One source of all the angst is Francis' closing speech at the Synod. I have two excerpts. The first one is
It was also about laying closed hearts, which bare the closed hearts which frequently hide even behind the Church’s teachings or good intentions, in order to sit in the chair of Moses and judge, sometimes with superiority and superficiality, difficult cases and wounded families.Most people have read this has an attack against the conservative wing that wouldn't budge on the Kasper proposal. They would be the ones "hiding behind even the Church's teaching" but what about the next few words "or good intentions"?
I tell my students in RCIA that the magisterium must be read in continuity with what came before. There's open debate about whether Francis, in fact, intends to be read in that way. Most people read him as a innovator and he doesn't seem to mind that. However, perhaps we can read the man with the Hermeneutic of Franciscan Continuity: that even if he's not consistent with his predecessors, he's at least consistent with himself. That paragraph above reminds me quite a bit of his closing speed of Synod 2014.
One, a temptation to hostile inflexibility, that is, wanting to close oneself within the written word, (the letter) and not allowing oneself to be surprised by God, by the God of surprises, (the spirit); within the law, within the certitude of what we know and not of what we still need to learn and to achieve. From the time of Christ, it is the temptation of the zealous, of the scrupulous, of the solicitous and of the so-called – today – “traditionalists” and also of the intellectuals.
- The temptation to a destructive tendency to goodness [it. buonismo], that in the name of a deceptive mercy binds the wounds without first curing them and treating them; that treats the symptoms and not the causes and the roots. It is the temptation of the “do-gooders,” of the fearful, and also of the so-called “progressives and liberals.
- The temptation to transform stones into bread to break the long, heavy, and painful fast (cf. Lk 4:1-4); and also to transform the bread into a stone and cast it against the sinners, the weak, and the sick (cf Jn 8:7), that is, to transform it into unbearable burdens (Lk 11:46).
- The temptation to come down off the Cross, to please the people, and not stay there, in order to fulfil the will of the Father; to bow down to a worldly spirit instead of purifying it and bending it to the Spirit of God.
- The temptation to neglect the “depositum fidei” [the deposit of faith], not thinking of themselves as guardians but as owners or masters [of it]; or, on the other hand, the temptation to neglect reality, making use of meticulous language and a language of smoothing to say so many things and to say nothing! They call them “byzantinisms,” I think, these things…Putting these two together, it seems that in the closing speech of Synod 2015, he was, once again, castigating everyone, not just conservatives. The conservatives are indeed "hiding behind the Church's teaching" but progressives are also hiding behind "good intentions".
The next slap came later in the same speech. I've highlighted the controversial line.
The Synod experience also made us better realize that the true defenders of doctrine are not those who uphold its letter, but its spirit; not ideas but people; not formulae but the gratuitousness of God’s love and forgiveness. This is in no way to detract from the importance of formulae, laws and divine commandments, but rather to exalt the greatness of the true God, who does not treat us according to our merits or even according to our works but solely according to the boundless generosity of his Mercy (cf. Rom 3:21-30; Ps 129; Lk 11:37-54). It does have to do with overcoming the recurring temptations of the elder brother (cf. Lk 15:25-32) and the jealous labourers (cf. Mt 20:1-16). Indeed, it means upholding all the more the laws and commandments which were made for man and not vice versa (cf. Mk 2:27).
Again, Francis embraces squishy non-dogmatic feel-goodism. However, the very next line says "This is in no way to detract from the importance of formulae, laws and divine commandments". Colloquially, if you were listening to someone say these two sentences back to back, you'd hear the author say "... true defenders are not those who ONLY uphold it's letter, but ALSO it's spirit". I think it's a reasonable interpretation.
The most recent outrage came from ANOTHER interview in which he apparently said dodgy things. Damian Thompson's article linked above has a decent rundown of that. I got nothing. I am as confused as the rest of the world.
I've mentioned before that Francis is the Don Rickles of Popes. I don't know why he was so mad at the synod fathers in 2014 and 2015. Perhaps he was hoping they, as a group, would come up with something that he could use. Some new specific avenue of mercy. I don't know if he actually wanted the Kasper proposal to be approved, but perhaps he thought that some compromise would be found. (I don't know what that could be). When none was forthcoming, he unleashed his acid tongue at the rigid doctrinaires and do-gooders who were each too stubborn to budge.
We may never know.
Like the rest of the conservatives, I'm afraid of what Francis will come up with when he issues his post synodal exhortation. But until then, I think some of the histrionics about the synod are overblown and I hope emotions die down soon.
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