Ep. #220 – Is Pope Francis worth defending?
Summary
Is the Pope worth defending? What should we think of his controversial statement, “Who am I to judge?” What about the proper understanding of Amoris Laetitia? Is the “Pachamama incident” a black mark on the Francis Pontificate? Dr. Robert Fastiggi joins the show to discuss these issues.Â
Guest Bio
Dr. Robert Fastiggi, Bishop Kevin M. Britt Chair of Dogmatic Theology and Christology, has been at Sacred Heart Major Seminary since 1999. He earned a Ph.D. in Historical Theology from Fordham in 1987. During his time at Sacred Heart, Dr. Fastiggi has taught courses in Ecclesiology, Christology, Mariology, church history, sacramental theology, and moral theology. He served as the executive editor of the 2009-2013 supplements to the New Catholic Encyclopedia and the co-editor of the English translation of the 43rd edition of the Denzinger-Hünermann compendium published by Ignatius Press in 2012. He also revised and updated the translation of Ludwig Ott’s Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma for Baronius Press in 2018. Dr. Fastiggi and his wife, Kathy, have been married since 1984 and have three adult children.
Topics
- Is the Pope worth defending? What Catholic teachings support this?”
- “Who am I to judge?”
- “No one can be condemned forever”
- The interpretation of Amoris Laetitia
- The incident with “Pachamama”
Resources
Pope Francis and Papal Authority Under Attack by Robert Fastiggi (article)
The Reproach of Christ by Ron Conte Jr. (blog)
Dave Armstrong’s Articles on Patheos
Robert Fastiggi on Mortalium Animos on Reason and Theology
Related Episodes
Ep. #198 – Arguing for the Papacy w/ Suan Sonna
Ep. #105 – Pope Peter w/ Joe Heschmeyer
Ep. #147 – The Ordinary & Extraordinary Magisterium w/ Dr. John P. Joy
If you do a second episode on this topic, I would really appreciate a discussion of Traditionis custodes and the Holy Father’s apparent dislike of anything that smacks of tradition. Dr. Fastiggi’s views on this would be valuable
Yes, good idea. Thanks for the comment. There are many more topics we could have looked at. We went for some of the low-hanging fruit in this episode, but you must understand that there are some out there who continue to use this low-hanging fruit to bash Pope Francis when there are more reasonable explanations. Other topics to consider:
– Traditionis Custodes
– The Death Penalty
– The Dubia
– The Abu Dhabi Statement
But I must say, the more I look into these issues, the more I find it’s typically the traditionalist side that is not allowing reasonable explanations to be offered. Michael Lofton at Reason and Theology engages these issues at a more frequent level than we will on this podcast, since I’m more personally concerned with apologetics and defending God, Jesus, and the Church.
I can understand Dr. Festival’s passion in defending the pope, and I agree that much of the problems people have come from media manipulation and lack of context. However lumping everyone with questions into ” those Tradionalists” or ” those conservatives” comes off as uncharitable and condescending. I am not saying that was his intent, but it is possible for Catholics who do defend and pray for the pope to be honestly confused and troubled by some of theses things. I agree that we can’t know if a woman bowing to a carved statue is truly guilty of idolatry since we don’t know what is in the depths of her heart. But one can surely know how that looks, and anticipate that it will not be helpful for the rest of Catholics who constantly have to defend the church against protestant friends and neighbors that accuse us of being idolators anyway. And after the closing argument basically telling us that we don’t know anything, so we should keep our traps shut, it will be hard for me to listen to any follow up podcasts with this guest with an open mind.
Re: “I agree that we can’t know if a woman bowing to a carved statue is truly guilty of idolatry since we don’t know what is in the depths of her heart. But one can surely know how that looks, and anticipate that it will not be helpful for the rest of Catholics who constantly have to defend the church against protestant friends and neighbors that accuse us of being idolators anyway.”
That’s a good point and something I’d raise with Dr. Fastiggi if we did a part 2. Thanks for the comment.