“I WILL give
you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And
whatever you
loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Mt 16,19)
It is quite
clear from these words of Christ that the
Pope, whoever he is, since he is the successor of Peter
to whom these
words were first addressed, holds the keys to heaven and
can lead us
to heaven himself.
In other words,
we cannot enter heaven without passing
through Peter and his successors, the Popes. How true
then is that
aspiration coined by some holy men, “Omnes cum Petro ad
Iesum per
Mariam!” (All with Peter to Jesus through Mary!)
We need to
meditate on these words more often if only to
understand them better, fathoming its depth and scope,
discerning its
implications and consequences. More importantly, we need
to meditate
on them to strengthen our belief that they have to be
accepted in
faith.
There is no
other way. If we take them only with our
reason alone, supported only by our human and worldly
criteria, we
have every reason not believe them. Peter, though he was
the head of
the apostles, also had major defects that would surely
nullify the
veracity of the words of Christ!
But the fact is
that these words were spoken by Christ
who, if we believe in him, cannot delude us nor can he be
deluded. We
just have to have some allowance of abandonment from the
usual doubts
and questioning brought about by our reason in order to
accept
Christ’s words at face value.
With these
words, the Pope can rightly be called as the
Vicar of Christ here on earth, or as St. Catherine of
Siena would have
it, he is the Sweet Christ on earth!
Nowadays the
status of Pope Francis is somehow put to
question by no less than some high ecclesiastics, because
of certain
pronouncements he made. Most of these questions revolve
around his
“Amoris laetitia” that, they claim, contain assertions
that, to these
ecclesiastics, can be considered at least as dubious and
even
reckless, inviting danger.
This has caused
some consternation, dismay and even
disbelief in many sectors. The situation is actually very
delicate,
and I would not like to worsen things by coming up with
drastic or
radical comments. I would rather appeal to everyone to
pray and offer
sacrifices, and practice restraint and moderation in
reacting to this
particular development.
But what I can
say is that Pope Francis is leading us to a
new frontier, a new territory in Church teaching that is
not
necessarily disruptive of past and present Magisterium.
It is the new
territory that can be considered as an organic extension
of the status
quo.
Pope Francis is now more sensitive to the finer points of
the
spiritual and moral lives of people that can hardly be
captured by
legal and doctrinal categories.
It’s an
evolution that is doctrinally faithful to Christ’s
teaching, releasing us from a certain grip of legalism
and
doctrinalism. It invites us to be more discerning of the
promptings of
the Holy Spirit that go beyond what the doctrines so far
could
formulate.
To me, what he
has taught in Amoris laetitia is an
expression of what is known as the “law of gradualness,”
as opposed to
the “gradualness of the law” which is unacceptable as a
moral
principle.
Obviously, the
distinction between these two principles
can be confusing, and thus can create tension. But it’s a
distinction
that cannot be avoided, and we just have to face it,
relying on the
goodwill of people concerned and the competent
supervisory attention
of the appropriate Church offices.
Yes, there is a
possibility of an anti-Pope and an
anti-Christ. But unless these are clearly revealed, we
just have to
trust in Christ’s words to St. Peter: “I will give you
the keys to the
kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be
bound in
heaven. And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed
in heaven.”
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