Understanding Amoris Laetitia may take years: Cardinal Schönborn
June 01, 2017
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna said that he is not worried by conflicting intepretations of Amoris Laetitia, because it will take years for the Church to absorb the proper understanding of the papal document.
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“Reception is always a long process,” Cardinal Schönborn said, in an interview with John Allen of Crux. He remarked that the implementation of the councils of Trent and Nicea took more than 200 years, and “the reception of Vatican II is far from over.” He suggested that the understanding of Amoris Laetitia would require a similar process.
Questioned about the guidelines that have been issued by several episcopal conferences, the Austrian cardinal said that “it’s still too early” to set rules for implementation of Amoris Laetitia. However, he rejected the idea that the papal document relaxes Church teachings on marriage. In some regions of the world, he said, it would “lead into a stricter attitude.” This might be true in the West, he said, where “we are rather tempted by laxity.”
Cardinal Schönborn said that Pope Francis seeks in Amoris Laetitia to find a middle path between two extremes: “The rigorist knows everything in advance and those who are lax let go of everything.”
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Posted by: Lucius49 -
Jun. 02, 2017 2:03 PM ET USA
Is a Vatican-document which it will take years to properly understand a good document or a poorly written document or a document with planned ambiguity in service of an agenda? It's the latter I'm afradi. No one is arguing its profound nature. I fear Cardinal Schonborn's "process" means disregarding divine law and Catholic tradition re the evil of adultery and sacrilegious Communions. Nicea/Trent were not denying former Catholic teaching but advancing Catholic teaching!
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Posted by: unum -
Jun. 02, 2017 9:15 AM ET USA
Cardinal Schönborn's comments that" the implementation of the councils of Trent and Nicea took more than 200 years", and “the reception of Vatican II is far from over” show wisdom and an understanding of Church history. Some believe that our understanding of history is accelerated by the Internet. The Cardinal has a better understanding and might even be open to the belief that the Internet even delays a full understanding of change.
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Posted by: feedback -
Jun. 02, 2017 6:20 AM ET USA
The whole AL debacle is about various interpretations and misinterpretations of paragraph 305 in chapter 8 and its related footnote 351. Unlike the councils of Trent and Nicea, it needs to be clarified for the entire Catholic Church on one page, and it could take up to ten minutes to write and up to ten minutes to absorb the proper understanding. Perhaps it is waiting for the next Pope to do it.
