Support the filial correction of Pope Francis for 'propagating heresies'. Sign the petition!
ROME, September 27, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — The “Filial Correction” of Pope Francis issued by Catholic clergy and scholars has been top news in Catholic and secular media outlets — including the AP, BBC, CNN, Fox News, Drudge Report, Huffington Post, and Daily Mail.
This correction, charging Pope Francis with permitting the spread of seven heresies, at least by omission, about “marriage, the moral life, and the reception of the sacraments,” has clearly been making a massive worldwide impact.
Nevertheless, some articles, such as that which appeared in the National Catholic Reporter, have suggested that the correction is nothing important, made by “really marginal figures” of little standing.
“Since I have given my own life to the priesthood exclusively for the salvation of souls, I had to add my name to the Correctio.”
The director of the Holy See Press Office, Greg Burke, also seemed to downplay the document’s importance. On Monday, he responded to reports in the Italian press that the Vatican had blocked access to the website of the “filial correction” on its computers.
“You can’t really imagine we would do this [block the website] for a letter with 60 names,” he joked to the Italian newspaper Il Giornale.
Even senior officials at the Vatican believe a response is not warranted, the National Catholic Register’s Edward Pentin reported on September 26, partly because they say it has been signed by only a relatively small number of Catholics they consider not to be major names.
Nevertheless, this story is evolving fast. In the first 72 hours since the correction was made public, the number of signatories has more than doubled, rising from 62 to 146. The rate doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
LifeSite spoke to Father Andrew Pinsent, Research Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion at Oxford University, who has been one of the latest signatories and who is currently lecturing at venues across Latin America.
“I signed the Correctio Filialis De Haeresibus Propagatis, not due to a lack of filial respect for the Holy Father, but because of the gravity of the situation,” Fr. Pinsent told LifeSiteNews.
Although the number of initial signatures of the original document was quite modest, it must be understood in terms of the wider context of what is happening in the Church.
“The Correctio is a next step, consistent with the teaching of Jesus Christ (Matt 18:15-17) and St. Paul confronting St. Peter (Gal 2:11), that follows a series of unanswered petitions since 2015,” Fr. Pinsent said.
He added: “These petitions have included one with nearly 800,000 signatures from 178 countries and including 202 prelates prior to the ludicrously manipulated ‘Synod on the Family’; the appeal of the 45 scholars, prelates, and clergy to the College of Cardinals to repudiate what are widely perceived as erroneous propositions in Amoris Laetitia; the dubia of the four cardinals, whom the Pope did not even have the courtesy to meet; and the statement of the confraternities representing thousands of priests worldwide.”
Commenting on what’s at stake, Fr. Pinsent said: “As Prof. Josef Seifert, friend of St. Pope John Paul II, warned recently, before being sacked for making this warning, we are facing the risk of the total destruction of the moral teachings of the Catholic Church.”
“I add that the contradictions now being introduced deny reason, which is contrary to the heart of Catholic theology, the examples of great saint scholars like St. Thomas Aquinas, and the consistent teaching of our two most recent popes. Such divisions of faith and reason are catastrophic for the Church’s mission of the salvation to souls.”
“Since I have given my own life to the priesthood exclusively for the salvation of souls, I had to add my name to the Correctio.”
The story is evolving in other ways as well. The original correction did not include any bishops in full communion with the Church, a fact that has also been cited as a reason to dismiss its importance. Nevertheless, as LifeSite reported on Monday, Bishop emeritus Rene Henry Gracida, 94, of Corpus Christi, Texas, has also added his name to the signatories.
Bishop Gracida was known to be a close friend of Mother Angelica and an effective communicator of the Church’s teaching on divorce and remarriage.
Update 7:53 PM EST: The organizers of the Filial Correction are warning of a “fraudulent” effort to undermine their initiative after one of the individuals on the new list of signatories publicly announced he had not signed. See here for more.
New Signatories of the Filial Correction
The list of original signatories is at the bottom here.
Leo Darroch
President, Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce 2007 – 2013
Dott. Mauro Faverzani
Editor of the Magazine “Radici Cristiane” (Italy)
H.E. Mgr Rene Henry Gracida D.D.
Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas
Fr Pio Idowu BA (Phil.)
Religious
Fr Luis Eduardo Rodríguez Rodríguez
Parish Priest, Parroquia del Espíritu Santo y N.S. de La Antigua Diocese de Los Teques, Venezuela
Wolfram Schrems BA (Theol.), BA (Phil.)
Catechist for adults, contributor for Catholic and secular websites, works in the pro-life-field, Vienna (Austria)
Fr Luiz Antonio de Aguiar
Portugal
Dr. Antonio Aragoni MA (Religious Science)
Dr. Riccardo Calzavara
Professor
Dr. Riccardo Cavalli
Professor
Dr. Andrea Martini, MA (Education Science)
Fr Michel Morille
France
Fr Andrew Pinsent BA, MA, DPhil, PhB, STB, Phl, PhD
Director of the Ian Ramsey Center for Science and Religion, Oxford
Priest of the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton
Fr Cyrille Perret
France
Patrick Tomeny, Jr, MD, MPH, DABA
Prof. Leonardo Schwinden
Professor of Philosophy, Universidad Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil
Gianpaolo De Vita PhD (Phil.)
University of Salerno
Dr. Salvatore Giuseppe Alessi BA (Phil.), BA (Theol.)
Economist, Italy
Fr Enrique Eduardo Alsamora
Spain
Dr. Winfried Aymans
Professor em. of Canon Law, University of Munich
Fr William Barrocas
Dr. Johannes Bronish PhD (Phil.)
Dr. Richard Belleville PhD
Formerly Chairman of Philosophy Department, Anna Maria College, Paxton (MA)
Fr Alejo Benitez
Spain
Fr Felix-Maximilian-Marie Bogoridi-Liven
France
Fr Giorgio Bellei
Italy
Sister M. Blaise Chukwu
Religious
Dr. Nicola Bonora
Professor
Fr Nathaniel Brazil
Dr. Isobel Camp PhD
Professor of Philosophy at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum (Rome)
Fr José Miguel Marqués Campo
Spain
Prof. Neri Capponi
Former Professor of Canon Law at the University of Florence,
Judge of the Tuscany Ecclesiastical Matromonial Court
Dr. Fabiano Caso, Phd (Phil.) Phd (Theol.) BA (Theoretic Phil.)
Psychoanalyst, Italy
Fr Jose Chamakalayil
Dr. Francisco Fernández de la Cigoña
Journalist and Writer, Spain
Dr. Balázs Déri
University Professor
Dr. Angelo Elli MA (Phil.)
Italy
Dr. Manuel Fantoni PhD
Italy
Fr Marazsi Ferenc
Fr Thomas Agustin Gazpocnetti Lic. Phil.
Dr. Rossana Giannelli MA (Phil.)
Italy
Fr Alvaro Salvador Gutiérrez Félix
Spain
Dr. Christian Hecht Phd (Phil.), BA (Theol.)
Fr John Houston
Dr. Ignacio María Gallo Ingrao
Professor of Philosophy
Fr Czeslaw Kolosa
Fr Eduardo Guzmán López STL
Parish Priest, Spain
Michael Theodor van Laack BA (Theol.)
Dr. Moisés Gomes de Lima
Professor
Fr Andrea Mancinella
Diocese of Albano
Fr Antonio Mancini
Italy
Dr. Jose Marquez Lic. Canon Law
Fr Peter Masik PhD
Professor of Dogmatic Theology, Bratislava
Dr. Martin Mayer PhD (Theol.)
Fr Fabiano Montanaro
Defensor Vinculi by the Rota Romana, Rome
Dr. Arroyo Moreno Lic. Phil.
Professor em. at the University Panamerica and University Anahuac, Spain
Dr. Renata Negri
Professor, Italy
Prof. Hermes Rodrigues Nery
Bioethicist, Journalist and Writer, Director of Movimento Legislação e Vida, Brazil
Don Sergio Pistacchi
Italy
Dr. Lucrecia Rego de Planas
University Professor, Mathematician, Master in Religious Science and Humanities, Doctor in Interdisciplinary Research
Fr Bernard Pellabeuf
France
Fr Eros Pellizzari
Italy
Thomas Pfeifer BA (Phil.)
Fr Vidko Podrzaj
Priest of the Chapel of Our Lady of Good Success
Dr. José Arturo Quarracino
Philosopher, Spain
Dr. Kevin Regan MD, MA (Theol.), BA (theol.)
Fr Robert Repenning
Fr Jasson Rodas
Fr Darrell Roman
Fr Giovanni Romani
Italy
Fr Humberto Jordán Sánchez Vázquez
Diocesan Priest
Dr. Alvear Sanìn
Editor, Writer, Columnist
Dr. Mauro Scaringi MA (Phil.)
RE Professor, Italy
Dr. Nikolaus Staubach PhD
Professor at the University of Münster
Rev. Prof. Alberto Strumia MA (Physics), STD
Professor at the Theological Faculty of Emilia-Romagna (Bologna)
Fr Tam Tran
Dr. Andreas Trutzel BA (Theol.)
Dr. Beata Vertessy
Professor, Hungary
Fr Marcelo Villegas
Spain
Dr. Giorgio Zauli
Professor, Writer, Italy
Dr. Hubert Windisch
Professor em.
Dr. Paul Winske
Professor, Germany
Fr Ernst-Werner Wolff
Germany