Update: Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, reports on Twitterthat Fr. Rosica has also resigned from the boards of St. John Fisher College and the University of St. Thomas in Houston. We are currently confirming.
TORONTO, February 25, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – A Vatican spokesman who is the CEO of Canada’s Salt + Light Media has stepped down from an important academic post after admitting to plagiarism.
Father Thomas Rosica, CSB, has resigned from the Collegium, one of the governing councils of the University of Saint Michael’s College in Toronto.
In a message released this morning, the Chair of the USMC Collegium wrote on Twitter, “Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB made significant contributions while serving the St. Michael's community as a member of its Collegium. Over the weekend, I received and have respectfully accepted his resignation from the Collegium.”
Community of tradition would like to apply for canonical recognition as a monastic congregation.
(Rome) A traditional community seeks a canon lawyer for the canonical establishment of a monastic community in Rome.
The Prior of a monastic community has turned to the traditional website Messa in Latino with the request to publish an appeal. The community of tradition wants to take the step to canonical recognition and is looking for a capable canon lawyer.
"Out of concern over the usual persecution by the usual bishops" he asked not to publish his name for the time being.
The desire of the community is the foundation of a monastic order in Rome. For this, they are urgently looking for a canonist who is ready to help them for free, as the community of strict observance lives in extreme poverty.
The community is aware, according to Messa in Latino, that such an undertaking seems almost impossible in the prevailing climate of "misercordia". But for that very reason they trust all the more in Divine Providence and take seriously that with God "nothing is impossible."
The members of the community want "the canonical permission to live and die as faithful monks of the Holy Mother Church, near St. Peter's Basilica and in the shadow of Peter".
Should a canon lawyer be willing to help the community, he can contact the editors of Messa in Latino redazione [a] messainlatino.it, or to Katholisches.info. We will then forward the letter.
BUENOS AIRES (ChurchMilitant.com) - The mysterious death of a whistleblower in Argentina is prompting family members to demand an investigation into what they suspect to be murder.
Natacha Jaitt, a model and actress, had been working on outing what she claimed to be a pedophile sex ring among celebrities and elites. Two weeks before she was scheduled to give court testimony against Gustavo Vera, whom she accused of sex trafficking and who is a close associate of Pope Francis, she was found dead.
Two weeks before she was scheduled to give court testimony against Gustavo Vera, whom she accused of sex trafficking and who is a close associate of Pope Francis, she was found dead.Tweet
At 2 a.m. Saturday, her naked body was found on the bed of a room in the hotel Xanadu in Villa La Ñata in the town of Benavidez. Two men were questioned at the scene: 47-year-old Guillermo Riconi, owner of the Villa, and 48-year-old Raul Velaztiqui, a film producer and the one who placed the call to police on finding her body.
The autopsy report claimed the cause of death was "Heart-respiratory failure (multi-organ failure) that led to pulmonary edema." The autopsy also revealed traces of cocaine in her nasal passages.
A vehicle, cocaine, a fanny pack and a telephone were seized from the room. It was discovered that at least three more people were with the actress, who were captured by security cameras while fleeing the place, before police arrived. In the video recording you see them throwing a package into a ditch. It is suspected it contained some type of narcotics.
The document proving that the Vatican had been aware of the sexual wrongdoing of Bishop Zanchetta for years - long before Francis promoted him to the high post in the Vatican.
(Rome) It is not just the case involving former Cardinal McCarrick that has been putting Pope Francis in distress for months. This also applies to the case of the Argentine bishop Gustavo Oscar Zanchetta. Francis is silent and seems to be hoping that the storm may soon abate. He does not give a good example.
So far, the bill has been upheld because the leading mass media are still sparing Francis. Since the fall of January 2018, the fall of the Chilean Bishop Juan Barros Madrid exploded, the image of Francis nevertheless took some damage. Since then, the responsible head of the Church has not been liable for the scandal of sexual abuse by bishops who are close to him. The Barros case was followed by further cases in Chile, in Honduras, then the McCarrick case and the Pennsylvania report in the United States of America.
Through the dossier of the former Apostolic Nuncio in the USA, Carlo Maria Viganò, Francis fell directly into the line of fire. In late August 2018, the archbishop publicly accused him of being informed of McCarrick's sexual misconduct since June 2013, but he nevertheless rehabilitated McCarrick and allowed him influence on bishop appointments in the US and the Vatican China policy.
Last December, another case was added, that of the Argentine bishop Gustavo Oscar Zanchetta. The Argentine newspaper El Tribuno and the international press agency AP are publishing a joint report that the Vatican was already aware of the Bishop's sexual transgressions in 2015 and 2017, but did nothing. On the contrary: Zanchetta, who disappeared overnight from his diocese in the summer of 2017, suddenly reappeared in the Vatican half a year later. Two days after Zanchetta's descent, Pope Francis resigned without giving an explanation to the irritated believers in the diocese of Oran. Moreover, after Zanchetta reappeared in the Vatican, Francis promoted him to a high position in the Apostolic Property Administration (APSA). He still sits there today.
The background of his escape from Argentina was unclear. The reason given was the shattered finances he left behind in his diocese. With this justification, Francis already deposed far less traditional bishops. The "Franciscan friend" Zanchetta (El Tribuno), on the other hand, was promoted and of all people to an office dealing with goods management.
It became known through the El Tribuno and AP reports that the real reason for Zanchetta's disappearance was a gay double life, and the bishop sexually corrupted seminarians of his own seminary.
Since the case of Barroso, Pineda (former Auxiliary Bishop of Tegucigalpa), McCarrick and Zanchetta, there is the question of how Pope Francis keeps himself from covering up sexual misconduct. While publicly denouncing the cover-up as an unacceptable evil, he still owes answers to more questions than any other high dignitary of the Church.
El Tribuno, the daily newspaper on the occasion of the Vatican Abuse Summit, published a document dated April 26, 2016, featuring five high-ranking prelates of the diocese of Oran, including the Vicars General, Chancellor and Rector of the Seminary, and other Monsignori, who informed Pope Francis about the unacceptable misconduct of their bishop. The five-page document provides detailed information and bears their signatures.
The last page of the document containing five signatures.
Only so much is said: Bishop Zanchetta gave the chancellor on June 21, 2015, the order to publish photos of some events on his mobile phone on the Facebook page of the diocese. On the bishop's mobile phone, the shocked chancellor also found pornographic footage of homosexual acts by adolescents and nude selfies by Bishop Zanchetta, which he had shared with third parties through WhatsApp.
The pictures were saved and the Vicar General informed. Finally, in April of the following year, the five prelates and the chancellor sat down and set out the document they sent to the apostolic nuncio in Argentina, Msgr. Emil Paul Tscherrig.
The subject of the letter was also the authoritative treatment of the bishop with his priests and the financial mismanagement he caused.
Bishop Gustavo Oscar Zanchetta was named Bishop of Oran in 2013 by Pope Francis, although he had previously left a mess in administration and finance as Vicar General in the Diocese of Quilmes.
What credibility can Pope Francis claim for the abuse scandal, as long as he does not answer the questions about his role in those cases?
His refusal to address homosexuality, the main reason for the abuse of minors, raises further questions. Does Francis only want to condemn what is being prosecuted by the secular states, but not what is punishable under Church law? Will he continue to protect homosexuality in the Church?
(Rome) While the Pope Francis' summit on sexual abuse of minors is taking place in the Vatican, new revelations about the ex-homosexual cardinal and ex-priest Theodore McCarrick have become known.
According to Vatican planning, the Abuse Summit wants to avoid the main motive of sexual abuse: homosexuality [Let's not try to be neutral about this scourge, call it aberrosexuality.] At least 80 percent of all abuse victims of clerics are male adolescents 11 and up.
Now, new revelations surrounding homosexual McCarrick, whose case set the abuse summit rolling, became known. Besidss this, there is a connection between homosexuality and the summit. This is especially true because of the great influence that McCarrick exercised by his offices, his rank, the Papal Foundation initiated by him and not least by the Sodo-Cliques.
Church Militant's American Michael Voris reported "explosive" news late yesterday evening:
"The Communists have been incredibly successful in infiltrating the church. McCarrick was one of her men. "
Voris is convinced that the Abuse Summit is a major diversionary tactic of homosexual clerics in the Church. For decades, the same cliques have covered McCarrick, who - following Frédéric Martel's statement in his new book "Sodoma" - was one of the heads of the homosexual network.
Michael Voris
Church Militant relies on information from former communists who "played a key role" after the Second World War in building a secret network of communist training and education centers in Europe. Their information "implies" a direct involvement by McCarrick, Voris said.
According to him McCarrick was in his early years, "secretly trained in Europe by Soviet Communists" with the aim to implant him as a communist "in the heart of the Church.”
When Stalin took control of the Soviet Union in the 1920s, it was one of his plans, so much is certain, to weaken the influence of the Catholic Church, if not entirely eliminating it. This was "part of the communist world domination plans that Our Lady warned in Fatima in 1917.”
A central point of the plan, according to Voris, was the "infiltration of seminaries with young men who were to work to undermine the Church's moral code".
This strategy was confirmed by Bella Dodd (1904-1969), a senior member of the US Communist Party (CPUSA). She herself, according to her own information, placed 1,100 men in US seminars. The teacher Dodd was a leading communist activist and trade unionist in the 1930s and 1940s. She began to withdraw herself internally from communism in the course of a purge of exclusion from the party in 1949. Under the leadership of Fulton Sheen, then Auxiliary Bishop of New York, she returned to the Catholic Church and became an opponent of dialectical materialism.
Dodd revealed that according to Stalin's order, "immoral men", especially homosexuals, were to be introduced to the Church.
"Dodd's testimony is important because it not only reveals the infiltration plan, but also the connection between communism and homosexuality in this plan," which was not limited to the US.
When the Iron Curtain fell in 1989 and the Soviet empire collapsed in 1991, information from the KGB became known that the Polish seminaries had been infiltrated with hundreds of Communist agents. "The reality that the Church was besieged from within for decades shook Polish Catholics to the core," Voris said. At the same time, Catholics in Lithuania had to realize that their "hierarchy was interspersed with Soviet agents."
"Liberation theology had been carried to Latin America by KGB agents to undermine the Catholic Church through the Jesuit Order."
To train young men who would not be noticed in their home countries, various training centers were set up. One, according to Church Militant, existed in St. Gallen, Switzerland, where McCarrick was around 1950. He came from a poor family. The father had died young and the mother struggled with simple work to make ends meet.
Bella Dodd
In 2001, McCarrick told the New York Times about his time in Europe right after graduating from college. He had "no plans for his life" back then. "A friend" invited him to Switzerland, where he stayed for a whole year, without saying where he had the money for such a trip and the long stay. Something that at that time only wealthy could afford.
That McCarrick was in St. Gallen is known by James Grein, one of his sexual abuse victims. Church Militant points out that one of the Communist training centers in the West was located in Sankt Gallen, where recruited young men were trained, among other things, to be introduced to the Church.
McCarrick told the New York Times he found his priestly calling during his time in Europe. Voris:
"McCarrick would have been the ideal candidate for Soviet recruitment: a fatherless young man with homosexual inclinations and no particular ambition in life. It was a perfect match for the pattern, especially the homosexual dynamic, which made it easy to control it by blackmail. "
The fact is that McCarrick entered the seminary of the Archdiocese of New York on his return to the United States and was consecrated there in 1958.
"If McCarrick was actually recruited as a Soviet agent to undermine the Church, he fulfilled his clients' wishes perfectly."
"He rose quickly and spread moral, doctrinal and spiritual confusion on every level, inflicting injuries - not just his victims among the seminarians and other young men."
Indeed, if McCarrick had been a communist agent steeped in Marxist thought and a socialist worldview at an early age, that would explain a great deal how his way in the Church in the United States was struck by his rise to power..
The so-called "Social Justice" wing in the Church of the United States became a leader under McCarrick who is one of its central figures. Under US President Bill Clinton, he was even able to extend his influence to the government by sitting for three years in the Foreign Affairs Committee on Religious Freedom from 1996 onwards. From 1999 to 2001 he was also a member of the US Commission for International Freedom. The membership in both committees enabled him numerous foreign trips. During a ceremony, Clinton joked that these constant trips abroad were more for diplomats than archbishops.
While Benedict XVI. Restricts McCarrick's room for maneuver and imposed sanctions on him for the strong suspicion of sexual misconduct, Pope Francis rehabilitated him and made him his special envoy to the Communist People's Republic of China. As such, McCarrick was involved in preparing the secret agreement between the Holy See and Beijing, signed in September 2018, and caused critic s to call him a "seller of the Chinese Church."
The proof of Michael Voris is thin, which he knows himself. But he is right in pointing out that the evidence is too numerous to dismiss the revelations. McCarrick had "routinely bribed" and paid Roman curial officials with "benefits and probably cover-ups".
"He has been instrumental in propagating social justice that has dominated the life of the Church in the United States for decades - a movement that hides behind a language of charity, but regularly reveals its left-wing policies and its links with socialist organizations of which many are offshoots of Saul Alinsky. "
Voris also links Saint Gallen with the secret circle of high and highest progressive Church representatives founded by Cardinal Martini in the 1990s, which played a central role in the election of Pope Francis. The association of Church progressive to political left is obvious. The decidedly political action of Pope Francis confirms this. In fact, his election not only brought with it the immediate lifting of the sanctions imposed on him, but also granted him unprecedented influence in the Vatican.
Voris concludes from his information and agrees that McCarrick's case is not only closer to sexual abuse, but much broader. His entire influence on the Church in the United States and on the Universal Church should be scrutinized - and his year in Switzerland.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi Bild: Vatican.va/Justice4Poland/Youtube/Church Militant (Screenshots)
Cardinal Kevin Farrell was named Camerlengo. In the next Sedis vacancy, he will direct the affairs of state and convene the conclave.
(Rome) Pope Francis yesterday named US Cardinal Kevin Farrell as Cardinal Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, better known simply as Camerlengo. Against Kevin Farrell has been repeatedly mentioned in recent months in connection with the case of ex-Cardinal McCarrick and homophilic Church circles. Pope Francis entrusted him with a key position at the next conclave one week before the start of the Abuse Summit in the Vatican.
Theodore McCarrick made Kevin Farrell general vicar of his archdiocese of Washington in 2001. As such he was promoted to auxiliary bishop at McCarrick's request and lived for six years, until McCarrcik's retirement, in the same house with McCarrick. After the scandalous homosexual double life McCarricks became known, Farrell asserted several times, not having heard anything, not even of suspecting something. Since the summer of 2018, repeated doubts have been expressed about this idea.
The career of the McCarrick protégé
McCarrick was pushed by Pope Francis to renounce cardinal status at the end of July last year after it became known that he had homosexually corrupted priests and seminarians in his dioceses and even reportedly molested minors.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell
The doubts about Farrell's statements are not only related to his close relationship with McCarrick, who sponsored the miserable career of his former auxiliary bishop to Pope Francis. Farrell also stood out for his homophile attitude. At his initiative as Prefect of the Dicastery for Lay, Family and Life, the World Family Meeting, which took place in Dublin, Ireland, in late August 2018, for the first time in the history of this event, he offered his own program for homosexuals. Despite considerable criticism, which was announced in advance and led to cancellations of participants, the Vatican stuck to it.
The World Family Meetings were initiated by Pope John Paul II to strengthen marriage and family. A promotion or even an intrusion of homosexuality into the family is diametrically opposed to his idea, say critics, who were not heard in Rome. The sodomy program was designed by the evil US Jesuit Fr. James Martin.
Investigations by the Congregation of Socteine and the Faith?
Against Farrell, the Roman Congregation of the Faith became active in connection with the McCarrick case. As the traditional Messa in Latino website reported, Pope Francis was preparing a trial about six months ago, after the McCarrick case had exploded, and a dossier was prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The congregation asked Pope Francis to initiate an official case against Farrell. It is not known if Pope Francis granted the request, or if it was prevented as with Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.
Farrell's stellar career under Pope Francis continues unabated:
~ In August 2016, Francis appointed him to the Roman Curia and named him the first prefect of the newly established dicastery for lay, family and life.
~ Already in November of the same year he created Farrell Cardinal, making him a member of the College of Cardinals.
~ In June 2017, he was appointed a member of the Administration of Goods of the Apostolic See (APSA).
~ In December 2017, he was appointed to the Pontifical Commission for the State of the Vatican City;
and in February 2019 the appointment as cardinal chamberlain.
Key position in the conclave
As Camerlengo, Farrell takes a key position in the upcoming conclave. The cardinal's chamberlain manages not only the apostolic chamber and the papal treasure. He notes the death of the ruling pope and proclaims the vacancy. During the sedevacante he leads the affairs of state as well as the preparations and the convocation of the conclave.
In connection with the APSA, probably the most wealthy institution in the Vatican, which successfully dedicated itself to the dismantling of Cardinal George Pell, the first prefect of the Economic Secretariat, the question was asked whether Cardinal Farrell had anything to do with the accommodation of the Argentine Bergoglian, Bishop Gustavo Oscar Zanchetta. Zanchetta, appointed by Pope Francis against the strong reservations of the diocesan Bishop, had disappeared in the summer of 2017 from his diocese overnight. A few months later he reappeared in the Vatican and was given a high position in the APSA by Francis. The appointment caused horror among insiders, as Zanchetta was known for having shattered the finances of two dioceses, first as Vicar General and then as Bishop. In early 2019, allegations were made in Argentina that Zanchetta, like McCarrick had committed preyed on his own seminarians. That was the reason for his sudden plunge. Rome has been informed about this since 2015.
Edit: defrocked doesn’t really mean much. I’d expect they’re suspending him a divinis, and so it’s a wonder, since that’s usually reserved for intransigents who believe that sodomy is a grave sin, like the late Bishop Rogelio Plan , who was shut out of his episcopal residence without warning and basically thrown on the street by the Gang of Mercy. He didn’t get a cushy retirement home in Kansas a reasonable drive from a large metropolitan area and a few blocks from a Catholic grade school like Uncle Ted.
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis has defrocked former U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick after Vatican officials found him guilty of soliciting for sex while hearing confession and sexual crimes against minors and adults, the Holy See said Saturday.
McCarrick, 88, is the highest-ranking churchman to be laicized, as the process is called. It means he can no longer celebrate Mass or other sacraments, wear clerical vestments or be addressed by any religious title.
The scandal swirling around him was particularly damning to the church's reputation in the eyes of the faithful because it apparently was an open secret that he slept with adult seminarians. Francis removed McCarrick as a cardinal in July after a U.S. church investigation determined that an allegation he fondled a teenage altar boy in the 1970s was credible.
(Rom / Brasilia) The Amazon Synod, convened by Pope Francis this coming October, wants to use the "progressive clergy" to attack the new Brazilian government. A report by the Brazilian secret service warns.
Yesterday's edition of the Brazilian daily O Estado de Sao Paulo opened with a big headline on the front page.
"The upper echelon is to fight the action for the 'left clergy'".
According to information from the Brazilian intelligence agency Agência Brasileira de Inteligência (ABIN), the "progressive clergy" wanted to use the Amazon synod to attack the new Brazilian government of President Jair Bolsonaro.
Bolsanaro’s Vice President is Antônio Hamilton Mourão. Mourão was general of the Brazilian army. He is from the state of Amazonas and is of indigenous descent. The Amazon as a space and the indigenous peoples are, according to official Church information, the central themes of the synod.
Conflict between Brazil's government and leftist clergy.
Report of "O Estado de S. Paulo".
It is not part of the Synodmakers' Amazon image that the state of Amazonas was won by Bolsonaro and his coalition last fall. Since January 1, Wilson Lima of the Christian Social Party (PSC) is Governor of Amazonas. The Partido Social Cristão was also Bolsonaro’s party, until he founded in 2018 for the presidential elections his own party ticket. The Deputy Governor of Amazon represents with Carlos Almeida, the party of Vice President Mourão.
The state of Amazon spreads over a gigantic expanse of more than 1.5 million square kilometers, but is inhabited by only four million people. According to the Brazilian statistics office, only 0.1 percent of them refer to themselves as members of indigenous peoples. The Brazilian statistics office lists five "races". A quarter of the population are whites, three quarters are pardos ("browns"), which in Brazil means the different mixes of the other four races (whites, blacks, Asians and Indians).
The figures have prompted observers to assume that there is a "deeper agenda" behind the synod topics that are publicly mentioned.
The Brazilian intelligence service ABIN bases its report on its own findings and information from various military commands. The secret service report, says the daily O Estado de Sao Paulo, also discusses Pope Francis' recent meeting with Brazilian cardinals at the Vatican, which discussed the themes of the upcoming synod.
Organizer of the Amazon Synod is founded in 2014 Church network REPAM, which consists of an umbrella organization and national offshoots in the Amazon riparian states. Of real weight is only REPAM Brazil. The umbrella organization and the Brazilian offshoot are led by two Church representatives belonging to the progressive fringe of the Church. The umbrella organization is headed by Claudio Cardinal Hummes and REPAM Brazil, and emeritus missionary bishop Erwin Kräutler from Austria. Hummes and Kräutler are in favor of the abolition of priestly celibacy nd the admission of married priests. Both have spoken repeatedly in the past for the introduction of women's priesthood. Both are close to the political left. Hummes is a personal friend of ex-President Lula, who has been imprisoned for corruption since April 2018. Kräutler is a darling of the left-wing media, as every home visit to Austria has confirmed.
The political left in Brazil, Latin America and beyond refuses to recognize Lula's condemnation. It claims that it was a political process to repress the influence of the left. Pope Francis expressed his sympathy and closeness to Lula. Even more unforgivable was Bolsonaro's election victory. The Brazilian left suffered a defeat in the fall of 2018, comparable to that of the Democratic Party in the US against Donald Trump.
Above all, Pope Francis again bet on "the wrong horse". His warning of a political electoral defeat in Brazil led to the new leadership recognizing the Catholic Church, significant parts of the Brazilian hierarchy, and the church leadership in Rome as declared government opponents.
Bolsonaro is a Catholic, his wife is a free-church member. In the election campaign, the new president has relied mainly on the Protestant free churches. Behind it is a massive emigration movement from the Catholic Church to the Free Churches. The reason is the massive political and theological left pressure in the nation’s Catholic Church which has been developing for decades and has led to an alienation of the faithful from their Church.
The Amazon Synod is pushing, as the intelligence report shows, the intention of the world Church to install a new "other", "second" priesthood, the secular political dimension to score also by social and environmental statements in the left-liberal mainstream, but also an intra-Brazilian dimension of political explosiveness.
The impression is confirmed, with friends and opponents, that Pope Francis acts more as a politician than as a Church leader.
Cardinal Gerhard Müller: "What does clericalism mean?Homosexual inclinations are responsible for most of the cases of sexual abuse by clerics "
(Rome) While Pope Francis was preparing to sign a document on "human brotherhood" in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), yesterday he signed his signature with the Islamic Grandimam of Al-Azhar, an authority of Sunni Islam, Nuova Bussola Quotidiana published an interview last Sunday with Gerhard Cardinal Müller, former prefect of the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.In it, the German cardinal again criticized the "clericalism" thesis and talked about "the real reason" for sexual abuse by clerics, but also about "the biggest problem" that the Church has today.He rejects allegations that there is "a plot" against Francis and makes no secret of the fact that he does not like the "great praise" Francis receives from the Freemasons.
According to Vatican spokesman Gisotti, the Pope was referring in particular to a 2013 scandal-ridden community in which sexual assaults on women by priests had “reached a certain level"
Edit: the article doesn’t point out that the female branch started a new order called,The Sisters of Mary, Morning Star. They have communities all over the world with about 250 women.
Vatican City (kath.net/KAP) The Vatican has issue a clarification by the Pope about the abuse of women religious. With his words of "sexual slavery" as the reason for the dissolution of a religious community of women, Francis had meant "'manipulation in the form of abuse of power', which also manifests itself in sexual abuse," reads a statement by the Vatican press office (Wednesday). In his response to a similar question on the return flight from Abu Dhabi, the Pope said on Tuesday that there were also abuses of religious women by clerics in the Catholic Church.
He mentioned that, inter alia, a community had been dissolved when sexual assaults on women by priests "reached a certain extent". There had been real "slavery up to sexual slavery by clerics.” Francis had referred thereby to a spin-off of the Johannes Community (Congregation Saint -Jean), specified the acting Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti to "Kathpress.”
The Johannes Community, founded by the French Dominican Marie-Dominique Philippe in 1975, was recognized by canon law in 1986 and has branches in numerous countries, including Austria. Some time after the founder's death in 2006, a sister community split off from the new leadership appointed by the responsible bishop. This splinter group of the "Congregation of Saint Jean" caused scandals; Pope Benedict XVI. then shut the group down. Pope Francis has referred to this in his press conference on Tuesday, Gisotti said.
Edit: CNN just posted an article wherein it quotes Francis taking responsibility for priests and bishops who've allegedly raped nuns. We all know what he thinks of contemplative orders, particularly the females. It's not an exaggeration to say they are in the cross-hairs.
For the purposes of this exercise, he's singled out a traditional contemplative female order was suppressed by Benedict XVI. He excused his predecessor, as if to say, surely he did nothing wrong. He was a strong leader.
We'd already covered this, here, here, and the superior's comment here
One of the commenters said they went on to form a new Society, Sisters of the Morning Star, which was founded in 2014 and has 250 members worldwide.
Pope Francis ends his historic visit to Arabia with a Mass - The joint statement was so explosive for Arab relations that their publication was not announced in advance -
correspondent report by Roland Juchem
Abu Dhabi (kath.net/KAP) 120,000 participants from 100 nations, including 4,000 Muslims: The Mass that Pope Francis celebrated on Tuesday morning in Abu Dhabi's stadium is the practical side of what he shared with the Grand Emam, Ahmad Ap-Tayyeb, of Cairo’s Al-Azhar Mosque the night before, in a landmark document on "Human Brotherhood:” brotherhood, plurality, and lived faith in the peaceful coexistence of one Creator's children.
This religious document has enormous political significance, especially in this part of the world. As clearly as the Grand Imam and the Pope promote freedom of religion, women's rights and sustainability as clearly as they condemn violence and extremism in the name of God, but also anti-religious secularism and amoral individualism, not every ruler or traditionalist preacher wants to hear that, but not only in the Middle East.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) pretend to be patrons and protectors of tolerance and dialogue - also in contrast to their big neighbor Saudi Arabia. The Emirates not only provided the Zayed sports stadium for the Pope's Mass free of charge. No expense or effort was spared for the two-day interfaith conference on "Human Fraternity," and it was a major buzzword for what was said to be "historic gatherings of the world's two most important religious leaders."
"Brother and good friend" is what Francis and al-Tayyeb call each other. The Egyptian has hardly left the pope's side in the past two days. It is their fifth encounter. In his speech, al-Tayyeb calls for Christians to have full citizenship rights in the region. He receives applause just as much as for his criticism of Western caricatures of Muslims.
The Pope, in his subsequent speech, sharply criticizes the war and arms race in the region, but praises the Emirates for granting freedom of worship. However, according to Francis, true freedom of religion is "not limited to the free exercise of religion, but sees in the other one really a brother and a sister ... of the same humanity to whom God grants freedom."
On the evening of the first day, both will receive the Human Fraternity Award, given by Abu Dhabi's ruling family, the Zayed Dynasty. While gentle music and incense flow through the small arena in front of the founder's monument and rain down confetti, the head of the Catholic Church and the head of the main teaching authority of Sunni Islam, sign their joint statement.
This is so explosive - at least in this region - that its publication was not announced in advance. Its signing was not to be jeopardized by any political interference. Together, as well as in each of their denominations, Pope and Grand Imam want to promote peace, dialogue, tolerance and genuine piety, counteract any instrumentalization of religion for hatred and violence, and advocate equal rights for all.
"A justice that applies only to family members, compatriots, and believers of the same faith is a hobbled righteousness that is veiled injustice," the Pope had warned in his speech on Monday night. Even in the tolerant emirates, non-Muslims enjoy worship, but not religious freedom. Every believer is allowed to practice his religion, many in official churches and temples, others - for lack of space - in rented hotel meeting rooms.
Mission and pastoral care among the "others" are prohibited. For Muslims who turn their backs on religion, the death penalty is officially still in force. "You have achieved a lot which is praiseworthy - but all this can be improved," could be summed up with the polite, but certain estimation by the esteemed guest.
On Monday, when interfaith dialogue took place, Tuesday morning was for Christians in the Middle East. At the Mass with tens of thousands of people in the stadium and tens of thousands more before, Francis gave consolation to the Christians in Arabia, who come from more than 100 different ethnic groups and countries living far from their homeland. He encouraged them and thanked them for living their faith as described in the document signed the day before.
This also corresponds to the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount, the Pope said in his sermon - unlike the standards of this world, according to which the rich, powerful and successful are blessed and cheered by the masses. He calls for "serving rather than being served". That sounds a bit different to the tens of thousands of people from abroad who are workers and servants in Arabia and are confronted everywhere with the large, theatrical images of powerful local emirs.
With the largest Christian worship on Arab soil to date, Christians in the Islamic world have been brought to the light of the global public. With the declaration signed by Francis and al-Tayyeb, the Catholic Church and the highest teaching authority of Sunni Islam have set a milestone behind which Christians and Muslims can not easily recede.
(Beijing) The authorities of the People's Republic of China expect a record number of lunar new year human movements to be celebrated in China.Mass exodus is systematically monitored by the regime for the first time using facial recognition systems.The Catholic priests of the communist empire are also monitored.
About 1.5 billion Chinese will participate in the largest mass movement in the world.Whether by train, plane, car or even on foot, most Chinese are still on the move for the next 35 days to celebrate the Chinese New Year, which is all about the pig.This superlative human movement started on March 21st and will last until March 1st.The Chinese traditionally return to their family homes to celebrate New Year's celebrations with relatives and friends to celebrate the New Year.There are no lack of bottlenecks in the means of transport and on the transport routes to transport such crowds.
The official New Year's date in China is February 5, 2019. Authorities are officially expecting 2.99 billion people.Thousands of additional trains and aircraft are used to deal with this.According to the authorities estimate, air traffic alone is expected to increase by 12 percent over the previous year.
New high-speed lines are being put into operation for the New Year, including the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong line.
For the first time, the new social credit system will also be used.Human movements are monitored and controlled with the most systematic facial recognition possible.The system uses a gigantic database and new artificial intelligence technologies.
Underground priests feel "betrayed" by the Vatican
Catholic priests are also being monitored in the People's Republic of China.To officially serve as a priest, you must join the regime approved Patriotic Association.AsiaNews has released the news of such an "official" priest.He reports that underground priests with whom he is associated, feel betrayed by the Vatican, especially since the agreement between Beijing and the Holy See. Despite the agreement, the Patriotic Association continues to work for a Chinese national church independent of the Holy See and dependent on the communist regime.
Only the Patriotic Association is recognized by the state
The priest therefore calls on the Vatican to discuss the role of the Patriotic Association in future talks with Beijing.
The reason for this message is an alarming development for the priest.Several priests of the faithful underground church with whom he is friends are about to give up their priesthood.They feel betrayed by the Vatican.Pope Francis declared after the signing of the Episcopal Agreement "The last word is mine," but the role of the Patriotic Association has not been clarified.The Patriotic Association "is a controlling body of the Chinese Communist Party and wants to build a self-sufficient church independent of the Holy See."
Pope Benedict XVI, in his 2007 Letter to Chinese Catholics, declared the Patriotic Association "incompatible with Catholic doctrine," said the priest.Pope Francis repeatedly emphasized that the letter of his predecessor is "still valid".
But the reality gives a different impression, said the priest.Francis draws on bishops and priests of the Patriotic Association, as a kind of "lesser evil." Membership in the Patriotic Association is still a prerequisite for being recognized by the state as a priest.Benedict XVI.stated, however, that membership of organizations and bodies that deny the indispensable principles of the faith and the ecclesial community is not permitted.
The Patriotic Association is doing just that, as the 60th anniversary of its founding has once again proved.
The priest tells of various underground priests who are so disappointed by recent developments that they feel abandoned and betrayed by the Vatican.Several people know that they have returned to their hometowns or want to return.They are "victims of the Sino-Vatican Agreement," said the priest.
"I'm afraid there are many priests throughout China who are going through this now: they were faithful and defended the Catholic faith, but suddenly they were betrayed by Rome.They can not rape their consciences and even less can they act against their faith. "
The priest's concern is that his confreres may lose their "missionary vocation".If the secular power knows their priesthood and they do not even get hold of the Church, "are they really like the crucified Christ, and can only cry with all their might, 'Father, why have you forsaken us?'"
Text: Andreas Becker / Giuseppe Nardi Picture: AsiaNews
The new Archbishop of Lima, "the opposite of Cipriani Thorne"
(Lima) As announced recently, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne was retired as Archbishop of Lima and Primate of Peru by Pope Francis. At the same time Francis immediately appointed his new successor.
The retirement and new appointment was announced on Friday by the Vatican Press Office. Peru's daily newspaper has already put the picture of the successor on the front page of their current issue.
The Spanish columnist Francisco Fernandez de la Cigoña puts it more clearly than the daily bulletin of the Vatican:
"Cipriani has fallen".
Like Archbishop Aguer of La Plata, the Argentinean opponent of Bergoglio, Francis also granted Cardinal Cipriani "not a month of extra time" after reaching the age of 75.
Pope Francis appointed his ghostwriter, Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernandez, as successor to Monsignor Aguer in La Plata. "The successor to the Archbishop of Lima is even worse," said Fernandez de la Cigoña.
The opposite of Cipriani
For the new Archbishop of Lima and Primate of Peru, Pope Francis has appointed Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio, priest of the Archdiocese and professor of theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.
It corresponds exactly to the description that he published yesterday. "It is a diocesan priest of Lima, student of Gustavo Gutierrez and friend of the leadership at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. And to sum up the other side of the coin, he is totally against the Cipriani line.
He is a priest who rebelled against the bishop during the 20 years of Cipriani in Lima. He never participated in retreats or priestly meetings with the Cardinal. He never participated in liturgical ceremonies with the Cardinal, such as Corpus Christi, Chrism Mass, etc. "
Fernandez de la Cigoña, very knowledgeable about the Church in the Hispanic world, uses harsh words:
"What happened in Peru today is not describable. It's a shame. Never before would an unsuitable person obtain the seat of the primate of Peru. But you do not know where the greater blame lies, with the appointee or with the appointed."
Close association to the terrorist organization Shining Path?
The appointment takes place in a rather eventful moment for the Church in Spanish America. Pope Francis is in Panama. The Church in Chile is in a serious crisis. Venezuela faces the abyss and the Church does not know which side it is on. The church in Venezuela already knows it, against Maduro, but Pope Francis does not seem to know. Peru was a relatively quiet port under Cardinal Cipriani Thorne, although liberation theologians never gave up their rioting.
Cardinal Cipriani Thorne
According to InfoVaticana, Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio was close to the Maoist Partido Comunista del Perú - of Sendero Luminoso de José Carlos Mariátegui (Communist Party of Peru - on the Shining Path). The "Shining Path" terrorist attacks from 1980 to the arrest of their leader Abimael Guzman in 1992, cost at least 70,000 Peruvians lives. The terrorist organization still exists today, albeit on a smaller scale, and continue to commit crimes. Elena Iparraguirre, name "Camarada Miriam," Abimael Guzman's longtime companion, pen name "Presidente Gonzalo," recently wrote a letter to Pope Francis asking him to visit the terrorist leader in prison. Iparraguirre, who held a high rank in the terrorist organization, was arrested in 1992 with Guzman and also sentenced to life imprisonment. Guzman and Iparraguirre were arrested in 2010.
The territory of the Archdiocese of Lima, whose Archbishop Carlos Castillo is now suffering, suffered particularly from Communist terrorism.
Castillo and the rebel university
Castillo, who was ordained a priest of the archdiocese of Lima in 1984, acquired in 1987 at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome a doctorate in Dogmatics. His focus in recent years has been on the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, which Cardinal Cipriani called a rebel university. Castillo was there until then university professor and adviser to the local campus ministry for the university. In other words, he "overwintered" during the episcopate of Cardinal Cipriani Thorne at the Rebel University, where the Primate was in a long-standing dispute. Not least because he accused the university of spreading heresies.
Under Benedict XVI., the Cardinal found support in Rome, although the Vatican showed the greatest patience and forbearance with the rebels. Pope Francis stood on the side of the rebels and left the Cardinal in the rain. It was a decision for Peru, and it was only a matter of time before Cardinal Cipriani Thorne reached the age limit of 75.
With today's appointment, Pope Francis has radically changed the situation in the Church of Peru. Fernandez de la Cigoña wrote after this news:
"And Cipriani, an extraordinary archbishop whose immense work they want to destroy, knows that at the last moment one can not prevent the decreed death by shameful moaning, as some have said. Today it was shown that it was pointless. He will now die with dignity without lamenting the dagger that struck him down. That's the way it is with Opus Dei. Just like that."
Is a plot against Pope Francis in progress? Cardinal Kasper is convinced of it.
(Rome) Cardinal Kasper, the spirit rector of the current pontificate, warns against a forced resignation of Pope Francis.
The former bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart and emeritus Prefect of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity is one of the figures who prepared the pontificate of the reigning pope. Kasper joined in, shortly after the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.,
even though publicly warned by the recently resigned church leader, not to interfere in the election of his successor during the 2013 sedevacant. Katholisches.info wrote:
Today it is known that Kasper belonged to the internal church secret circle of Sankt Gallen, in which high and highest churchmen have gathered since the 90s. He was also a member of the Bergoglio team, a four-member "executive body" of the secret society charged with preparing for the election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio. The secret circle had chosen him as the candidate of the progressive Fronde.
Since the election of Pope Francis Cardinal Kasper, whose theology is Hegelian, is considered "the theologian of the pope". In the most controversial moments of the current pontificate, the handwriting of Kasper can clearly be seen: from the admission of so-called remarried divorced to the sacraments to the admission of Protestants to Holy Communion. In both cases one can speak of a real existing Protestantization of the Catholic Church.
Yesterday, Kasper warned in a newspaper interview of a "forced resignation,” i.e. a de facto deposing of Pope Francis. The interview was published by the left-liberal Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano (FQ). The occasion was an ARD interview, in which he spoke of internal Church opponents of Pope Francis, who want to force the Argentine church leader to resign. The word "conspiracy" then went around the world. The Italian daily Libero spoke of "Kasper's bomb". The opponents of the Pope want to "shift Francis out to get to a new conclave.”
The interviews bear witness to a certain amount of nervousness associated with the recent abuse scandals and doubtful ways of the lives of bishops and cardinals who have come to prominence over the past 12 months and do not show Pope Francis in the best light in various ways. There was the impression that in several cases, despite being aware of misconduct or abuse, he remained inactive or even protected potential perpetrators. All cases known in this context concern bishops or cardinals who are close to Pope Francis.
The aforementioned nervousness has increased abruptly since the end of August as the former nuncio to the US, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, published a dossier on the case of ex-Cardinal McCarrick and made serious allegations against Pope Francis in it. And since October 2018, when a direct response to this, an initiative by Catholic laymen in the US announced that they wanted to screen all cardinals for a future conclave in order to expose abusers or cover-ups. Above all, the initiative with dossiers aims to prevent the cardinals, but also the journalists and the world public, from knowing almost nothing about some cardinals, especially the positions they represent, as was the case with Jorge Mario Bergoglio. The initiative provides more than $1 million annually for expert and professional research.
Since the emergence of this lay initiative, liberal secular and progressive church media have seen a backlash from the New York Times. It claims a "conspiracy" against Pope Francis and gives the impression that there is something like a conservative secret circle of St. Gallen. But there is no trace of such a thing. The intention behind this attempt is all the clearer. The unveiling of the progressive secret circle of St. Gallen is perceived as a burden in the circle of the collaborators of Pope Francis. The piquant thing is that it was just a member of the secret circle itself, namely the progressive pederast enabler, Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who in obvious conquest of the successful choice of Francis and the new course of the Church divulged the existence of a Secret St. Galen “mafia”.
Kasper's speeches show that with the nearing of the Abuse Summit at the end of February, which is overshadowed by new abuse scandals, there is mounting tension among the Pope’s clique of favorites.
The cardinal does not want the word "plot" in the ARD interview, at least not openly. In the matter, however, he repeated his testimony and sent out several signals with his carefully considered words.
"A forced resignation would not be valid"
Q: If you're talking about a plot against Pope Francis, what exactly are you referring to?
Cardinal Kasper: I still have to look at the translation of my German text. I can not say if the translation is correct. Still, I'm talking about groups that are publicly critical of Pope Francis.
Q: Who wants the end of this pontificate today and why?
Cardinal Kasper: The answer can be found on the Internet, on Catholic websites, in Italian, German, English ...
Q: What happens to the Curia at the moment of such high tension: are dossiers in circulation?
Cardinal Kasper: I am an emeritus cardinal. I do not have access to these dossiers. I'm doing theology again.
Q: You claim that the subject of sexual abuse has become a mode of discrediting Francis rather than an old and very serious evil.
Cardinal Kasper: I am not saying that the scandal of sexual abuse is only an instrument against Pope Francis. On the contrary, it's a real scandal and a crime to me, and you have to do everything to eradicate it and make it clear. I'm just saying that some are taking advantage of this scandal to harm the Pope. Others use it for their agenda against celibacy. That's what I call a misuse of abuse.
FQ: You have always supported Francis and his reform. Have you never talked to the Pope about the plot?
Cardinal Kasper: It is true that I am on the side of the Pope, but there are only very rare, personal encounters. I do not use the term conspiracy. I never spoke to him about it.
Q: Would Francis never resign?
Cardinal Kasper: According to the rules of canon law and the conditions laid down there, a pope can resign. This is a completely personal and free decision, which in reality has been very rare so far. A forced resignation would be invalid. For me: Habemus Papam and I'm glad about it. That's why I had no reason to think about and discuss such an unlikely eventuality.
Q: The resignation of Joseph Ratzinger took place spontaneously?
Cardinal Kasper: I’ve known Benedict XVI. for 55 years. I know that he thought and prayed for a long time long before he announced his resignation from the Petrine ministry. He has explained, and I take that seriously, that he did it in complete freedom and for the reasons he gave in his statement to the Cardinals. It was a humble, generous and courageous decision that deserves all respect.
Benedict XVI.with Pope Francis "Two More Threads That Connect Pope Francis With His Predecessor Are Severed"
(Rome) The Italian daily Libero today published the following text, which is reproduced in full.
"The thesis is one of the most serious.This is also shown by the evidence.Pope Francis has a plan to eliminate the legacy and disciples of Benedict XVI.The operation has stirred up the Vatican, which has not by any means significantly opposed the incumbent Pope.
The thesis is voiced by Riccardo Cascioli [chief editor of the Catholic Internet newspaper Nuova Bussola Quotidiana ] in the daily Il Giornale:
"It's just a matter of days and two more threads that connect Pope Francis with his predecessor are severed. More voices are being raised that the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household is being abolished, its incumbent - and at the same time personal secretary to Benedict XVI.- Msgr. Georg Gänswein, and the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, established in 1988 for dialogue with the Society of St. Pius X (the Lefebvrians), is today the reference point for the application of Summorum Pontifiicum, the motu proprio of Benedict XVI, with which the Latin Mass in the traditional rite was freed."
These are two decisions of very grave symbolic value, similar to the expulsion of Cardinal Raymond Burke, whom Joseph Ratzinger had called to Rome in 2008 as Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura.In November 2014, he was deposed by Pope Francis, who had already replaced him as a member of the Congregation of Bishopsthe year before.The same fate befell Cardinal Gerhard Müller.
Now one has arrived at the last link, with Msgr. Gänswein, a person inconvenient to Francis.The abolition of the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household, with the relocation of duties (appointments and audiences of the Pope) to a section of the Secretariat of State, would allow the Pope to get rid of Gänswein and to justify the operation with the need for a reform of the Curia.
As for the end of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, which has been talked about for some time: The consequences are explosive.This would give more weight to those who want to eliminate Summorum Pontificum and Mass in the 'Extraordinary Form' of the one Roman rite whose 'proper form' is the Missal enacted in 1969.This is the next blow against Ratzinger's legacy, which Francis seems to want to eradicate.
Translation: Giuseppe Nardi Image: Libero (screenshot)
