Disagreements by Bishops Over Gay Marriage is Growing

Can a Bishop publicly disagree with a position signed by Catholic officials including the Pope and remain a Bishop? If not there are a number now ready to be axed.

These European Bishops will not resign nor be axed, however, because they have carefully laid the intellectual groundwork that will ultimately box in the Catholic hierarchy, this Pope and future ones. If one reads the directives Bishops are to follow it is clear they have the right to follow strong intellectual and theological positions. Of course, it also includes directives about the chain of command, they are to obey the Pope. While it was never acknowledged formally, everyone in the clergy knows the Pope was wrong in Galileo's time. Why is it impossible a Pope could be wrong today?

It appears inevitable Catholic clergy across Europe ultimately will place some kind of "blessing" on gay marriages. It may not be all of them, but many. Popes and Cardinals will wring their hands about the severe and terrible problem this is. Then, when it turns out not very important they will move onto something else. This is the well established pattern among both Catholics and Protestants. 

Conservative clergy are looking about for a crowd of people with open arms waiting to embrace them. There is no crowd to be found--they will have to stop looking about. The usual pattern would be to never admit they were wrong. It will simply be an issue no longer discussed. 

Reading carefully the link, written by a Priest who is very critical of Bishops who advocate blessing of gay marriages, I found it peculiar he quoted the text of pledges made by clergy when they are ordained and of Bishops when they are given that title. Reading from by own biased viewpoint those texts make a case for blessing gay marriages. When the link author reads them, however, he sees a prohibition. This reflects the skilled political writing one finds throughout Catholic documents. Like the Bible the writing allows readers to take many liberties.

There is a kind of irony about these rouge Catholic clergy. The Catholic Church tells these clergy they are the chosen few, those fingered by Jesus in his alleged charge to Peter to "build this church." Over the couple of centuries since then clergy have wrestled more and more authority from lay people over running the store. Now the Church is having trouble pulling the chain when the dogs have become too strong.