Liberals, Pope Francis and the Torture Debate

Last updated on: August 30, 2015 at 11:56 am by Dave Griffey

Liberals, Pope Francis and the Torture Debate 2015-08-30T11:56:00-04:00 Dave Griffey

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

So we have another article reflecting the Left’s understanding of Pope Francis and how he will ultimately change the Catholic Faith. Again, most are no longer imagining that Pope Francis will stand on high and personally overthrow Catholic Doctrine. But they are becoming aware of a Catholic principal that has been crucial to the Catholic Blogosphere and those who defend the here and now of awesomeness without trashing the history of the Church.

Remember the Torture Debates. This was a major, and I mean major, debate about torture in light of the whole Waterboarding controversies of the Bush administration. For my part, torture is wrong. It’s what the bad guys do. Just like removing offensive facts from the public forum and erasing them from our collective memories. It’s what the Nazis, the Communists, the Indians (yeah, really), the Vietcong and all those other baddies did. It’s not what we should ever have done.

So I was against torture. But I enjoyed the Catholic debates. Those Catholics who, for whatever reason, were trying to argue for the Bush policies often looked back to the darker periods of Church history when, to be honest, people were tortured by Church command. How many were tortured is tough to say. But one person tortured in the name of Christ by Holy Mother Church is a travesty. If you want to believe millions were, go ahead. Given Catholics on the blogosphere who believe the worst about the US or Western Civilization, I’m more willing to accept the inflated numbers. But that’s irrelevant. People were tortured by the Church. It’s a fact. Let’s move on.

And yet opponents of the practice were quick to point out the Church never actually officially doctrinally proclaimed a dogma about torturing people. Therefore, you can’t say the Church actually taught it was OK. What the Church did was irrelevant to what the Church actually, officially, doctrinally taught.

See where this is going? The fact that the Church raised armies, launched wars, slaughtered heretical sects, tortured people to death was irrelevant. That it happened over the course of centuries was irrelevant. That was just the times. The Church – Official Church Doctrine – never changed.

Explain how that brings comfort to anyone who died at the hands of the Church during those years. Tell that to anti-Catholics who bring that back at the Church time and again. It doesn’t matter. Because if in the old dusty law books, the Church still taught turn the other cheek, in all the world that Catholics and the human race knew, you defended Christendom with the sword.

And that, children, is just what a growing number of liberals are expecting. Pope Francis won’t change Church Doctrine. Just like the Medieval Church didn’t officially alter the whole ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ teaching. It redefined it. It rethought it. It turned it on its head to allow armies and inquisitors to do the unthinkable for countless centuries. And just like that, the growing liberal conclusion is that Pope Francis will do the same. God will forever have declared that a man should leave his parents and cleave unto this wife and the two shall become one flesh. But in the day to day living of Catholic life? In the new understanding of who is awesome, and who simply isn’t keeping with the times of where Beautiful Catholics should be? That sign proclaiming the old teaching about marriage between a man and woman will hang right above Ted and Ted as they tie the knot in the corner Parish and Commons.

This growing number of liberals might be wrong. But we’re waiting for some clear indicators from Pope Francis to make it obvious that they are wrong. And at least as of now, not seeing them.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

August 29, 2015

One reason I still visit Catholic and Enjoying it

Next Post

August 30, 2015 Attention Gun Control Activists

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Atheism Awesome things Bigotry for the hip American Blogging Books Catholic Catholic Teaching Catholics on the Internet Christian Persecution Christian Unity Christianity and America Christianity in the Post-Modern World Christianity in the world Culture of Death Culture of Life Current Events Decline and Fall of the Christian West Defending Liberty Fun Stuff Global Warming Good Causes Good News Gun Control Health Care History Holidays Homeschool Humor Important things Inspiring Stories Interesting Insights Interesting Stories Islam and the West Liberal "Tolerance" Liberal observations Life in a post-Christian world Memorial Movies Musings News Other Blogs Our Big Politically Correct Bother Politics Popular Culture Post Modern Values Prayers Pro Life Promoting LGBT Protecting Liberty Racism in the world today Scientism Social Observations Sports Strange Stories The Boys The Catholic Church and the Left The Decline and Fall of the American Dream The end of liberty The Faith and the Left The Faith and the Right The Family The Greatness of God The Internet The Leftist Juggernaut The LGBT Question The Media The Pope The post-liberal Left The Power of Propaganda Tributes Twilight of the American Experiment Uncategorized Uneducating Postmoderns When the Church is wrong Why learn from history when we can repeat it instead Wisdom in the Post Modern Age World Events

Select a Month August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the meaning of the word "Golgotha"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

River of Blood Peaceful Garden City of Bread Place of the Skull