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| The phone is a metaphor. |
The "ecumenical event" as a whole is about as dull and self-congratulatory as one would expect. The crowd is very pleased to see the bishop of Rome in their midst, praying with their leaders and acting like one of them. Much of the event is taken up by marching out minorities and women from third-world countries to beg for money and "gender justice," with terrifying musical interludes in between.
The Lutheran leaders blame the Holy Spirit for this meeting while talking at excruciating length about their feelings. I'm surprised they don't blame Him for climate change because of the neo-pentecostal flames.
They seem to have paid top dollar for Swedish opera singer Malena Ernman, who is a pleasure to listen to as long as you don't have to watch the accompanying multimedia presentation. (And probably also as long as you don't understand Swedish.)
P. Francis's speech has little content, but goes on forever. It's like listening to the homily at a suburban American Mass. The speech by the Swedish Prime Minister about optimism creating a "momentum for peace" is more interesting than the pope's.
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| Selfie stick? |
There's nearly zero theological content on either the Lutheran or Catholic sides of these mutual monologues, and thus nothing for theologians to complain about aside from the lack of content and the suggestion of indifferentism.
You can also watch the raw footage of the pope arriving and leaving on the tarmac, if you are so inclined. All courtesy of the Vatican's YouTube channel.
Michael Matt has an analysis of the meeting, as well as some extra footage of Francis signing the Declaration of Togetherness. Sadly, he veers off into American politics very quickly, but otherwise it is worth watching.
Until the next ecumenical gathering... To the Humblemobile, Cardinal Koch!
His countenance in the third gif seems almost one of suffering...
ReplyDeleteHe looks like that quite a lot in this video.
DeleteThe Special Snowflake of the Holy See
ReplyDeleteIs unlike any other can't you see?
There's nearly zero theological content on either the Lutheran or Catholic sides . . .
ReplyDeletePrecisely.
Hasn't the Holy Father complained about "humanist immanentism", or something like that? Isn't "humanist immanentism" precisely emptying all our speech of theological content, and replacing it with sentimental platitudes that appeal solely to our human comforts and desires?
Was God's existence acknowledged at all during the event?
The event started off with the Lutheran choir singing that they were God's people and the sheep of his pasture, thus assuring everyone that they were also a part of the one, true Church. That's about as deep as the theological content became.
Deletehttp://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2016/10/31/it-was-a-privilege-to-watch-pope-francis-make-history-in-lund/
ReplyDeleteCatholics and Lutherans are now a step closer to the unity Christ prayed for
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But overall this meeting was a great accomplishment. It sends a message that we cannot stay in the past. We cannot demonise and slander one another. On the contrary, we must listen and learn, and appreciate each other as gifts.
We should seek common ground and walk together from here towards deeper unity that must be visible, as Catholics and Lutherans have more in common than we often acknowledge. All participants seemed to agree with this. And the world truly expects it. We must also rediscover the power of the Gospel of Christ in our time.
Can someone please explain this to me, explain how it agrees with the teaching of previous popes?
I thought that the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church already had the "unity that Christ prayed for"; I thought that the continued existence of the Protestant sects was a constant sin against unity.
Heresy & schism anger me. Pretending that those who obstinately remain outside of the Church are good-willed fellow travelers on the way to salvation - is this not a disgraceful lie? If it is not a lie, then I don't know anything about Catholicism. To attempt to pass this indifferentism off as the Will of the Holy Spirit seems to me to be diabolical. The idea that we have to "mutually apologize", and that the Catholic Church somehow has an equal guilt for schism as the sects which have broken away from her, appalls me.
When did heretics and schismatics go from servants of antichrist, to fellow Christian brethren with a different perspective on the gospel?
Late 40s, early 50s as I recall is when Ecumenism (The Universal Solvent of Tradition) began to pick-up emotive steam before hurtling off the salvific tracks during 1962-1965 BCE (Bestest Council Ever).
DeleteSure, Mortalium Animos was an encyclical that taught the danger of praying with heretics, but come on, that was issued in the 1920s and while it aught but reflected two millennium of orthodox praxis and teaching that is no way meant it was binding on modern Catholics who are so well educated.
V2 was the revolutionary bomb detonated inside Saint Peter's Basilica that blowed-up Tradition but it also had an effect outside of the One True Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church; for instance-
It was only a few years later that Enzo Ferrari said, Let's face it, my cars are no better than an AMC Gremlin