The Archbishop of Granada, Spain, H.E. Msgr. Francisco Javier Martínez Fernández, has released a note to all the faithful of his archdiocese in which he adopts for his own archdiocese the highly objectionable directive on the implementation of chapter VIII of Amoris Laetitia, issued by the bishops of the pastoral region of Buenos Aires. This is especially discouraging as Archbishop Martínez has in the past been known for his courage and orthodoxy (cf. Rorate’s 2006 report on his decision to remove his seminarians from the Granada theological college).
A Google translation of the relevant portion of the original (posted in Spanish at the Granada archdiocesan website) reads:
That same day, the Holy Father has written a note of thanks and support for this note of Bishops of the Region of Buenos Aires. In this brief note, we also reminded the bishops the responsibility we have to help and accompany the priests -our neighbors more “next” – in this way open to a “pastoral ‘melee’,” which is perhaps the first and most decisive movements of a Church ‘ “output” output to the reality of men and women of our time, to families, and especially to those that are broken, living delicate moments or They are in particularly difficult situations. Undoubtedly, for all, priests and laity, and starting with me, pastoral approaches Amoris Letitia and these criteria and this note are a powerful call to conversion. We have a way to go to do, which may be long and not always be easy, but it is extremely exciting, and opens the way to the new time and deeply rooted in the tradition of the Church, our mission as a people God and the Body of Christ in this hour of history.
Today, through this my note, I assume as their own and “enacted”, so to speak, the criteria of Bishops of the Region of Buenos Aires for all the Catholic faithful of the Diocese of Granada, and also I have, with my help and all other necessary, whether the Delegation of Family and Life that break out this task to disseminate and explain these criteria and help put into practice.
Some nuance is no doubt lost in machine translation, as it were, but the gist is clear: The Argentinian bishops of the Buenos Aires reason — with the endorsement of the pope — have once again paved the way.
