Henk Rijkers, the editor of the Catholic weekly, Katholiek Nieuwsblad, was forced out of his job on Christmas eve for questioning Amoris Laetitia. Rijkers held the post of editor for four years and is a 59-year-old father of three adolescent children. Katholiek Nieuwsblad is known as an independent, traditional Catholic newspaper, but since the forcing out of Rijkers Huub … Read more
In the wake of the recent 8 January defense of the papal document Amoris Laetitia by Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), there have been an increasing number of faithful Catholics now coming forth with reluctant criticisms; others quote the cardinal in order to claim that … Read more
We are hearing more complaints of division. Why, goes the lament, is the Church divided? Why can we not simply “put our differences aside”? Simply, because two logically opposed things can’t both be true. This week, we have been offered two interviews that very helpfully delineate the main divisions in the Church today and the reason … Read more
The following guest editorial was submitted by a reader who works in the office of Marriage and Family Life of a US diocese. With retributive action already having been taken against several of the signatories of the theological censures against Amoris Laetitia, we have agreed to publish this essay anonymously. I would like to begin … Read more
Editor’s Note: Bishop Andreas Laun is Auxiliary Bishop of Salzburg, Austria. He is also a Professor of Moral Theology at the Philosophical-Theological Faculty of Heiligenkreuz, Austria. He is a member of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. Maike Hickson (MH): You are one of the signatories of the Filial Appeal “Declaration of Fidelity to the … Read more
Many Catholic observers were somewhat disappointed when Cardinal Gerhard Müller gave an interview published by the Austrian website kathpress at the beginning of December concerning the papal document Amoris Laetitia and the dubia of the Four Cardinals. For, to all initial appearances, he had essentially declined to comment upon the whole controversial matter. However, further … Read more
At First Things, two more scholars have published a summary of a letter they sent to Pope Francis last month. The full letter (PDF link) is entitled, The Misuse of Amoris Laetitia To Support Errors against the Catholic Faith. The authors are John Finnis, emeritus professor of law and legal philosophy at the University of Oxford and Biolchini Family … Read more
Father Spadaro has been a busy man. Between forcing Ross Douthat to issue a correction over his reporting of a Twitter spat and to insinuating that this publication is “one of the anti-papal American blogs that were the ‘echoes’ of false news” to appearing to accuse papal critics of being under the influence of the devil to his general portfolio … Read more
On October 20th, 2015, as the second half of the Synod on the Family was underway, I wrote: It has long been my concern that Francis will make an end-run around the restrictions of papal infallibility by not making a decision that is binding, but rather by delegating the decision on matters as important as … Read more
Today, Dr. Sandro Magister, the well-informed Italian Vatican specialist, published an article of great importance because he explicitly shows another example of what Pope Francis has likely intended with his post-synodal exhortation Amoris Laetitia. After the example of Argentina – where Pope Francis gave express approval of a more liberalizing attitude toward those “remarried” divorcees … Read more
The volume and scope of the analysis by Church scholars, theologians, and other Catholic writers on the topic of Pope Francis’ post-synodal apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia (AL), is little short of staggering. But in recent weeks, since the pope’s brazen approval of the Argentine Bishops’ letter making clear that there is “no other interpretation” than that AL chapter … Read more