www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Is Pope Francis a Heretic?

I assume the Bishop of Rome is a topic of relevance to most people here.

A patristics scholar has come out with this new interview strongly suggesting that Amoris Laetitia is very close to heresy and the whole scenario as "unprecedented" and "apocalyptic."

https://gloria.tv/video/zYDLfafjvndC4DNFsQpMLKieo

No.

Gloria.tv, another reliably obstinate and totally unreliable source of Roman Catholic information. Please keep it out of here and go play in your own sandbox with your ultramontanist buddies. This site is about Eastern Christian and Eastern Catholic topics not this kind of non-sense.

"Gloria.tv is an internet-based Catholic video-sharing and news site based in Switzerland. It was created in 2005 and has become one of the largest Catholic-focused sites of its kind on the internet. It is run by a group of laity, supported by a few priests. It hosts videos and other media in many languages including English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Romansch, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Romanian, Hungarian and others.

The news staff of the site have been notably very critical of the papacy of Pope Francis as well as critical of many other bishops and clergy within the modern church. It has been involved in some controversies between it and a few dioceses in the German-speaking world." Source Wikipedia as befits the topic

Critical of the papacy? Critical of many bishops?

Why does that matter?

The bully-language and name-calling of your post shows an unwillingness to consider the issue.

Yes I think your sources and your thesis are questionable at best but more likely nonsense.. But most of all I think you are patently ignorant of the purpose of this forum. There are plenty of places you can go on the internet and pedal this stuff without wasting the time of this forum.

I think this is something that has been weighing on many mainstream Catholics for a long time now and it's certainly not "nonsense". What is "nonsense", is the rampant secularization of the Roman hierarchy and the neo-liberal politicizing of the papacy under Francis. There are many mainstream Catholic news organizations that have expressed grave concerns, including EWTN and Catholic World Report.

Honestly, your reply is an example why I no longer post on this forum. There seems to be no openness to any kind of frank discussion about anything controversial or any room for differing opinions. That makes for a very dull discussion board to say the least.. Question anything and you're immediately shut down. I guess we should all just put our heads in the sand and pretend everything's business as usual in Rome.

"Honestly, your reply is an example why I no longer post on this forum. There seems to be no openness to any kind of frank discussion about anything controversial or any room for differing opinions. That makes for a very dull discussion board to say the least.. Question anything and you're immediately shut down. I guess we should all just put our heads in the sand and pretend everything's business as usual in Rome."

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. I agree, the 500-pound gorilla, the Latin Church, affects us Byzantines, whether we like it or not. Pope Francis is difficult to understand. I sometimes view him as a South American socialist who doesn't like the United States. It is easier to blame the U.S. for your nation's problems than fix your own country and its culture - the real source of its problems. I refer Pope Francis to God and am willing to let God deal with him. Popes come and go, blessed be the name of the Lord.

Although my church is in union with Rome, that doesn't mean it accepts every Latin interpretation of its theology. We tend to not make pronouncements on Latin theological eccentricities, since they are often better at digging their own holes than escaping from them.

Indeed, what is the point of a forum if a crucial issue such as the orthodoxy of the Bishop of Rome, remains a taboo and forbidden topic?

To dismiss the issue is to just bury one's head in the sand.

I would expect Byzantine Catholics are also concerned with the actions and statements of Successor of Peter.

Hi TonyM!

You might consider that there is a huge difference between posting a link to a video of someone proclaiming "The pope is a heretic!!" and a rational discussion of specific points taken from a specific document. You'd likely get a better response if you began a real discussion (like: In "Amoris Laetitia", Section XXX, Pope Francis says "A, B and C". I find this problematic because it is conflict with [List formal Catholic Teaching and provide reference and quote).

See what I mean?

Your post comes across as tossing in a bomb and waiting to see what happens. That's not a discussion.

John

Heretic..no! Herald of the message of Jesus in word and example...yes!

Pope Francis is not a heretic. His writings and speeches are vague. This vagueness has caused a tremendous amount of confusion. See for example the varied responses to Amoris Laetitia. I think it is extremely far fetched to call him a heretic.

He is the ultimate "spirit" of Vatican II pope. I had hoped that the successor of Pope Benedict would have carried on the positive reforms that were going on. I do think, and I could be wrong, that Pope Francis is one of the last, if not the last, "spirit" of Vatican II popes and that future popes will be more like Benedict and less like Francis.

One day Church historians will look back at Benedict the Great and Pope Francis will be an interesting footnote.

I hope you are right about that. I greatly admired Pope Benedict.

I also have a strong admiration and respect for Benedict. My friend and I did a report on him in school on the qualities of a great leader. Pope Francis is still a good man though and he deserves our respect.

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Pope Francis appoints abortion supporter to Academy For Life (after dismissing more orthodox members):
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/new...n-appointed-to-vatican-pro-life-academy/