Current issue of "Catholica". Why are almost all cardinals and bishops silent about the end of Catholicism that Pope Francis brings about? The "other understanding of the Church" behind Amoris laetitia.
(Paris) The international magazine for culture, politics and religion, Catholica, which has been published in France for 30 years, counts "well-known
authors such as Émile Poulat, Robert Spaemann, Ernst Wolfgang
Böckenförde, Vladimir Bukowski, Stanislaw Grygiel, Thierry Wolton and
Jacques Ellul and Pietro De Marco," says Vatican writer Sandro Magister. The editor-in-chief is Bernard Dumont.
Bernard Dumont In its latest issue, Dumont, whose editorial
is also freely available on the Internet, deals with the "unbelievable"
silence of almost all cardinals and bishops - with the exception of the
four signatories of Dubia - "the dissolution of the traditional form of catholicity by the pontificate of Jorge Mario Bergoglio has been set in motion."
Bernard Dumont discusses the apparently desired end of "Roman
Catholicism" without, however, raising an outcry, as the historian
Roberto Pertici once complained. The end is proclaimed by Rome or those who invoke Rome, and all are silent and seem to submit to the inevitable fate. See the analysis of Prof. Pertici: The reform of Pope Francis was already written by Martin Luther .
Why is this?
The belief reduced to ethics
Dumont also published in the new edition the text of a Benedictine monk and theologian who analyzes and criticizes "perhaps the most radical upheaval in Catholicism of our time." No longer does the sacrament have primacy in the Church, of which the Second Vatican Council said it was the "culmen et fons" of the life of the Church, but ethics. This subversion is also reflected in the question of remarried divorced as well as the inter-communion with the Protestants. The Benedictine theologian is Fr. Giulio Meiattini, who this year already published the monograph "Amoris laetitia?The Sacraments Reduced to Morality" (publisher La Fontana di Siloe, Turin 2018). He is a monk of the Benedictine Abbey of Madonna della Scala in Noci and Professor of Fundamental Theology at the Theological Faculty of Apulia and at the Pontifical Athenaeum Sant'Anselmo in Rome.
Meiattini accuses Pope Francis and his whisperer, Cardinal Walter
Kasper, of promoting "cunning" rather than the much-cited "distinction."There is cunning in Amoris laetitia and the mind behind it.
"The state of confusion is obvious".
With these words the theologian and monk begins his essay. It is claimed that the confusion is only supposed, and only the result of a new style of government. Such a picture of the current situation is not something Fr. Meiattini takes pleasure in.
"Can the confusion and disagreement between bishops on tricky points of faith be fruits of the Holy Spirit? Not in my opinion."
Several small steps mean a large one in sum
P. Giulio Meiattini OSB Then Meiattini indicates that in the matter of remarried divorced people a ready-made plan was pursued from the beginning.
With the opportunity of being able to deliver the only speech in
February 2014 to the Cardinals' Consistory procured by Pope Francis,
Cardinal Kasper "laid the groundwork". Nevertheless, two bishops' synods failed to produce a common line to the problem being discussed. Anyone reading the reports of the "circuli minores" of the 2015 Synod can easily see that there was no common position.
The pope would have had to examine and understand, which would have
been the first task of "distinction", "which processes" would be
initiated and pursued, and which not. However, such a distinction did not take place. The path taken was not changed. The fact is that a large majority of the Synod Fathers wanted "no change in the traditional order". The editorial committee of Relatio finalis therefore took care not to include any innovations in the text.
For this reason, a "small step," according to Meiattini, was undertaken instead of a big one: The editorial committee formulated some undefined positions, which
meant a "change of atmosphere".
The non-rejection of these ponderous formulations, which received the necessary two-thirds majority only with
extreme difficulty, sufficed
that the next "small step," with some ambiguous footnotes in Amoris laetitia, were sufficient to indicate a new direction. These small steps, which, strictly speaking, did not reinforce the traditional position, were enough to split the episcopate. The next step was papal confirmation of the guidelines of the ecclesiastical Province of Buenos Aires on the Eighth Chapter of Amoris laetitia.
In reality, these guidelines are not mere interpretations, because they
contain statements and instructions that were neither found in Amoris laetitia nor adopted by the synods, and never found a majority there. Through a series of "small steps", a "big step" was finally taken within three years, with a profound intervention. But this has nothing to do with "synodality," according to Meiattini. Faith would be reduced to ethics in Amoris laetitia , that is the total thrust.
"Ethics has neither the first nor the last word."
"I do not understand how the Bishop of Rome can write such a thing"
And Meiattini continues:
"To be honest, I can not understand how a bishop, especially that of
Rome, can write such sentences: 'One should not burden two limited
people with the tremendous burden of perfectly recreating the union that
exists between Christ and his Church '(AS, 122)."
This formulation is an expression of a very different way of thinking: A
gospel ethic, freed from the sacrament, becomes a "mighty burden"
rather than a "sweet yoke" and a "light burden." Such a statement can only be reached if one understands Christianity - perhaps unconsciously - only as ethics. In this way we arrive at results that correspond to the Lutheran concept of simul iustus et peccator, condemned by the Council of Trent.
Intercommunion with the Protestants follows the same logic.What is only decisive is the presumed, inner feeling.
For the objective criteria, all conceivable attenuating circumstances
are taken into account, and the subjective decision of conscience is
decisive.
Why, then, according to this pattern, should not even a Buddhist or a
Hindu be able to receive the Catholic Eucharist, according to P.
Meiattani?
"Damaging the relationship between morality and sacraments can ultimately lead to a non-Catholic understanding of the Church."
Text: Giuseppe Nardi Image: Catholica / Vida inteligente / Cooperatores veritatis (Screenshots) Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com AMDG
Edit: our instinct for this was correct. Father Zuhlsdorf has reported on the echo station of Father Frank Phillips. The local ordinary does mean to chip away at this brodgehead of tradition after all. Meanwhile, Father Michael Pfleger at St. Sabina’s blathers heresy incessantly from his pulpit with impunity in a kind of ecclesiastical minstrel show.
Yesterday I posted that Fr. Frank Phillips who founded the Canons of St. John Cantius in Chicago, who had been accused of immoral behavior and suspended pended an investigation by a board, had been exonerated of all charges.The board issued a letter.
I wrote, in an update to that post, that people in the Chicago would not make a mistake to attend Sunday Masses this weekend.
Archbishop Hector Ruben Aguer at Corpus Christi in his last act
as ordinary of La Plata
Edit: when they do things like this, as they often have, there is need of retribution. Bergoglio did the same to Bishop Rogelio Plano, who died not long after.
(Buenos Aires) The retirement of Archbishop Hector Ruben Aguer of La Plata has been closely watched for the past few weeks. Archbishop Aguer has been Bergoglio's leading opponent in Argentina for the past 25 years. When he leaves, the Church's Maximum Leader is letting him feel his displeasure. As previously reported
, the Jesuit Bergoglio and the secular priest Aguer, both from Buenos
Aires, became Auxiliary Bishops of Buenos Aires at the beginning of the
1990s. At that moment, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who until then had been "exiled" internally, had the better luck between the two.He began his phenomenal rise.
With the help of the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Antonio Cardinal
Quarrancino, Bergoglio and not Aguer became the new Primate of
Argentina. Although Aguer was made the archbishop of the second most important diocese in the country by Pope John Paul II. The cardinalatial dignity is connected with Buenos Aires, not with La Plata. Pope Benedict XVI. supported Archbishop Aguer against the Bergoglio-led majority in the Argentine Bishops' Conference
, but acted against his successor Francis with too cautious and
hesitation, in order to make his intended renewal in the episcopacy really
effective. Bergoglio sat in the Conclave in Rome in 2005 and 2013, not Aguer. After Francis became pope, he quickly disassembled the minority led by Aguer, who opposed him as a primate. Only Aguer remained in office, but not a day longer than necessary - which was quite literal.
Victor Manuel Fernandez On May 24, the archbishop completed his 75th year. According to canon law, he presented his request for resignation to Francis. With a conspicuous haste, Francis accepted it and appointed one of his closest confidants, Titular Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernandez, as his successor.
The head of the Church Maximum Leader, thus, not only eliminated the last representative
of a traditional understanding of the Church, but also wanted to ensure
that the archdiocese was taken by a Bergoglio team member. What animosities are behind the scenes, illustrates an additional unfriendliness of the Pope to Archbishop Aguer.
Francis was not content to emeritize Aguer at the earliest opportunity and immediately appoint a successor, which is also a humiliation for
Aguer.
Francis did not appoint the archbishop in charge, who is in good
health, as diocesan administrator until the inauguration of the
successor, as is customary, unless death or health force him to change
the bishop. Francis openly expressed his disapproval of Archbishop Aguer. Not a day longer than absolutely necessary, Aguer should have something to say in the archdiocese of La Plata. Francis Monsignor Alberto Bochatey OSA, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of La Plata was appointed diocesan administrator.
This was announced by the chargé d'affaires of the Apostolic
Nunciature, Msgr. Vincenzo Turturro, on Monday to the Archdiocese.
"Msgr.
Bochatay will head the archdiocese of La Plata until the inauguration
of Msgr. Victor Fernandez next June 16," said the press service AICA of
the Argentine Bishops' Conference.
The appointment of a diocesan administrator for only 14 days when the previous archbishop is in the best health? The Bergoglio related news site Valores Religiosos headlined:
"Aguer confirms that the Holy See wanted a quick change".
Monsignor Aguer had announced last Sunday that the change should be
"quick" so that his successor, Fernandez, could already receive the
pallium from the Pope's hand on June 29th in Rome.
At the same time, the emeritus archbishop expressed his astonishment
that the media had already reported exactly for weeks what then became
reality in those days: that Francis would immediately emeritize him and
would make the papal ghostwriter Fernandez his successor. The Argentine news site CadenaBA wrote critically:
"Pope Francis behaved towards Monser Aguer more after the Old than
after the New Testament: according to the motto, "Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth ".
He reciprocated with Msgr. Hector Aguer, who had asked him to leave him
in office until next September, so that he could celebrate his
twenty-year jubilee as Archbishop of La Plata," for which several
parishes of the archdiocese were already preparing.
At the end of the Feast of Corpus Christi, which was celebrated in Argentina on June 3, according to Wanderer,
the Syrian Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostom approached the microphone and
made his home available to the archbishop," since Monsignor Aguer has
no place to go ( his original plan was to move to the Small Seminary of
La Plata.)" Behind the scenes, the retirement was obviously far more dramatic than when it became public. The AICA press release from the Argentine Bishops' Conference said two days later:
"The retired archbishop will live for so long at the archdiocesan curia deems it necessary to find a new home."
In La Plata, not only was an archbishop emeritized and replaced by a towering mediocrity
in a demonstratively urgent procedure, but evidently evicted on the spot. Pope Francis' retaliation for revenge has found another victim at La Plata. Text: Giuseppe Nardi Image: Archdiocese of La Plata / MiL Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com ADMG
Franciscan of Immaculate marching for life. New points for victory, but without a rethinking in the Vatican there seem no end to the torments in sight.
(Rome) The Franciscans of the Immaculate, oppressed by the Congregation of Religious with the approval of Pope Francis, have achieved another victory, at least a moral victory, which should more than ever be the occasion of a process of reflection in the Vatican. There aren’t any indications so far.
Despite its young age, the Order, which was not established until the early nineties, stood out for the great number of religious and priestly vocations, even in Europe, where most of the orders are moaning because of a lack of vocations.
Old Rite and missionary - and a thorn in the eye
The secret: As large parts of the Church and also many members of the Order, especially during and after the Council, were enthusiastic about "cutting off old braids" and introducing all sorts of innovations in the name of new "freedoms," from the setting aside of the Order's name to the abandonment of the Order's habit, from the convenient expansion of the cells while at the same time reducing the communal prayer of the hours, two friars minor went the opposite way. They asked to leave the company of their "progressive" confreres and retire to an abandoned monastery and revive it. There, they did not seek to subject their religious rule to an "aggiornamento" but to build on the first Franciscan rule of the order and deepen Marian spirituality.
The two Minorites, Fr. Stefano Maria Manelli and Fr. Gabriele Pellettieri, were joined by others, and they became the founders of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, a Marian and traditional order. As Pope Benedict XVI. freed the Immemorial Rite with the Motu proprio Summorum Pontificum and procured a home in the church, the young religious community did not hesitate to follow him in it. The Franciscans of the Immaculate became the first and so far only new religious order, which has returned to the traditional rite, but remained pastoral and bi-ritual. The special charisma that has distinguished the Order from other altruistic communities was its missionary zeal.
Benedict XVI. held his protective hand over the Order, which seemed to become as unique and interesting a model as it was to young members of other orders.
The Commissar
Then there was the unexpected resignation Benedict XVI. and election of Pope Francis. In the Order, a tiny minority of five disgruntled, liberal brothers had complained because of the change to the Immemorial Rite in the Vatican. Under Benedict XVI. the Congregation of the Religious did not dare to take action. Under Francis, it immediately received the tiny minority's complaint as an opportunity to crack down on the unloved model - and radically.
Order's founder, Father Manelli
Manelli was deposed as Superior General and placed under house arrest. The order's leadership was removed from office, the priests were forbidden to celebrate the Immemorial Rite, and an apostolic commissar was appointed. In contradiction to Summorum Pontificum, each priest had to individually apply for a special permission to celebrate in the forma extraordinaria.
In order to exorcise the Order's charisma, monasteries were closed, its seminary closed and evictions were carried out. The conversion into an Ecclesia Dei community was prohibited as well as the founding of a new order. Bishops were threatened if they accepted Franciscans of the Immaculate who left the Order.
In that summer of 2013, a veritable destructive campaign was kindled. The consequences did not remain: the first was the drying up of the vocations.
No reason
The Summit: To date, the Vatican has not given any reasons for this radical interference, let alone any charges. So far there was no possibility for the Franciscans of Immaculate to defend themselves against the oppressive measures of the papacy or at least to defend themselves. The requests and queries of Fr. Manelli to be received and heard by the Pope were not answered by Francis.
As Commissar, the Congregation of Religious used the Capuchin, Father Fidenzio Volpi. A man who was possessed of no sympathy for the tradition or the Immemorial Rite. Accordingly, he raged against the Order. Unofficially, let it be cryptically hinted that the order was being cleaned up because of "Lefebvrian deviationism." Later, he even claimed that the Order had been put under temporary administration four months after the election of Pope Francis, because it wanted to "overthrow" the Pope. That tradition and the Immemorial Rite is the real enemy became more and more clear, if there was any need for further proof.
By contrast, Commissioner Volpi has been long dead. Today, the second Commissar, who is a bit more reserved than his predecessor, is in office today. Volpi died in the midst of a civil and criminal dispute before Italian courts. The way in front of state courts is at least open to Father Manelli and representatives of the lay organizations affiliated to the Order because the Vatican has no access to it.
The book by Loredana Volpi
Volpi had been condemned by the Italian court for defamation, to payment of damages, the execution of which was prevented by his death.
Loredana Volpi, a niece of the deceased commissar, saw the reputation of her uncle damaged. Together with Mario Castellano, she wrote the book "Truth and Justice for Father Fidenzio Volpi. A dark matter in the pontificate of Pope Francis" (Verità e giustizia per padre Fidenzio Volpi, Una oscura vicenda nel Pontificato di Papa Francesco). Now, she has admitted to accusing the Order of unproven things and writing slander against those in charge of the lay religious organizations.
"While the Acting Administration of the Franciscans of the Immaculate continues in its sixth (!) year, without for the time being, foreseeing a possible solution to this unusual affair, which together with other actions bordering on arbitrariness (see the Order of Malta) like a blemish on this pontificate, has been a important manner of procedure in the indictment and slander-construct that has poisoned this story," said Vatican Marco Tosatti.
Mario Castellano, the co-author with Loredana Volpi, was a consultant to Commissar Volpi. Numerous hints, tips and "recommendations" from Fr. Alfonso Bruno, the main opponent of Fr. Manelli, who became the main beneficiary of the provisional administration of the Order, were probably included in the book.
In each country there are keywords that function as ciphers. If you want to slander someone, it is sufficient to incorporate these keywords and to drop some allusions in the subjunctive. Castellano and Volpi in their book brought the Order and lay organizations into contact with the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia. The mafia is good for slander in Italy.
Loredana Volpi was received in audience, apparently for merit in the struggle against the Franciscans of the Immaculate, even by Pope Francis, to whom she presented a copy of her book.
The Apology
The founders Manelli and Pellettieri
The two authors, however, made a mistake. In their references in the book, they named the leading lay representatives by name. These filed a criminal complaint for defamation. This was to prove the truth, which was obviously not possible. To escape prosecution, Loredana Volpi decided to come to an out of court settlement with the plaintiffs. She undertook to write a letter of apology to be published in the leading daily newspaper of Southern Italy, in Il Mattino, and in the national daily La Repubblica. The left-liberal Repubblica was not the only newspaper to participate in the campaign against the Franciscans of the Immaculate. The ruling may have fallen on it because it is the only newspaper that Pope Francis reads daily, according to his own statement.
However, in order for the message to arrive at the governing pope, who bears the responsibility for the whole case, Volpi must, as she had handed him a book, also make her apologies directly.
Tosatti published excerpts from the letter of apology:
"It is absolutely certain that the statements employed are [...] not justified, being untrue, and for that reason they must be considered absolutely baseless and unjustified. In that sense, I renew to you my formal apology for the unfortunate and unjustified conduct towards you, and I inform you that the present letter will be published in the following ... media organizations and also on the Internet so that it may be widely used to redress the damage caused."
In return, those affected withdrew their ad.
The one most principally responsible is Pope Francis
The incident proves "once more," according to Tosatti, that the whole affair, which brought a most extraordinary, flourishing, young order to the brink of annihilation, is based on a construct of unproven allegations, rumors, baseless allusions, numerous verbal aggressions, and unbelievable slander. In short: it is an intrigue. The intriguers, that's for sure, seem partly personal, but partly ideologically motivated.
The ultimate responsibility for this lies not only with Pope Francis, because he endorsed the interventions of the Congregation of Religious, but above all because he has put both the male and the female branch, which was also placed under provisional administration at a later time, with two separate actions he refused to appeal to the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signatura against the measures of the Congregation of Religious. Thus, he decided by virtue of his powers as an absolute monarch. Why so much emphasis on an Order with which he had never had direct contact? The ordinary legal process would have clarified the legality and validity of the measures of the Congregation of Religious and above all revealed what it is all about. That was (and is) precisely, obviously not desired.
Loredana Volpi's apology, according to Marco Tosatti, "casts a heavy shadow on the credibility of the Fronde [faction] of adversaries," arrayed against Father Manelli and his Order.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: MiL / Chiesa e postconcilio / Corrispondenza Romana
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG
(Rome) Last year, the Vatican bureaucrats started hunting for InfoVaticana, the largest independent Catholic news platform in the Spanish-speaking world. Allegedly because it leads with the Vatican in its name.
With a letter from Pope Francis to the multi-lingual news platform
Vatican Insider, the Vatican provided proof that it was only an excuse. The Vatican Secretariat of State sent a warning to the operators of InfoVaticana, the Spanish professional journalists, last year.
The news site, according to the accusation, operates by naming itself
"Vatican" in the name of unfair competition through misleading
advertising. The Vatican is serious. The State Secretariat appointed Baker & McKenzie, one of the top 10 global law firms, to take legal action against InfoVaticana. Cannons were used to shoot sparrows, said Gabriel Ariza and Fernando Beltrán, founders and operators of InfoVaticana .
Logo development of InfoVaticana since the outbreak of the legal dispute. The compulsion to "neutrality" They see the real reason for the unusual Vatican approach in their basic attitude and the pope-critical reporting.
The independent platform has in the past published critical accounts of
certain acts and statements of the ruling Pope, as well as of Spanish
bishops, including the Archbishop of Madrid appointed by Pope Francis.
Edit: it's like there's an editorial template for this sort of thing that journalists in the Western world are expected to use when it comes to distort the public's understanding of these power struggles. Never mind that they're like the ritual combats of professional wrestling.
What
has recently been read in aggressive commentaries and reports against
conservative bishops brings to mind the papal expression "explosive hostility."This is how Pope Benedict XVI. had complained in 2009 complained of media reactions to his statements.
A guest contribution by Hubert Hecker.
At the Spring General Assembly, the majority of German bishops adopted a paper on pastoral care for sectarian marriages. Thereafter, a Protestant spouse should then approaching Holy Communion would be admitted if they affirmed the Catholic understanding of the Eucharist and at the same time disallowing Communion would plunge the
spouses into a "serious spiritual emergency".
Campaign for Intercommunion [In this corner, weighting in at 130 kilos!]
Bishop Bode, pictured with new "liturgical" headgear, is preparing the German public for the introduction of married priests. A plan with far-reaching consequences ...
(Berlin) If there were any doubts that the Amazon synod would be programmed, they should be dispelled. The Amazon synod is will not just be somehow programmed, but in the background from the German-speaking countries. The German Church is said to be recovering from the German spirit, not just since the 1960s.Like with Hegel the tourist in his rucksack, they seem to have a fixed view of
the Protestantism that emerged from German lands as a role model. The demand is already old, but now it should really lunge for the neck of celibacy.
On German nature ...
The Amazon Synod is being prepared on behalf of Pope Francis by the
emeritus Austrian missionary Bishop Erwin Kräutler and German-born
Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes.Hummes (born 1934) is a personal friend of Pope Francis.Kräutler (born 1939) is the bishop who "does not agree" when it comes to praying priestly vocations.
Amazon Basin Both have spoken repeatedly in favor of celibacy's demotion to a voluntary basis, which amounts to its de facto abolition, as practice in the Orthodox churches shows. In Protestantism, it never came up again. Both already spoke out for the ordination of women.
The Amazon synod with the aim of a married clergy is therefore only a
first stage in the attack on the sacrament of Holy Orders. Kräutler is head of Repam Brazil and Hummes is head of the entire Repam network.Repam,
in turn, was founded in late 2014 through episcopal conferences in all
Amazonian states to prepare the Amazon synod on behalf of the Vatican. Thus, Kräutler and Hummes have a central influence on the direction of the synod.
The main concern of the Synod, which has since been barely hidden, is,
unlike allegedly, not a "cry" of the indigenous Amazon people, because
they have no priests. Hummes himself immediately smashed an unwanted proposal to remedy the alleged shortage of priests for the maximum of 300,000 Amazonian Indians. Why? Because the primary goal is not the pastoral care of the Indians, but the abolition of celibacy.
Update: here’s the “accurate” report from Rome Reports now that Herald has seemingly taken theirs down.”, which omits the paragraph included in the Herald report.
Edit: another telegraphed Photo Op to attack the words of Christ. Or is he invoking his Petrine privilege to bind and loose?
'God has the heart of a father, your father was a good man, he is in heaven with Him,' the Pope said
Pope Francis comforted a grieving child by telling him that his atheist father is in heaven.
During a visit to Rome’s deprived Corviale district on Sunday, the Pope answered questions from a group of children. One of them, a boy called Emanuele, burst into tears when he met the Pope.
After giving the child a long hug, Pope Francis asked him what was troubling him. Emanuele whispered in the Pope’s ear that his father, who was an atheist, had recently died and he was worried he could be in hell.
Pope Francis asked Emanuele for permission to tell the crowd what he had said, and then announced (according to La Stampa): “If only we could cry like Emanuele when we have pain in our hearts.”
Pope Francis has confirmed the abolition of the Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles by the Brussels Archbishop De Kesel. The reason: too many and too orthodox priestly vocations.
(Rome) Pope Francis signed a decree dissolving the fraternity of the Holy Apostles. Nothing is charged to the Brotherhood. It was guilty of nothing. Their only mistake seems to be orthodoxy in a liberal environ that seems to despise nothing more than faithful priestly vocations.
The Fraternité des Saints Apôtres
The Fraternity of the Saints Apôtres, Dutch Broederschap van de Holy Apostles, was canonically established in April 2013 by the then Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels and Primate of Belgium, Mgr. André-Joseph Léonard. The brotherhood goes back to the French priest Michel-Marie Zanotti-Sorkine.
Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles
Archbishop Léonard called the faithful community to Belgium to help with the spiritual renewal of his archdiocese. He allowed the fraternity and gave it the parishes of Sainte-Catherine / Sint-Katelijnekerk, in the center of Brussels, and Saint-Joseph in the formerly Flemish, now French-speaking Ucclé (Ukkel) in the south of Brussels.
Archbishop Léonard, Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels since 2010, who was strongly opposed because of his faithfulness inside and outside the Church, built with the help of the Priestly Fraternity a parallel formation of priests outside the diocesan seminary. This is a path other bishops had already taken before him.
Archbishop Léonard’s initiative proved to be a complete success. The Society was able to achieve what the progressive diocesan institutions could no longer do: to lead young men to the "beauty of vocation and service as diocesan priests". The Brotherhood is a community of world priests, but with a strong community life. She sees in it the answer to the crisis of the world priesthood in Western Europe. The parishes entrusted to them flourished in contrast to the neighboring parishes and were visited by numerous young people.
Although the community was only three years old, in the spring of 2016 it included six priests, one deacon and 21 seminarians. An extraordinary success considering that last year there was not one new entry into the Archbishop seminary in the Archdiocese of Brussels.
Danneel's retribution
Among the pope makers of the current pontificate, there is the progressive Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who was Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels before Msgr. Léonard. Pope Benedict XVI. made him an archenemy when he did not chose Danneels’ preferred candidate. Archbishop Léonard had therefore to face heavy resistance in the liberal archdiocese from the beginning. This massive resistance made the necessary reform of the seminary impossible for the time being, which is why he wanted to promote priestly vocations by establishing a second seminary and to build a new clergy.
Michel Marie Zanotti Sorkine
But his episcopate was too short. With the resignation of Benedict XVI. and the election of Francis the hour of the long-retired Danneels struck again. As a personal friend of the new pope, he was able to take revenge. Pope Francis refused Léonard the cardinalatial dignity and made instead the then apostolic nuncio in Belgium a cardinal, who had been Danneels’ preferred candidate and whom Léonard wanted to prevent. A double affront to Léonard.
Hardly had he completed his 75th birthday then he was retired by Francis, and Pope Bergoglio made Danneel's preferred candidate, albeit with a five-year "delay" yet, the new primate of Belgium. Not only that: he raised the new Danneels-compliant archbishop, Jozef De Kesel, immediately to cardinal.
There has seldom been more a demonstrative presentiment in this pontificate than in Brussels, of who is in papal favor and who is not, and what that means.
De Kesel's purge
The new Archbishop De Kesel, with whom Danneels also retired to the Archbishop's Palace, began to systematically eradicate what Archbishop Léonard had done to recover a local church lying on the liberal soil. It is not just about people, but about a far more involved conflict of direction.
Archbishop Leonard ordains SocietyMembers
One of the first victims of the purge was the Priestly Fraternity of the Holy Apostles. In June 2016, De Kesel threw the Brotherhood out of his diocese. And to make sure that it did not find acceptance in another Belgian diocese, he immediately made for an expulsion from all over Belgium. The reason? Hard to believe: too many and too orthodox priestly vocations.
The official reasoning was obviously just a pretext: The expulsion was "out of solidarity" with the French bishops - several members of the Society, especially their superior Zanotti-Sorkine, are French - because there is also a shortage of priests there. The seminarians were offered the opportunity to switch to the diocesan seminary or to leave Belgium, as if the training at the Brussels Priestly Seminary was the same as that of the Priestly Fraternity.
But that was exactly what it was about. A progressive episcopate obviously wants progressive priests or if not, the. no priests. In one of the first public statements as Primate of Belgium, De Kesel called for the abolition of celibacy with reference to the prevailing lack of priests.
It is easy to see a direct connection between the expulsion of the fraternity and his plea for married priests.
The thing is not surprising. In 2017, De Kesel "totally" applauded the proposal to set up an Islamic prayer room at every Catholic school.
Brussels: dechristianized and islamicized
The fact that two Brussels parishes would remain without a priest as a result of the expulsion did not seem to burden Archbishop De Kesel. Neither is the fact that the parishes experienced a veritable renaissance after being transferred to the Society. After the expulsion of the Society, De Kesel ordered the demolition of the St. Catherine's Church, as it is no longer needed because of massive parish mergers. One third of the churches have already closed or are due to close.
Ordination by Archbishop Léonard 2015
Since the Society was established according to diocesan law, the new Archbishop De Kesel could also dissolve them again. He did just that for the Saints Peter and Paul Day in 2016, the day on which the new priests are traditionally consecrated in the dioceses. The main task of the Society is the promotion of vocations and the formation of priests. However, the consecrations of the Society had been suspended by De Kesel.
Brussels today is the heavily de-Christianized and massively Islamized capital of the European Union (EU). Nevertheless, the incumbent archbishop has the luxury of removing from his archdiocese those forces that promise renewal. The Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles was only one stage of his purge against orthodox groups. Others were to follow.
Believers are taking legal action
The members of the two parishes of Brussels, under the auspices of the Society, did not for a moment believe that their Archbishop, out of sheer "solidarity" with the French bishops, showed the Society to the door. At the same time 80 seminarians were studying in the diocese of Namur, of which only 25 were Belgians. So far, however, the other 55 seminarians have not been sent home out of "solidarity". Not even the numerous African or Polish priests who work in Belgium. Therefore, the parishioners asked De Kesel for a discussion. Without a result.
Several laymen then took legal action and turned to Rome. They appealed to the Congregation of Clergy objecting to De Kesel’s decree of dissolution. However, the prefect of the Congregation of Clergy was the first dicastery leader, which Pope Francis changed after his election. Cardinal Beniamino Stella, previously Vatican diplomat, has been sitting there ever since.
In November 2016, the Congregation of Clergy rejected the cases filed by the faithful "without any justification".
Sainte-Catherine church of Brussels
This left only the path to the Apostolic Signatura, to which anyone, layman or cleric, can turn if he sees his rights violated. Prefect of the Signatura was the brilliant canonist, Cardinal Raymond Burke. But Pope Francis had also exchanged him. To be precise, he had been similarly rudely thrown him out of the Vatican, as De Kesel had thrown the Priestly Society out of Belgium. Since the end of 2014, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Vatican, Msgr. Domenico Mamberti, is Prefect to the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signatura. Formerly a Vatican diplomat like Stella.
In December 2016, the Brussels faithful brought their case before the Signatura. The promoter Justitiae gave a positive opinion. According to the notification to the consignors, the cause should be submitted to a judge's collegium in autumn 2017 for treatment. "We were in good spirits, the right is and remains right."
But then things happened differently.
“A bad story "
On 25 November 2017, the consignors received a succinct statement that the case had been closed. Even before the ordinary legal process was completed - or perhaps for that very reason - Cardinal Stella, the Prefect of the Congregation of the Clergy, had visited Pope Francis and submitted to him a decree for the definitive dissolution of the Priestly Fraternity of the Holy Apostles. Pope Francis signed the decree, challenging the case. The objection to the resolution decree by Cardinal De Kesel had become obsolete with the dissolution decree of Pope Francis.
Taking advantage of the papal powers, the ordinary legal process was reduced to absurdity without any apparent necessity. The procedure is understood by those affected as arbitrary. It recalls the approach of Pope Francis against the Franciscans of the Immaculata. With the decree of the Congregation of Religious, the disempowerment of the Order, the appointment of a commissioner and the ban to celebrate without special permission the Holy Mass in the traditional form, the affected religious, including the Superior General and founder of the Order, P. Stefano M. Manelli appealed to the Apostolic Signatura. Pope Francis, however, highhandedly rejected any recourse. The persons concerned have since arbitrarily delivered the decision.
The Catholic Internet newspaper Nuova Bussola Quotidiana commented on the papal decision against the priestly brotherhood of the Holy Apostles by saying:
"The decree signed by Pope Francis seems to violate the right of the weakest in the Church. It’s a story that does not throw a good light on the way business is done by the head of the Reformed Roman Curia and the Pope. A bad story. "
Edit: what’s good for the goose is not good for the gander. In another show of disdain for the Church’s teaching, the evil Cardinal of Chicago rolls out the red carpet for an evil Jesuit who promotes degeneracy. Meanwhile, a popular traditional priest has been shut down merely based on an unexamined accusation.
[NCR] When a door closes, God opens a window. Or in this case, a cardinal does.
So it goes for Jesuit Fr. James Martin, who, after a series of speaking appearances were canceled in recent weeks, received a fresh offer Friday from Cardinal Blase Cupich to address his Chicago archdiocese over two nights during the coming Lenten season.
This week, we celebrate the first anniversary of the launch of our podcast, NCR in Conversation. Catch the latest episode here.
The Windy City invite caps a turbulent week where Martin defended himself — as did two bishops and multiple Catholic commentators — against far-right Catholic groups that launched online campaigns seeking the best-selling author’s removal from talks due to disapproval with his recent book on LGBT Catholics. Those efforts most notably resulted in a withdrawn invitation from Theological College at the Catholic University of America for Martin to address its upcoming alumni gathering.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican admitted Thursday that it altered a photo sent to the media of a letter from retired Pope Benedict XVI about Pope Francis. The manipulation changed the meaning of the image in a way that violated photojournalist industry standards.
The Vatican's communications office released the photo of the letter on Monday on the eve of Francis' five-year anniversary.
The letter was cited by Monsignor Dario Vigano, chief of communications, to rebut critics of Francis who question his theological and philosophical heft and say he represents a rupture from Benedict's doctrine-minded papacy.
In the part of the letter that is legible in the photo, Benedict praised a new volume of books on the theology of Francis as evidence of the "foolish prejudice" of his critics. The book project, Benedict wrote, "helps to see the interior continuity between the two pontificates, with all the differences in style and temperament."
Edit: our friends at InfoVaticana are in trouble with Bergoglio and his henchpersons. Engaging in frivolous lawsuits might close down InfoVaticana in the short term, but this action certainly reveals the Vatican’s sexual preference. The lawsuit also reveals the pettiness inherent in the disordered inclination itself. These people are unmistakably evil.
[Lepanto Institute] In August of 2017, InfoVaticana, a small Catholic news portal based in Madrid, Spain, was surprised to receive a letter from Baker & McKenzie, the second largest law firm in the world, demanding that InfoVaticana transfer its domain (www.infovaticana.com) to the Vatican Secretariat of State. The reason for the demand was that the Vatican alleges that it possesses exclusive property rights over the name of the physical center of the Catholic world. The letter stated that InfoVaticana had seven days to comply with this order and that failing to do so would result in an exceedingly expensive lawsuit.
InfoVaticana, which was launched in May of 2013, says that it is “a free and independent media that has the vocation to serve the Catholic Church and society.” It’s stated mission is to “deepen the denunciation of Christianophobia and the corruption that the Church uses, the rejection of the totalitarian impositions of the powerful LGBT lobby and the support of our brothers, the persecuted Christians.”
InfoVaticana has written articles critical of the homosexual influence in the Vatican, Pope Francis’s Amoris Laetitia, the Vatican’s scandalous handling of the Order of Malta, the provision of a medal to a radical pro-abortion politician, and many other concerns held by Catholics around the world.
Edit: it looks like the Thomas Merton types in the Monastery got their way at last. [GloriaTV] The old-rite Trappist abbey of Mariawald, Germany, will be closed down. The Vatican, the Trappist order, and the Diocese of Aachen on whose territory the abbey is located, have announced this in Mariawald.
The monastery was inhabited by the Trappists since 1909. All employees lose their jobs. The monks will be transferred to other monasteries.
During this year, the monastery and all its possessions will be handed over to Aachen diocese. The monastery and church of Mariawald will probably remain closed forever.
In a letter dated November 21, 2008, Benedict XVI granted the abbey the privilege to return to the old usages of the Trappist Order in liturgy and monastic life. This concerned especially a return to the venerable Old Rite. The pope saw this project as a "renewal of the church in the spirit of tradition". Now this renewal is over before it could get off the ground.
Backing up Bishop Barros, accused of knowing his mentor's sex crimes - "Not a single piece of evidence"
Iquique (kath.net/KAP) Pope Francis has defended the Chilean Bishop Juan Barros, who was attacked in connection with an abuse scandal. There is "not a single piece evidence" against him, said Francis on his last visit to Chile on Thursday. "Everything is slander, is that clear?" Said the Pope. Francis spoke at a service in Iquique. It was the final Mass of his four-day visit to Chile.
"On the day on when I am presented with proof against Bishop Barros, I will speak," said Francis on the question of a local reporter. Barros is accused of having known of sexual offenses of the priest Fernando Karadima. There is no evidence to date.
The now 87-year-old Karadima, once one of Chile's most prominent Catholic clergy, was convicted of abuse in 2011. Barros was one of the spiritual disciples of Karadima. Pope Francis appointed Barros in early 2015 from the chief military bishop to the shepherd of the small diocese of Osorno in southern Chile. Francis’ personnel decision also drew criticism.
The debate over Barros and his appearances at events with Francis lasted throughout the Pope’s stay in Chile.
(Rome) At the end of the year, Pope Francis, as is customary in tradition, sought the great nativity scene in St. Peter's Square after Vespers and Te Deum. There he welcomed a number of personalities, this was a rare encounter.
The crib has been the focus of irritation and polemics in recent weeks. It is meant to present the seven bodily works of mercy this year and is a gift of the Benedictine abbey on the Montevergine in Campania. Displeasure caused a homoerotic connotation that some see in it. This is a perception reinforced by the jubilation and satisfaction of homosexual organizations. On Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day there had been femen attacks on the crib. A "sextremist", as the female militants of Femen describe themselves, who are often recruited from the Red milieu, tore the baby Jesus from the crib and threw him to the ground.
Francis welcomes Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos
Pope Francis greeted various people around the Nativity scene, said Vatican News,. the new news platform of the Holy See, included a video with the picture. Among those welcomed by the pope was a senior church representative, who had not appeared in public for a long time, much less in the close circle of Pope Francis.
On December 31, the now 88-year-old Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos appeared in St. Peter's Square. The canon lawyer was appointed Bishop of Pereira in 1976 by Pope Paul VI.. In 1982, Pope John Paul II made the appointment as Archbishop of Bucaramanga. After the Archbishop had helped to publish the new Catechism of the Catholic Church, John Paul II summoned him to Rome in 1996 and appointed him Prefect of the Congregation of Clergy. In 1998 he created him a cardinal.
In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI replaced him. at the head of the Congregation of Clergy with Cardinal Claudio Hummes, one of the most curious personnel decisions of that pontificate. From 2000 to 2009, Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos was President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei for the Church's traditional communities. Since 2008 he is cardinal priest. For reasons of age, he could no longer attend the conclave of 2013.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi Image: Vatican News (Screenshots)
