Interesting article, which perhaps reflects the thinking of the Vatican:
Fifty-year-old Faggioli, an Italian by birth, has for many years held teaching posts in the US. The publication of his new book in both the US and Italy was timed to coincide with the inauguration ceremony. It is not an academic work, but an analysis of current religious tensions in the US and especially the mood among America’s Catholics.
Faggioli argues that sections of the Catholic Church in the US are drifting toward fundamentalism, and he describes how a number of bishops are now openly challenging the authority of Pope Francis. He even talks of the seeds of a “schism,” a “culture war,” a war against modern society and values.
Faggioli focuses on America’s initial response to Kennedy in 1960. As a descendant of Irish Catholics, he was met with widespread hostility. “For the first Catholic president, his being a Catholic was a problem for important sectors of the Protestant establishment of the nation. For the second one, the country has no problem with [Biden] being Catholic, but a not insignificant segment of the Catholic Church in the US — from among its bishops, its clergy, and its faithful — has a problem with his brand of Catholicism,” he writes.
For them, the Biden who in recent years backed same-sex marriage while failing to fulminate vehemently against the right to abortion is simply too much of a moderate.
Go here to read the rest. Today if you hold to the teaching of the Church that abortion is murder of the innocent and that marriage is solely between a man and a woman, you are branded a fundamentalist. It looks like a two track strategy may be emerging. Force Catholics who adhere to traditional teaching into schism, or simply declare them to be in schism, and label conservatives in the US as domestic terrorists. For American Catholics, extremely sinister forces are at work in both Church and State.
Remember the Goldman Sachs executives who referred to their clients as ‘muppets’? Describes the attitude of the bishops (as well as the Republican Party leadership, while we’re at it). They want the revenue from the muppets, so the muppets won’t be declared in schism. It’s up to the muppets to find the faithful apostolates and cut them off. (If what I’ve seen is representative, the parish clergy are doing their best to pretend Francis isn’t there rather than directly challenging him).
Dear Italians, you lost the war. Get over it. Love, the Yanks.
Pope Francis teaches that procured abortions are a grave evil. He equates hiring an abortionist with hiring a hitman.
Pope Francis has, repeatedly, taught marriage is an exclusive and permanent relationship between one man and woman.
No one has asked Joe Biden if he agrees with Pope Francis on these two issues. I am unaware of any American Roman Catholic bishops who disagree with Pope francis’ teachings on these two Church doctrines.