However, I doubt it makes any difference now.
"We have to be careful with the reports about what Francis said.
We have to check the English version of the interview against the Italian."
"Can you live crushed under the weight of the present? Can you go on like this?"
The Holy Father did another interview. The Pope: how the Church will change.
Now don't get me wrong, but I'm sticking to the Brideshead lesson on Papal off the cuff pronouncements and spontaneous interviews:
"... 'Supposing the Pope looked up and saw a cloud and said 'It's going to rain', would that be bound to happen?' 'Oh, yes, Father.' 'But supposing it didn't?' He thought a moment and said, "I suppose it would be sort of raining spiritually, only we were too sinful to see it.'" - Fr. Mowbray, Brideshead RevisitedI'm too little and too sinful to understand what the Pope says in interviews and off the cuff remarks to people on the phone.
However, the last two interviews, coupled with the Holy Father's sense of urgency about reform, suggests to me that since Vatican II at least, the Church really has pretty much collapsed ... otherwise why would the Pope say the following?
"...You tell me: can you live crushed under the weight of the present? Without a memory of the past and without the desire to look ahead to the future by building something, a future, a family? Can you go on like this? This, to me, is the most urgent problem that the Church is facing."Of course, the quote is a little out of context - or is it?
Pray, hope, and don't worry.
Another interview is a mystery so I cannot fully grasp the reason for it. Only Papa Francis knows the whys. I will keep trusting, keep praying and keep my hope alive for the Church and for those of us who love her.
ReplyDeleteI have already asked St. Therese to keep Papa Francis close in prayer and I know she and he are friends, so that's covered.
I will refrain from all the negative blogs and bloggers regarding this latest interview. (burned out actually) Instead, I will go out into the yard, ponder the flowers, gaze at the sky, and welcome the beautiful month of October in all its glory.
Thanks again for your thoughts, Terry. God bless!
Yes, he's talking about living in a world without hope, full of loneliness. I agree, it's the most serious evil in the world. It is easy for the secular world to understand in these terms "youth unemployment" and "loneliness of the old." So many of the other evils in the world (abortion, murder, war, the rationalization of many other bad actions) come from hopelessness and lack of love. Be not afraid. (:
ReplyDelete"So many" should be properly "all" I guess!
DeleteI think it's time to learn Italian. I have the feeling we are getting shortchanged in the translation department. Somebody is doing a crummy job... Nothing sounds right.
ReplyDeleteSomeone is working on it now.
Deletehttp://romans8v29.blogspot.com/2013/10/francis-interview-2.html
Glad there are good people looking to cover Papa Francis's back! God bless them all!
No matter what happens, what is said, what is done - the Church can never change her teachings. Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I am Christ's and Christ is mine... and Christ is in the Blessed Sacrament.
ReplyDelete"Mine are the heavens and mine is the earth. Mine are the nations, the just are mine, and mine the sinners. The angels are mine, and the Mother of God, and all things are mine; and God Himself is mine and for me, because Christ is mine and all for me." - St. John of the Cross
Amen! Viva Cristo Rey!
DeleteFr Z is also clearing some things up regarding mis-translation. Thank God!
ReplyDeleteTerry,
ReplyDeleteJimmy Akin has a good response too as to the reasons for possible said mistranslations. What a week so far! ^^)
Terry, are you being serious? I do not see the problem with what he said, even how you have it written there.
ReplyDeleteMerc - I'm not too worried about what he says and I blame a lot on soundbites and reading too much into what he says off the cuff or in an interview. The way things are conveyed to media is picked up and twisted to suit special interest groups. I much more tired of how everyone tries to unpack what he says. The original impressions gathered from the latest interview led some people to believe that the pope is encouraging relativism and God knows what else.
ReplyDeleteIt is because of all the turmoil and chaos that I'm suggesting the Church is in a stage of collapse - and I can't help but feel that is what Francis meant when he called the Church a field hospital for the wounded. Everything he says seems to me to reveal a false security generated during the last pontificate - that we'd all get along if you will. The Church herself - must surely feel the crushing weight of the present.
Change is crushing. It seems to me we have all been thrust into the winepress.
I think by a field hospital for the wounded, Francis was stressing the horizontal version of the Gospel - that seems to have been his focus all along. If the worst evils are unemployment and loneliness, then this is an indication of how he reads the Gospel and its implications for our time.
DeleteWe went from a Pope who wondered “What did Jesus actually bring, if not world peace, universal prosperity, and a better world? What has he brought?” to one who said:
Delete"Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place."
Is the Church doing that?
"Yes, that is the purpose of our mission: to identify the material and immaterial needs of the people and try to meet them as we can. "
Benedict was a man who pointed to eternity - he wrote a book on Eschatology at one point. Francis is a man who, not unlike many other Jesuits, has a certain optimism and focus on 'this world'. There are works out there categorized as Ignatian Humanism. I have personally heard a homilist, though not a Jesuit but a self-avowed fan of Francis, say that we need not bother about questions of the afterlife, that our focus ought to be 'here'.
DeleteI do not think this debate or tension is new at all in the Church. Benedict had his stance and Francis is now making his pretty clear as well. All of this points back to the mystery that has always been.
I meant, by bringing up that homilist, that the admiration is not a mere coincidence - it is a theological kinship.
DeleteBTW - I think Fr. Z is one of the best analysts on these things - he knows Rome, he knows the Vatican, he's a Roman priest, he know the hierarchy, he knows the politics, he can translate. His commentary and follow up is the best I've read - just avoid his combox. ;)
ReplyDeleteHi Terry!
DeleteHere is one of my all time favorite priests giving us just a brief moment of his busy time and what he thinks with regards to one of Papa Francis's interviews.
Fr. Robert Barron:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0gHG8RCq4Q
Father Z does give some good insight into the translation of th Pope's words, but I think he destroys is all with headlines like, "Pope Francis interview in La Repubblica, or, “Is This Now My Fate?” and the inserts sentences such as, "Sigh… are we going to have to do this everyday? Is this now my fate?" And you wonder why he gets the kind of comments that are in his combox?
ReplyDeleteOne other thing I would like to say about Father Z's analysis is that it is very technical. He is completely hung up on the translation, trying to parse the words to make the Pope say things that will be palatable to traditional Catholics, who comprise most of his readers. He doesn't look at the big picture of the ideas and concepts Pope Francis is trying to relate. And if Father Z can't quite make the Pope's words say things that are more "acceptable", he will write things like, "keep in mind that everything the Pope said to Scalfari is off the cuff and… well… off the cuff." Personally, I don't think the Pope would appreciate this at all because it makes it sound as if he, the Pope, was not really aware of what he is saying. And I think he is very aware of every word he is saying, and he means every word he says. You can be very, very sure that the Pope spent much time in prayer before these interviews and has asked for the Holy Spirit's guidance. Remember, Pope Francis told us in his last interview that he spends an hour every day in Eucharistic Adoration.
ReplyDeleteReaction to Pope Francis reminds me very much of people's reactions to Jesus Christ when He walked the earth. The Jews went crazy because He did not fit into their traditions. Many Catholics, unfortunately, are emulating the Jews at the time of Christ.
Terry, I get it. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteCatholic in Brooklyn - thanks for commenting with your clear insights. What you say is very true.
ReplyDeleteI agree...that has always been my impression. While much of what he says is good, there is lots I do not agree with but yesterday, I did thank him for his patience at sharing with the rest of us, his thoughts on the latest interview.
DeleteDespite all the bitterness in many quarters...I love Papa Francis's joyful witness. How can one not be filled with the joy of Christ if you sit with him everyday in the Blessed Sacrament? I mean gee...a true basking in the glorified Son is beyond measure and the blessings? Why a hundred-fold! What a powerful witness in an elderly man! I mean think...what strength! He shares it with all because he wants all of us to be lifted up just like he has been!
Amen! Thank you Lord Jesus! Thank you!