November 18, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis has criticized the “legalism” of Catholics raising concern about his apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia mere days after four cardinals went public with their request that he clarify it.
See related article, *Updated: Who are these four cardinals who wrote the ‘dubia’ to the Pope?
“Some, as with certain responses to Amoris Laetitia, persist in seeing only white or black, when rather one ought to discern in the flow of life,” Pope Francis said in an interview with Avvenire. “But these critiques – if they’re not from an evil spirit – do help. Some types of rigorism spring from the desire to hide one’s own dissatisfaction under armour.”
On Monday, Cardinals Raymond Burke, Joachim Meisner, Walter Brandmüller, and Carlo Caffarra published a letter asking Pope Francis to answer five “yes or no” questions which would immediately clarify the meaning of the confusion-plagued document on points where theologians, priests, and even bishops have offered contradicting interpretations.
IMPORTANT: To respectfully express your support for the cardinals' letter, sign the petition to Pope Francis. Click here.
Their September 19, 2016 letter, called a “dubia,” went unanswered, so the cardinals released it to the faithful with a note explaining their concerns.
Pope Francis took the unusual step this week of cancelling a scheduled meeting with the world's cardinals at this weekend's consistory. He will officially make a handful of bishops, including three Americans, cardinals this weekend.
According to the National Catholic Register's Ed Pentin, sources have told him Pope Francis is “not happy at all” and “boiling with rage.”