Opus Dei number two denounces 'filial correction’ signatories

An Opus Dei leader has denounced the signatories of a recently-published “filial correction” of Pope Francis regarding “heresies” allegedly propagated by the Pope.

According to LifeSiteNews the order’s Vicar General, its second-ranked prelate, accused the more than 200 scholars and clergy who have signed the Correction so far as “attack[ing] the Pope” and airing the Church’s dirty laundry in public. “It seems to me that, on one hand, it’s an example of the freedom of opinion that exists in the Church and that the Pope respects,” Mgr Mariano Fazio told the Argentinean daily 'La Nacion' in an interview published on 29 September. “It seems to me on the other hand that it’s a completely erroneous method because, if we’re talking about a filial relationship, a child doesn’t ‘correct’ his father in public.” The Correction states that Pope Francis has “effectively upheld” seven heretical propositions regarding the sinfulness of adultery, binding nature of moral law, and the reception of the sacraments.

Joseph Shaw, Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at St. Benet’s Hall, Oxford University, who serves as spokesman for the filial correction authors, defended the Correction. “When the bad things happening in the Church are serious injustices to others, and especially when they begin to be reported, there is an instinct to seek to protect the Church’s reputation by denial. What has become very evident in recent decades, however, is that … this instinct is should be resisted. First, it works against justice. Secondly, it actually causes scandal, because those who become aware of the reality of the situation are put off the Church because of our apparent indifference to justice. These are hard-learned lessons of the clerical sex-abuse crisis, perhaps the most expensive education Catholics have had in history.”

The number of signatories of the “filial correction” had risen last week to 216, up from 40 when the letter was delivered to the Pope’s residence at Santa Marta on 11 August, and 62 when the document was made public on 24 September.