Yet another interview with Card. Kasper is available for your … what… edification?
His Eminence gave an interview to Il Quotidiano. My translation:
“We will reach a wide consensus. I am not Nostradamus, but I believe, I hope that the line of mercy about access to the sacraments for the divorced remarried can be approved next year by a majority of bishops in the assembly”. [Sounds like a candidate for office on the eve of the election, no? And note the point of “mercy”, which by now is a manipulation word. Who’s against mercy, right?] On the eve of the Synod on the Family, a preparatory meeting in view of the ordinary, deliberative meeting of 2015, the tensions between progressivists and conservatovies are more and more inflamed. Especially under attack is Cardinal Walter KAsper, who carries the liberal flag. Favorable toward admitting the remarried to Communion after a period of penance, [… blah blah removed…]
Q: Cardinal, they say that you are attacking the indissolubility of marriage.
KASPER: This is a complete falsehood, doctrine isn’t being touched. [“la dottrina non si tocca”] In play here is ecclesiastical discipline, or the application of principles. It is on this point that there is need for a reform in order to meet those to have wounded hearts. [When you change discipline, there are unintended (or intended?) consequences. Isn’t the Catholic practice of, say Friday abstinence, these days bring many spiritual fruits to the Church and isn’t it enriching our Catholic identity before the watching world? … No?]
Q: How is this even of the Synod going for you, which finds you between protagonists after the direct nomination of the Pope?
KASPER: I am quite calm, dialectic has never been lacking even in Vatican II. At the end of this synodal road I foresee, and with some compromise, as often happened in the Council, that the thesis of mercy will pass. [The “thesis of mercy” v. … what? The “thesis of cruelty, legalism, ideology”.]
Q: Until now, however, the voices raised have been nearly completely raises against Communion for the divorced remarried.
KASPER: Muller, De Paolis and Burke have the right to express themselves, Francis wants there to be a serious debate. That said, they are not alone. [“They are not alone….” Ooooo!]
Q: Is Muller’s strong opposition an attack on the Pope?
KASPER: I don’t know if it is a conspiracy (congiura). Even at Vatican II the Prefect of the Holy Office, Ottaviani, was not in agreement with the Pontiff, John XXIII. So, let us avoid exaggeration and focus only on the divorced remarried. [Apples and oranges. Ottaviani wrote to the Holy Father about his concerns. Also, there is a qualitative difference between a mere Synod, and an extraordinary one at that, and the work of an Ecumenical Council.]
Q: Moving to couples living together. Are these a sign of the times or not?
KASPER: They are, [and why is that? Is it, in part at least, because the Church’s teaching and practice have become muddled?] and for that reason the Church must announced the beauty of the Gospel also to those who are not married.
Q: Does that include homosexual unions?
KASPER: They are not families, [Activists and Fishwrap are going to love that one!] but, if lived with seriousness and fidelity, they have their own value. [What does that mean?]
Okay…. let’s play this out, off the interview page for a moment.
Q: Multiple wives?
A: We need to learn from our Muslim brothers. The more the merrier. God permitted the Hebrew Bible patriarchs to have many wives at the same time. Why not now?
Q: What about removing the Church Tax so that everyone in Germany can approach the Church without paying for sacraments?
A: Non si tocca!
My concern, partly validated here, is that, after this extraordinary Synod does little or nothing, we are going to have a whole year of liberal grinding in the press and pulpits, thus raising expectations of huge changes. And then, when Francis doesn’t do what they want, the revolt really breaks out into the open.
You will say that liberals are already in revolt against the Church’s teachings and disciplines. Sure. However, when their hopes are dashed they will break whatever tethers still remain.
And let us not forget that the Synod can do nothing but talk. They can vote on anything, say, that French croissants are better than Roman cornetti. In the end, they can recommend things to the Pope. The Pope decides.
