A number of bloggers are struggling with Pope Francis’ comment about family planning and Roman Catholics “breeding like rabbits.” On the one side are those who think Francis is only speaking to the wider public and would choose his words more carefully if addressing the faithful exclusively:
When Francis speaks to the mainstream media, like it or not, he is choosing to speak to non-Catholics. Faithful, practicing Catholics are not his primary audience. If you are expecting Pope Francis to be speaking to you as a practicing Catholic when he addresses the media, you will be devastated.
From the other corner comes the spin that those outside the church don’t know how to take Francis’ off the cuff statements:
The Church has never taught that Catholics are to have as many children as possible. They can use abstinence, including the selective abstinence of “Natural Family Planning,” to limit the number of children they bear.
Yet such nuance is bound to be lost on the Pope’s secular audience. Just as his comments saying that Catholics should not be “obsessed” with abortion have been used as cudgels against political candidates who oppose abortion and gay marriage, Francis’s rabbit comment is likely to be used as yet another weapon against Catholics faithful to church teaching.
Damned if we get it, damned if we don’t.
But the point about Pope Francis saying things the way he does because he is speaking to non-Roman Catholics raises an interesting (to me) question. Why does the pontiff carry on a conversation with the wider world and how do I get to join it? I mean, if the pope’s jurisdiction is truly universal, then he is my pope as much as Jason and the Callers. In which case, if I have to listen to him, shouldn’t he have to hear from me once in a while?
Or is it the case that the universal jurisdiction of the papacy only extends to a spiritual authority which Francis has by virtue of certain Christians being in fellowship with him?
It seems to me that papal discourse is still caught between the older Unam Sanctam outlook of the papacy as the highest authority even above temporal authorities, and the newer Vatican 2 conception that sees church power largely in spiritual terms (except within Vatican City which has its own police, prison, bank, and postal service). Protestants in the United States took a long time to figure out that when Reinhold Niebuhr spoke, he wasn’t speaking for or to all Americans. But the coverage and following of the papacy surely hasn’t captured the distinction between the real power that the papacy has over Roman Catholic life and institutions, and the apparent moral authority that appears to give the pope permission to speak about everything Satan to tsunamis. Meanwhile, no one seems to notice that no one cares what other bishops might have to say. For all of Francis’ talk of collegiality, he is hogging the limelight. And do journalists actually realize that even if they don’t believe in papal supremacy the way the cover the Holy See indicates they support papal supremacy.
I’m sure Jason and the Callers could clear all of this up (if they ever commented on the contemporary state of the communion to which they call).
Old Life 
Mullarkey http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/mullarkey/2015/01/francis-political-illusion
JM, SJ:] First, do you worry that we might be so enamored of tradition (not Tradition but simply tradition) that we may miss what the Holy Spirit is asking of us, and unable to read the “signs of the times,” as Christ asks? More to the point, do you worry that our church could unintentionally repeat what Jesus accused some of the Pharisees of doing, that is, laying down “heavy burdens” on people, seemingly more concerned with laws than human beings?
Let me be clear: I’m not calling either you, or anyone who agrees with you, or anyone else for that matter, a “Pharisee.” But Jesus invites us to ask ourselves if we are behaving in that manner. Thus, the church—that is, we, the entire People of God—must always be alert to the danger of relying on the law so much that we miss Christ’s call for mercy. Again, it is always balance: law and mercy. But in my mind Jesus tips the scales consistently to mercy, as when he levels his own judgment on the Pharisees, “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.”
As I say, it’s a balance, but ceteris paribus, stinginess with mercy seems like something that we would have to answer for when we finally meet Jesus Christ….
[RD:] What it has more in common with [than stereotypical Pharisaism, and I speak from experience, is certain forms of Mainline Protestantism and megachurch evangelicalism: Notwithstanding what still emanates from the Vatican, we’ve become a church of long communion and short confession lines (and you’re more likely to find me in the first than the second), of Jesus-affirms-you sermons and songs, of marriage preparation retreats (like mine) where most of the couples are cohabitating and nobody particularly cares
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Which goes to show that for all the vaunted supremacy of having an authoritative interpreter of Scripture, who is the authoritative interpreter of the pope?
What our RC interlocutors can’t seem to get is that by undermining the confidence of personal interpretation and replacing it with papalist, we’re just left with an eternal, never ending, never-are-we-sure-what-Magisterial-statement-is-authoritative chain of interpretation.
Give me the assurance of the Holy Spirit working hand in hand with the objectivity of the Word of God written any day. Its the only place to find true cognitive rest. Put it in the hands of a fallen human institution like the Vatican, and you get but one attitude at the end of the day: “I’m not the Magisterium. The Magisterium knows. I don’t have to know what the Magisterium knows. I just need nominal assent. God will give me a pass on the last day if the Magisterium gets it wrong and I follow it.”
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DGH: Why does the pontiff carry on a conversation with the wider world and how do I get to join it?
You could always follow him on Twitter (@pontifex) and get time off from Purgatory as a bonus!
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John, I thought that too, but then the pontifex maximus shoots that idea down too:
I wonder if him and Obama would golf together, they could do so, and there could be lots of chit chat between tee-offs (emoticon). Cell phones always off at the golf course, good ettiquette and all, yo..
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Andrew, I have said it frequently: what Rome gives with one fork of its tongue, it takes away with the other.
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John, it was pretty wierd, having to navigate blogdom with Jason and the Callers and all their writing. I’m very much in debt to Darryl for his taking them on full bore since Jason’s conversion. I really appreciate the work of men like you who help draw distinctions for untrained laymen (i.e. never been to seminary) like me who had little to no experience with RCism (excepting the occasional RC co-worker, what NPR says when they elect a new pope, etc..). So to you as well, my thanks. Peace.
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Andrew, I’m glad too for DGH’s interactions (and everyone’s here) with Roman Catholicism. It’s truly a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and the more broadly that message can be spread, the better off we all will be.
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John, our RC interlocutors needs lots of this from folks like us.
I’m out. Later.
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How Bryan Cross does his apologetics:
http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-big-roman-catholic-apologetic-thumb.html
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Some would like the pope to talk less (which was his custom prior to becoming the Vicar of Christ):
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these guys weren’t too happy about the rabbit trail fostered by pontifex:
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DGH — fascinating that Philip Lawler is citing the recent CTC convert Taylor Marshall on some point of doctrine. there are so few of them, they really have to talk among themselves.
Andrew — beware citing those “Most Holy Family” folks — they are sedevacantists (reject Vatican II), and they seem to be more rabid than most. So the CTCers will simply reject anything they say the same way that the reject everything that OldLifers say. “Begging the question”.
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