For many people today, practical atheism is the normal rule of life...If this attitude becomes a general existential position, then freedom no longer has any standards, then everyting is possible and permissible.
“What is perfection in love? Love your enemies in such a way that you would desire to make them your brothers … For so did He love, Who hanging on the Cross, said ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’” (Luke 23:34)
In the name of tolerance, tolerance is being abolished; this is a real threat we face.
Certainly, it is difficult to make the demands of the Gospel understandable to secularized people. But this pastoral difficulty must not lead to compromises with the truth.
One can readily admit that the Magisterium's manner of expression does not seem very easy to understand at times. It needs to be translated by preachers and catechists into a language which relates to people and to their respective cultural environments. The essential content of the Church's teaching, however, must be upheld in this process. It must not be watered down on allegedly pastoral grounds, because it communicates the revealed truth.
I suppose there can hardly be any more validation of Cardinal Sarah's observation on silence, wherein he states that
God is silence, and the devil is noisy
than to remember that Bergoglio is always talking, whereas his predecessor who tried to draw people to God, was frequently silent.
Distinctions Matter
Distinctions Matter Forward
Missale Romanum
Pre-1951 Calendar