Conlan Salgado: Perfect, As Our Heavenly Father is Perfect

In 1st Corinthians 13:2, St. Paul the Apostle powerfully establishes the primacy of love in the life of the Christian: “And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.” Because of this primacy of charity, when one reads Pope Francis’ Fiducia Supplicans: On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings, one is initially heartened at how many times charity is mentioned, and even spoken of as the main motivation for pastoral action and discernment. It is only on reflecting, on thinking about how this “charity” is utilized within the context of the letter, that one begins to be disheartened, for one quickly realizes that Francis’ conception of charity is not only thoroughly modern, but thoroughly secular and at odds with the Catholic tradition.

In accordance with the strategy outlined above, the letter establishes two different understandings of blessings: one is ritual, grounded in the perennial teaching and practice and doctrine of the Church; the other is pastoral, grounded in so-called “pastoral charity” (which will be discussed below) and Francis’ own pastoral vision, along with his “innovative contribution to the pastoral meaning of blessings”.

It is this unhelpful conception of pastoral charity, together with Francis’ proposal of blessings that are offered “without requiring anything”, that does so much damage to a proper theology of love and charity. In seeking to understand the damage Francis has done, let us turn to the model of all true charity, Divine Charity. God’s Love is synonymous with his nature, which means that God loves because that is His only mode of being. God exists, because He must exist, and in existing, He must love. Moreover, since there is not separation between God’s acting and His being, God’s every act is a perfect instantiation of love which transforms that which it touches in the best possible way. Now, the great saints and mystics of the Catholic tradition attest to this transformative aspect of God’s love, and to that end, articulate how the Divine Love acts in two very powerful ways within the believer: the Divine Love countenances, and it empowers.

Since God’s love is rooted in His nature, it follows that God cannot love sin, which is categorically opposed to His nature. In fact, to the extent that God’s love is synonymous with His being, and to the extent that sin is completely opposed to God’s being and to God’s intention for His creatures, God hates sin (John 8:44, Is 1:6, Ps 38:4, Rom. 6:23, 1 John 1:6, Titus 1:15). In comprehending this, we comprehend what it means that God’s love countenances and empowers: it means that in the very act of loving us, God re-affirms, strengthens, encourages us in, and approves of all that is virtuous and good, while weakening, discouraging, and denying all that is sinful and perverse in us.

Read the full piece on Substack.