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October 4, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – An Opus Dei leader has denounced the signatories of a recently-published “filial correction” of Pope Francis regarding “heresies” propagated by the pontiff.  

The order’s Vicar General, its second-ranked prelate, accused the more than two hundred scholars and clergy who have signed the Correction of “attack[ing] the pope” and airing the Church’s dirty laundry in public. 

“Lamentably this isn’t the first time in the history of the Church in recent years in which there are groups of people that attack the pope, some of whom, I imagine, with good intention,” Monsenor Mariano Fazio told the Argentinean daily La Nacion in an interview published on September 29.

“It seems to me that, on one hand, that it’s an example of the freedom of opinion that exists in the Church and that the pope respects,” added Fazio. “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.”

“Any member of the faithful, bishop, cardinal, or layman, has the right to tell the Pope what he thinks for the good of the Church, but it seems to me that he doesn’t have the right to do so publicly, and to scandalize the whole Church with these manifestations of disunity,” Fazio said.

Opus Dei, meaning “work of God,” is an organization recognized by the Catholic Church that teaches that the ordinary life is a path to sanctity. It was founded in Spain in 1928 by priest and saint Josemaría Escrivá.

Asked about the adherence to the Correction of the Italian Opus Dei supernumerary Ettore Gotte Tedeschi, who formerly led the Vatican Bank, Fazio said, “I regard him also as having made a mistake, like the rest of those who have signed.”

Fazio also expressed his desire that members of the Roman Curia “have a greater spirit of collaboration and service with the reform that the pope wants to carry out,” and claimed there is only “a small group that resists the pope,” which he characterized as a “noisy minority.”

Fazio’s rejection of public acts of correction contrasts sharply with the words of the Filial Correction, which cites  the public rebuke of St. Peter by St. Paul recounted in the latter’s Epistle to the Galatians, and adds, “Thomas Aquinas notes that this public rebuke from a subject to a superior was licit on account of the imminent danger of scandal concerning the faith (Summa Theologiae 2a 2ae, 33, 4 ad 2), and ‘the gloss of St Augustine’ adds that on this occasion, “Peter gave an example to superiors, that if at any time they should happen to stray from the straight path, they should not disdain to be reproved by their subjects” 

Correction continues to gain support

The Filial Correction was submitted privately to the pope in August and made public on September 23. It was initially endorsed by 62 scholars and clergy, but the number has since grown to 216, with new signatures being added daily. 

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 of the Catholic Church, although it does not judge him personally guilty of the sin of heresy.

The document is written in a respectful but firm tone, expressing “profound grief” at the necessity of correcting the pope, “on account of the propagation of heresies effected by the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia and by other words, deeds and omissions of Your Holiness.”

Critics of the Correction have responded with a barrage of mudslinging but have said little about the substance of the document. The Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, has called for dialog with the signers.

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Criticism of Pope’s teaching not based on faulty translation: Filial Correction signer

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