Pope Benedict decries “cafeteria Catholicism”

Vatican City, Jul 5, 2005 / 22:00 pm

Speaking on the newly released Compendium to the Catechism of the Catholic Church Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI stressed the need for Catholics to lovingly embrace the whole of the faith.

"Dear brothers and sisters”, he said, “how necessary it is today at the dawn of the third millennium for the entire Catholic community to proclaim, teach and witness to the entire truth of Catholic faith, doctrine and morals in a unanimous and harmonious manner!"

The Holy Father added that the Compendium’s completion happened to fall in conjunction with the announcement of John Paul II’s beatification process “by divine providence.”

The late pontiff commissioned the Compendium in …to complement the dense, but groundbreaking Catechism of the Catholic Church, compiled in large part by Benedict XVI, who was then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

In 1987, John Paul told a gathering of the U.S. bishops that, "It is sometimes reported that a large number of Catholics today do not adhere to the teaching of the Catholic Church on a number of questions, notably sexual and conjugal morality, divorce and remarriage.”

“It is sometimes claimed”, he said, “that dissent from the magisterium is totally compatible with being a 'good Catholic,' and poses no obstacle to the reception of the Sacraments. This is a grave error that challenges the teaching of the Bishops in the United States and elsewhere. "