Matt GaspersThe Amoris-Dubia Drama, of which I wrote early last week, is accelerating as Pope Francis “raises the stakes” in this showdown over allowing public adulterers to receive the sacraments. Steve Skojec of OnePeterFive reported the breaking news in question as follows:
“A letter from Pope Francis praising episcopal guidelines that would allow divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion in some cases while living in a state of objective grave sin has now been added to the official acts of the Apostolic See, conferring official status on what was formerly considered by many to be merely private communication — and raising the stakes on the Amoris laetitia debate significantly.”
In his letter, dated September 5, 2016 and available in Spanish on the Holy See’s website, Pope Francis wrote concerning the Argentinian bishops’ guidelines:
“El escrito es muy bueno y explícita cabalmente el sentido del capitulo VIII de Amoris laetitia. No hay otras interpretaciones.”
[Translation: “The document is very good and completely explains the meaning of chapter VIII of Amoris laetitia. There are no other interpretations.”]
Other Heterodox Guidelines Also Approved
Although it is tragic, this news should not come as much of a shock to those who have been following this drama over the past few years (remember, it began long before the publication of AL). The evidence that Francis supports reception of Holy Communion by public adulterers (at least in “certain cases”) is neatly presented in the Correctio filias (“filial correction”) made public in late September of this year. In the introductory section of the Correctio, the signatories list several examples of “words, deeds, and omissions” of the Pope that, together with certain passages of AL, “are serving to propagate heresies within the Church,” including his above-quoted letter to the bishops of Argentina. Other examples listed include the heterodox guidelines issued by the Pope’s own diocese of Rome in the fall of 2016 and his praise of similar guidelines issued by the Maltese bishops (published in L’Osservatore Romano, the official newspaper of the Holy See, no less!) in January of this year.
Diabolic Detail Points to “Final Battle”
One striking detail in this story, which could easily escape notice, is the date on which Pope Francis’ letter appears in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis: October 7, 2016 (AAS Vol. 108, No. 10, pp. 1071-1074), the day on which the Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The fact the Francis’ letter of approval for sacrilegious Communion was made official on October 7 should remind us of the testimony of Sister Lucia of Fatima, who told Fr. Agustín Fuentes in 1957: “Father, the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin.” Likewise, she wrote to the late Cardinal Carlo Caffarra: “the final battle between the Lord and the reign of satan will be about marriage and the family.”
Let us take heart, however, calling to mind Sister Lucia’s words of encouragement to Cardinal Caffarra that “Our Lady has already crushed his head,” as well as her affirmation to Fr. Agustin Fuentes that
“the Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary. She has given this efficacy to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary.”
Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima, pray for us!
