The life of St. Eusebius, said the Pope, teaches the Church even today the need “to protect the hierarchy of just values, without bending to the trend of the moment, or to the unjust demands of political power.”
The Pontiff continued: “The authentic hierarchy of values, Eusebius’ whole life seems to tell us, does not come from the emperors of yesterday or today, but from Jesus Christ, the perfect man, equal to the Father in divinity, but at the same time a man like us.
“Therefore, the pastors, Eusebius reminds us, should exhort the faithful not to consider the cities of the world as their permanent dwelling, but rather to seek the future city, the definitive Jerusalem in heaven.”
The Holy Father added, addressing those present in St. Peter’s Square: “I too recommend to you with all my heart these perennial values.”
… my german shepherd…
Can you imagine Ms. Schori ever saying something like this?
I can’t imagine Mrs. Schori even thinking it!
[blockquote]The Holy Father recounted how Emperor Constantius II had exiled Bishop Eusebius to Asia Minor for many years for having fought against the Arian heresy, which denies the divinity of the Son of God.
“For the emperor,” said the Pontiff, “the simpler Arian faith was more useful politically as an ideology of the empire. For him the truth didn’t count, only the political opportunity: He wanted to use religion as a tie to unite the empire.”
But St. Eusebius, together with the other great bishops of the time, “resisted, defending the truth over and against political domination,” said Benedict XVI.[/blockquote]
Nothing new under the sun (Son).
The Pope (whom I admire) is wrong. In America, trends ARE values. They have to be because the longstanding American values have been castrated or decomissioned. This leaves a vacuum which cannot remain unfilled, and so it is filled by that which enables us to distinguish between what we want and what we don’t want, namely, by trends. Note the emphasis here on “what we want,” not on “wht is good or right.” LM
5 – You may have been misled by the headline. A more accurate one would be “Get values from Christ, not trends, says Pope”.
2 – No, but I have a poor imagination. Perhaps when she reads scripture aloud? “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” for instance.
The importance of following the spirit of God rather than the spirit of the world is so very important and so very neglected.
This is what happens when you have real, God-Given leadership. The Holy Father points us to what should be, not necessarily what is. How TEC needs this, but IMHO, won’t ever have.
I think he’s wrong on his use of the word “values”. Trends do create values. Trends don’t create “morals”. “Morals” refer to objective truth, but “values” are subjective, fluid and culturally relative. That’s precisely why Heidegger wanted to replace the word morals with values. They’re often used as synonyms but they’re not. I’m surprised the Pope used the word, because he must know it’s origins in reference to personal conduct.
LfN
Remember we are reading a translation, not the actual words of the Pope. I may be wrong, but I believe the address is initially given in Italian. The use of “values” vs “morals” may have been the choice of the translator.
Maybe. If so, that would be a significant mistranslation… I would expect them to be careful with such key words.
8,9,10 – Only in the headline is the word “values” unqualified. In the text it says “just values”, “authentic hierarchy of values”, “perennial values”. Presumably, LfN, you would accept that authentic, just and perennial values do constitute morals — in this case, the translation is fine, it’s the headline writer who has introduced the confusion.
I admit that I’m being more tight with words, particularly these two words, than most people, but I wouldn’t accept that values (of any stripe) constitute morals. In using “values” you automatically frame whatever form of conduct you’re referring to as one way among many different ways (Nietzsche’s 1000 goals for instance). You can call them authentic, just and perennial, but the word itself is not grounded in objective truth. The use of the word “values” in reference to what should be referred to as “moral conduct” is a new thing, courtesy of Nietzsche and Heidegger, hence my refusal to accept it. Nietzsche would have been quite happy to read that the Pope regards true Christian conduct as a brand of values because he wanted this shift in language to occur.
Postmodern ethics is all about values (everyone has their own) and has nothing at all to do with morals (what is right and what is wrong?). Christianity hasn’t historically, and shouldn’t now regard itself as being one stall in a mall of various competing values…
I don’t think we have to worry about the Holy Father dropping his very vocal opposition to the dictatorship of relativism any time soon.
After 2000 years it is still the successor to St. Peter who gets things essentially right when it comes to key issues and doctrines. Somewhere in all that there must be the influence of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes I think more people would see this if it weren’t for the word “infallible” used in the dogmatic definition of the petrine role in preserving orthodoxy in the Catholic Church as set out at Vatican I.
That word seems to make some people thoughtlessly see “red” instead of the power of God at work in a Church where Peter, the pope, is bonded with the successors to the apostles (the bishops).