Pope Francis appears to have responded indirectly to the four cardinals who publicly challenged him last year over his most recent teachings on family life, as contained in the 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia.
In a question and answer session with members of the Jesuit order in Colombia earlier this month, the text of which was made public for the first time Sept. 28, the Pope referenced those who “maintain that there is no Catholic morality underlying Amoris Laetitia, or at least, no sure morality.”
“I want to repeat clearly that the morality of Amoris Laetitia is Thomist, the morality of the great Thomas,” said Francis, referring to 13th century Dominican theologian St Thomas Aquinas.
“I want to say this so that you can help those who believe that morality is purely casuistic,” the Pope told the Jesuits, according to a text of the encounter published Sept. 28 by La Civiltà Cattolica.” Help them understand that the great Thomas possesses the greatest richness, which is still able to inspire us today.”
Four cardinals wrote to Francis in September 2016 with five yes or no questions about how he understood Church teaching following publication of the apostolic exhortation. After not receiving a response to their letter, the cardi-nals made their letter public in November 2016.
Francis visited Colombia from Sept. 6-11 and met privately with about 65 Jesuits Sept. 10 during his visit to the city of Cartagena. The Pope spoke about Amoris Laetitia in response to a question from a Jesuit about what kind of theological and philosophical questioning he wants the wider Church to undertake.
He said first that he does not want philosophy to be undertaken “in a laboratory, but in life, in dialogue with reality.” He referred to how Pope Benedict XVI had spoken of truth “as an encounter, that is to say no longer as a type of classification, but a path.”
