Misericordia et Misera

[Jack4]

A new Apostolic Letter by Pope Francis is on the way. It is titled  “Misericordia et Misera” and is due to be presented on Monday 21 November.

The news was announced by the Vatican Press Office, which informed that the papal document will be presented at a news conference marking the conclusion of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. Mgr. Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, will be present at the news conference. 

The title of the document references Saint Augustine's commentary on Jesus and the woman taken in adultery in the Gospel of John. After Jesus challenges her accusers and they withdraw, Augustine says that only "misera et misericodia" (the wretched one and mercy) remain. Pope Francis reverses the two terms Augustine used.  Robert Barron, also reversing the terms, glosses this phrase as "Jesus and the woman ... giver and receiver of compassion"

It is scheduled for release following the conclusion of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. At the conclusion of the great jubilee of the year 2000, Pope St. John Paul II likewise issued an apostolic letter, Novo Millennio Ineunte. 

Sources: Vatican Insider, Wikipedia, Catholic Culture

[Jack4]

Quote

 

http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2016/11/20/0838/01869.html

After the Angelus, the Holy Father Francis signed his Apostolic Letter "Misericordia et misera" addressed to the whole Church to continue to live the mercy experienced throughout the extraordinary Jubilee.

On behalf of the entire people of God, they have received the letter from the hands of the Pope: Card. Luis Antonio Tagle, Archbishop of Manila; Msgr. Leo Cushley, Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh; two priests Missionaries of Mercy, respectively coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Brazil; a permanent deacon of the diocese of Rome, together with his family; two nuns, respectively coming from Mexico and South Korea; a family consisting of parents, children and grandparents, originating in the United States of America; an engaged couple young; two catechists mothers of a parish in Rome; a disabled person and a sick person.

 

 

 

[Nihil Obstat]

There has been a rumor floating around since yesterday that this letter could include a unilateral regularization of the SSPX in the form of a personal prelature. We will see tomorrow if that has any basis in fact.

[truthfinder]

35 minutes ago, Nihil Obstat said:

There has been a rumor floating around since yesterday that this letter could include a unilateral regularization of the SSPX in the form of a personal prelature. We will see tomorrow if that has any basis in fact.

I'm not completely discounting the rumour (and it would be nice to have the society regularized) but I'm actually surprised by the lack of rumour.  Think about all the rumours that swirled before Summorum Pontificum was promulgated. I'll keep my other thoughts to myself until we find out for sure tomorrow. 

[Nihil Obstat]

1 hour ago, truthfinder said:

I'm not completely discounting the rumour (and it would be nice to have the society regularized) but I'm actually surprised by the lack of rumour.  Think about all the rumours that swirled before Summorum Pontificum was promulgated. I'll keep my other thoughts to myself until we find out for sure tomorrow. 

I agree, but keep in mind the start of the Year of Mercy too. The SSPX confession faculties came totally out of the blue. Even they only learned about it through the press. 

[Nihil Obstat]

Current intel suggests that the letter tomorrow will give the SSPX continuing faculties for confession.

I am not sure if there is any record of this having happened, but when their year long faculties were given a year ago, the first thing I said was that the faculties will be made permanent at the end of the year.  My wife remembers me having said this. 

[Guest]

Continued prayer for the SSPX and formal unity ... especially for Monday 21 November 2016 and Misericordia et Misera.

[Jack4]

10 hours ago, Nihil Obstat said:

Current intel suggests that the letter tomorrow will give the SSPX continuing faculties for confession.

Yes. 

Quote

 

12. Given this need, lest any obstacle arise between the request for reconciliation and God’s forgiveness, I henceforth grant to all priests, in virtue of their ministry, the faculty to absolve those who have committed the sin of procured abortion. The provision I had made in this regard, limited to the duration of the Extraordinary Holy Year,[14] is hereby extended, notwithstanding anything to the contrary. I wish to restate as firmly as I can that abortion is a grave sin, since it puts an end to an innocent life. In the same way, however, I can and must state that there is no sin that God’s mercy cannot reach and wipe away when it finds a repentant heart seeking to be reconciled with the Father. May every priest, therefore, be a guide, support and comfort to penitents on this journey of special reconciliation.

For the Jubilee Year I had also granted that those faithful who, for various reasons, attend churches officiated by the priests of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, can validly and licitly receive the sacramental absolution of their sins.[15] For the pastoral benefit of these faithful, and trusting in the good will of their priests to strive with God’s help for the recovery of full communion in the Catholic Church, I have personally decided to extend this faculty beyond the Jubilee Year, until further provisions are made, lest anyone ever be deprived of the sacramental sign of reconciliation through the Church’s pardon.

 

 

[Jack4]

Full text (Vatican) http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_letters/documents/papa-francesco-lettera-ap_20161120_misericordia-et-misera.html 
Vatican Radio article http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/11/21/now_is_a_time_of_mercy_pope_issues_new_apostolic_letter/1273725
Summary (by Crux) https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2016/11/21/quick-summary-popes-letter-ending-year-mercy/

 

 

 

Highlights:

SSPX faculties for confession extended.

All priests may absolve abortion. (see above)

"World Day of Poor"

Quote

21. During the “Jubilee for Socially Excluded People”, as the Holy Doors of Mercy were being closed in all the cathedrals and shrines of the world, I had the idea that, as yet another tangible sign of this Extraordinary Holy Year, the entire Church might celebrate, on the Thirty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, the World Day of the Poor. This would be the worthiest way to prepare for the celebration of the Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, who identified with the little ones and the poor and who will judge us on our works of mercy (cf. Mt 25:31-46). It would be a day to help communities and each of the baptized to reflect on how poverty is at the very heart of the Gospel and that, as long as Lazarus lies at the door of our homes (cf. Lk 16:19-21), there can be no justice or social peace. This Day will also represent a genuine form of new evangelization (cf. Mt 11:5) which can renew the face of the Church as She perseveres in her perennial activity of pastoral conversion and witness to mercy.

 

4. The Pope does NOT give his usual scathing criticism on "rigidity and legalism". However, he does have the following words on laws:

Quote

et us recall with renewed pastoral zeal another saying of the Apostle: “God has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:18). We were the first to be forgiven in view of this ministry, made witnesses at first hand of the universality of God’s forgiveness. No law or precept can prevent God from once more embracing the son who returns to him, admitting that he has done wrong but intending to start his life anew. Remaining only at the level of the law is equivalent to thwarting faith and divine mercy. The law has a propaedeutic value (cf. Gal 3:24) with charity as its goal (cf. 1 Tim 1:5). Nonetheless, Christians are called to experience the newness of the Gospel, the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:2). Even in the most complex cases, where there is a temptation to apply a justice derived from rules alone, we must believe in the power flowing from divine grace.

Edited November 21, 2016 by Jack4

[Nihil Obstat]

RE: the SSPX, "until further provisions are made" is an encouraging turn of phrase.

[McM RSCJ]

"Even in the most complex cases, where there is a temptation to apply a justice derived from rules alone, we must believe in the power flowing from divine grace."   And this is a joy-giving, heart-expanding turn of phrase.  

[Jack4]

1. The Pope has not clarified on the sin and crime of abortion. cf https://canonlawblog.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/pope-francis-on-reconciliation-for-abortion/

2. Media sometimes reporting as though the Pope gives Catholics a license to do the heretofore unforgivable act of abortion.... 

2.1 "I wish to restate as firmly as I can that abortion is a grave sin, since it puts an end to an innocent life."

There have been cases when the Pope does not speak clearly, but this is definitely not one of them. 

[Guest]

Full text Misericordia et Misera: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=11449

[Jack4]

10 hours ago, BarbaraTherese said:

Full text Misericordia et Misera: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=11449

http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/143549-misericordia-et-misera/?do=findComment&comment=2777373

 

[Anomaly]

I was saddened watching David Muir in ABC News report about Pope Francis making it standard that a priest could forgive abortion in a confessional instead of Bishops alone.  His conclusion was "previously the Bushop could withhold forgiveness".  WTH?  That was the takeaway?   And people think they're fully informed by what they see on tv news?