{"id":4336,"date":"2016-04-08T11:06:29","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T15:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/pursuedbytruth\/?p=4336"},"modified":"2016-04-08T14:28:56","modified_gmt":"2016-04-08T18:28:56","slug":"5-quick-thoughts-on-pope-francis-amoris-laetitia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pursuedbytruth\/2016\/04\/5-quick-thoughts-on-pope-francis-amoris-laetitia.html","title":{"rendered":"5 Quick Thoughts on Pope Francis’ Amoris Laetitia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"via
via unsplash.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

By Sr. Marianne Lorraine Trouve<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m still reading Pope Francis\u2019\u00a0new document<\/a>\u00a0on the family, which is quite long\u2013about 250 pages!<\/p>\n

Here are a few initial thoughts:<\/p>\n

1. Don\u2019t get your impressions of it from headlines<\/em><\/strong>, which always distort. Read it yourself, otherwise you won\u2019t get a balanced view of it.<\/p>\n

2. Surprise\u2013the pope is Catholic<\/strong><\/em> and actually upholds all Catholic teachings on marriage and family, including that of contraception, the indissolubility of marriage, and divorce. Reading some news reports would give you the opposite impression.<\/p>\n

3. Pope Francis is pastoral and is looking for ways to help people in messy situations<\/em><\/strong> to\u00a0 get some pastoral help. Chapter 8 of the document speaks to that, and that is the part much media coverage will focus on. But remember that it has to be read in light of the whole thing. Catholic teaching on marriage is clear. But it\u2019s not always so clear if individual persons actually contracted a valid marriage. That\u2019s where the messiness comes in. It strikes me that some of what he says here is rather vague and so perhaps could be distorted. But he is not in any way changing Catholic doctrine on sacramental marriage, which he couldn\u2019t do anyway since it comes from Jesus himself.<\/p>\n

4. Th<\/strong>e most beautiful part of it, I think, is the meditation on St Paul\u2019s hymn to love<\/em><\/strong> in 1 Cor, ch. 13. Whether married or not, all of us could meditate on that very fruitfully.<\/p>\n

5. The document has quite a few references to St. Thomas Aquinas.<\/strong><\/em> I noticed that also in Joy of the Gospel.<\/i> Pope Francis must like St Thomas even though he might not seem that way. For example:<\/p>\n

Charity by its very nature, has no limit to its increase, for it is a participation in that infinite charity which is the Holy Spirit. . .\u00a0 Nor on the part of the subject can its limit be fixed, because as charity grows, so too does its capacity for an even greater increase.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"SrLorraine_Sm\"Sr. Marianne Lorraine Trouv\u00e9, FSP is a Daughter of St. Paul who currently works on the editorial staff of\u00a0Pauline Books and Media<\/a>.\u00a0She has a master\u2019s degree in theology from the University of Dayton, with a concentration in Marian studies (The Marian Research Institute at UD). She has also edited several books on Theology of the Body, including the new translation of Pope John Paul\u2019s talks that was done by Michael Waldstein. She is also very interested in Saint Thomas Aquinas and has been working her way through the Summa for several years now, one article at a time.\u00a0Besides prayer and work, she likes to write, garden, do logic puzzles and take walks with friends. She blogs at\u00a0Thomas for Today<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

FYI: You can read the document online HERE <\/a>and pre-order a paperback copy of it HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Find \u201cPursued by Truth\u201d\u00a0on Facebook:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Sr. Theresa Aletheia Noble, FSP<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m still reading Pope Francis’ new document on the family, which is quite long–about 250 pages! Here are a few initial thoughts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,54,352,265],"tags":[1159,1081,1058,1078,1160,29],"class_list":["post-4336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-issues","category-evangelization","category-family","category-st-paul","tag-amoris-laetitia","tag-family","tag-pope-francis","tag-st-paul","tag-st-thomas","tag-synod-on-the-family"],"yoast_head":"\n5 Quick Thoughts on Pope Francis' Amoris Laetitia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I'm still reading Pope Francis' new document on the family, which is quite long--about 250 pages! 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