BALTIMORE, Maryland, November 16, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — By electing Cardinal Daniel DiNardo as their president, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is choosing a path of “continuity” during “clearly discontinuous times,” according to one progressive Catholic.
Massimo Faggioli, a Villanova University theologian, tweeted that the USCCB chose “hermeneutics of continuity in clearly discontinuous times.”
Result of elections #USCCB16 Catholic bishops: the bishops' conference chooses hermeneutics of continuity in clearly discontinuous times.
— Massimo Faggioli (@MassimoFaggioli) November 15, 2016
The phrase “hermeneutic of continunity” refers to the principle that current Church documents and statements should be read through the lens of and in the context of previous Church doctrine rather than in rupture with it.
New York Times columnist Ross Douthat noted that DiNardo was one of the 13 cardinals who signed a letter to Pope Francis raising alarm over attempts to manipulate the synod on the family in favor of the Kasper proposal. He also pointed out that Archbishop Jose Gomez, the new USCCB vice president, was recently not selected to become a cardinal.
USCCB will be led by signatory of “13 Cardinals” letter implicitly contra @pontifex at last synod and LA archbishop passed over for red hat.
— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) November 15, 2016
Instead, Pope Francis chose to appoint Archbishop Joseph Tobin (not to be confused with strongly pro-life Bishop Thomas Tobin), Bishop Kevin Farrell, and left-wing Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich as cardinals.