1726 GMT: I just saw Card. Napier live on EWTN who had come directly from the Synod Hall.

He made a bit of a correction to his own correction/addition of Fr Rosica. Be sure to pay attention to this.

____

ORIGINAL Published on: Oct 9, 2015 @ 09:42

‘Bout time.

This comes from LifeSite.

Wilfrid Card. Napier, Archbishop of Durban in South Africa spoke up in defense of Jesus today. Rather, he spoke up in the defense of the rest of Jesus’ message of mercy and compassion. When the Lord encountered sinners, rather, when sinners encountered the Lord during His earthly life, the Lord tried to take them out of their sin and to God through conversion: “Neither will I condemn thee. Go, and now sin no more.” That last part is necessary. Leave it out and you distort every other aspect of Christ’s saving mission.

Card. Napier used the tweetosphere to make a point. My emphases and comments.

Leading African cardinal critiques Vatican spokesman Fr. Rosica

ROME, October 9, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – South African Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, a leading cardinal on the organizing committee for the Synod on the Family, issued a pointed critique on Twitter of a controversial report on the Synod by the Vatican’s English-language spokesman, Fr. Thomas Rosica, in which the priest emphasized that the Church should “embrace reality” in dealing with sinful situations.

Rosica’s summary of Synod fathers’ addresses at Tuesday’s press briefing was widely criticized for its emphasis on liberal proposals and the strong language he used to describe them. [Could it be that he has a personal agenda?]The remarks fueled ongoing concerns from last year’s Synod about the manipulation of the message by the Vatican press office and the Synod’s organizing body. [There must be 50 ways to rig a Synod. Use of the presser is one of them.]

After the press conference, Salt and Light TV, Rosica’s Toronto-based media organization, tweeted out a link to an article about Rosica’s remarks, saying, “Fr. Rosica Speaks on Synod Delegates, The Need to Embrace People Where They Are.”

In reply, Napier tweeted: “‘Meet people where they are’ sounds nice, but is that what Jesus did? Didn’t he rather call them away from where they were?” [Do I hear an “Amen!”?]

At Tuesday’s press conference, Rosica had said, “There must be an end to exclusionary language and a strong emphasis on embracing reality as it is. We should not be afraid of new and complex situations. [?] … The language of inclusion must be our language, always considering pastoral and canonical possibilities and solutions.”

Napier has been among the more outspoken tradition-minded Synod fathers. His criticism of last year’s controversial interim report at the Synod, given at a Vatican press conference, made international headlines. “The message has gone out and it’s not a true message,” he said. “Whatever we say hereafter is going to be as if we’re doing some damage control.” [And that has been proven true.]

“The message has gone out that this is what the Synod is saying, this is what the Catholic Church is saying, and it’s not what we are saying at all,” he said. “No matter how we try correcting that … there’s no way of retrieving it.”

Toronto Cardinal Thomas Collins spoke on a similar theme as Napier’s tweet during his intervention at the Synod this year, emphasizing the need to promote repentance and conversion while the Church accompanies people. He described his three-minute speech to Catholic News Service on Thursday. [Remember: the rules of the Synod have been rigged in such a way that we have to get what Synod members said through circuitous routes.]

“The truest compassionate mercy is a compassion that challenges,” explained the cardinal. [Right on.] He said meeting people “where they are” comes first, “but that is only the first thing. The second thing is to help them become what God wants them to be.” [And that does not include committing sodomy. That does not include reception of Communion in the state of sin.]

“Just to have accompaniment as people are moving in the direction away from the Lord is not enough. We need to be with them in order to help people to follow our Lord,” he added.