Sandro Magister reports: "The Pope's Latest Speech To the Cardinals Has a Backstory. That Was Supposed To Stay Secret"

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Cardinal Martini, in his last interview, a few days before his death, said something that should make us think: “The Church is two hundred years behind the times. Why is she not shaken up? Are we afraid? Fear, instead of courage?”

That the Pope would use this quote in his speech leaves a lot of questions unanswered.
 
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Irishmom2

1h

Cardinal Martini, in his last interview, a few days before his death, said something that should make us think: “The Church is two hundred years behind the times. Why is she not shaken up? Are we afraid? Fear, instead of courage?”

That the Pope would use this quote in his speech leaves a lot of questions unanswered."

Well if the implication here is that the Church should adapt to the ways of the world and not the other way round, I guess that counts me as one of those who ARE afraid for the future of the Church.
 
It’s very confusing. First, how is the Church “two hundred years behind the times?” The Church is for ALL time, it’s not supposed to be ‘ahead X number years’ or ‘behind X number years.’ The TIME is supposed to adjust itself to Christ and His Church, not the CHURCH (and Christ) to some specific linear ‘time’ or ‘season’ or whatever.

Very, very disturbing. I’m not faulting the Cardinal or the Holy Father, but we need a lot more context. Perhaps it’s a translation issue.
 
OK, so I just read the speech fragments that the article contains. Would have been nice to see the entire speech, and not in a biased context.

My thoughts are this:
  1. Cardinal Sodano is 92 years old. I don’t see much issue with him being asked to step down. He has already occupied the dean post to an age beyond where most people are even alive, much less working, and he’s been dean for 15 years. It’s time to let someone else have a turn.
  2. I’m not seeing the issue with trying to merge nine different communications offices into one. It sounds like the intelligent thing to do from a business standpoint.
  3. With respect to the business about 200 years behind, which is, I suspect, the main thing that’s got people wound up, there’s no context to see how he meant that. How about praying and trusting in God that our Pope will lead the Church in the direction God wants it to go? In any event, I don’t see anything to fear. God is with us and would continue to be with us even if the Pope was a “bad Pope”, and I don’t see Francis as being a “bad Pope”.
Just my 2 cents.
I would add that I don’t have time or energy to waste on worrying about stuff like this. I have enough issues in my own life that I also try hard to not worry about. As Padre Pio and other saints have said, worry is useless, and that also applies when it is any sort of worry about the Church.
 
Wao, talk about quoting out of context. :roll_eyes:
I read the whole document, and there is absolutely nothing alarming. The document is mainly about reform of the roman cruria and new evangelization.
 
Did you actually read the whole quote of Cardinal Martini before commenting?
Here is the full quote:

‘‘Cardinal Martini, in his last interview, a few days before his death, said something that should make us think: “The Church is two hundred years behind the times. Why is she not shaken up? Are we afraid? Fear, instead of courage? Yet faith is the Church’s foundation. Faith, confidence, courage… Only love conquers weariness”.[[20]]’’ (Christmas Greetings of the Holy Father to the Roman Curia (21 December 2019) | Francis)

So what are you afraid of?
 
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‘’ In the light of this boundless benevolence and love, our exchange of Christmas greetings is yet another chance to respond to Christ’s new commandment: “Even as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” ( Jn 13:34-35). Jesus does not ask us to love him in response to his love for us; rather, he asks us to love one another as he does. In other words, he asks us to become like him, since he became like us.

As Saint John Henry Newman prayed: “May each Christmas, as it comes, find us more and more like Him, who at this time became a little child for our sake, more simple-minded, more humble, more holy, more affectionate, more resigned, more happy, more full of God”.[[3]]
(Christmas Greetings of the Holy Father to the Roman Curia (21 December 2019) | Francis)

And he went on to say: “[Christmas] is a time for innocence, and purity, and gentleness, and mildness, and contentment, and peace”[4].

This mention of Newman brings to mind his well-known words in his Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine , a book that coincided chronologically and spiritually with his entry into the Catholic Church: “Here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often”.[5]

Naturally, he is not speaking about changing for change’s sake, or following every new fashion, but rather about the conviction that development and growth are a normal part of human life, even as believers we know that God remains the unchanging centre of all things.[[6]]’’
(Christmas Greetings of the Holy Father to the Roman Curia (21 December 2019) | Francis)

emphasis mine
 
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So, are you this concerned about the loss of souls when there isn’t an issue with the Church on your radar screen?

Do you pray for souls? Pray for the Pope? Pray for the Church?

How does constantly “sounding the alarm” over little or nothing, using quotes out of context on the Internet, help any souls?
 
Tis_Bearself said:
So, are you this concerned about the loss of souls when there isn’t an issue with the Church on your radar screen?

Do you pray for souls? Pray for the Pope? Pray for the Church?
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  1. Yes I am.
  2. Yes I do and I hope that you do also.
 
From the article;;
There is always the temptation to fall back on the past (also by employing new formulations), because it is more reassuring, familiar, and, to be sure, less conflictual. […] Here, there is a need to be wary of the temptation to rigidity. A rigidity born of the fear of change, which ends up erecting fences and obstacles on the terrain of the common good, turning it into a minefield of incomprehension and hatred. Let us always remember that behind every form of rigidity lies some kind of imbalance. Rigidity and imbalance feed one another in a vicious circle.
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There’s that word again,. Rigidity. So those who remain firm to traditional teachings, and fear change are rigid and suffer from some sort of imbalance??? That’s certainly my take on his words here. And one wonders why such division has taken root in the Church! And also, just what kind of changes are we talking about here? Changes such as the German Church is proposing? No thanks!!! I think I’ll just remain rigid and imbalanced!
 
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We are speaking, then, about great challenges and necessary balances that are often hard to achieve, for the simple fact that, poised between a glorious past and a changing, creative future, we are living in the present. Here there are persons who necessarily need time to grow; there are historical situations to be dealt with on a daily basis, since in the process of the reform the world and history do not stop; there are juridical and institutional questions that need to be resolved gradually, without magic formulas or shortcuts.

There is, finally, the dimension of time and there is human error, which must rightly be taken into consideration. These are part of the history of each one of us. Not to take account of them is to go about doing things in abstraction from human history.
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These are the paragraphs leading to what you quoted. The reform mentioned is the reorganization of he Roman curia to focus on evangelization. I am not sure why you think the comment on rigidity apply to you. I assume you are not a Cardinal. Are you working at the Vatican?

Sandro Magister describes the quotes he gives as “the most biting passages from the speech.” If you read the biting passages, I guess you might get bit. Maybe if you read the whole thing you will feel less indignant.
 
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