MORAL RELATIVIST POPE SAYS DISCERNMENT MEANS NOT ANSWERING TOUGH MORAL QUESTIONS
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
We notice it happening more and more among Protestants. “Discernment” is being redefined.
Often, those with the most nuance, vagueness and whimsy in the public
statements are considered “discerning” because they know what to say
and how to say it in order to receive the acclaim of men or cause the
least controversy possible. Biblical discernment is the opposite,
however; discernment is to make judgments between right and wrong and to
do so based upon the objective Scripture rather than subjective
appearances (for more explanation of Biblical discernment, click here).
The Bishop of Rome, also known as the Pope (or Antichrist,
depending upon your Confession of Faith), similarly seems to have
redefined discernment. For him – like for so many evangelicals –
discernment is not being clear on important Biblical issues.
Pope Francis – a committed Marxist and globalist – has departed from
the “moral orthodoxy” of the Roman Catholic Church by speaking in
unprecedented terms of homosexuality and applied an assumed Universalism
towards virtually every class of unrepentant sinner. In short, this
leftist Pope has moved hard left at breakneck speed. It would only make
sense that Pope Francis would desire to redefine “discernment,”
something sorely needed by Papists – some of whom might disagree with
his hard left-turn even though they agree with him on superstition and
idolatry. The redefinition of discernment has been a goal of the Pope
for some time, having used the word, “discernment,” over 30 times in his 2016 Amoris Laetitia.
His usage of the term in this papal declaration was designed to allow
divorced couples receive communion (a startling departure from Romish
teaching), saying, “discernment must help to find possible ways of responding to God and growing in the midst of limits.”
Anyone familiar with Biblical discernment would understand that using
discernment for the sake of doctrinal compromise (this is how a
traditional Romanist might view it) is hardly the proper use of the
term. Demonstrating that the infallible Popes often disagree, Francis
has heralded the work of German theologian, Bernard Häring (who was a
dissenter of Paul John Paul VI) because Häring argued discernment
required not making hard moral stands. Defending his dissent from Pope John Paul VI, Francis was quoted in La Civilta Cattolica as saying…
capacity for discernment. I note the absence of discernment in the
formation of priests. We run the risk of getting used to ‘white or
black,’ to that which is legal. We are rather closed, in
general, to discernment. One thing is clear: today, in a certain number
of seminaries, a rigidity that is far from a discernment of situations
has been introduced. And that is dangerous, because it can lead us to a conception of morality that has a casuistic sense…”
Discernment, to the Pope, has always been not being “rigid” on…you know…Bible-related stuff.
This is, of course, the opposite of Biblical discernment as taught in
the Scripture. Leave it to the Antichrist to twist the Scripture.
In an interview in Katolikus Valasz, the Pope spoke of discernment again…
right or wrong but leads the person to inform himself as fully as
possible, so that he can make a right judgment in a particular matter,
that is, so that he can act in accord with the truth which God has
written upon his heart or conscience.”
Notice the subtle deception. Discernment is not judging between
“right and wrong” from the Bible, but allowing someone to make a
judgment based upon one’s own conscience.
Most recently, Francis told a group of recently graduated bishops,
“[We must not be] imprisoned by nostalgia for being able to give just
one answer to apply in all cases,” and that discernment is an “antidote
against rigidity, because the same solutions aren’t valid everywhere.”
The Pope of Rome and evangelicals are growingly accepting the same definition of discernment.