Pope Francis is apparently at it again

Pope Francis has been quoted as saying the following about marriage:
“It’s provisional, and because of this the great majority of our sacramental marriages are null. Because they say ‘yes, for the rest of my life!’ but they don’t know what they are saying. Because they have a different culture. They say it, they have good will, but they don’t know.”
From the "who am I to judge?" comment about homosexuality to the present, he has kept saying things which appear not simply to be in conflict with Catholic dogma, but with what has been believed "always, everywhere and by all." In this case, the statement attributed to him directly contradicts Jesus.

There has been a constant stream of "corrections" and "clarifications" and claims- doubtless justified in many cases- that his comments have been distorted or misunderstood. But it's getting harder and harder to rationalize what seems to be a tendency to make rash off-the-cuff statements which undermine what Christianity has taught for two thousand years. He's right, by the way, in saying that Donald Trump- who brags about being an adulterer and says that he doesn't do anything he has to ask God to forgive- is not a Christian. That's not judging him; that's simply taking him at his own word. But even there, the statement needed to be clear and unambiguous and not apologized for, rather than being misleadingly stated and thereafter watered down and neutered by a mealy-mouthed "clarification." A bishop should teach. He should explicate the faith and what it teaches, not obscure it. And liberal Catholicism and mainline Protestantism to the contrary, "apologetics" is defending the Faith, not saying that one is sorry for it!

Since I"m not a Catholic, I will not join the author of the article linked to above in saying that the Pope should resign. But since I'm a Christian, his statements reflect on me, too- and something has got to be done.

Graphic by DonkeyHotey

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