There was a very interesting article in the New York Times
by Ross Douthat titled: THE POPE’S PHONE CALL.
The phone call in question was from an Argentine woman who
asked the pope if she could take communion despite being married to a divorced
man…Pope Francis gave her permission to take communion.
The problem is that the Church teaches that the husband is
in a state of adultery unless he gets his first marriage annulled (a divorce
will not do). In this case, she is committing adultery being married to a man
that is still married to another woman (in the eyes of the church).
Pope Francis is universally admired because he has shown a
softer side of the Catholic Church; a side that does not just condemn but tries
to understand members of the church and the realities of life they face here on
earth.
This is quite admirable and obviously something people are
desperate for but what about doctrine.
Here the pope has had to walk a fine line always saying that
he is not changing well established doctrine; just kind of massaging it?
Pope Francis will eventually come to a point where he will
have to admit that a doctrine governing a specific subject is just wrong and
must be changed…or he may continue to just keep dancing around the subject such
as, let’s say homosexuality.
The Church actually came close to doing just that on the subject
of contraception in the 1960s. At that time the then pope commissioned a high
level panel to study the issue and the panel decided that contraception should
be allowed but the then pope developed cold feet thinking he would go down in
history as the pope that changed doctrine…well maybe the time has come?
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