– In this fresh Catholic Church, which is now being created, an individual conscience and individual discernment by a believing Catholic or a believing Catholic will play a greater function than any decrees, norms issued by the pope, bishops or Vatican offices. This is, you might say, the very heart of this revolution that the current pontificate introduces – said Fr. Prof. Andrzej Kobyliński.
Prof. Andrzej Kobyliński, a philosopher and ethic from the UKSW, gave a comprehensive interview to the "Faktu" channel. He spoke, among another things, about the problem of Vatican politics, as well as about profound changes in the Catholic Church and the imagination of decentralization of the Church in the edition of Pope Francis.
Prof. Andrzej Kobyliński explained, among another things, the issue of the Pope's attitude towards Russia and the war in Ukraine.
– On the 1 hand, the Pope, as a spiritual leader, as head of the Catholic Church, supports Ukraine in the war with Russia erstwhile it comes to humanitarian aid, empathy. But on the another hand, the Pope is besides a politician as the “President of the Vatican” and erstwhile it comes to the imagination of the world, the Pope sympathizes with the global south. He is so closer to India, to Brazil, to China, to the full global south than to Brussels or Washington. He stressed.
As he pointed out, present we are dealing with the twilight of the single-polar world, which was born with the fall of the Berlin Wall; in the multi-polar world, whose origin symbolizes the symbolic withdrawal of Americans from Afghanistan on 30 August 2021.
– The symbolic withdrawal of Americans from Afghanistan is the end of this planet and we decision on after a fewer months to the Russian-Ukrainian War. This is Moscow's quest to make a multipolar world. [...] in this multipolar planet dispute Pope Francis sympathizes more with the global south than with Brussels and Washington – said the priest.
– The Pope did not support the inclusion of Ukraine in NATO, due to the fact that specified a solution supports Washington's hegemony besides erstwhile it comes to Europe. Therefore, this, 1 can say, the Vatican's connection to the global south and the imagination of the multipolar planet are the deepest forms of explanation why it can sometimes be felt that Pope Francis sympathizes with Russia alternatively than Ukraine – he added.
The priest besides talked about Francis' attitude towards Poland. He reminded that about 21 million people are considered Catholic in Poland. This is just a tiny part of the planet Catholic community, which has 1.3 billion people. Pope Francis, he said, does not look at us uniquely. It was different for the pontificates of St John Paul II and someway Benedict XVI. present we must find our place in a line. We are 1 of many countries, we are not anything peculiar and our intellectual, spiritual or charitable influence is, can be said, average – he pointed out.
The clergyman besides pointed to the changes that Francis introduced in the Catholic Church itself.
– The present pontificate is simply a revolutionary pontificate, i.e. changes at the doctrinal level and at the level of functioning of the church as institutions are profound. In fact, they form the foundation, giving foundation to a fresh imagination of the Catholic Church in this century, or possibly even in the coming centuries – he said.
– A very large change that the Pope introduced is the decentralisation of the Church, or greater empowerment, more rights for local Churches, little power for Vatican He said.
– This is, of course, a model that is inactive in implementation, but we have specified a direction; that is, we are going towards the Catholic Church, which will be more decentralised, more democratic – explained.
– Further, very large changes happen erstwhile it comes to knowing the laws of religion and morality. Just give an example of 2016 and the introduction by Pope Francis of the anticipation of receiving Holy Communion by divorced persons who live in fresh relationships. This is simply a profound change introduced by Pope Francis. It's not an imposition, it's an opportunity, and many countries immediately took advantage of it - He said.
As he explained, implementation of specified changes can take place either at national level or even at individual dioceses.
– In this fresh Catholic Church, which is now being created, an individual conscience and individual discernment by a believing Catholic or a believing Catholic will play a greater function than any decrees, norms issued by the pope, bishops or Vatican offices. This is, you might say, the very heart of this revolution that the current pontificate introduces: it means moving from general norms to individual consciences that make moral decisions or about knowing spiritual rights - He said.
As he stressed, the brain of the current improvement is German Cardinal Walter Kasper.
The priest besides pointed to the way changes were made through the Synod, which is the thought of Italian Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini; we are actually dealing with a "sob without council".
– [Martini] felt that after the end of the Second Vatican Council, the Vatican Council III or any another council, or convention of all bishops of the world, was no longer needed, due to the fact that the improvement work could be completed by synods. Synods is simply a gathering of a chosen group of bishops who discuss a chosen subject, and Pope Francis has gone this way by convening synods concerning, for example, the household or the last synod, which concerns the synodity, or democratization of the Catholic Church in fresh years. - He said.
Fr. prof. Kobyliński besides pointed out that Francis profoundly redesigned the College of Cardinals and so it is hard to think that a man with a diametrically different imagination of the future of the Church would be elected as his successor. – All the signs in heaven and earth tell us that Pope Francis' successor will be either identical or very akin to him. – he said.
The priest besides pointed out that present we can talk about the hazard of schism, for example in Germany or the United States, where disputes are highly acute. As he recalled, the axis of the dispute is specified as “the moral assessment of homosexuality, the priesthood of women, the regulation of the authority of bishops, the departure from any sacraments, the adoption of a mostly Protestant knowing of the truths of faith, morality and so on.” – Liberal Catholics advocate specified changes, while conservatives say that if we introduce these changes, Catholicism will cease to be Catholicism. Therefore, this is the question of whether we can keep unity in diversity over the coming decades – he added.
As he stressed, this process can be described as “anglicanization of the Catholic Church”. – This is how the Anglican Church functions in Britain and in another countries of the world, that there is simply a consensus at the level of the authorities of this church that we recognise in 1 church various forms of knowing of truth, religion and morality. For example, in the Anglican Church, in Western Britain or in the United States, bishops can be openly declared gay, can have their partners, can live in permanent relationships with their husbands as bishops, besides as priests. besides bishops as lesbians can besides bishops. On the another hand, conservative African societies disagree on this and there is simply a hazard of real schism in the Anglican Church due to the fact that conservative African circles refuse to accept liberal solutions - He said.
– They're actually 2 religions. – he pointed out, adding that the same destiny of deep divisions seems to await us in the Catholic Church.
Fr Kobyliński spoke about another details of the revolution (link here).
Source: ‘Fact’
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