Pharisees and Saducees of Our Time

The Sandhedrin of the time of Jesus was the Council of
Sadducees and Pharisees

by Roberto de Mattei *

Criticism of the "Pharisees" is often found in the words of Pope Francis. In numerous speeches 2013-2015 he has spoken on the "disease of the Pharisees" (September 7, 2013), "accusing Jesus of not honoring the Sabbath day" (April 1, 2014), from the "temptation of self-sufficiency and  clericalism, that codifying of faith in rules and instructions, like the scribes, the Pharisees and the lawyers of the time of Jesus" (September 19, 2014). During Angelus of 30 August 2015, he said: "As  then for  the Pharisees there is also for us the danger that we order, or worse: to consider ourselves better than the other based solely on the fact that we keep the rules, the customs,  even if we do not love our neighbor, are hard of heart, proud and arrogant. "On November 8, 2015, he compared   the attitude of the scribes and the Pharisees and their "exclusion", to Jesus, who was based in "inclusion." The reference to the Pharisees is equally evident in the speech in which the Pope concluded last October 24  for the XIV. Ordinary Synod on the Family. Who else are the "closed heart, who often hide behind even the teachings of the Church or behind  good intentions to sit  in the chair of Moses and - sometimes condescendingly and with superficiality - to address  the difficult cases and the injured Families,"  if not "the Pharisees, who made ​​religion to an infinite chain of commandments (June 26, 2014)?" Pharisees seem to be anyone who defend with stubborn pride, the existence of absolute and incontrovertible commandments, laws, rules of the Church.

Who Were the Pharisees Really?

Who were the Pharisees really? When Jesus began his teaching years, the Jewish world was divided into different currents, about which we are told from the Gospels, among historians, like Flavius Josephus (3 -100 AD.) in his works "Antiquities of the Jews" and "History of the Jewish War ". The main sects were those of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. The Pharisees were concerned with the details of the religious rules, but had lost the spirit of truth. They were arrogant men who forged the prophecies about the Messiah and interpreted the divine law  according to their opinions. The Sadducees taught even more serious mistakes. They doubted the immortality of the soul and rejected the majority of the Holy Scriptures. Both were fighting for power in the Sanhedrin, who, when Jesus was condemned, was led by the Sadducees.

The Sadducees are even mentioned by Mark and Matthew three times, while the Pharisees occur repeatedly in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew.  Chapter 23 of St. Matthew in particular, is an open accusation against them: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Your tithe mint, anise and cumin, and left the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy and faithfulness. One must do the one thing without neglecting the others."

The St. Thomas Aquinas, Augustine and Bonaventure about the Pharisees

St. Thomas Aquinas explains in his commentary on this passage of Matthew that the Pharisees were not condemned by the Lord because they paid a tithe, "but only because they valued the lower more than  the spiritual commandments. But [deliver the tithe] in practice he seems to praise it, saying: 'These things shall be done' (Haec oportuit facere) according to the law, as Chrisostomos adds (Summa Theologica, II-IIae, q 87,. a. 2 ad 3).

St. Augustine said, referring to the Pharisees, of which St. Luke writes (18:10 to 14), that he has not been convicted of his works, but because he has boasted of his alleged sanctity (Epistola 121,1,3).  St. Augustine explains the same in his letter to Casulanus that the Pharisee was not condemned because he fasted (Luke 18,11ff), but "because he was inflamed in pride over the publicans" (Epistola 36,4,7). Because it is "fruitless for a man to fast twice during the week as the Pharisees, on the other hand, yet it is an exercise of religion in a  believer who is humble or  one who is a faithfully humble man  when Scripture does not say that the Pharisees had been condemned, but rather that the tax collector was justified." (Epistola 36,4,7).

The most concise definition of the Pharisees is found from St. Bonaventure: "Pharisaeus significat illos qui propter opera exteriora se reputant bonos; et ideo non habent lacrymas compunctionis" (De S. Mary Magdalene Sermo I, in: Opera omnia, Ad Claras Aquas, Florence 2001 Vol IX, col 556b..). "A Pharisees is described as one who thinks of themselves good because of their outer works  and therefore has no tears of penitence."

Pharisees were Proud Conservatives, the Sadducees Unbelieving Liberals

Jesus condemned the Pharisees because he knew their hearts: they were sinners, but considered themselves holy. The Lord wanted to teach his disciples that the external fulfillment of good works is not enough. That which is a good act is not only so in its own property, but the intention. Nevertheless, if it is true that good works are not enough, if good intentions are lacking, as it is also true that the good intentions are not enough, if good works are missing.   Gamaliel, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea (Antiquities of the Jews 20.9.1), and even St. Paul (Acts 23.6) who belonged to the party of the Pharisees, were better than that of the Sadducees, precisely because they, despite their hypocrisy, acclaimed the laws, while the Sadducees, from whose ranks the high priests Annas and Caiaphas came (Jewish Antiquities 18.35.95), also disregarded this.

The Pharisees were proud conservatives, the Sadducees unbelieving liberals. But both unified rejection of the divine mission of Jesus (Mt 3.7 to 10).

Who are the Pharisees and the Sadducees of our time? We can give an answer to this with quiet certainty. There are those who have tried before, during and after the Synod and will try to change the practice of the Church and through the practice of their teaching, on the family and marriage.

Pharisees and Sadducees rejected the divine teachings of Jesus

Jesus proclaimed the indissolubility of marriage as God had thought from the beginning, and she founded this on the restoration of the natural law, from which the Jews had removed, and strengthened them by the raising of marriage to a Sacrament. Pharisees and Sadducees rejected this doctrine by denying the divine Word of Jesus and introducing their own opinion. They appealed disingenuously to the law of Moses, as the innovators of our time invoked an alleged tradition of the early centuries, by falsifying the history and doctrine of the Church.

For this reason, a brave bishop and defender of the true faith, Monsignor Athanasius Schneider, speaks of a "neo-Mosaic practice". "The new disciples of Moses and the new Pharisees in the two most recent Synodal Assemblies (2014 and 2015) have veiled their practical denial of the indissolubility of marriage and their occasionally lifting the Sixth Commandment under the guise of charity, by expressions like  'way of distinction,' 'accompaniment', 'orientation by the bishop ', 'dialogue with the priest', 'internal forum', 'a more complete integration into the life of the Church' which are used to eliminate the accountability [in the law] of cohabitation in cases of irregular connections as much as possible (see. Relatio finalis, no. 84-86). "

The Pharisees and Sadducees of Today

The Sadducees are the innovators who openly claim to overcome the doctrine and practice of the Church. The Pharisees are those who, although they confess the indissolubility of marriage with  their mouths, still hypocritical deny it  by their deeds, by proposing a "from-a-case-by-case" - transgression of the moral law.

The real disciples of Jesus Christ belong to neither the Party of neo-Pharisees nor the party of neo-Sadducees, both modernist, but follow the school of St. John the Baptist, who preached in the spiritual desert of his time. The Baptist was, when he denounced the Pharisees and Sadducees as a "generation of vipers" (Mt 3,7) and admonished Herod Antipas for his adultery, not hard-hearted, but moved by love for God and for souls. Hypocrites and Hardhearted were the advisers of Herod Antipas, who wanted to bring his sinful and unrepentant loose life in harmony with the teaching of Scripture.  Herod had John the Baptist executed to bring the voice of truth to silence, but the voice of the forerunner is  still audible 20 centuries later. Whoever defends sound doctrine publicly, does not follow the exaample of the Pharisees and Sadducees, but the example of St. John the Baptist and Our Lord.

Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
Picture: Youtube (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Kath...

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Roberto de Mattei: Christian Matrimony Has Been Dealt a Grievous Blow

by Roberto de Mattei *

The two motu proprio of Pope Francis Mitis iudex Dominus Iesus for the Latin Church and Mitis et misericors Jesus for the Oriental Churches, which were announced on September 8, 2015 have dealt Christian marriage a serious wound.

The indissolubility of marriage is divine and immutable law of Jesus Christ. The Church can not "cancel" a marriage in the sense of dissolution. You can, with a declaration of invalidity, consider its non-existence, if those conditions are not met which ensure their validity. This means that it is not the interest of the spouse which has priority in a canonical process for the Church to obtain a declaration of invalidity, but the truth about the validity of the marriage bond.

Pius XII. reminds us in this regard, that "the only destination is the truth of the marriage process and the law is its verdict in the annulment process, which secures the non-existence of the marriage bond" (allocution to the Roman Rota, October 2, 1944). The believer can cheat the Church to obtain a nullity, for example, through the use of false evidence, but the Church can not hoodwink God and has the duty to ascertain the truth in a clear and precise manner.

In the canonical process, the interests of marriage as a divine institution comes first

In the canonical process, first place goes to the highest interest of the divine institution - and marriage is one such - to be defended. The recognition and protection of this reality come in the legal field expressed in the narrow formulation favor matrimonii, in other words, acceptance of the validity of the marriage until proof to the contrary. John Paul II. declared that the magisterium represents the indissolubility of each consummated marriage as an ordinary law, precisely because the validity is assumed regardless of the success of married life and the possibility in some cases that there could be a marriage annulment (Speech the Roman Rota, January 21, 2000).

As the Enlightenment tried to deal a fatal blow to  Christian marriage,  Pope Benedict XIV. with the decree Dei miseratione from 3 November 1741, ordered that in each diocese a Defensor vinculi had to be used,  for obtaining the declaration of nullity, the principle double coincident judgment to by two different judicial bodies. The principle of double matching judgment was affirmed by the Code of Canon Law in 1917 as well as adopted by  John Paul II. on 25 January 1983 in the new Code of Canon Law.

Turned on its head by reform of Francis  - precedent USA 1971-1983

In the motu proprio of Pope Francis, things have been turned on their heads. The interest of the spouses take precedence over the marriage. This is said in the document itself. The basic criteria of reform can be summarized in a few points:
the abolition of the double, matching judgment, which is replaced by a single judgment in favor of the annulment;
granting a monocratic authority to the bishop, who is qualified as a single judge;  introduction of a fast and factually uncontrollable process;  with including extensive elimination of the Sacra Rota.

How else, for example, is the abolition of double judgment be interpreted? What are the reasons so serious that this principle will be abolished after 270 years? Cardinal Burke recalled that there is in this respect a catastrophic experience. In the United States were from July 1971 to November 1983, the so-called Provisional Norms, the de facto eliminated the duty of the double, matching judgment. The result was that the Bishops' Conference did not reject a single one of hundreds of thousands applications it dispensed, and that the process started to become popularly  known as  the "Catholic divorce" (s. Remain in the truth of Christ. Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church, Echter, Würzburg 2014).

New powers for Diocesan Bishops, one aspect of explosive scope

Even more serious is the granting of authority to the diocesan bishop, to be able to initiate a rapid process of a single judge at his discretion and to arrive at a judgment. The bishop may exercise his judicial power either personally or delegate it to a committee, which does not necessarily consist of lawyers. A commission in his own image, which of course follows his pastoral instructions, as is already happening in Italy with the "diocesan centers of listening," which lacks any legal basis to date. The combination of Canon 1683 and Article 14 of the Procedural Rules is under this aspect possessed of explosive implications. Sociological considerations will inevitably weigh on the decision: the divorced and remarried are to obtain for the sake of "mercy," preferential treatment. "The Church of Mercy has been set in motion," said Giuliano Ferrara in Il Foglio of 9 September 2015. It does not move by administrative channels, but on the "Courts", which has little to offer in the way of justice.

In some diocese, the bishops will try to ensure the seriousness of the process. But one can easily imagine that in many other dioceses, for example, in Central Europe, the annulment will be a  pure formality. In 1993 Oskar Saier, Archbishop of Freiburg, Karl Lehmann, Bishop of Mainz, and Walter Kasper, Bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, had produced a document in favor of those who were convinced, according to their conscience, for the annulment of their marriage, but not of the elements to prove this in court (Pastoral Letter of the Bishops for the Upper Rhine for the Pastoral Care of People from Broken Marriages, Divorced and Remarried Divorcees [In German]).

"Subjective conviction of conscience" is enough to keep marriage null and void?

The CDF responded by letter Annus Internationalis Familiae of 14 September 1994, with which they made it ​​clear that this path has not been possible because marriage is a public reality: "to ignore this important aspect would make marriage as a de facto reality of the Church, which would deny the sacrament "(no. 8). Nevertheless, recently, the Pastoral Office of the Archdiocese of Freiburg, took the proposal up again (Guidelines for the Pastoral Care to the address people in separation, divorce and after civil remarriage in the Archdiocese of Freiburg), according to which the divorced and remarried  because of a "conscience nullity" ("subjective conviction of conscience" ) of the previous marriage could receive the sacraments and   take on tasks in the parish councils.

The favor matrimonii is to be replaced by a favor nullitatis, which is the primary legal element whilst indissolubility is reduced to a "not practicable Ideal." The theoretical affirmation of the indissolubility of marriage is accompanied in practice by the claim to a right to declare any failed marriage band void. It is enough, in its conscience, to keep one's own marriage invalid, to obtain recognition of their annulment by the Church. It is the same principle, which according to some theologians, to hold a  marriage for "dead", in which the "love is dead" according to a statement of both or even one spouse.

"Bad money drives out good money"

Benedict XVI. warned on 29 January 2010 the Court of Sacra Romana Rota about  the cancellation of marriages by way of  a compliant attitude, "accommodating wishes and expectations of the parties or the influences of the social environment." However, in most diocese in Central Europe  the annulment has been reduced to a pure formality, as in the US when Provisional Norms was the case. Due to the known law, according to which "bad money drives out good money," will be condemned to chaos,  where the "quick divorce" will outweigh its opposite, the indissoluble marriage.

Since more than a year there is talk of a latent schism in the Church, but now  Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the prefect of the CDF, has implored in his speech in Regensburg against the danger of a schism, and urged vigilance and not to forget the lesson of the Protestant schism, which set Europe on fire   five centuries ago.

In advance of the Synod on the Family taking place in October, the reform of Pope Francis is not a torch, but it has sparked it and is paving the way for other catastrophic innovations. Silence is no longer possible.

* Roberto de Mattei, historian, father of five children, Professor of Modern History and History of Christianity at the European University of Rome, Chairman of the Lepanto Foundation, editor of the monthly magazine Radici Cristiane and the online news agency Corrispondenza Romana, author of numerous books, most recently appeared: Vicario di Cristo. Il primato di Pietro tra normalità ed eccezione (Vicar of Christ, the Primacy of Peter Between Normality and Exception.), Verona, 2013; translated into German last: The Second Vatican Council - a hitherto unwritten history, Ruppichteroth 2011. [Avalable on Amazon in English] The intertitles are from the editor.

Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Corrispondenza Romana

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

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Inexplicable Censorship -- Vatican Publisher Presents Transcript of Proceedings on Emperor Constantine the Great

In Hoc Signo Vinces - censorship in the Vatican against Constantine the Great

(Rome) "The impudence of those who are obviously moved, to the detriment of the truth by an ideological schema, is always worrying," said Corrrispondenza Romana.  During proceedings at the Vatican publishing house,  the conference transcript about the Emperor Constantine the Great and the Constantinian Shift has recently appeared. It's a transcript with curious surprises, revealing an alarming censorship.

From the 18th-21st April 2012 on  the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, an international meeting of historians took place on the figure of Emperor Constantine the Great. The meeting had been initiated by the reigning President until 2009 of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, Cardinal Walter Brandmüller. Renowned speakers discussed  key issues that ranged from the conversion of the emperor, to the relationship between Christians and the Roman Empire, and Constantine's vision before the decisive  victory of October 28th, 312.

Speech by Professor de Mattei disappears

Recently, the Vatican publishing house will publish the title "Constantine the Great.  On the Roots of Europe,"  as the conference's volume and which will be presented  in the Augustinianum in Rome. Among the "most important experts in the field", as the acting President of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences writes, there was also the  historian Roberto de Mattei, who illustrated in a highly regarded paper, the "archetypal significance of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge." The presentation by Professor de Mattei is, however, gone. It is not found in the conference proceedings in which the papers were published. De Mattei was also not invited to the presentation of the volume, which can be assessed as an additional personal rebuff by the publisher.

"How is such an inexplicable censorship possible?" asked Corrispondenza Romana. To many it may have caused some upset  that Professor de Mattei regarded the Vision of Constantine, with its luminous signs in form of a cross on the sun with the words "In Hoc Signo Vinces," as genuine.   In a time in which even Catholic theological faculties of priest-professors deny the authenticity of the miracles of Jesus, "because they are  scientifically impossible,"  someone may have felt provoked.

Vision and Victory of Constantine of "Archetypal Meaning"

Constantine the Great

The upset stomach of many must have grown, as de Mattei pointed out that in the vision of the emperor and its consequences  became a model for the following centuries, can be seen, and therefore taken up by Saint Pius X which he testified in the Apostolic Exhortation Universi christifidelibus, with which he announced the Constantinian Jubilee in commemoration of the historic event announced on 8 March 1913:

"At that time the Church Militant finally obtained the first of those triumphs which was relieved from previous epochs of all kinds of persecutions and stood ready on that day in the company of the human race for ever greater deeds."

What is significant to the battle of Saxa Rubra as  "military and political triumph," says Professor de Mattei in his speech, is "not separate from the wonderful intuition of Constantine." He continues: "Christ himself called on Constantine and his legions to fight on His behalf. Thus, He established the principle that it is lawful to fight on behalf of God, when the cause is just and the war is declared a holy war. The battle of 28 October proved not only the legality of Christians to serve in the army, but was declared instinctu divinitatis the first holy war of the Christian era."

"In Hoc Signo Vinces" means not only "internal victory over sin, but also public, armed victory"

So the motto "In Hoc Signo Vinces," the "Signum Crucis, binds the symbol of the cross to a victory that is not only the inner victory over the disordered passions and sin, but also a public, armed, military victory."

Although these statements by Professor de Mattei were covered in detail by the sources, they seem not to have fit the picture of someone in the Vatican, whether the Pontifical Committee for Historical Research, the Vatican publishing house or even someone in a high position. To invite a speaker as a designated expert to a meeting and then to dismiss his paper without any justification, without even mentioning the name of the speaker, is not only a personal affront, and not just a violation of all intellectual and academic practice, but pure censorship. It's a manipulation behind which hides a falsification of history.

Corrispondenza Romana provides the additional question: "Who is afraid of Constantine the Great?"

Second Lecture also Disappears

Proceedings

It was not only de Mattei's lecture which has disappeared. But  the presentation by Professor Gianluigi Falchi from the Lateran University also can not be found in the conference proceedings. Professor Falchi talked about freedom of religion and the baptism of Constantine. In this case, there was no "plausible" explanation either,  as the historian had died in the meantime and thus his text could no longer see the printing. However,  a complete eradication is still not justified. Propriety entirely demands the publication of  papers in such cases with a note.

The case of Professor de Mattei, however, offers no "plausible" explanation.  Therefore, there remains only the assumption that the contents of the lecture were not in fitting with the picture of that hasty distancing from the "Constantinian shift" matches in which to practice numerous church representatives.

When emerged from the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, as the chairman of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, the French Premonstratensian Bernard Ardura, writes in his foreword to the conference proceedings, really a "new world" and a Europe "in which the values ​​of human dignity, freedom of conscience, freedom of religion and freedom of worship flourished ", it is difficult to understand that all this is depressed at the same time in connection with this meeting through censorship with feet that just wanted to emphasize these principles.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Corrispondenza Romana

Radio Maria Chief Don Livio Fangaza and a "Pleasant Surprise"

Don Livio Fangaza, spiritual advisor and
program director of Radio Maria Italy
and Director of World Family of Radio
Maria

(Rome) Don Livio Fanzaga, program director of Radio Maria Italy was recently noticed for purges against critics of Pope Francis, but "there are also pleasant surprises," says the traditional website Messa in Latino.

In the World Family of Radio Maria, Don Livio occupies a central position. He is spiritual director and program director of Radio Maria Italy, the oldest among the many Radio Maria stations, of which there are four in the German-speaking world. And he is at the same time director of the World Family.

Purge against critics of Pope Francis

The purges began in October 2013. Those purged were employees who had been critical of gestures, decisions and statements by Pope Francis, including long-term employees who had helped to shape the profile of the broadcaster. Here no one had voiced his criticism on Radio Maria but in other media. However, Don Livio wasn't concerned with such details.  "You don't criticize the Pope," reads the verdict of the program director.

Purge  1

The first employees who were been shown the door were the congenial author duo Mario Palmaro and Alessandro Gnocchi. Both had worked ten years at the broadcaster and each was responsible for his own show. On October 10, 2013, the legal philosopher Palmaro and journalist  Gnocchi published in the daily newspaper Il Foglio, a lively but justified criticism of Pope Francis, under the title "Christ is not an option among many, and certainly not for his representative on earth".

Scarcely had Don Livio heard about it, than he gives  his two employees a "polite phone call". He did not discuss the content of the call.  "Father Livio is of the opinion that you can not be a presenter at Radio Maria and  criticize the Pope," said the dismissed employees.  Even when the Pope personally made a phone call to the the already seriously ill Palmaro  and expressed understanding for the criticism, nothing changed.

Purge 2

On February 13, 2014, Radio Maria separated itself from  the famous historian Roberto de Mattei. On the eve that de Mattei had published  the essay "The End of Civilization - Who loves the Church, Defends Her. De Mattei had been designated since 2010 his own show at Radio Maria. The correspondence between the dismissal Don Livio Fanzaga and Professor de Mattei was of the latter published.

Purge 3

On November 24, 2014 Gianpaolo Barra, the chief editor of the Catholic monthly magazine was Il Timone  was removed from the broadcaster. He had expressed no criticism of Pope Francis. His "guilt" consisted in refusing to disinvite one  the Pope's critics f  Antonio Socci from Timone Festival, an event that is unrelated to Radio Maria. Antonio Socci had recently published his book "Non è Francesco" (This is Not Francis). The rector of the Academy of Television Journalism in Perugia doubts the legality of the election of Pope Francis. Because Barra had hesitated in the eyes of Don Livio to purge, he himself was even purged.

"... Or you jump out of the window"

On March 13, 2014 on the first anniversary of the election of Pope Francis and less than 24 hours after the funeral much beloved and much too early departed Mario Palmaro, Don Livio commented  on his purges on Radio Maria Italy. His exact words were: "Lately, I had to make a nice clean sweep among those responsible for the programs of Radio Maria ... Some I had to bring down from the Chair and put on a simple stool ... Because it must be clear: either one eats this soup [Pope Francis ] or you jump out the window ... "

A "Pleasant Surprise"

But there are also "pleasant surprises" as Messa in Latino remarked. Such a "pleasant surprise" is the latest book Don Livio Fanzaga published,  "La vita devota" (The religious life, ed. Sugarco, Milan 2015). On page 13  Don Livio writes:

"In practical terms the liturgical reform had unexpected consequences by way of unpleasant deviations and abuses of a general permission to hand Communion, through lack of care in the storage of the consecrated Hosts, up to serious theological errors expressed by those who cast doubt on the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament."

In the World Family of Radio Maria  there are currently 75 stations  connected together on all five continents, including four TV channels in German: Radio Horeb Radio Maria Austria, Radio Maria Südtirol and Radio Maria German-speaking Switzerland. The individual channels are independent in organization and program design.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Messa in Latino

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

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Why We Pilgrimage to Turin: Jesus is a Lamb to Us and a Lion to His Foes

by Roberto de Mattei *

(Turin) coming from 19 April to 24 June 2015, the grave cloth of Christ, which is the Holy Shroud of Turin, will be on  public display. Only five years after the most recent exhibition,  pilgrims will be able to venerate the holy linen cloth in the cathedral of Turin again. The occasion is the 200th anniversary of the birth of St. John Bosco. The next opportunity to see the grave cloth is not likely to arise again until 2025.

The Holy Shroud is the  cloth in which the body of Our Lord Jesus Christ was wrapped in the grave. The Synoptic Gospels recall this (Mark 13:46; Matthew 27.59; Luke 23.53).  Likewise, the Gospel of John, which speaks of a "soudarion". It is not a simple "icon", one of the countless "likenesses" of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which are scattered all over the world, but an authentic relic, the most precious of Christianity, before over the centuries the Popes, Saints and millions of ordinary faithful have prayed.

Invention of Photography Lifted a Veil of Secrecy

The invention of photography lifted a veil that lay on the mystery of the grave cloth and kept it hidden for nearly 2000 years of its contents and revealed it for everyone. The overall shape of the Savior is stamped in life-size on the linen cloth and shows the viewer something like the negative of a photograph. It has a lot of details that no painter would have ever imagined, let alone be able to paint  without knowing the photographic process in every detail.

The man on the grave cloth of Christ shows the whole drama of the Passion. The accuracy of the Gospel is a factual historical  report as regards the scourging, the crown of thorns, the crucifixion, the wounded side of Our Lord, is proved by the grave cloth in quite an extraordinary way. The grave cloth in the embossed presentation confirms the prophecy of Isaiah: "no unwounded spot, / only bumps, bruises, and fresh wounds, they are not bound, not sound  / not relieved from head to foot with oil" (Isaiah 1.6) ,

Give a Meaning to Suffering

Why this suffering? Our faith teaches us that Jesus came into the world to redeem us from the sin of Adam, to have come through all the physical and moral evil of the universe in the world. "Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned", the Apostle Paul writes (Rom 5:12). Since then, the man is born in pain and lives and dies in pain. But the whole suffering humanity was ransomed by Jesus Christ. The grave Shroud of Turin reminds us that human life is suffering because of the fall, but that all suffering was worn by him who was without sin. In Him we can find the answer for our suffering.

Nothing elevates man more than the assumed freely and courageously endured suffering. One of the biggest fallacies of life is to think one can be happy by dodging suffering. In reality, the man who does not suffer is unhappy because he remains without the joy that grows out of the fact, to offer one's own suffering makes sense. That non-sentient creatures suffer without being able to offer their suffering makes sense. The man, however, can detect, due to his intelligence, that the pain is a result of sin, the original sin and actual sins, and that he can give a sense to this pain to undo the sin in union with Christ and to atone.

Grave Cloth is the True Image of the God-Man - In suffering, We Gaze at Him

The grave cloth, the true image of the Man-God, teaches us how to suffer. In the moments of sorrow and physical and moral pain we look at the man of grave cloth. His appearance is disfigured, but what touches the most to the core, is the contrast between the visible consequences of torture and torment he has suffered and the peaceful majesty,brought to expression in his face. Jesus gives us the model for the attitude of patience, of seriousness and composure, with which we are to bear adversity and sacrifice that inevitably characterize our lives. With patience but always to be accompanied by immense confidence of those who conquered death by his death.

Grave Cloth Impressive Proof of His Resurrection

The Holy Shroud not only proves the truth of Christ's suffering, but also provides us with an impressive proof of his resurrection. The scientists that have studied the sacred linen cloth, confirm that only a mysterious power, a sudden flash of radiation and would have the negative impression of the cloth can memorize. In other words, only the resurrection of Jesus Christ,  scourged and crucified under Pontius Pilate unto death may explain the mysterious origin of the grave cloth. He had predicted that He would rise again on the third day, and that the resurrection from the dead, the highest proof of his divinity, was the great miracle that all the miracles and prophecies summarizes all in itself.

Jesus is victorious, raised in triumph, not only allegorically or spiritually, as  a certain progressivist theology would have it, but with visible body, blood, soul and divinity. The grave cloth shows his negative image  "photographed" with His glorious body at the moment of resurrection and thus provides us with another argument to hold that we can find eternal salvation only in the Catholic Church.

As in Adam all die, even so in Christ all live

In his letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul reminds us of this fundamental truth, first proclaimed by the apostles: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Christ had not died and rose again, salvation would never have taken place. The resurrection is the foundation of our faith. By a man, Adam, death came into the world. By another man, man and God, came life. As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be revived.

All of humanity is, as St. Augustine says, "summarized in the story of two men, one of whom has lost us  by doing not His will and not obeying Him who had created him. The other has saved us by not doing his will, but that of Him who had sent him. In the story of these two men is the whole Christian faith. "The Holy Week summarizes this drama together and at the Easter Vigil, is familiar to us in the liturgy of the Church with its message of hope and victory.

With the Resurrection Begins  the Kingdom of the Sacrificed Lamb

Easter, says Dom Guéranger, is the proclamation of the kingdom of the sacrificed Lamb, it is the acclamation of the elect in heaven "the Lion of the Tribe of Judah has triumphed, the shoot from the root of David!" (Rev 5.5). Jesus is awakened and resurrected "as a lamb for us, as a lion for his enemies" by uniting the attributes of strength and gentleness. The force with which we fight the enemies of our faith, and love, we are to exercise toward our brothers.

The suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was the pillar of the apostolic preaching and must be the foundation of our faith. The grave cloth is the visible and moving Compendium. That's why we go to Turin to venerate this sacred relic reverently.

Roberto de Mattei , historian, father of five children, Professor of Modern History and History of Christianity at the European University of Rome, Chairman of Lepanto Foundation, editor of the monthly magazine Radici Cristiane and online news agency Corrispondenza Romana, author of numerous books, most recently appeared: Vicario di Cristo. Il primato tra di Pietro normalità ed eccezione (Vicar of Christ, the Primacy of Peter Between Normality and Exception.), Verona, 2013;  The Second Vatican Council - a hitherto unwritten history, Ruppichteroth 2011th

Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Corrispondenza Romana

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
H/t: Mazarra

Link to Katholisches...

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"So it will lead to Schism" -- The "Impossible Revolution" of Pope Francis

Pope Francis' Impossible Revolution

(Rome) "There is a revolution looming in the pastoral care of families in terms of communion for the divorced and remarried and homosexual relationships." Two years after the election of Pope Francis, the well-known historian and Catholic intellectual Roberto de Mattei describes the pontificate of Argentine Pope as "enigmatic" and "full of paradoxes".

The author of a standard work on the history of the Second Vatican Council ("The Second Vatican Council. A hitherto unwritten history") provides a large gap between the desiderata of Francis and the sentire the Catholic world.

"For the most sensitive thinkers of the Italian traditionalism," said Alberto Melloni, his historical counterpart and head of the progressivist school of Bologna, "the Church has ventured with this Pope into a schism by those progressivist bishops, like the German, who want to continue with their 'openings', even if the Synod rejects their 'reforms' in the fall. "

Three Italian newspapers (Il Giorno, La Nazione, Il Resto del Carlino) published at the same time an interview with Roberto de Mattei:

Roberto de Mattei

Even the ultra-conservative Cardinal Raymond Burke has promised resistance at any price.

Roberto de Mattei: But he has not  promised schism. He just said that he will oppose any change in the Synod against the truth about marriage. This seems to me to be  honest and transparent behavior.

Will the Pope really attack the Doctrine of the Faith?

Roberto de Mattei: Francis pretends to be conservative. He says nothing against the dogmas. But his pastoral strategy is revolutionary in itself because it subordinates the truth to practice, especially in such a burning hot topic as the family. In this way, it signals a fundamental break in the history of the papacy as  has not been seen for 50 years.

The Church is not ready for this change?

  I do not want to endorse such a change.  I think it is correct to say that Francis has confused the cardinals, bishops, priests and parishes. It is sufficient to recall the petition of 120,000 Catholics from around the world, which asked Francis to finally to say a clear word about the indissolubility of marriage. A mere toleration of the second marriage by opening  Communion for divorced and remarried would already be an attack on the traditional teaching of the Church.

At this point, it has come to a slugfest at the last Synod  between progressives and conservatives.

I would call this a tear. The paragraphs of the final document to homosexuals and remarried divorcees had not obtained the required two-thirds approval. The real novelty of that meeting was the strong opposition to the reforms by the African and Eastern bishops. Precisely the bishops of the margins that Bergoglio never gets tired of praising. This is one of the paradoxes of this pontificate.

Who are the others?

Last October, the Pope received representatives of the radical left, from the so-called popular movements. From him he gave  a very Peronist impression that he is closest to social concerns. Who commissioned the Vatican under this pope to check the budget of the Vatican Bank IOR? A globalist-capitalist institution such as Ernst & Young. 
Or Bergoglio talks about the decentralization of power in the Church, but in his decisions he shows himself as a strong centralizer.

He still enjoys broad appeal in any case?

Yes, the media and outside the Church, where he has even surpassed Wojtyla in popularity. But in the Catholic world he is far less popular. Also, participation in the Angelus and the General Audiences at St. Peter's is in decline.

Introduction / Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Corrispondenza Romana / MiL

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

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Identity Crisis: Will Europe Awake?

(Rome) Europe is in deep crisis. People feel it and look to the future with confusion.  In many ways there have been attempts to suppress this feeling or to drown it. This includes the frenetic exuberance in the celebration of the moment. The subsidized conversion of the old Roman motto bread and circuses can not hide the crisis. Will Europe awake? Will the European culture survive or irretrievably perish together with its people?  wise and truly free minds, who are not in the pay for any purposeful optimism face this question. This includes the Catholic historian Roberto de Mattei. On 13 March 2008 he spoke at the European University of Rome at the conference "Identity Crisis: Will European Culture Survive? 'A speech, which we publish in English translation due to its unbroken topicality. The intertitles are from the editorial staff. [and translated by EF]

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Identity Crisis: Will European Culture Survive?

by Roberto de Mattei 

I would like to begin with a clue we can safely assume. A part of Islam today considers the West as an enemy and seeks to clash with it. Here is not the place to determine whether this part of the Islamic world is a  majority or minority of opinion or whether this attitude is derived directly from the Qur'an or whether it represents a betrayal of its principles, nor whether there a greater threat emanates from fundamentalist Islam or from so-called moderate Islam. What is certain is that Islam or a part of it, presents a problem to Europe. It is not the first time that this has been the case in European history. It is the first time that Europe and the challenge of Islam does not witness its religious and cultural identity. This is the core of the problem.

Stockholm Syndrome: The Psychological and Moral Drama of Europe

Europe is experiencing a psychological and moral drama that has been defined as "Stockholm Syndrome",  the phenomenon of psychological submission to the aggressor, which creates a dependency which is a relationship of the victim to the perpetrator that is difficult to understand. Today, one would have to speak better of Copenhagen Syndrome, London's syndrome, Madrid syndrome or Rome's syndrome, to name the psychological attitude towards opponents, by whom one is intimidated, sometimes downright terrorized, but simultaneously attracted to as well, sometimes downright is fascinated. In contrast, the emergence and spread of myths, such as those of Louis Massignon (1883-1962), Edward Said (1935-2003) and Franco Cardini (1940) who want to erase  the millennium of conflict between Europe and Islam from memory in  the name of alleged experiences that are stylized to ideal models. These include the Oriens Felix , the Arab-Andalusian society before the Reconquista, or  Sicilian society at the time of Frederick II., to not even to speak of philosophical musings as the progressive utopia of universal peace or the esoteric myth of a transcendental unity of religions. Some of these myths were of Bat Ye'or in Eurabia. Represented in The Euro-Arab Axis (2005) and Alexandre del Valle in Le totalitarisme islamiste à l'assaut of démocraties  (2002).

In this perspective, not only does the idea of ​​the enemy of the West dissolve, but it also dissolves the ideas of the West, the West and Europe itself, which are seen only as a literary invention, like the theorist of "gender"  considers the natural  distinction between man and woman as a mere cultural construct.

Yesterday Communism, Today Islam - Fifth Column and Useful Idiots

The attitude of Europeans towards Islam recalls the position, which occupied the West in the 20th century against the communism. The Soviet Union threatened the world, but the anti-communism was considered a greater sin than communism. The historian can not be silent about the responsibility of fifth columns in the service of the enemy and the "useful idiots" among civil, political, and religious leaders who criticize, instead of criticizing communism, supported the defamation campaigns against anti-communists and all of this while using talismanic, magic words which did not differ from the present, such as peace, dialogue, peaceful coexistence. In short, the illusion of being able to come to terms with the enemy already by simply displacing it from their own consciousness. A phenomenon Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira wrote about in Baldeação Ideológica Inadvertida e Diálogo (1965, English edition Unnoticed Ideological Transshipment and Dialogue , 1967) has written.

Ideological Root: Moral Relativism and Political Pragmatism

What is the ideological root of this attitude that repeats itself today against Islam? The idea that there is neither a logical dualism between truth and error, nor a moral dualism between good and evil, but that everything is relative in relation to the current needs and interests of the individual. Moral relativism and political pragmatism are two sides of this approach to  reality that does not draw on realism, but utopianism, since it postulates a fictitious and unreal world, which is the feeble will to power of the postmodern individual is unable to conquer.

If Europe wants to survive, it must change these psychological and cultural attitudes. But how can you contribute to this change? Start by reviving the idea that there is good and evil in an objective and absolute sense, and that the truth and the principles on which our culture is based, are not archived as ideas of the past or ideological prejudices.

The Basis of Human Rights is Not Subjectivity, but an Objective Law of Nature

The basis of the rights and duties of man is not subjectivity. In our consciousness there is an objective law of nature that is reflected in the divine law. This law has found its historic, but definitive expression in the Tablets of the Law written by Moses through divine inspiration. The Ten Commandments are the law of nature that every one of us, whether secularist or Christian, feels like a compass that helps us to distinguish between good and evil.

The Decalogue is addressed to all people at all times and all conditions with the same normative value. This value stems not only from the tables of the law, but also by human reason, because God before he let them be carved as positive law in stone, it was already set in the heart of man (Saint Thomas Aquinas: Contra Gentes , II , c 117,. teologica Summa , q 100, a.3). St. Augustine says. "It was written on the tablets (of the law), what people do not read in their hearts; not that they had not written it there, but they did not want to read "(" Non enim non scriptum habebant, sed casual nolebant " Enarratio in Psalmos , LVII, 1: PL 36, 673). Even today, people do not read what is written with indelible letters in their hearts to instead chase the utopia of a boundless world without conflict, without any outside enemies, reality and history.

Collaboration with Islam by Pessimistic World View

Nevertheless, there is a fundamental difference between the attitude that the West had in the 20th century against communism and the one it has today towards Islam. The collaboration of the last century was based on an optimistic view of history, rooted in the myth of an irreversible progress of humanity. The collaboration of the 21st century is, however, clear from a pessimistic view of the world which is nourished by a deep sense of fear and uncertainty. The man of the 20th century fooled himself about the future. The modern man is afraid of the future. He's afraid of himself and fought his own fears by trying to remove his enemies from his horizon of his thought, as if by not naming them was equivalent to their disappearance from reality. It's like refusing to talk about a clash of civilizations to suffice to avert this danger. The ideological source of this psychological process is then as now, Relativism and the dialectical evolutionism that distort each and every truth value.

Certain Values Mean Hope for the Future

If there is a security in values, there is also hope for the future. Values ​​certainty and hope for the future go hand in hand. Hope is a natural virtue that consists in the expectation of a future good. For a Christian, it is also a supernatural virtue, but this virtue is the awareness and respect for the natural and divine law required in the Mosaic law, which belongs not only to the Jews and the Christians, but is written in every human heart.  It's no accident that Benedict XVI. dedicated  his encyclical Spe Salvi  to hope.

The Christian hope in Jesus Christ, the God who raised and redeemed, is the hope and even more the confidence in the awakening revival in Europe. Europe is experiencing a deep sleep, lethargy, perhaps provoked by an anesthetic, but sleep is not death. Sleep has an end, it precedes to the awakening. We believe in an awakening in Europe.Therefore, I will reply to the question as to whether the European culture will survive with a confident yes.

Introduction / Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Corrispondenza Romana

Roberto de Mattei: Catholic Resistance Against Abortion and For the Family

(Rome) in Italy in recent years a radical upheaval in the right to life scene in progress. The situation is different in each country for cultural and historical reasons. Nevertheless, the Italian example offers, with references to the U.S. and France, some interesting elements for the German-speaking world, where the situation in the individual countries also have similarities and differences.

Beginning in 2011 the Italian March for Life, the pro-life movement, has regained its ability to act and has been freed from the suffocating embrace of a mere fig leaf function for (Christian Democratic) policy and the Bishops' Conference. The new pro-life movement is completely independent. Regardless of party, regardless of the Bishops' Conference and it's independent of other organizations.

The March for Life in Italy goes back to the initiative of traditionalist Catholics, including the recently departed legal philosopher Mario Palmaro. Traditional Catholics also gave the initial impetus for the French civil rights movement Manif pour tous. And the founder of the March for Life, the largest March for Life was buried in the Old Rite in Washington in 2012. This is no accident, as Roberto de Mattei says.

It's not only the right to life, but the family was in total released for departure, is now discussed in the context of building a movement to defend the family. The view is primarily beyond the Alps to the west, where in France with the civil rights movement Manif pour tous a movement has risen within a very short time with a mass basis.

Opinions differ about the ways in which the goal could be achieved. Recently, the repetition of was Family Day suggested, as it took place on 12 May 2007. In contrast, now one of the initiators of March for Life, the well-known historian Roberto de Mattei has asked to speak. "It will not be the Bishops’ Conference and the policy makers that nurture the Pro-life movement.“ Fact is that the family is besieged and attacked from all sides. Here are the further remarks of Roberto de Mattei on 11 June published in the daily newspaper Il Foglio and is indirectly a response to Martin Lohmann and his controversial invitation of Donum vitae to represent the March for Life in Berlin.

by Roberto de Mattei

The family is under unprecedented attack, not only in Italy but worldwide. This process, which was initiated by the '68 revolution, had its symbolic beginning in our country with the referendum of 12 May 1974, which confirmed the divorce law Fortuna Baslini of 1970. The way was thus paved for the next stages, which then led to the legalization of the new family law, abortion, artificial insemination and the recent attempt to institutionalize the homosexual partnership and to suppress dissenting voices with the new offense homophobia.“

The Family rooted in human nature, developed antibodies

The adoption of the quick divorce by the Chamber of Deputies, with which the times are reduced for the dissolution of marriage at six months, shows the direction the Renzi government will take. The institution of the family is shattered, but because it is rooted directly in the nature of man, it produces Anti-Bodies.

Over the past 40 years it has spontaneously formed defenses in response to movements in the world. The oldest is the American March for Life, which has gathered in Washington since January 22, 1974, every year with hundreds of thousands of participants and represents the diamond’s point of the anti-abortion movement in the United States.

The most recent is the French Manif pour tous , which was formed in September 2012 in Paris and in less than two years, millions of people took to the streets to protest against the aberrosexual pseudo-marriage.

Both of these movements are the most significant popular demonstrations in defense of life and the family.

What the March for Life and Manif pour tous Does

In Italy, the Catholic Bishops' Conference initiated Family Day on May 12, 2007 with the goal of adopting better social policies for the family by the Parliament. The initiative was a great success, but without consequences.

Since 2011, however, a spontaneous initiative of several small but mighty associations of of the March for Life have developed, where in Rome 50,000 people gathered on May 4 this year, took to the streets to bring to expression their unconditional No to abortion, without exception and without compromise.

What are the similarities and what are the differences between these various initiatives? The great strength of the March for Life and the Manif pour tous is to be powerful mobilizations although completely independent from political power or the Church hierarchy exert a profound influence on the political and religious institutions of their countries.

If the bishops of the United States belong till now the world's most determined defenders of life, to refuse Catholic abortion supporters Communion, then this is due to the fact that they are getting massive backing from the March for Life and they are at the same time also forced to give a positive witness. The Manif pour tous is non-denominational and politically independent, just like the March for Life, but receives the support of many bishops at the individual level. This has helped to create a psychological and cultural climate that led to Hollande’s crushing defeat in the recent elections to the European Parliament.

Regardless of politics and the Bishops' Conference

In Italy, where there is an entrenched Christian Democratic tradition, for the first points of contact are the bishops or the parties, all the initiatives that arose in the course of time, almost always emanate from political or ecclesiastical structures. The Forum of Family Associations, which officially organized Family Day in 2007, was directly dependent on the Bishops' Conference. It is sufficient to remember that the head of the Office for Family Pastoral of the Episcopal Conference or its representatives are involved, according to statutes. Also well known is the connection of the Movimento per la Vita by Carlo Casini to the Bishops' Conference of the MPV, according Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, it receives 600,000 euros a year, and almost half of the total budget.

The Family Day 2007, which was mainly due to the political intelligence of Cardinal Ruini has arisen within a year and died again, just because it was an initiative from above, lacking the roots in the Catholic people and the Catholic Associations.

Standard-bearer non-negotiable values
The success of the March for Life stems from the use from a variety of large and small realities that are present in all living branches of the society, from the parishes to the Internet. Without the support of the political parties, the bishops or the largest Catholic movements from Communion and Liberation to Neocatechumenate who can lead a compact and numerous army into the field for the March for Life. It is a base which needs to be represented by free and independent men and women, the standard-bearers of non-negotiable principles and hence ideas and are not led by power interests. That's the power of the March for Life.

Not from above, by political or ecclesiastical machinations can be something really built solidly for the defense of life and family, but from the bottom with the help of those myriads of groups, associations and circles, which are usually unknown and unnoticed by the media, who, however, are consolidated and form a compact block. Within this movement, and not as an alternative, it exists and can develop a serious opposition, which is not merely a facade, that opposes those who want to destroy the family.

Introduction / Translation: Giuseppe Nardi

image: Corrispondenza Romana

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

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