Pope Francis has given good counsel to the participants in the Synod:
Pope Francis has said Catholics must speak their minds and not be afraid to offend him, during his address to the opening session of the family synod at the Vatican this morning.
Speaking to the gathered bishops he said the faithful must not keep things back just because they might be worried “what will the Pope think”, according to Catholic News Service.
“Speak clearly. Don’t tell anyone, ‘you can’t say that’,” he added.
Pope Francis went on to say that “the spirit of collegiality is to speak boldly and to listen with humility” and he also welcomed the lay men and women present at the synod. “You enrich our spirit of synodality,” he told them.
Go here to read the rest. One of the duties of every Catholic is to speak the truth to a Pope. As was noted long ago:
Peter has no need of our lies or flattery. Those who blindly and indiscriminately defend every decision of the supreme Pontiff are the very ones who do most to undermine the authority of the Holy See- they destroy instead of strengthening its foundations.
Bishop Melchior Cano, one of the Fathers of the Council of Trent
Church councils have never been seen as, primarily, deliberative bodies. Rather, they are occasions where the bishops bear testimony to the tradition handed down in their respective sees.
Tradition, in this sense, has a certain ethical character and includes a system of first principles, sentiments and tastes, a mode of viewing the question and of arguing. As Bl John Henry Newman says, “It is latent, but it lives. It is silent, like the rapids of a river, before the rocks intercept it. It is the Church’s unconscious habit of opinion and sentiment; which she reflects upon, masters, and expresses, according to the emergency.”
Pope Francis talks the talk, now, let Pope Francis walk the walk.
Perfect way to find out his is for and against him the Pope.
Perfect way to find out who is for and against him the Pope. – See more at: https://the-american-catholic.com/2014/10/07/popewatch-speak-boldly/#comment-254511