‘Seminarians can leave if they don’t agree with Pope’, Archbishop warned novices

Archbishop Charles Scicluna has been reported by the National Catholic Register as having confirmed with the American newspaper that he warned seminarians earlier in February that if any of them do not agree with Pope Francis “the seminary gate is open” – implying they are free to leave.

The Maltese bishops’ guidelines to Pope Francis’s exhortation on divorced and remarried couples being able to accept the holy Eucharist caused some international consternation over the liberal interpretation of the Roman Pontiff’s message.

The NCR’s Edward Pentin says sources who spoke to the newspaper claimed three priests “are allegedly intimidating anyone who does not agree with the Criteria. The three had been opponents of the previous bishop, Archbishop Paul Cremona, but have now become the present bishops’ allies. One of them reputedly attacks any priest who shares critical stories on the Internet.

“‘This group of priests, with a few others, have been hogging the conversation for decades,’ said a Maltese priest on condition of anonymity. ‘No one else seems to be allowed to contribute to the debate and they have done untold damage to bridge-building since they brook no opposition.’”

The NCR also suggested intolerance towards priests who are not like-minded.

A furious reaction was aroused as critics of Pope Francis’s Amoris Laetitia  balked at the way Malta’s bishops suggested that divorcees and remarried Catholics can assess for themselves their readiness to receive holy communion.

Scicluna and Gozo bishop Mari Grech said that divorced and civilly remarried Catholics could receive the sacraments if, with “an informed and enlightened conscience” they believe they’re at peace with God.

They said priests cannot exclude people from accessing the sacraments if in good conscience, they believe they are entitled to Communion.
Traditionalists even took out a full-page advert in The Times to tell Scicluna and Grech they had gone overboard. But to progressive Catholics and those outside looking in, the guidelines are welcomed, because they exhort priests to meet persons in “irregular” situations and who show a “genuine desire [for] a serious process of personal discernment about their situation”, to assist them in this journey.