Cardinal-designate Tobin rejects criticism of Amoris Laetitia, calls for ‘healing’ after Trump victory
November 18, 2016
Cardinal-designate Joseph Tobin defended Pope Francis against the four cardinals who have asked for clarification of Amoris Laetitia, in an interview with the British Catholic paper, The Tablet.
“Amoris Laetitia cannot simply be reduced to a question of ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in a specific pastoral situation,” the American prelate said. He added that “you are dealing with difficult pastoral situations. Just to simply reduce it to a dubium, I think, is at best naive.”
The cardinal-designate—who was named earlier this month to head the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey—said that the Catholic Church must be an “agent of healing” in the US in the wake of the election of Donald Trump. He said that the election “enhanced the sense of polarization—pitting gropus against each other.”
Archbishop Tobin expressed particular concern about President-elect Trump’s stand against immigration, saying that the Church has always worked in favor of immigrants:
That’s always been a hallmark of the American Church, because American Catholics all came from someplace else. If we forgot that as American Catholics, on the day of judgment it will not be Jesus who condemns us, it will be our grandparents, because we forgot.
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Posted by: FredC -
Nov. 21, 2016 9:32 AM ET USA
The polarization of our society is a result of the work of the Democrat party and its cooperating mainstream media. The Democrats isolate subcultures, emphasize them, pander to them, and accuse the other parties of ignoring or seeking to harm them. The complaint should be against the Democrats.
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Posted by: FredC -
Nov. 21, 2016 9:27 AM ET USA
Trump is not against immigrants. He is against the flood of illegal immigrants. Why did the Archbishop distort the issue?
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Posted by: [email protected] -
Nov. 20, 2016 8:16 PM ET USA
Church should take care of immigrants who legally here. Others they should help return or help to get here legally. Last time I checked we still had a right to this country and it's laws and borders. Those here illegally do not have those rights.
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Posted by: jalsardl5053 -
Nov. 18, 2016 9:40 PM ET USA
I will keep on reminding these people that immigrants do not want to leave (just heard yet another lecture on that topic last night). Fix the country they live in, they will stay because that's their home. Many fear loss of identity through assimilation if immigrate but...no schooling, no job, home either destroyed or enemy occupied = find another solution. Maybe you all should spend some time beating up the bad guys instead of carping on quick non-fix solutions.
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Posted by: wsw33410 -
Nov. 18, 2016 6:35 PM ET USA
A simple comment: that's exactly why Pope Francis promoted Tobin to be his megaphone in NJ ... his man in America - one more for the next conclave.
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Posted by: unum -
Nov. 18, 2016 6:33 PM ET USA
Archbishop Tobin has apparently been educated beyond his means. The American election is a purely secular event in which the Catholic Church plays no role ... nor should it. Apparently Newark has inherited a political wannabee instead of a caring bishop!
