Correct the Pope? Or Assist Him in His Catholic Mission…, by Dr. Jeff Mirus

By Dr. Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture, Sept 19, 2022

Jeffrey Mirus holds a Ph.D. in intellectual history from Princeton University. A co-founder of Christendom College, he also pioneered Catholic Internet services. He is the founder of Trinity Communications and CatholicCulture.org.

It seems to me that there are two primary ways to respond when any pope writes something in one of his officially-promulgated texts which at first strikes us as incorrect. The first way is to assert that the pope is wrong (and perhaps begin immediately to alert all who will listen to this “fact”). The second way is to consider carefully how a statement which strikes us as questionable could be understood (perhaps even better understood) to be perfectly true. A case in point arises from those who claim that, in his Apostolic Letter on the Liturgy (Desiderio Desideravi, June 29, 2022), Pope Francis has misstated the requirements that must be fulfilled for someone to receive Communion. …

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