Friday, July 29, 2011

Weigel the Gallican, Weigel the Febronian, Weigel the Jacobin?

Garibaldi, the Scourge of the Church

Unlike some of the following bloggers, Weigel just can't seem to get it straight whose side he's on. Shall we take him at his word?

Vatican Accuses Enda Kenny of attacking the Church to divert attention from euro crisis [Tablet]

Ego te Absolvo...

Father Zuhlsdorf's commentary on Intimidation...

Even the left listing Allen of NCR gets it, here.

But the critics of the Church and the Vatican conveniently and repeatedly refuse to acknowledge what underlies the problem in the first place, here. They repeat the lie often enough and plenty of people believe them.

Erin Go Bonkers - George Weigel - National Review Online

H/t: pulp.it 

In case you're wondering what Febronianism is, it's here.

The politico-ecclesiastical system outlined by Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, Auxiliary Bishop of Trier, under the pseudonym Justinus Febronius, in his work entitled "Justini Febronii Juris consulti de Stata Ecclesiæ et legitimâ potestate Romani Pontificis Liber singularis ad reuniendos dissidentes in religione christianos compositus" (Bullioni apud Guillelmum Evrardi, 1763; in reality the work was published by Esslinger at Frankfort-on-the-Main). Taking as a basis the Gallican principles which he had imbibed from the canonist Van Espen while pursuing his studies in Louvain, Hontheim advanced along the same lines, in spite of many inconsistencies, to a radicalism far outstripping traditional Gallicanism. [u]He develops in this work a theory of ecclesiastical organization founded on a denial of the monarchical constitution of the Church. [/u]The ostensible purpose was to facilitate the reconciliation of the Protestant bodies with the Church by diminishing the power of the Holy See.

^Underlining ours.

2 comments:

Dan said...

I read the "Ego te absolvo" link you supplied, finding the words of the Jesuit who wrote it (in classic legalese) to be very interesting. He essentially says that it is the State which "allows" the priest-penitent privilege to stand. Come again? Typical Jesuit. Perhaps he has forgotten that God's law supersedes ANY law concocted by a State.

This Jesuit should sit down and watch two films, I CONFESS and A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS and then, hopefully, screw his head on straight.

But I won't hold my breath.

Tancred said...

It's strange to hear Jesuits advocating things which they steadfastly once resisted with great success in better days.

He should also see the film, "The Prisoner" while he's at it.