Friday, December 20, 2013

Not only Burke -- Brotherly Purge of Francis the Merciful

(Rome) The Vaticanist Matteo Matzuzzi analyzed the reasons that led to the removal of Cardinal Burke from two Roman Congregations within a few days for the daily newspaper Il FoglioHe sees the main reason in a "completely opposite" understanding of the Church. An interview with Cardinal Burke, published on 12 December  by EWTN finally led  to the fracture. Cardinal Burke expresses  doubt as to whether the Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium could be regarded as part of the papal magisterium at all. The background is also the great influence that the cardinal wielded under Pope Benedict XVI.  on the appointment of bishops in the United States. Part of the American Church saw the opportunity to get rid of this influence under Pope Francis, and to assist them accordingly. Obviously, they met with success. Matzuzzi speaks of a "purge" against the clergy, who are closely related to  Pope Benedict's understanding  of the  Church.  Because of the inflationary celebration of Pope Francis as a "reincarnation" of the "benevolent" Pope John XXIII.,  Matzuzzi writes  of the connection not without a finer, deeper significance between the "cleansing" and the "benevolent Francis". And once again  this signifies the dislike of the new Pontiff against tradition.

.

Fraternal Purge of Francis the Merciful

by Matteo Matzuzzi
Not only Burke. Many influential cardinals were also removed. It was predictable (and legitimate). The reasons were because of of  amoveatur without promoveatur .[Removal without Promotion] The focus is on a particular understanding of the Church and ethical issues.

Understanding of the Church at Odds

It could not be otherwise, as they say across the Tiber, when they comment on the removal of Cardinal Raymond Burke at the Congregation for Bishops. Francis'  understanding of the Church  is too far away from that of the prominent canon law expert, whom Benedict XVI. brought from St. Louis to Rome and had asked to  head  the Apostolic Signatura. To start with, Bergoglio is almost in terror of  the idea of entering into his field hospital to see sad priests who are merely guardians of museum churches. Second, Burke, however, is a die-hard supporter of the Tridentine Mass Coram Deo , the brocade miters and Cappa magna,  which have not been seen since the conclave  called 50 years ago by Paul VI,  as though the station of the  Cardinal were still dominated by the Sistine Chapel's baldicchino .

Incompatibility of Positions

And then there's the incompatibility of positions to the non-negotiable principles that tore a deep furrow with time.While Francis celebrated the anniversary of Evangelium Vitae on the forecourt of St Peter's, but was only capable of citing one time   the great encyclical of John Paul II on the protection of life from conception to natural death, , was something considered simultaneously by Burke  at the Pontifical Urban University as penetrated by a precise catechesis of sharpness and clear partisanship for  unborn life. While the Pope extorted  not to harass the people of God and  and obsess,  to speak about the non-negotiable values ​​only in certain contexts,  the American cardinal warned  against the chains of the broadening poison of laicism [secularism].  
"It is enough to open a newspaper or turn on the television to see that the Christian is always less tolerated, that the secular agenda does not decrease in their efforts to suppress the testimony of faithful Christians to the second place, to intimidate and stifle" said the cardinal with the eloquence of a biblical prophet at the opening of a meeting of the Institute Dignitatis Humanae . "We must not succumb to these tactics," Burke said.

The Clear Words of the Cardinal - EWTN Interview Led to the Final Break

Sure, Francis said, but the Church's position on these issues is known, it does not have to be repeated every day. Meanwhile, however, the cardinal prefect  explained apocalyptically, it is sufficient to look to see that "the political leaders are relentlessly busy to liberalize abortion even further" in the United States. A grave sin that calls for a corresponding sentence without long troubling the mercy and goodness of God: "You can not recognize those who support such a serious violation of the moral law and yet do them the honor. This is a scandal, a contradiction, an error", the cardinal said in an interview he gave to a few weeks later to a monthly magazine in Minnesota.
Then a few days ago, the final break  came in an interview with the Catholic television station EWTN: "to refuse Catholic politicians  communion  is absolutely right: it is a question of order. The Eucharist is sacred. It is the body, the blood and the Soul of Christ. Whoever knows that he is in a state of sin, should not even approach Holy Communion."

Can the Evangelii Gaudium be considered as part of the Magisterium?

Everything was reinforced by doubts about the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium . When asked what he meant by  Exhortation, the cardinal said: "To me it is not yet possible to find the exact form to describe this document, but it seems to me that it can not be considered as part of the Magisterium".  EWTN asked what he meant by the fact that, according to Pope Francis too much is spoken about abortion, "gay marriage" and euthanasia. "We can never talk about these issues  enough. We are up against  a massacre of the unborn,"  replied Burke.
Completely opposite viewpoints, therefore. Between the two there is not that consensus which was so strong between the canon lawyer and Ratzinger, who often begged the American cardinal to help name  suitable candidate for American dioceses. The  Los Angeles Times put forward in an editorial that there appears to be a purge of conservative cardinals ongoing,   -  in addition to Burke and Piacenza and Bagnasco who were removed from their duties, there was even Cardinal Charles Chaput,  Archbishop of Philadelphia.   Chaput had publicly criticized the course begun by Bergolio this past July 1st: "I think that the Pope did not intend to be drawn into political issues. But issues such as abortion and marriage are not political questions. These are questions of doctrine and morality. And we bishops, all must speak of these things." The archbishop spoke in the same context of a "certain dissatisfaction"  Pope Francis' course, which were being felt  in faithful parts of the Church.

Progressive Schadenfreude

The decisions of Pope Francis from demotions  and promotions in the Congregation for Bishops,  commented on in the New York Times by the progressive historian Alberto Melloni, would mean that "one does not have to be conservative to become a bishop." The dismissal of  Burke, for example, shows only the legitimate will of the Pope, a new "generation of bishops" to pave the way, also stated the progressive Vaticanist John Allen. A completely different generation than those that have come of age  in recent decades.
Introduction / Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Dona catolica
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMGD

43 comments:

Johannes de Silentio said...

I have been very patient and very willing to give Francis every benefit of the doubt, but the time has come to conclude that the pope is a mitigated disaster. I don't say unmitigated, because he is not without his virtues.

Anonymous said...

Catholics who are committed to the traditional teaching and worship of the Church are in for a hard time, to be sure. But we do not choose our crosses. These are for God to choose.

Magdalene said...

There are not many of the stripe of a St John the Baptist around. Those who embrace all the Church's teachings are not in favor. It is a dark time when the prayerful Orders are attacked and divided and suppressed and we certainly need them. Rather the compromise is mostly with the world. But God allows and as one commenter noted, we do not choose our crosses. Confusion reigns. May God give us the grace and light to always recognize the truth even if some of our prelates are saying something different.

Anonymous said...

Pope Francis is a disaster; a complete loose canon. I'm sick and tired of everyone gushing about how beautiful the "Emperor's New Clothes" are.

George R. said...

Don't worry, people. I'm sure that ol' "grace of office" will be kicking in any time now.

Slick said...

It's obvious this pope has a chip on his shoulder against conservative/traditional Catholics. He is insulting and condescending only to them and assumes they have the worst of motives and compares them to Pharisees. He embraces liberation theology and enjoys talking liberal-speak. He can still do terrible damage to souls and the Church without changing any doctrines.

C.J. said...

Yes. A cow chip. He gives new meaning to papal bull.

Deacon Augustine said...

Maybe God is teaching us not to put our faith in mere Popes. It is His Church and she has survived many wicked Popes over the course of the centuries. We don't need the Pope's permission to believe the Catholic Faith and neither he nor any of the bishops he appoints has the power to change it.

Dcn Dan said...

I really hope that Cardinal Burke can stay in his role. He is such a wonderful, humble Cardinal and a great example for us. I am very worried about these actions of the Holy Father in the curia. It seems "who am I to judge" does not apply here? Peace.

E. G. Lewis said...

You referred to Pope Francis as "Francis the Good," where did this term come from? I've never heard it before. I'd term him Francis the No-Good...or worse. Comparing him to John XXIII is good choice given that John XXIII is responsible for the train wreck known as Vatican II. There's more here than here than meets the eye, lots more.

Anonymous said...

It looks like the ouster of good,orthodox,straight- talking Cardinal Burke is the Catholic version of what happened with Duck Dynasty. Like Robertson, Burke spoke honestly in his EWTN interview and he was thrown overboard for it.I'm not getting over this any time soon.

Tancred said...

Merciful would probably be better, but good works.

Unknown said...

The only thing that keeps me going these days is something I was taught by the Good Sisters..."God always gives us the right man for the time" and so I believe He has a plan and a reason for Pope Francis at this particular time in our Church's life and it is not for us to understand right now...perhaps later. We can pray for our church, our pope and our souls. Amen

andrew said...

If Bergoglio is the answer, it must be a very stupid question.

Unknown said...

The Pope seems very authortarian, despite his focus on humility. It would not surprise me, in fact I think it must be, that Francis will declare a new Marian dogma...Co-Redemptrix. Is that pro-conservative, or pro-liberal?

Anonymous said...

I'm sad about this, too. So many good points in these comments.

Anonymous said...

I think this might be an interesting exercise. Can the Pope encourage liberal catholics to come back into the pews on a regular basis to support the church with their time talent and money to replace those regulars who now do the job in so many parishes he is chasing away. This could be a very bad time for many parishes as they empty out in much the same way liberal Europe has discovered as they went far left.

joannis said...

When Pope Benedict resigned, I had a dream of a future schism in the Church. In the dream, it started as I was going up to receive the corpus christi. When I arrived to receive Communion, I was told that it was no longer available. To the cheers of liberals, holy mass was no longer being said. Then I went behind the Church like in an old rectory, where I heard the faithful were splitting away to save holy mass. There was quite a large breaking away. The traditionally minded clergy was very numerous and had fire in their hearts for the Lord and for His true Church. They were organizing militantly to put up the good fight and that's when i woke up. So before Francis was chosen I had apprehensions about what happened to Pope Benedict. BUt after he was chosen I thought that the real trouble would'nt be in this pontificate but in the next one, God help us all!

Sebastiaan said...

Hear, hear.

Unknown said...

You are 50 years too late with your dream so-called. the schism began after the Vatican Councils and has become worse with the years since. Most neo-Catholic clergy, bishops and lay are de facto schismatics no longer believing in and teaching the true Faith of our fathers. Liberal modernism is antithetical to The Faith and its liturgical anthropocentrism is diametrically opposed to it.

Unknown said...

Wrong. He is a profligate narcissist.

LuLiu said...

Yes, God placed this pope in this time so the Scriptures may be fulfilled about the coming of False Prophet and the Antichrist in the New Testament and Book of Revelation

Susan said...

I too lament the dismissal of the wonderful Cardinal Burke but before I can condemn our Pope, I wonder if it is a matter of not being media-savvy more than ideology. He seems to speak without choosing his words carefully, with a lack of acuity of the English language, which allows him to be misinterpreted by a media who are eager to do so.

allandan500 said...

We are told he is humble and merciful by his supporters, but his actions speak more of ideologue and harshness.

Anonymous said...

Joannis, your dream is a gift from God so that you can be prepared. Do not doubt. Others have had similar dreams. There will come a time soon where additional changes to the Mass will result in our Lord not being present at all...and there will be the abomination of desolation. At that point, "ceremonies" in what was once the visible Church will honor the beast and should be avoided at all cost as severe spiritual damage will be incurred by those who participate, even unwittingly. The enemy is cunning beyond human comprehension and will attempt to trick as many as possible into participating. Pray the rosary daily. To survive the coming confusion in mind, body and soul...pray the rosary daily.

Anonymous said...

Susan, you are likely reading this blog because you realize that the majority of media cannot be trusted to report the complete truth...."half-truths" are false and misleading. The truth (that is, the full truth) is difficult to accept because it includes the ugly liabilities as well as the assets. Do not ignore what your inner voice may be telling you about the situation in Rome. There is chaos and uncertainty as a "purging" of what remains of the true Church unfolds, making way for the anti - Church which has been designed in secret for many years. That may be difficult to accept, but it has to happen. Those who continue to make excuses for and attempt to explain away the inexcusable demonstrate either a willingness to stick their heads in the sand or their active complicity in apostasy. I pray that all of us who are well intentioned will find the courage to stand firm in the truth as the times become increasingly difficult. We must trust that, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother, He will guide us through this and help us to persevere until the end.

Anonymous said...

This Pope is destroying The Holy Roman Church before our very eyes and we are powerless to stop him, The Franciscans of The Immaculate are being dispatched as we speak for this Pope is an enemy of Tradition and the TLM.

Anonymous said...

Our dear Cardinal Burke or Cardinal Ranjith were in my prayers for being the next Pope, but then we got this disaster who walks around being humble and will not even call himself Pope but only Bishop of Rome. We must just pray and wait while this nightmare ends soon!!!!!!!!!!!

Pray for all popes. Even the crazy ones. said...

"...this pope is an enemy of Tradition and the TLM". That makes him an enemy of the Church as well. An antichrist much like Martin Luther and in the very same way. You cannot be a Catholic if you are against everything that Catholicism is. This pope is not Catholic. It would be more difficult to prove that he was. It would be impossible unless it could be claimed that he had a mental disorder or was possessed. Insanity is his only defense.

Anonymous said...

This pope has not won me over. He is too ambiguous, says things that are not clear, lack certitude, & can be easily used to undermine authentic church teaching. When the Vatican press has to scramble every time the pope speaks to clarify what he has said is a real bad sign. God is not the author of confusion.

Anonymous said...

It could be a means of sifting through the wheat & the weeds to see who is truly faithful to the authentic teachings of Jesus Christ. To many want to shape the church into the worlds image. I am very skeptical of this pope. The upside is this is Jesus' church & the gates of hell will not prevail against it, even if a bad pope is elected, which has happened before folks.

Anonymous said...

I think that the statements of Father Malachi Martin on the 3rd Secret of Fatima are getting a real mean now. He said he read it and I believe so, how could he guess in 1997 or 1998?

Anonymous said...

Agree.

Anonymous said...

Who, the Pope?

Anonymous said...

Did that include the Borja? Maybe so we can look back and say "wow what a bad pope that was and yet the Catholic Church survived"

Anonymous said...

Agree. Father Marin was right on target. I believe a lot of what has happened to the church is explained in the book "Windswept House".

Anonymous said...

The Borgia pope,s were truly bad men but they never ever taught bad or mischevious doctrine.
This current pope Francis, unlike any previous pope I have ever heard of, has made several ambiguous public statements that undermine catholic teaching and belief.
It does not matter that on occasions he makes orthodox pronouncements.

The primary issue for me is that because of these statements he made I simply cannot trust him now in any capacity whatever.


Anonymous said...

No pope can ever destroy the roman catholic church.
Its founder Jesus Christ and God made man, promised it would prevail against the gates of hell.

All an evil pope can ever do is create SCHISM.

This is already be happening in the German church with the apostate Cardinal Kasper who under a proper Pope would be excommunicated or silenced.

This forthcoming synod of bishops in October 2014 will reveal
how far the schism has spread,

Anonymous said...

Cardinal Burke was removed from his position since it is a 5 yr appointment and he had served approximately 6 due to the change of pontiffs. New pontiff has the right and the voice of appointing a new person to the position - as he just did so. There is' nothing ominous in this whatsoever - except in the minds of some. However Cardinal Burke's appointment to the Order of Malta does definitely remove Burke from any Curia position and at a relatively young age. So it may seem that Pope Francis did indeed wish to have Burke lacking Curia authority of any kind. Plz get facts right even though you would like to suggest otherwise.

I am a devoted follower of Pope Benedict XVI however facts are facts and Ratzinger would be the 1st one to say so.

Marie said...

I call him "Francis the Unclear."
Maybe better: "Francis the Danger to your faith."

Marie said...


Mortimer,

Pope Francis can very well declare Mary as "Co-Redemptrix, as he has the authority to do that.

Pope Benedict, I think, rejected it, not to undermine Our Lady's role in our redemption, but because the word "co-Redemptrix" is inaccurate to describe her role and misleading. According to current usage, it means "co-equal, to the Redemptor" and that will not describe what our Blessed Mother did and is doing for our spiritual well-being. She certainly never claims to be co-equal to her son, who is the only Redeemer.

But, as I said, Francis the Unclear can very well declare it and muddy the waters just as he does all the time. But I don't think that will sit will with his "protestant brothers."

Marie said...

In those reports, the Pope spoke in Italian and written up by Italian journalists and Vaticanistas. Most English-writing journalists covering the Vatican speak Italian as well. I seem to read a report [in Italian, later translated into English] where the Pope insists that he means every word he says. And when a friend asked him if he knew what he was doing, he said yes.
Scary.

Marie said...

"Cardinal Burke's appointment to the Order of Malta does definitely remove Burke from any Curia position and at a relatively young age. So it may seem that Pope Francis did indeed wish to have Burke lacking Curia authority of any kind."

Clear as a bell. Thanks. Merry Christmas