April 2018 - To Give a Defense

TO GIVE A DEFENSE

Pope Francis contradicts Benedict XVI and John Paul II on abortion? Fake (Site) News!

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • April 11, 2018 • False Report; Pope Francis; Pro-Life Issues

I tell you again: Give no credence to Fake Site News. Never give them credence, but particularly give them no credence when they are bashing the pope. Never give them credence when they are bashing the pope, but particularly give them no credence when the author is John-Henry Westen. A look at his absurd attempt, here, to claim that Pope Francis somehow contradicts Benedict XVI and John Paul II on abortion, gives us one more example why. But first let us go to Gaudete et Exsultate and read the words of Pope Francis about the equal sacredness of all human life.

Yes, Virginia, the Catechism is a Magisterial document.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • April 4, 2018 • Apologetics

The Magisterium is the teaching authority of the Catholic Church. The word does, after all, come from the Latin magister, which means “teacher.” So when St. John Paul II, in promulgating the Catechism of the Catholic Church, called it a “sure norm for teaching the faith,” he is calling it Magisterial by definition. He said that in Fidei Depositum, which is an apostolic constitution, which is the highest, most solemn decree a pope can issue. You don’t get more Magisterial. It’s not as though the pope is saying, “You know, here’s a private opinion of mine.” It’s an official act of his papacy.