"Communion could be given to people living in publicly known adultery. Again, no pope ever said that." Canon lawyer Fr. Gerald Murray names the three things Pope Francis said that no pope before him ever said, and explains why it matters right now, while Pope Leo XIV's Amoris Laetitia meeting is under way behind closed doors in Rome.

Fr. Murray's new book, A Papacy of Confusion: The Controversial Legacy of Pope Francis (TAN Books), came out the day we spoke. Joe takes him through it chapter by chapter: footnote 351 and the only two ways to explain it, why the Polish and German bishops ended up teaching opposite things, the Dubia that never got an answer, and how a cardinal who said Church teaching should change ended up personally invited to this week's meeting. Fr. Murray's answer is not anger. It is a question: will anyone in the room critique it?

GET THE BOOK: https://tanbooks.com/products/books/a-papacy-of-confusion-the-controversial-legacy-of-pope-francis/

FULL LIVE SHOW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90y7YtEbmD0
THE SHORT: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GmOK0cYIWRM

CHAPTERS
00:00 Rome's Amoris Laetitia meeting and a new book
00:49 Hollerich and "the perennial quest of heretics"
02:57 Footnote 351: only two ways to explain it
03:42 Does there have to be a winner?
04:45 What the bishops have to tell Pope Leo
05:26 A house divided: Poland vs. Germany
06:30 Was the Francis era really different?
07:03 "No pope ever said that"
07:42 Does morality depend on geography?
08:29 Confusion, or outright error?
09:20 "I might be the Pope who causes a schism"
10:28 Teaching in theory, abolished in practice
11:01 Change the practice and doctrine catches up
12:06 The chapter on the "Lavender Mafia"
13:02 Fr. James Martin and the Synod appendices
14:24 From "change the teaching" to Leo's guest list
15:05 Will the meeting address any of it?
15:54 Behind closed doors

SCRIPTURE (Douay-Rheims)
Matthew 19:6 - "What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder."
Mark 10:11 - "Whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another, committeth adultery against her."
Genesis 3:5 - "Your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil."
1 Corinthians 11:27 - "Whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord."

CHURCH TEACHING
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1650
St. John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio 84
Amoris Laetitia 305, footnote 351

SOURCES
The Pillar, "What will happen at the Vatican's 'Amoris' meeting?": https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/what-will-happen-at-the-vaticans
America, Pope Leo opens the meeting (Oct. 7, 2026): https://www.americamagazine.org/vatican-dispatch/2026/10/07/pope-leo-amoris-laetitia-meeting-vatican-family-fragility/
Msgr. Martin Grichting, "Amoris Laetitia, or the Magisterium That Undermines Itself": https://infovaticana.com/en/2026/10/02/tribune-amoris-laetitia-or-the-magisterium-that-dismantles-itself/

A Catholic Take with Joe McClane airs weekdays live on the Station of the Cross Catholic Media Network. Watch live, comment, and stay for the After Show: https://thestationofthecross.com/act

Do you think anyone at the meeting will critique Amoris Laetitia? Tell us in the comments.

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