The head of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands has challenged the authority of Pope Francis, accusing him of “creating confusion” among the faithful, “endangering the unity of the Church” – and of allowing “a drift towards apostasy from the truth”. This failure to give clarification in line with the doctrine and practice of the church was described by Cardinal Eijk as “completely incomprehensible”. Conservative viewsAs regards the pope’s advice to the German cardinals to seek unanimity on such complex issues, Cardinal Eijk was even more scathing: “Unanimity about what?”, he asked. In 2015, he ordered the removal of the transgender treasurer of a parish in the centre of the Netherlands, against the wishes of the parish board. In the same year, he criticised Pope Francis for the first time, arguing that the pope’s paper on pastoral care of families, entitled Amoris Laetitia, should have stated more unequivocally that marriage is “one and unbreakable”.

Source: The Irish Times May 09, 2018 16:07 UTC