I will quote some of the content of this massive, uncatholic heretical mess that has come out of Rome and give a few meager words on it.
“297. It is a matter of reaching out to everyone, of needing to help each person find his or her proper way of participating in the ecclesial community and thus to experience being touched by an “unmerited, unconditional and gratuitous” mercy. No one can be condemned for ever, because that is not the logic of the Gospel! Here I am not speaking only of the divorced and remarried, but of everyone, in whatever situation they find themselves.” -Pope Francis
Believe it or not, the Catholic Church teaches that those who die in a mortal sin go to hell forever. So, yes, people are condemned forever, Holy Father.
Baltimore Catechism:
33. What happens to those who die in mortal sin?
Those who die in mortal sin are punished forever in the fire of hell.
Mercy is extending to those who repent and are sorry for what they have done to offend Our Lord.
“301…The Church possesses a solid body of reflection concerning mitigating factors and situations. Hence it can no longer simply be said that all those in any “irregular” situation are living in a state of mortal sin and are deprived of sanctifying grace. More is involved here than mere ignorance of the rule. A subject may know full well the rule, yet have great difficulty in understanding “its inherent values”, or be in a concrete situation which does not allow him or her to act differently and decide otherwise without further sin.” – Pope Francis
Mortal sin is deadly and kills the life of grace in our souls.
Baltimore Catechism:
32. What does mortal sin do to us?
Mortal sin makes us enemies of God and robs of our souls of His grace.
Also, it’s no wonder people are ignorant, if what the Pope is saying is true. How often do you hear the sins of the day being condemned? How often do you hear priests preach that adultery and cohabitation is a mortal sin?
“Chapter 8 – Accompanying, Discerning and Integrating Weakness
Some forms of union radically contradict this ideal [of Christian marriage], while others realize it in at least a partial and analogous way. The Synod Fathers stated that the Church does not disregard the constructive elements in those situations which do not yet or no longer correspond to her teaching on marriage …
The Fathers also considered the specific situation of a merely civil marriage or, with due distinction, even simple cohabitation, noting that … they can provide occasions for pastoral care with a view to the eventual celebration of the sacrament of marriage”. (AL 292,293)
So, adultery is a union? This is so ambiguous they don’t even specify what these forms of “union” are? Is sodomy considered a “union,” as well?
Also, it seems we’re allowed to cohabitate since it might eventually lead to the Sacrament of Marriage? Mortal sin is not going to lead to a Sacrament. Yet, according to this document these situations are not even mortal sin anymore, for it they called it that they would foil the whole purpose of this document, namely to excuse sin in the name of pride.
“The choice of a civil marriage or, in many cases, of simple cohabitation, is often not motivated by prejudice or resistance to a sacramental union, but by cultural or contingent situations. In such cases, respect also can be shown for those signs of love which in some way reflect God’s own love.”
God’s love is reflected in mortal sin? I don’t think so. This is bordering on blasphemy to suggest that God’s love can be found, in this context, outside of a valid Catholic Marriage. These supposed “situations” seem to take precedent over the salvation of souls, since the Pope fails horribly in this Document to state the absolute truth regarding these sins. And for all the talk about all the good that is in the Document, a little poison poisons the whole cup.
“The divorced who have entered a new union, for example, can find themselves in a variety of situations, which should not be pigeonholed or fit into overly rigid classifications leaving no room for a suitable personal and pastoral discernment. (AL 298)”
Of course. Telling people that they are in adultery and need to get out of it is too “rigid.” What will the Pope do to ensure the salvation of souls? Very little of anything, it seems. Looks like we’ll be “discerning” our sins all the way to hell. Then again, nobody is going there since, according to the Pope, no one can be condemned forever.
The indissolubility of Marriage is being totally undermined.
Hence it can no longer simply be said that all those in any “irregular” situation are living in a state of mortal sin and are deprived of sanctifying grace. (AL 301)
According to Divine Law and the Catholic Church, those living in adultery and fornicating are in a state of mortal sin, which does indeed deprive the soul of sanctifying grace, which is the life of God in the soul. Truly, this Document goes against and mocks 2,000 years of the teaching and tradition of the Catholic Church, not to mention the words of Our Lord in Sacred Scripture.
In footnote 351 of this document, it is suggested that those in a state of mortal sin can receive the help of the Sacraments “in certain cases.” Well, certainly they can receive Confession to restore the life of grace in their souls, provided that they will repent and leave their life of sin. But, this obviously is allowing Holy Communion for those living in mortal sin, albeit by the back door, which, for the Counciliar Church, “certain cases” will turn into the norm within a matter of time. This is what certain Roman prelates have been promoting all this time and they know they cannot state it outright but have to hide it behind pleasing words. Doctrine may not change, but expounding heresy and pandering to man’s pride of wanting to be “accepted as they are” ultimately changes belief. If Rome realized that we deal with the supernatural in the Sacraments, in the Mass, in the Holy Eucharist, the very heart of the Church, I don’t think they would not do what they do. If Rome realizes that the Holy Eucharist wasn’t a happy meal for everybody and the Church a social club, I don’t think we would be at this terrible point we are at now.
What is there to achieve by excusing sin and abandoning people to their sinful lives, not telling them the truth and ultimately the means to achieve salvation, which is the very mission of the Church?
Advocating sacrilege against the Blessed Eucharist is akin to calling for the death of Our Lord over and over and over again, every time Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist is received by the soul in a state of mortal sin.
If you’re a Catholic, you need to defend Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and what His Church teaches regarding sin. You must reject this departure from the moral doctrines of the Faith. This ultimately comes down to upholding the truth of the Ten Commandments as being just that, Ten Commandments, to be kept and upheld as a sign of our fidelity and love of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who told us to keep them. Looks as if they are being turned into Ten Suggestions, if that. The truth must be said and not excused or “interpreted in the light of tradition.” What was written was written and is quite clear. We have a war on our hands and this time, it’s a war for the moral edifice of the Church.
Enough is enough.
~Damsel of the Faith
**UPDATE**
The Pope was asked a direct question about Holy Communion for the divorced and remarried on his return trip to Greece:
“Some maintain that nothing has changed with respect to the discipline that governs the access to the Sacraments for the divorced and remarried, and that the law and the pastoral practice and obviously the doctrine remains the same; others maintain instead that much has changed and that there are many new openings and possibilities. The question is for one person, a Catholic, that wants to know: Are there new concrete possibilities, that did not exist before the publication of the Exhortation or not.”
He stated emphatically:
“I can say yes.”
For those still on the fence about the issue, even though it is plain as day what is going on, it is quite clear. Does the Pope know what sacrilege is?
***UPDATE***
This comment from ‘Athanasius’ was so excellent I had to include it here:
“damselofthefaith,
Your commentary on this is absolutely spot on. What the Pope is clearly attempting with this document is first to re-state the objective teaching of the Church, which is the divine teaching of Christ Our Lord, and then go on to undermine it with subjective specious argument.
All this talk of pastoral mercy depending on individual circumstances is just so much smoke and mirrors. The Church makes it clear that God writes His Commandments in every heart, which means that everyone knows the truth internally and cannot therefore claim to be ignorant of the divine law, or indeed the natural law. When a Catholic divorces a spouse and then goes on to marry someone else, they know exactly what they’re doing. The teaching of Our Lord in the Gospels about adultery is crystal clear to all who have an IQ above the average house plant. So this nonsense that the Pope espouses in his Apostolic Exhortation is precisely that – nonsense! The teaching of the Church cannot be altered either doctrinally or pastorally, so why this scandalous document, this back door to sacrilege?
Note how the Pope refers to “the ecclesial community” in his document. This follows from his oft-repeated error that “we are Church”. In other words, the Pope does not appear to recognise a divinely instituted hierarchic Church with unchangable doctrine and ordained priesthood to perpetuate the sacrifice of Our Lord and administer the grace of the Sacraments for the salvation of souls. His notion seems rather to be of a loose body of believers, kind of like a hippie commune in which all have a priestly dignity that is not to be distinguished from the ordained, celibate priesthood. From this notion stems the false idea, remarkably Lutheran in tone, that no matter what sins we commit, we are justified by faith in Christ and thereby saved. This idea does great violence to the true Catholic teaching that we must avoid sin, or at least repent of our sins, amend our lives and do good works. It is by the fruit, says Our Lord, that the tree is known, not faith. And again: “Not all those who say Lord, Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven. But those who do the will of my Father in Heaven, they shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
And what is the will of God? Well, Our Lord specifically says: “If you love me, you will keep my Commandments”. The martyrs sacrificed their lives rather than deny or offend God, yet Pope Francis asks no sacrifice from those who want to be re-admitted to Holy Communion, not even the sacrifice of repentance for mortal sin and a remedying of a sinful union. On the contrary, he says there is good even in sinful unions. Woe to the man who says good is evil and evil is good, say the Sacred Scriptures. It seems to me that this is precisely what Pope Francis is saying when he denounces divine revelation as “rules” and speaks of God’s grace being at least benign to the mortally sinful state of some souls. This is neither true love nor mercy we’re hearing from Pope Francis, it’s falsehood.
And as regards this devolution of authority from Rome to each diocese and parish to discern individual cases of divorced/remarried and other sinful union scenarios, we all know where that will lead. Very soon, like the illicit abuses of Communion in the hand and extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, access to Holy Communion for those not in a state of grace will become commonplace and accepted as the norm. Those who object on the basis of the infallible teaching of the Church will be called “judgmental” and dismissed as merciless. What we are seeing here is the logical next step in the apostasy disguised as pastoral sensitivity. Supernatural Faith, it seems, has given place in many senior Churchmen to empty and emotional philanthropy. There is no longer any love of immortal souls or desire for their salvation.
Our Lord said to sinners that He forgave “go and sin no more”. On one occasion He even admonished a penitent not to sin again “lest some worse evil befalls you”. But what is Pope Francis saying? He is saying “come, feel welcome, feel loved, feel God’s mercy, feel included. There’s no need for you to change sinful situations if you don’t recognise them as such, or if it’s going to hurt. If you can’t receive Holy Communion (indicating mortal sin), you can at least read the Scriptures from the lectern. Oh yes, and that’s going to gain their souls entrance to heaven? It’s much more likely to pile guilt upon guilt, say the saints. God is not mocked!
Pope Francis would do well to heed this wise and prophetic warning of his predecessor, Gregory XVI, who wrote in his 1832 Encyclical Mirari Vos: “To use the words of the Fathers of Trent, it is certain that the Church “was instructed by Jesus Christ and His Apostles and that all truth was daily taught it by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, it is obviously absurd and injurious to propose a certain “restoration and regeneration” for her as though necessary for her safety and growth, as if she could be considered subject to defect or obscuration or other misfortune. Indeed these authors of novelties consider that a “foundation may be laid of a new human institution,” and what Cyprian detested may come to pass, that what was a divine thing “may become a human Church…”
And what about the equally prophetic warning of Pius XII: “I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucy of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith in her liturgy, her theology and her soul…I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, reject her ornaments and make her feel remorse for her historical past. A day will come when the civilised world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God.” (Mgr. Roche, Pie XII Devant L’Histoire, p. 52-53).
I am sick to death of these Modernist Popes damaging our holy faith with their dangerous innovations. They are called to protect and hand on the faith unsullied, yet they seem to think that they have been especially gifted in our times to alter things according to their own confused state of mind and soul. Since Vatican II they have almost destroyed the Church with their Modernist falsehoods. As Archbishop Lefebvre once observed: The martyrs sacrificed their lives for the faith. Now they sacrifice the faith.” How absolutely true that observation was. The Catholic religion today is now barely distinguishable from Protestantism.”
Damsel of the Faith 