{"id":186,"date":"2016-06-20T06:30:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-20T06:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/06\/pope-francis-speaks-on-marriage.html"},"modified":"2016-06-20T06:30:00","modified_gmt":"2016-06-20T06:30:00","slug":"pope-francis-speaks-on-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/06\/pope-francis-speaks-on-marriage.html","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis speaks on marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019m somewhat confused<\/a>. \u00a0People who hate Pope Francis, like people who all but worship the man even if they deny it, will be of no value. \u00a0Much of what he says is rooted in his own experiences in Latin America. \u00a0As such, they don\u2019t apply here in my cultural context. \u00a0Some of what he seems to be saying is that people are living \u00a0in what used to be called sin, not because they are living in sin, but because they are ignorant of the Sacrament of Marriage. \u00a0As such, he continues, people live in all ways outside of the Church\u2019s understanding of a Sacramental Marriage even if they think they aren\u2019t. \u00a0I\u2019ll leave others to hammer out the implication of most marriages being invalid.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the part that caught my eye, and it could be a matter of translation, but he seems to be saying something about cohabitation and civil marriages that I can\u2019t grasp. \u00a0According to the article, he first says:<\/p>\n

\u201cThey prefer to cohabitate, and this is a challenge, a task. \u00a0Not to ask \u2018why don\u2019t you marry?\u2019 \u00a0No, to accompany, to wait, and to help them to mature, help fidelity to mature.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If they weren\u2019t confused about the Sacrament of Marriage before that sentence, they could be forgiven for being confused now. \u00a0I know I am. \u00a0Is he saying that it doesn\u2019t matter if they are married as long as we foster fidelity? \u00a0I\u2019ll assume he means that we need to help them to mature, and their fidelity to mature, meaning that it finally turns into marriage of a Sacramental nature.<\/p>\n

He then goes on:<\/p>\n

He said that in Argentina\u2019s northeast countryside, couples have a child and live together. They have a civil wedding when the child goes to school, and when they become grandparents they \u201cget married religiously.\u201d \u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

OK, this is paraphrasing what Pope Francis says. \u00a0Note the only quotes are at the end. \u00a0But again, it is a strong reference steeped heavily in his own cultural context. \u00a0It doesn\u2019t really apply to the US, or from what I know, most European Catholic countries, though I could be wrong about the latter. \u00a0But this section is important, because it sets up the most confusing part of the article:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a superstition, because marriage frightens the husband. \u00a0It\u2019s a superstition we have to overcome,\u201d the Pope said. \u00a0\u201cI\u2019ve seen a lot of fidelity in these cohabitation, and I am sure that this is a real marriage, they have the grace of a real marriage because of their fidelity, but there are local superstitions, etc.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

OK. \u00a0First, note this is now a quote. \u00a0Translated to be sure, but quote nonetheless. \u00a0I have no clue what to do with the part about the it being a superstition because of the husband\u2019s fear, so we\u2019ll move on to the second part. \u00a0There are different ways to read this, if you get right down to it. \u00a0And in some ways, that is the biggest problem with Pope Francis. \u00a0While sometimes he leaves no room for debate, at other times we\u2019re left trying to scramble for an authoritative interpretation of what he is talking about.<\/p>\n

In this, he almost seems to be saying that people who are cohabiting outside of marriage, but who have a strong bond of \u2018fidelity\u2019, are for all intents and purposes married sacramentally due to their strong fidelity. \u00a0Since that just seems wrong, we\u2019ll have to think of another way to read it.<\/p>\n

Another way is that he is talking about these older grandparents who, by now, have become married \u2018religiously.\u2019 \u00a0Theirs is a real marriage because of their fidelity. \u00a0The problem here is that he says \u2018I\u2019m sure that this is a real marriage.\u2019 \u00a0The only thing I can think of is that he is contrasting this \u2018real marriage\u2019 to the bulk of marriages today that he has declared invalid. \u00a0For these folks, who started out living together, jumped through a secularized civil ceremony, and only later in life got married, a true religious marriage is the result. \u00a0As opposed to the bulk of the rest of us who, I guess, waited, got married in Church, and for some reason are part of a large group of invalid marriages.<\/p>\n

The second is better, because it doesn\u2019t sound like Pope Francis is tossing out Catholic teaching and saying marriage doesn\u2019t matter, just the feelings and emotional bonding. \u00a0The second suggests Pope Francis is saying that folks who go through life outside of the classic preference for waiting until marriage to consummate the relationship might end up in a better, more sacramental marriage than the folks who followed the numbers. \u00a0I guess.<\/p>\n

Those are the only two ways I can read this. \u00a0Perhaps there\u2019s another. \u00a0But somehow it seems as though he is saying that the traditional understanding of wait until marriage, get married, have sex, have kids, stay married doesn\u2019t have to be the only way. \u00a0Either that or he\u2019s saying you don\u2019t even have to be married. \u00a0I\u2019ll defer to the first option. \u00a0And yet, I\u2019m not sure that is much better. \u00a0It seems, once again, a concession to the modern, post-Christian progressive culture. \u00a0Technically the Sacrament of Marriage is the goal, but it turns out the traditional way to get there is now up for grabs, one way or another. \u00a0If there are other interpretations, I\u2019m all ears.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m somewhat confused. \u00a0People who hate Pope Francis, like people who all but worship the man even if they deny it, will be of no value. \u00a0Much of what he says is rooted in his own experiences in Latin America. \u00a0As such, they don\u2019t apply here in my cultural context. \u00a0Some of what he seems […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPope Francis speaks on marriage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I'm somewhat confused.  People who hate Pope Francis, like people who all but worship the man even if they deny it, will be of no value.  Much\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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