Below are excerpts from Pope Francis' Homily at Casa Santa Marta on Friday, May 19, 2017, on the same day as the speeches of the dubia signatories, Cardinal Burke and Cardinal Caffarra, at the Rome Life Forum. Is this Pope Francis' answer to the 'dubia' of the four cardinals?:
“So we are faced with two groups of people. The group of the apostles who want to discuss the problem, and the others who go and create problems. They divide, they divide the Church, they say that what the Apostles preached is not what Jesus said, that it is not the truth.”
"There were many [councils], up until Vatican II, which clarified doctrine: for example, when we recite the Creed, it is the result of councils that have defined doctrine… It is a duty of the Church to clarify doctrine so that what Jesus said in the Gospels is better understood, what is the Spirit of the Gospels…. "
"But there were always those people who, without any commission, go about disturbing the Christian community with speeches that upset souls: "Eh, no, someone who says that is a heretic, you can’t say this, or that; this is the doctrine of the Church.’ And they are fanatics about things that are not clear, such as these fanatics who go about there, sowing discord in order to divide the Christian community. And this is the problem: when the doctrine of the Church, that which comes from the Gospel, that which the Holy Spirit inspires – because Jesus said, 'He will teach us and remind you of all that I have taught’ – that doctrine becomes an ideology. And this is the great error of these people."
"We must not be frightened when we hear of the opinions of the ideologues of doctrine. The Church has its own Magisterium, the Magisterium of the Pope, of the Bishops, of the Councils, and we must go along the path that comes from the preaching of Jesus, and from the teaching and assistance of the Holy Spirit, it is always open, always free… this is the freedom of the Spirit, but in doctrine… doctrine unites, the councils always unite the Christian community… ideology divides… for them ideology is more important than doctrine: they leave aside the Holy Spirit."
"Today it falls to me to call for the grace of mature obedience to the Magisterium of the Church, that obedience to what the Church has always taught and continues to teach us…. it develops the Gospel, explains it better each time, in fidelity to Peter, the bishops, and ultimately, to the Holy Spirit who guides and supports this process… to pray also for those who transform doctrine into ideology, so that the Lord may give them the grace of conversion to the unity of the Church, to the Holy Spirit and to true doctrine."
Sources: Vatican Radio, "Pope Francis: doctrine unites, ideology divides," May 19, 2017, http://en.radiovaticana.va/
L'Osservatore Romano, ed. quotidiana, Anno CLVII, n.116, 20/05/2017, http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/cotidie/2017/documents/papa-francesco-cotidie_20170519_dottrina-e-ideologia.html
