A Couple Of Notes On The New Apostolic Exhortation

Differences of opinion in the application of principles can sometimes arise even among sincere Catholics. When this happens, they should be careful not to lose their respect and esteem for each other. Instead, they should strive to find points of agreement for effective and suitable action, and not wear themselves out in interminable arguments, and, under pretext of the better or the best, omit to do the good that is possible and therefore obligatory. First, I haven't read it yet. I'm going to and will post thoughts, but I don't have any specifics right now.

Second, having not read it, I am confused at how a document on evangelization is getting so much publicity on points relating to economics. I'll see what the deal is when I read it, but until then, let us recall that (a) the press knows nothing about the corpus of Catholic social teaching, (b) the desire of people to interpret the entire meaning of this document in light of circumstances in the United States is ridiculous, and (c) in these types of matters, Catholics should always bring to mind the words of Blessed John XXIII:

Differences of opinion in the application of principles (regarding social justice and economics) can sometimes arise even among sincere Catholics. When this happens, they should be careful not to lose their respect and esteem for each other. Instead, they should strive to find points of agreement for effective and suitable action, and not wear themselves out in interminable arguments, and, under pretext of the better or the best, omit to do the good that is possible and therefore obligatory.

Bl. John XXIII, Mater et Magistra

Third, there has been a lot of emoting, almost hysteria, over the reports on what the Pope said/allegedly said. Given the track record of such reporting, I'm about 99.9% sure this is all a bunch of crap. To make a point, though, I direct you to this prior post, specifically the remarks about Honorius and Benedict IX. Or you can just think of Pope John XXII. If the Pope says something that sounds off, as John XXII did, what is the proper course of action? Well, unless it's binding the Church to error or unveiling himself as a formal heretic, what do you think? If someone brings it up to you, just tell them that you can't really comment because you aren't sure what the Pope meant in light of prior teaching, but that whatever he meant, there can't be a contradiction. If there is, then he either didn't mean that, or he's wrong.

For the moment, I think everyone should chill out and take time to read what he wrote.