Baptizing Children Out of Wedlock... September 7, 2012
Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires has criticized Catholic pastors who refuse to baptize children born to single mothers.
The cardinal expressed his sympathy for a young woman who, after becoming pregnant, resists temptations to abortion and gives birth to the child. Then, he said, she finds herself “on a pilgrimage, going from parish to parish, trying to find someone who would baptize her child.”
The priests who reject this woman, Cardinal Bergoglio, are “hijacking” the sacrament, using rigid rules to preserve their own status, and are likely to “drive God’s people away from salvation.” He likened them to the Pharisees, and reminded them that Jesus regularly condemned the Pharisees, while spending his time with those they regarded as sinners.
“I say this with sadness, and if it sounds like a complaint or an offensive comment please forgive me,” the cardinal said. But he insisted that priests should serve the spiritual needs of the people and not “the interests of religious power.” - Link
More evidence of the spiritual battle for
souls... July 10, 2010
[Letter of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, to the Carmelite Nuns of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires (June 22, 2010)]
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I write this letter to each one of you in the four Monasteries of Buenos Aires. The Argentine people must face, in the next few weeks, a situation whose result may gravely harm the family. It is the bill on matrimony of persons of the same sex.
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The identity of the family, and its survival, are in jeopardy here: father, mother, and children. The life of so many children who will be discriminated beforehand due to the lack of human maturity that God willed them to have with a father and a mother is in jeopardy. A clear rejection of the law of God, engraved in our hearts, is in jeopardy.
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I recall words of Saint Thérèse when she speaks of the infirmity of her childhood. She says that the envy of the Devil tried to extort her family after her older sister joined the Carmel. Here, the envy of the Devil, through which sin entered the world, is also present, and deceitfully intends to destroy the image of God: man and woman, who receive the mandate to grow, multiply, and conquer the earth. - Link
The comments on the first post concerning baptism were interesting...
I went back and read what I said- I still believe that.
ReplyDeleteI do too. Thanks Thom.
ReplyDeleteOur Holy Father seems to have great devotion to St. Therese and is close to the Carmelites.
ReplyDeleteOn FB, I put up a beautiful picture of the now Pope Francis on Holy Thursday at a Maternity Hospital, washing the feet of the poor probably unwed mothers. You would not believe the criticism that picture has received. Some woman even unfriended me over it. People have forgotten what the Gospel means.
Did I say something sex-obsessed?
ReplyDeleteElena - how disgusting some people can be. I need to "friend" you on FB so I can see it.
No, I don't think so Merc - you can if you want to though.
ReplyDeleteElena - that is too bad - some people may be stunned by the light of this holy Pope. Those who are afraid do not need to be, I'm convinced of that.
Thank you, Mercury. I'll send it to you.
ReplyDeleteTerry, so true. They cannot deal with the light.