Originally published at crisis magazine
Several weeks ago, LifeSiteNews kindly published my article titled “Francis Has Given Us Two Keys for Understanding His Pontificate.” My principal goal in that brief article was to caution the voices of those who have seemingly reached the definite conclusion that, due to heresy, the Apostolic See is vacant. Unfortunately, a number of individuals misunderstood my intentions and reacted negatively. Here, I would like to clarify a number of points and respond to particular criticisms.
Lay theologians
Contrary to what some seem to have deduced from my article, I am a fan of lay theologians and count some very competent ones as friends. I do not think anything I wrote in my preceding article can be construed as leading to a contrary conclusion. I did not take issue with those who genuinely have theological competence. There were no “jibes” against them, nor did I “mock” them, notwithstanding suggestions to the contrary.
When I wrote that some of our present-day writers “seem to consider themselves somehow endowed with a charism similar to that of the medieval University of Paris, whose master theologians certainly carried weight in the Church of their day,” I was simply pointing to the fact that both civil and
