Current Events: Much Ado About Dubium...

Dear Apologist, I recently heard some controversy about a "Dubium" which was submitted to Pope Francis by four Cardinals.  Could you explain that to me?

History Repeats:

I'll start with a comparison. In the wake of the Second Vatican Council, a lot of people used the council as an excuse to do whatever they wanted. Even if something wasn't allowed according to the text of the Council documents, innovators appealed to the "spirit of Vatican II " as an all-purpose excuse to do whatever entered their twisted imaginations.

Fast forward. Earlier this year, Pope Francis released his apostolic exhortation "Amoris Laetitia". In the section on pastoral care, the Pope gave a whole bunch of different guidelines about how pastors should care for those who are divorced and remarried - also known as being in an "irregular marital situation."

Now, ordinarily such people would not be eligible to receive Communion because according to the teachings of Jesus, their situation would be objectively a form of adultery. And 1Corinthians 11 says we ought not receive communion if we are not properly disposed to the will of God.

While he did not specifically say so, the exhortation seemed to indicate that there can be rare situations when - under the guidance of a priest and a bunch of other stipulations - a person in an irregular marital status could  receive communion.

However, sometimes you give people an inch and they take a mile. Rather than carefully following those instructions, many priests have taken it upon themselves to say that Pope Francis called off the whole teaching on divorce, remarriage, and communion. And lacking specific texts to appeal to, many are literally appealing to the "spirit of Pope Francis."


Enter Dubium:

So now you have these four Cardinals. They are observing the kind of nonsense which is going on under the guise of the Pope's exhortation. So they submit a "Dubium" about the implications of the document.

A "Dubium" is just term for an official inquiry. It doesn't mean "doubt" in the way we normally think of the word "doubt". These "Dubiums" are basically oriented toward getting the Pope to officially answer certain quesitons for the sake of clarity.

In this case, those questions are:

1) Does your document mean some people, in certain cases, can receive communion while living in irregular marital situations and not ceasing conjugal relations with the second "spouse"?

2) Are there still things - such as adultery - which are intrinsically evil?

3) Can we still say that a person who is in an irregular marital situation and has not ceased conjugal relations is in a situation of grave and habitual sin?

4) Is it still true that extenuating circumstances cannot transform an objective evil into a virtue? 

5) Is it still true that one cannot use one's "conscience" to create loopholes for oneself?

In each of these cases, I can imagine the type of error the Cardinals want to see the Pope condemn. My belief is that these questions are not meant to accuse the pope of muddying up these issues. Rather, they are designed to stop innovative priests from teaching these kinds of errors by having a statement "from the top".


Going Public:

Unfortunately, the Pope decided to not respond to the private submission of their letter. The cardinals have subsequently released their letter publicly. And some people have needlessly taken the Cardinal's public release of this Dubium as a form of dissension and disloyalty.

Now, in the Cardinals letter they said the following...

"The Holy Father has decided not to respond. We have interpreted his sovereign decision as an invitation to continue the reflection, and the discussion, calmly and with respect." 

... and if a person wants to tell me there isn't a little bit of polite sarcasm in there, I'd tell that person to take the bucket off his head.  However, these are still legit questions and deserve answers because the confusion is real. 

Sadly, answering these kinds of questions just isn't the Pope's wheelhouse. It is a major weakness of Pope Francis - he's a great pastor, but the man has almost no interest in systematic moral theology. Plus, he has a history of not taking kindly to people who ARE  interested in these sorts of questions.
Which probably explains this:

So unfortunately, I don't expect the Cardinals to receive an answer. The Pope, I think, would rather see regional Bishops' conferences answer these questions on their own.

Time will tell if that is a wise decision.

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Full text of Dubium [here].  
Interview with Cardinal Burke about Dubium. [here]