Pope Francis: "If you can't forgive, you are not a Christian" [CH-UK]

[Catholic_Herald]

In a homily the Pope says priests who struggle to be merciful should avoid hearing Confessions

More…

 

[ARSpade]

So in one place we hear the Church must be open to everybody, in another we hear pronouncements that certain people aren’t Christians.

As a person working in the defense industry I’m a blood soaked non-Christian, but if I suddenly decide to leave my wife and shack up with a 19 year old you guys better be welcoming and nice or else.

 

[phil19034]

So in one place we hear the Church must be open to everybody, in another we hear pronouncements that certain people aren’t Christians.

As a person working in the defense industry I’m a blood soaked non-Christian, but if I suddenly decide to leave my wife and shack up with a 19 year old you guys better be welcoming and nice or else.

That is what the media and the anti-Catholic left say.

That is NOT what the Pope is saying. Anti-Catholics on the left and right love twisting Pope Francis’ words and meaning.

 

[HCTC]

So in one place we hear the Church must be open to everybody, in another we hear pronouncements that certain people aren’t Christians.

As a person working in the defense industry I’m a blood soaked non-Christian, but if I suddenly decide to leave my wife and shack up with a 19 year old you guys better be welcoming and nice or else.

Even if you are offended, you cannot possibly be surprised that Pope Francis uses the economic sector in which you are employed as an example of economic endeavor that exacerbates hostility and injury. However, Pope Francis’ larger point, in my humble opinion, is that the withholding of forgiveness in our spiritual Christian Community is comparable to the manufacture of arms in the world community. Withholding forgiveness serves the interests of war; kills peace; and injures many innocents.

Regarding your example of manufacturing arms versus leaving your wife, I would ask you the following question: Does not war create as least as much evil and suffering as, for example, divorce?

Btw, my understanding is that Pope Francis said that you are not a Christian if you withhold forgiveness. In my humble opinion, he was referring to all Catholics but especially to priests who hear confessions - not arms manufacturers.

 

[ARSpade]

Even if you are offended, you cannot possibly be surprised that Pope Francis uses the economic sector in which you are employed as an example of economic endeavor that exacerbates hostility and injury.

Stuff I’ve worked on has done more to impact ISIS than the Vatican has. I don’t see yelling “peace” at them saving any Christians in Syria. It may exacerbate hostility and injury to ISIS, but I’d rather a BGM-109 do that to them then a old fashioned kitchen knife or tall building exacerbate hostility and injury to someboy else.

On another weapon level, I notice that the Swiss Guards aren’t armed with foam fingers and kind words but halberds and Sig 550s. Their weapons room is quite impressive.

 

[Eric_Hyom]

Stuff I’ve worked on has done more to impact ISIS than the Vatican has. I don’t see yelling “peace” at them saving any Christians in Syria. It may exacerbate hostility and injury to ISIS, but I’d rather a BGM-109 do that to them then a old fashioned kitchen knife or tall building exacerbate hostility and injury to someboy else.

On another weapon level, I notice that the Swiss Guards aren’t armed with foam fingers and kind words but halberds and Sig 550s. Their weapons room is quite impressive.

Our African priest gave a powerful sermon on love your enemy today. He talked about Agnes, who was at home with her family, when two neighbouring brothers of another tribe burst into the home, butchering her family. Agnes fled into the jungle and hid for a few days.

She then came across the injured mother of the two men who had murdered her family, she nursed the mother for two weeks. Soldiers found them, and Agnes protected the mother from the soldiers, saying she did not want to see the mother harmed for the deeds of her sons.

Agnes then carried the mother through the jungle, back to her two sons, When the mother told her sons, that she was only alive because of Agnes, both sons fell on their knees and begged forgiveness.

Forgiveness can be so much more powerful than a gun.

 

[Ridgerunner]

In a homily the Pope says priests who struggle to be merciful should avoid hearing Confessions

More…

The context is priests hearing confessions. I agree with the Pope entirely on this. I have, in my time, confessed to priests who dressed me down pretty severely. And I have confessed to priests who seemed indifferent and impatient to get it over with. And I have confessed to priests who really impressed me with warmth, very short suggestions and genuine friendliness.

My absolute favorite is a priest from Africa in our diocese who, unfortunately, is not our pastor. But he listens intently, then says things like “Jesus forgives you. He knows you’re trying and He knows it’s not easy. Your soul is at peace now. Go with His peace.” He has, at times, taken my folded hands in his when he says things like that, or perhaps reaches out to shake hands with a broad smile.

I think that is what the Pope is getting to here. The priest in confession is there to confer God’s forgiveness. That’s what the sacrament is for. It’s not to give the penitent a little taste of hell anyway for something forgiven. No harm in the priest communicating that when God forgives, He really means it.

 

[HCTC]

Stuff I’ve worked on has done more to impact ISIS than the Vatican has. I don’t see yelling “peace” at them saving any Christians in Syria. It may exacerbate hostility and injury to ISIS, but I’d rather a BGM-109 do that to them then a old fashioned kitchen knife or tall building exacerbate hostility and injury to someboy else.

On another weapon level, I notice that the Swiss Guards aren’t armed with foam fingers and kind words but halberds and Sig 550s. Their weapons room is quite impressive.

Pope Francis addresses us from a spiritual viewpoint, Again, in my humble opinion, his message is about forgiveness rather than the manufacture of arms.

I think the divergent issues associated with arms manufacturer have not been better or more comprehensively stated since President Eisenhower did so in his Farewell Address to the Nation on January 17, 1961. Although President Eisenhower addresses the nation from the viewpoint of an elder statesmen and national leader, he also adds that regarding the manufacture of arms there is an influence that is “even spiritual”:

"Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense. We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States corporations.

Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence – economic, political, even spiritual – is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet, we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."

President Eisenhower offered the following blunt opinion of war from the viewpoint of a soldier:
“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.”

I would never presume to judge you. I cannot see into your heart. I am more concerned with striving to develop a little Virtue in my own life.

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part Three:
1803 "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."62

A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself. The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions.

The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God.63

1. THE HUMAN VIRTUES
2. Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and faith. They make possible ease, self-mastery, and joy in leading a morally good life. The virtuous man is he who freely practices the good.

 

[ARSpade]

Our African priest gave a powerful sermon on love your enemy today. He talked about Agnes, who was at home with her family, when two neighbouring brothers of another tribe burst into the home, butchering her family. Agnes fled into the jungle and hid for a few days.

She then came across the injured mother of the two men who had murdered her family, she nursed the mother for two weeks. Soldiers found them, and Agnes protected the mother from the soldiers, saying she did not want to see the mother harmed for the deeds of her sons.

Agnes then carried the mother through the jungle, back to her two sons, When the mother told her sons, that she was only alive because of Agnes, both sons fell on their knees and begged forgiveness.

Forgiveness can be so much more powerful than a gun.

I think I heard a similar story out of Syria right up until the end when the men on their knees were executed and the women repatedly raped as sex slaves.

Guess it doesn’t always make for a nice ending.

But, please, travel to Syria and protect a Christian family from ISIS with kind words. You can easily prove me wrong.

 

[HCTC]

I think I heard a similar story out of Syria right up until the end when the men on their knees were executed and the women repatedly raped as sex slaves.

Guess it doesn’t always make for a nice ending.

But, please, travel to Syria and protect a Christian family from ISIS with kind words. You can easily prove me wrong.

Sigh… I think that Pope Francis is arranging for there to be increased forgiveness within the Catholic Church and cautioning us against going to “war” with each other by using our time, effort and resources to resist offering forgiveness to each other. Beginning December 8, if I recall correctly, there will be a year-long celebration of mercy. Because we are all sinners, mercy is central to our faith so the coming Jubillee offers us an opportunity to freely practice forgiveness, and Pope Francis reminds us that our own salvation depends on it.

The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I

The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
‘T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;

 

[AnthonyJ]

I was severely humiliated by a priest in confession a couple of months ago. It has affected me as I have anxiety issues. I haven’t wanted to go to confession since then. I was planning writing a letter and reporting this priest to the chancery. Now I feel more secure in making a complaint and will reference the Pope’s words in my letter.