Home Christian News Answering Battles Over Doctrine and Liturgy, Pope Francis Praises Unity in the...

Answering Battles Over Doctrine and Liturgy, Pope Francis Praises Unity in the Church

Francis pointed to how morality and doctrine have developed in time with regard to slavery and the possession of nuclear weapons. He objected to the view that “the doctrine of the church is monolithic” while praising the importance of defending “authentic” tradition.

Pope Francis speaks to journalists aboard the papal flight back from Canada, July 30, 2022, where he paid a six-day pastoral visit. Francis wrapped up his Canadian pilgrimage by meeting with Indigenous delegations and visiting Inuit territory in northern Nunavut. (Guglielmo Mangiapane/ Pool via AP)

“We must take the origin as a reference, not a particular historical experience taken as a perpetual model, as if we had to stop there,” he said, comparing the attitude of “it has always been that way” to “paganism of thought.”

His comments were similar to those aboard the papal plane returning from Canada, when the pope answered a question about birth control, which Catholic doctrine considers “intrinsically evil.” The pope said that while the evolution of doctrine “is a good thing,” it must occur within the church and in line with tradition.

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Among the several changes that Francis has brought to the church is the near total ban on the saying of the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass, which had been liberalized by his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. “The most recent verification made it clear that there was a need to regulate the practice, and above all to avoid it becoming a matter, let us say, of ‘fashion,’ and remaining instead a pastoral question,” the pope told the Jesuits.

Francis recalled the “monstrous liturgical deformations” espoused by the left during the 1960s and ’80s in his native Latin America, and the “backward looking intoxication” of conservative Catholics.

“When there is conflict, the liturgy is always mistreated,” he said.

The pope spoke about his upcoming summit of bishops at the Vatican on synodality — Francis’ vision of a more horizontal, inclusive church that encourages the participation of laypeople.

“It bothers me that the adjective ‘synodal’ is used as if it were the latest quick fix for the church,” he said.

Francis made clear that synodality “is not focused on a vote, nor is it a dialectical confrontation between a majority and a minority.” Unlike a democracy or a parliament, the protagonist of a synod is the Holy Spirit, he added, while rejecting efforts to “squeeze it all into the funnel of a single issue.”

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This article originally appeared on ReligionNews.com.