Pope Francis has just released another Apostolic Exhortation, Gaudete et Exultate, which may be translated as ‘Rejoice and Be Glad’, from Matthew 5:12, a ‘call to holiness’ in today’s world. I will read the document over, and have a few words to say soon enough. LifeSite News claims that the Holy Father states that immigration is as important an issue as abortion. Hmm. Also, towards the end, in the section on ‘discernment’, there is a note of caution against rigidity, a term that is bandied about without much definition. Hopefully, things becomes clear in the context of the whole (on a first glance, there is much about striving against evil and the Devil, and the whole battle for holiness).
Overall, however, clarity is not a defining characteristic of what is currently coming forth from the Vatican so, as I will caution (or exhort!) once again, we must keep our wits about us, and always interpret what is now taught in the light of what has always been taught, and I will try to help with this. The witness of Tradition, all that the Church has been taught, and herself taught and handed on, is a sure safeguard against what is not. We are living in interesting and strange times.