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...the Wall Builder
In Part One of this column, I wrote about Pope Francis’ use of the Vatican’s own newspaper to plant in believers’ minds the following ideas:
There wasn’t space for a third point. Francis used his account of Judas’ “repentance” to get in a dig at traditional Christians, who cling to things like … the words of Jesus, the teachings of the Church, even the dictates of reason and Natural Law. Francis said in a 2017 interview:
Judas is a difficult character to understand; there have been so many interpretations of his personality. In the end, however, when he sees what he has done, he turns to the ‘righteous,’ to the priests: ‘I have sinned: I handed over an innocent man to be killed.’ They answer him: ‘What does that matter to us? That’s your affair.’ (Matthew 27:3-10) Then he goes away with that guilt that suffocates him.
Here Francis speaks of the “righteous” Pharisees and Sadducees sarcastically. He used similar language in the debate over whether the Catholic church should continue its apostolic practice of rejecting divorce and remarriage. (At least in principle — leave aside the suppurating scandal of easy annulments, which Francis has made even easier to get, when either spouse wishes for one.) Francis repeatedly described as Pharisees, or “doctors of the law,” Catholic theologians who wished to cling to the literal reading of Jesus’ own words regarding divorce.
Continued below.
Pope Francis Tries to Rehabilitate Judas, Part II: Mercy for Judas the Betrayer, But Not for Trump the Wall Builder | The Stream
In Part One of this column, I wrote about Pope Francis’ use of the Vatican’s own newspaper to plant in believers’ minds the following ideas:
- That the apostle Judas might have been saved, despite Jesus’ teaching that it would have been “better for that man if he had never been born.” (Matt. 26: 24)
- That all human souls might finally be saved, despite Jesus’ repeated descriptions of Hell as having inhabitants. Our Lord was just bluffing there, apparently.
There wasn’t space for a third point. Francis used his account of Judas’ “repentance” to get in a dig at traditional Christians, who cling to things like … the words of Jesus, the teachings of the Church, even the dictates of reason and Natural Law. Francis said in a 2017 interview:
Judas is a difficult character to understand; there have been so many interpretations of his personality. In the end, however, when he sees what he has done, he turns to the ‘righteous,’ to the priests: ‘I have sinned: I handed over an innocent man to be killed.’ They answer him: ‘What does that matter to us? That’s your affair.’ (Matthew 27:3-10) Then he goes away with that guilt that suffocates him.
Here Francis speaks of the “righteous” Pharisees and Sadducees sarcastically. He used similar language in the debate over whether the Catholic church should continue its apostolic practice of rejecting divorce and remarriage. (At least in principle — leave aside the suppurating scandal of easy annulments, which Francis has made even easier to get, when either spouse wishes for one.) Francis repeatedly described as Pharisees, or “doctors of the law,” Catholic theologians who wished to cling to the literal reading of Jesus’ own words regarding divorce.
Continued below.
Pope Francis Tries to Rehabilitate Judas, Part II: Mercy for Judas the Betrayer, But Not for Trump the Wall Builder | The Stream