Pope removes conservative American cardinal from Vatican committee

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

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New York Times

The Church continues to rebuild and revitalize.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Hrn.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I love this guy.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Wow that's actually the type of reform needed.

[TJ in Oregon]

My guess--I can't really claim to have more than that--is that if there is an ideological motivation behind this, it's that Pope Francis did this to try and intervene in the internal argument among US bishops over whether or not pro-choice politicians should receive communion.

It could also be that he simply doesn't like Burke for some reason.

I also noticed this article mentions criticism of Francis from the left for appointing my old bishop back in Ohio, Leonard Blair, to Archbishop of Hartford, Connecticut. (The reason the left is angry has nothing to do with what he did as Bishop of Toledo but rather some random committee he was on)

[Antonio the Sixth]

My guess--I can't really claim to have more than that--is that if there is an ideological motivation behind this, it's that Pope Francis did this to try and intervene in the internal argument among US bishops over whether or not pro-choice politicians should receive communion.

Let's make a deal: you can keep excommunicating pro-choice politicians, but also do the same for politicians who oppose a basic social safety net for the poor. I think Republican would have just as much to lose as Democrats.

[Cassius]

My guess--I can't really claim to have more than that--is that if there is an ideological motivation behind this, it's that Pope Francis did this to try and intervene in the internal argument among US bishops over whether or not pro-choice politicians should receive communion.

Let's make a deal: you can keep excommunicating pro-choice politicians, but also do the same for politicians who oppose a basic social safety net for the poor. I think Republican would have just as much to lose as Democrats.

I know that your only being semi-serious, but excommunicating politicians who oppose a 'basic social safety net for the poor' has considerably less ground to stand on than excommunicating them for supporting abortions. The latter (if we are to go with the standard Catholic view that human personhood begins at conception) does constitute an act of killing the innocent directly. The practice is repeatedly condemned by Catholic clergy, in the catechism, and by Catholic theologians like Aquinas (I'm unsure as to whether he did actually talk about abortion, but Natural Law's primary precepts certainly would suggest that abortion is wrong). On the other hand, all that can be used to back up excommunicating the forumla are largely left-wing interpretations of Jesus' message. I mean, opposing what you describe as the basic social safety net does not mean that a person doesn't broadly follow in the spirit of Jesus' teachings on wealth. I'm sure many of these politicians (though of course by no means all) will donate regularly to charities which help the poor. If they do, there is no good reason (and even if they didn't, the reasoning would at best be shaky) for them to even be considered for ecommunication.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Cardinal Wuerl was Bishop here in Pittsburgh.........good man.