Conversation

Edward Feser
@FeserEdward
In the DDF document released today, Cardinal Fernández writes that “when an expression requires many, repeated explanations to prevent it from straying from a correct meaning, it does not serve the faith of the People of God and becomes unhelpful.” Well said. But consider all the ink spilled in recent years by those attempting to explain: -how Amoris Laetitia can be reconciled with Christ’s teaching on divorce and St. Paul’s teaching on worthiness to receive Holy Communion -how the revised Catechism’s statement that “the death penalty… is an attack on the inviolability and the dignity of the person” and Dignitas Infinita’s statement that “the death penalty… violates the inalienable dignity of every person, regardless of the circumstances” can be reconciled with the consistent teaching of scripture, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and all the popes up to Benedict XVI that the death penalty is not intrinsically wrong -how “blessing couples” in same-sex or adulterous relationships can be licit even though “blessing unions” of those kinds is not -Pope Francis’s claim that “the pluralism and the diversity of religions… are willed by God” -how human beings can “possess an infinite dignity,” given that, on the most natural reading of that expression, only God can have such dignity And so on for other statements coming from the pope or the Vatican during Francis’s pontificate. Even if we suppose for the sake of argument that all of these statements can be reconciled with traditional teaching, it takes a lot of work to do so – much more work than should ever be necessary with a statement coming from a pope or from the DDF. So, while the cardinal’s point is well taken, I wish it were applied consistently.