{"id":299610,"date":"2019-06-20T15:05:49","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T19:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=299610"},"modified":"2019-06-20T15:05:49","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T19:05:49","slug":"the-conservative-catholics-who-defend-pope-francis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2019\/06\/the-conservative-catholics-who-defend-pope-francis\/","title":{"rendered":"The Conservative Catholics Who Defend Pope Francis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One of them is my friend and blog neighbor Father Matthew Schneider<\/a>,<\/strong> who is quoted here:\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

By and large, opinions about Francis are as predictable as they are militant. Theological and political liberals take a positive view of the Holy Father; conservatives, not so much. Those on the Church\u2019s right wing have strongly supported the 2016 dubia (a request for clarification of the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia<\/em>), and many defended the 2017 correctio filialis (filial correction) \u2013 though most stopped short of endorsing 2019\u2019s \u201cheresy letter\u201d. This is the group dismissed by the LA Times as \u201ccranky\u201d, by Reuters as \u201cextremists\u201d and by Fr James Martin as the \u201cCatholic alt-right\u201d.<\/p>\n

And yet not all theological conservatives and liturgical traditionalists oppose Pope Francis. A vanguard of well-known writers, academics and priests have stood against the tide of partisan opinion to defend the Supreme Pontiff.<\/p>\n

For the Legionary priest and blogger Fr Matthew Schneider, defending Pope Francis is part and parcel of his priestly vocation. \u201cTo me, the call of the priest online is primarily part of the munus docendi \u2013 the power or duty of teaching \u2013 which is among the three munera [duties] we receive at ordination,\u201d he tells me. \u201cAs such, we are called to defend, explain and promote the Catholic Church and her teaching primarily through words.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fr Schneider thinks the problem of anti-Francis conservatives is inherent in the word \u201cconservative\u201d itself \u2013 that is, applying partisan language to spiritual matters. \u201cI am strongly orthodox and Catholic,\u201d he says, \u201cbut I don\u2019t identify with any political label.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also skeptical of drawing too sharp a line between Pope Francis and his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who remains a hero figure to orthodox Catholics. \u201cEven though Pope Francis speaks in a different manner to the popes we remember, I don\u2019t see major problems with what he says or his way of speaking,\u201d he tells me. \u201cWe need to realise that Francis is more of a pastor, while Benedict \u2026 is more a theology professor, so the latter is more used to precise theological language.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the rest.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of them is my friend and blog neighbor Father Matthew Schneider, who is quoted here:\u00a0 By and large, opinions about Francis are as predictable as they are militant. Theological and political liberals take a positive view of the Holy Father; conservatives, not so much. Those on the Church\u2019s right wing have strongly supported the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":48185,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[1413],"class_list":["post-299610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pope","tag-pope-francis"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Conservative Catholics Who Defend Pope Francis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of them is my friend and blog neighbor Father Matthew Schneider, who is quoted here:\u00a0 By and large, opinions about Francis are as predictable as they\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2019\/06\/the-conservative-catholics-who-defend-pope-francis\/\" \/>\n<meta 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