saying “God works in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform” It just means we can’t know the mind of God or his plans. Lots of times God surprises us by answering prayers in a different way than what we asked.
 
Why does Francis keep saying things that he KNOWS the liberals/progressives will take the wrong way, way out of context???

Could he be more clear???
 
I think that’ it’s pretty safe to interpret any phrase the pope utters as being consistent with Catholic teaching. That should always be our first impulse.

And since it’s Catholic teaching that public revelation ended with the death of the last apostle and that nothing more will be added to it, I think it’s very safe to say that Pope Francis was not talking about something being added to the deposit of faith. (e.g. “Surprise! There are actually four persons in God, not three! Who knew!?”)

The explanations that rcwitness and seagal gave are far, far more likely in the realm of what Pope Francis was trying to convey with the phrase.
 
ialsop said:
Why does Francis keep saying things that he KNOWS the liberals/progressives will take the wrong way, way out of context???

Could he be more clear???
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The Pope meant that conservatives have a tendency to live by the letter of the law or rules in a ridged way which doesn’t allow for much mercy by being too focused on justice.

While ultra liberal/progressives have a tendency to be too loose which doesn’t allow for much justice by showing too much mercy and not holding people accountable for their sins.
 
phil19034 said:
The Pope meant that conservatives have a tendency to live by the letter of the law or rules in a ridged way which doesn’t allow for much mercy by being too focused on justice.

While ultra liberal/progressives have a tendency to be too loose which doesn’t allow for much justice by showing too much mercy and not holding people accountable for their sins.
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True, but he always seems to prase things in ways that is going to inflame the latter error.

The former error I struggle with, and in that sense, Francis was a wake up call for me and for that I am thankful. But, he always seems to phrase things in ways that will inflame the latter.
 
phil19034 said:
The Pope meant that conservatives have a tendency to live by the letter of the law or rules in a ridged way which doesn’t allow for much mercy by being too focused on justice.

While ultra liberal/progressives have a tendency to be too loose which doesn’t allow for much justice by showing too much mercy and not holding people accountable for their sins.
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Yes, that is what the pope said. But they are only words and they don’t convince me that he is a “moderate” or taking the middle ground. What we saw in last week’s Synod - the pope’s silence and fondness for Cardinal Kasper - demonstrated that he has an aggressively liberal ideology and wishes to implement it in the Church. It is for this reason that he rarely clarifies his controversial statements and why he chose to release to the public even those paragraphs of the Synod document that were not approved.
 
If you haven’t been surprised by God at some point in your lifetime, you’re not paying attention!
 
christus_vincit said:
Yes, that is what the pope said. But they are only words and they don’t convince me that he is a “moderate” or taking the middle ground. What we saw in last week’s Synod - the pope’s silence and fondness for Cardinal Kasper - demonstrated that he has an aggressively liberal ideology and wishes to implement it in the Church. It is for this reason that he rarely clarifies his controversial statements and why he chose to release to the public even those paragraphs of the Synod document that were not approved.
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Exactly. Im sure the pope has very holy intentions…but i dunno if he is doing the right hting His message has helped me personally, but i think it may be hurting the universal church and scualr world. So I have such mixed feelings about him
 
christus_vincit said:
Yes, that is what the pope said. But they are only words and they don’t convince me that he is a “moderate” or taking the middle ground. What we saw in last week’s Synod - the pope’s silence and fondness for Cardinal Kasper - demonstrated that he has an aggressively liberal ideology and wishes to implement it in the Church. It is for this reason that he rarely clarifies his controversial statements and why he chose to release to the public even those paragraphs of the Synod document that were not approved.
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Weren’t the Cardinals led by the Holy Spirit in the election of the Holy Father? Surely our Lord knew his heart. So even if he does wish to implement a more liberal view in the Church, maybe that’s God’s way of saying the pendulum needed to be swung somewhat in a different direction at this point in time and in Church history.
 
Sy_Noe said:
Weren’t the Cardinals led by the Holy Spirit in the election of the Holy Father? Surely our Lord knew his heart. So even if he does wish to implement a more liberal view in the Church, maybe that’s God’s way of saying the pendulum needed to be swung somewhat in a different direction at this point in time and in Church history.
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Sig…well I guess I better just trust God…I dunno anymore.
 
christus_vincit said:
Yes, that is what the pope said. But they are only words and they don’t convince me that he is a “moderate” or taking the middle ground. What we saw in last week’s Synod - the pope’s silence and fondness for Cardinal Kasper - demonstrated that he has an aggressively liberal ideology and wishes to implement it in the Church. It is for this reason that he rarely clarifies his controversial statements and why he chose to release to the public even those paragraphs of the Synod document that were not approved.
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The pope’s silence does not “demonstrate…an aggressively liberal theology.” It simply means he meant what he said when he wanted the bishops to speak freely about it. Pope Francis will have the final say in his post-synodal apostolic exhortation. In the mean time, he seems content to listen without steering the conversation with constant interjections. I don’t think his silence signifies anything more than that. 🤷
 
Joe_5859 said:
The pope’s silence does not “demonstrate…an aggressively liberal theology.” It simply means he meant what he said when he wanted the bishops to speak freely about it. Pope Francis will have the final say in his post-synodal apostolic exhortation. In the mean time, he seems content to listen without steering the conversation with constant interjections. I don’t think his silence signifies anything more than that. 🤷
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His demotion of Cardinal Burke and his closeness to Cardinal Kasper seem to say otherwise. It doesn’t take a rocket-scientist to determine the Pope’s leanings.
 
christus_vincit said:
His demotion of Cardinal Burke and his closeness to Cardinal Kasper seem to say otherwise. It doesn’t take a rocket-scientist to determine the Pope’s leanings.
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Only if we insist on reading into these things. I wouldn’t presume that Pope Francis bases his personnel decisions solely on ideological leanings. There is a lot of factors he would have to consider about which we simply have no idea.

In any case, it matters to me very little to me what his secret theological leanings may be. What matters is what he says and does as pope. And I have every confidence that he will never teach heresy. As Catholics, I think such a vote of confidence is the least we owe to our Holy Father.
 
I think that it just might mean what it so simply says.

Not only is God a God of surprises but there may come a time when many believers will be more surprised than non-believers at some of the things that God will surprise us with.

Are we ready for the “Big Surprise”?
 
blaskoman said:
I thought that God’s revelation was revealed in scripture and further revelation could no longer be manifested after the death of the last of Jesus’ disciples. How is God supposed to surprise us-- with some new doctrine or novelty?
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The lives of saints.
 
christus_vincit said:
His demotion of Cardinal Burke and his closeness to Cardinal Kasper seem to say otherwise. It doesn’t take a rocket-scientist to determine the Pope’s leanings.
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Disclaimer: I like Cardinal Burke, and think he’s almost always right.
  1. rumors about Burke getting demoted were circling long before the synod.
  2. with all respect, Cardinal Burke might be correct in his sermons and what he tells the laity, but he MIGHT be an infective leader and/administrator. Perhaps, there were other factors to his reassignment.
  3. Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Pell to his current post, made Cardinal Muller a Cardinal, and there are no rumors of him replacing either of them.
  4. Pope Francis has only said that he respects number of Cardinal Kasper’s views on mercy, not specifically divorce.
  5. the Pope wants to investigate what the Orthodox do, but that doesn’t mean that we are going to do it if it goes against Divine Law.
  6. Pope Francis isn’t a theologian like Pope Benedict XVI or like Cardinal Kasper.
  7. Since Cardinal Kasper is the only senior most Theologian publicly discussing this, I believe the Pope is using him as a “devil’s advocate.”
  8. are mixed messages from the media and some bishops bad, yes. But I think the Pope was serious about letting the Holy Spirit work.
We must have Faith that the Holy Spirit will not allow the Church to change Dogma or Doctrine and pray that Holy Spirit doesn’t not allow damaging pastoral decisions regarding discipline.

The last time a Pope tried to declare a false teaching, The Holy Spirit took his life. I’m confident that the Holy Spirit will not allow this Pope or any other Pope from declaring false teaching dogmatically.

Dear God, The Holy Spirit, please protect Your Church from error and help strengthen the Faith of your disciples. Amen.
 
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