Four Months of Prison for Vatican Bank Executives Accused of Money Laundering

Director Cipriani and his deputy found guilty of money laundering.

Rome (kath.net/KAT)  Two former executives of the Vatican Bank IOR have been condemned by an Italian court for violation of anti-money laundering regulations. A Roman court imposed on the former director Paolo Cipriani and his deputy Massimo Tulli imprisonment of four months and ten days, as Italian media reported on Friday. Thus, for the first time, important employees of the IOR were convicted of violating anti-money laundering laws. The defenders announced their appeal.

Cipriani and his deputy were sentenced for three transfers of 48,000, 100,000 and 120,000 euros, which were without the proper communication. The defenders stressed that both were released for two much higher transfers of a total of 23 million euros in 2010, that was not held against them. The sum was to have been transferred under dubious circumstances from a branch of the Italian bank Credito Artigiano to the Banca del Fucino and the Frankfurt branch of JP Morgan. The prosecutor had frozen the money in June 2011.

Cipriani and his deputy had resigned from their offices in July 2013. The Vatican said at the time that this move was in the interests of the financial institution. As director, Cipriani headed the IOR's daily business. 

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Society of Saint Pius X "On Their Way Home " - the Prelature Headquarters to be on Esquiline Hill?

(Rome) The agreement between the Holy See and the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X is final. The role of Pope Francis is decisive. This is reported by the Vaticanist Matteo Matzuzzi in today's edition of Il Foglio.

"The rift between the Priestly Society of St. Pius X (Lefebvrian) and the Holy See is immediately about to be repaired," says Matzuzzi. Evidence that the "complex negotiations" are moving towards a "positive solution" are the intentions of the Society to buy the Santa Maria Immacolata building complex on the Esquiline, one of the seven hills of Rome. The complex is located close to the Lateran. The large neo-gothic church was built for an order at the end of the 19th century. This included other buildings that were used as a school in recent years.

The study center is to be built near the Lateran

According to Il Foglio, there will be a study center of the Society and additionally the General House of Personal Prelature, as soon as the Society is recognized as such by the Holy See.

The approach by Pope Francis himself has accelerated. In January on the 17-20 Bernard Fellay, the Superior General of the Society, was quartered in Santa Marta in the Vatican. With him, Monsignor Alfonso de Galarreta and the Assistant General, Father Alain Nely, had come to Rome. At the talks, the Superior of the Sisters of the Society also took part. Father Nely is commissioned to complete the purchase at Esquiline.

The Society has had contacts, as Monsignor Fellay confirms, in Argentina with the then primate, Jorge Mario Bergoglio. "He has known us for a long time." If there were problems with a local bishop, one had turned to the primate. He said: "You are, of course, Catholic and not schismatic. I'll help you." He did.

That has to do with the laws of Argentina. The Latin country gives Catholic priests a residence permit only if there is an official confirmation from local church representatives that the priests are officially recognized. In this respect, in a single case (individual cases), there were interventions by Archbishop Bergoglio, who issued this confirmation for the Argentine state.

The fact that things had not already come to an agreement with Rome in 2012 led Matzuzzi to the resistance of the French part in the Society. Had it been up to the German District, the Society would already have "returned to communion with Rome".

"Fellay now seems ready to go to end the standoff, even at the cost of painful losses among his faithful and priests," says Matzuzzi.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image:
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Cardinal Burke Defends Himself Against "Slander" -- Whoever Wants to Understand What Happens in the Vatican Must Read Between the Lines, Must Look Behind the Curtains

Cardinal Burke with the Knights Malta

(Rome) Cardinal Raymond Burke, a brilliant jurist and the highest judge of the Holy See until the end of 2014, is a patient man with a great deal of suffering. But he can not just stand by for everything. Anyone who currently wants to understand what is happening in the Vatican and in the Church must listen carefully, look behind the scenes, read between the lines and, above all, question what the "information disinformation channels" are rumoring in the Vatican,  says Marco Tosatti. In other words, anyone who wants to see through this, is called to be an observer. This is exhausting but necessary in the service of the Church.

In November 2014 Pope Francis dismissed him, away from the Vatican, to become Cardinal Patronus of the Order of Malta, to which he only said of this humiliation, where the Pope says to go, I go. When Pope Francis sent him to Guam, he said he did not see it as exile.

Cardinal Burke does not want to be the scapegoat

However, he does not want to be a scapegoat for the dirty laundry of others in the Order of Malta. In the Order, which is at the same time a sovereign state in international law, a severe power struggle had spread in December / January. With Vatican support, the first rank of the professed knights was in fact deprived of power by some members of the second class. Burke, the jurist, had to stand idly by to the legally unclean activity. The best laws are only as much in effect  as people are found to ensure their compliance. In the Vatican, the Constitution was overthrown. Interpretation?

Journalists approaching the "magical circle" around Pope Francis, as Tosatti commented, gave the astonished public a certain reading of the events in the Order that had little to do with reality. Cardinal Burke did not speak, did not correct this. He was the Pope's ambassador to the Order. Ambassadors do not have to express their opinion, but to speak publicly only in the interest of their client.

The power struggle in the Order of Malta

Finally the letter became known to Burke on 1 December 2016 by Pope Francis. A letter containing clear instructions for action against certain power centers in the Order. As the Ambassador of the Pope, Burke also held on to the wasps' nest. He could not know this. The Cardinal Secretary suddenly interfered, stood up against him, and declared that with the Pope's letter everything had been quite different and misunderstood.

The Knight of the Second Estate, Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager, as Major Chancellor in the Order, had been deposed by the Grand Master of the Order and reinstated by the Vatican, with Papal authority. The centuries-old hierarchical structures in the Order had been overridden by a papal fiat. Scarcely again in office, and now as the real ruler in the Order, Boeselager entered the press at the beginning of February, declaring that he no longer had any use for Cardinal Burke in the Order. A few days later, the Vatican sent the Cardinal to the South Seas, far from Rome.

"I regard this as libel"

Boeselager's attack was too brazen for the Cardinal. He came to the public to clarify that he had never called for the resignation of Boeselager. The accusation was piquantly repeated by Ludwig Hoffmann of Rumerstein, an Austrian knight, ie, a member of the old guard. Hoffmann von Rumerstein, according to the Order's Constitution, heads the Order until the election of a new Grand Master, but he has only to say as much about Vatican interference as the Vatican will allow. The unilateral representation of a certain Fronde has found numerous adepts, followers, and naive followers.

After Cardinal Burke's speech, Cardinal Burke then became clear: the assertion that he and not Grand Master Fra Matthew Festing had demanded Boeselager's head, "I regard as defamation." Grandmaster Festing, the subordinate in the internal power struggle, returned on January 24 after a conversation with Pope Francis, disappointed and unnerved. Hoffmann von Rumerstein may have thought of using the viewpoint of the Order's new representation in this critical situation. After all, the professed knights, like him, have to reckon with the fact that Pope Francis completely deprives them of power. The papal announcements to "reform" the Order were felt as a threat by parts of the Order.

"Anyone who allows distribution of contraception should also take responsibility for it"

After a reconstruction of the facts, the resignation request to Boeselager was not planned at all. Grandmaster Festing, with the written request of the Pope of December 1, wanted to create clarity. To this end, he invited Boeselager on 6 December and confronted him with allegations which had come to light independently by means of two investigation reports. It was only when the Grand Chancellor showed himself inscrutable that the confrontation escalated. The Grand Master demanded Boeselager's resignation. When this refused, Festing dismissed him. The rest is known .

Cardinal Burke on the clash of 6 December:

"I had no authority to demand the resignation of the Grand Chancellor. I have merely pointed out that a person consciously admitting the distribution of contraception in the works of the Order should also assume responsibility for it. The Grand Master then asked the Grand Chancellor to resign, which he refused. Then the Grand Master proceeded to his dismissal without me being involved in any way. "

Now the Pope had sent him to Guam to conduct proceedings against an emeritus archbishop. He sees this as a task, not as an exile from Rome.

"The Pope has never personally spoken to me about this mission."

Two operations and the proven information disinformation channels

The actual nomination was made by the Congregation for the Congo. Marco Tosatti wrote:

"In fact, in this rather mournful story two different, interrelated operations can be distinguished. The first operation concerns internal power struggles in the Maltese Order, which are probably also about money. It is unfortunate that the figure of the Pope was so obviously involved in this operation: he was the one who forced the Grand Master to retreat. We do not know what means he used to do."

Another aspect, according to Tosatti,

"...is the intervention of the Vatican Secretariat of State: It is known that the family of the Grand Chancellor who has been deposed and been rejoined after the Anschluss of the Order, by the Vatican has excellent relations with the Terza Loggia [Third floor, Secretary of State]; But they have substituted him for the task of spiritual renewal of the order ... "

The Swiss journalist Giuseppe Rusconi spoke of the Anschluss, referring to the "Anschluss" of Austria to the German Reich in 1938, in order to say that at the end of January, the Vatican was doing the same with the Maltese Order. The "Terza Loggia" means the third floor in the Apostolic Palace and is synonymous to say that the Boeselager family has "excellent relations" with the Pope.

Tosatti continues:

"The second operation, on the other hand, appears to be an opportunistic action. There is an opportunity to attack, discredit Burke, who is a nuisance in other areas, and, at the same time, to confuse the real maneuvers by smoke candles. It is enough to make the rumors that  [Burke] is guilty of all the guilt, friendships, informational channels ... Always this Burke! How much patience can the Pope muster with him! ... "

If you want to understand what is happening in the Vatican and in the Church, you must take the trouble to read between the lines, to look behind the scenes, and to look closely at who says what and what he says, especially when it is supposedly neutral, "in the newspaper stands".

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Photo: Ordine di Malta Sicilia (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

After the Priestly Society, Daneels' Protege Also Casts Out Communities of Jerusalem

The Communities of Jerusalem Leave Belgium (photo of their establishment
in Great St. Martin Church in Cologne)

(Brussels) An icy wind is blowing now under the new Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels. After throwing out the Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles from his diocese, the Communities of the Brothers and Sisters of Jerusalem must now pack their bags.

Jozef De Kesel was appointed Archbishop of Brussels and Primate of Belgium at the end of 2015 by Pope Francis. His appointment ended a five-year-old plan begun by Pope Benedict XVI. in an attempt to correct the progressive course of the Belgian Church. With the appointment of De Kesel, the old squad of Cardinal Godfried Danneels returned. De Kesel had already been Danneel's chosen successor in 2010. In November 2016 De Kesel was elevated to the rank of Cardinal by Francis. A dignity denied to his predecessor, Léonard.

Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles

De Kesel's predecessor and Danneel's successor, Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard had brought the Fraternité des Saints Apetres / Broederschap van de Saint Apostles of the French priest, Michel-Marie Zanotti, into the country. The Society took over the care of two parishes in the Brussels region and founded a seminary. Archbishop Léonard insisted on this parallel priestly training, hoping to train a new clergy.  Three years after the foundation, 21 young men were already preparing for the priesthood. The new foundation was "too successful," as it was described behind the scenes. De Kesel, only a few months in office, blocked the priestly seminary and threw the priestly brotherhood "from solidarity with France's bishops" out of his archdiocese. At the same time, he made sure that they were not included in any other Belgian diocese. "France also needs priests", was the well-founded reasoning.

In reality, De Kesel strives to make a tabula rasa of the "restorative" phase of his predecessor. The Church understanding of the Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles was "miles" away from that Danneels, as it was said in Brussels. The traditional priesthood of the Society and the numerous priestly confreres, which were attracted to the Society were considered undesirable in progressive circles. De Kesel himself promoted the abolition of priestly celibacy shortly after his inauguration.

Brothers and Sisters of the Communities of Jerusalem

Now the brothers and sisters of the Communities of Jerusalem must also pack their bags. The Fraternités Monastiques de Jérusalem 2001, founded in France in 1975, were brought to Brussels by Cardinal Danneels. The monastic communities have two offices in Rome in Trinità dei Monti and in San Sebastiano al Palatino. Their charism is, among other things, to live in monastic isolation in the midst of large cities. Communities have been settled in the famous abbey of Mont Saint Michel in Normandy and also the abbey with the famous cathedral of St. Mary Magdalene of Vezelay. In the German-speaking world, there are branches in Greater St. Martin in Cologne and in Strasbourg.

The Belgian branch is located in Saint-Gilles, Flemish Sint Gillis, in the Brussels region, a highly multicultural area with social problems. In the parish there are adult catechumenates, numerous missionary and apostolic initiatives, bible circles and a community of Eucharistic worship.

The reason for the expulsion is in this case: reform of the pastoral units. Churches are abandoned and parishes are united. The Sint-Gilliskerk is to become the center of a larger pastoral unit, but the presence of the monastic communities, although they have revitalized the parish, is no longer desired.

Their Presence Not Desired by the Archdiocese

At the suggestion of the Archdiocese, the Community agreed to seek a new place of action. "We have complete confidence and are ready to work together," quotes Nuova Bussola Quotidiana (NBQ) Soeur Violaine and Frere Jean-Christophe, who are responsible for the Brussels branch. A new site has also been found, but the Archdiocese is only prepared to issue a guarantee for two years. This is too little for a community. When the community pressed for a longer time, the Archdiocese was opposed. After a discussion with the Archbishop and the delegates for consecrated life, "we have decided to withdraw," as the two leaders of the communities write. There was no room left.

The explanation bears a bitter undertone, which makes the disappointment of being forced out of the archdiocese after fifteen years. The leaders ask for prayer: "The future belongs to God. If He wants our Communities to return to Brussels one day, we will be very pleased."

The ouster of the Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles and now of the monastic Communities of Jerusalem raises questions. Can an archdiocese like Brussels afford to set aside two of its most fruitful communities?

"These are episodes that show that the Church in Brussels, or at least some of its high-ranking representatives, has a tendency to self-mutilation and an urge to centralize power," NBQ said.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Wikicommons

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Vigil for John Vennari

Edit: John Vennari has just announced on his Facebook that he doesn't have long to live.

Vatican Wants to Protect Image of the Pope

Edit: they're just begging for people to do something.

(Vatican Radio) The Secretariat of State of the Holy See issued a press release on Wednesday, detailing the steps being taken to protect the image of the Holy Father. Below, please find the full text of the communiqué, in unofficial English translation.

***************************

The Secretariat of State, among its tasks, has also that of protecting the image of the Holy Father, so that his message can reach the faithful intact and that his person not be exploited.

It is in view of these same purposes, that the Secretary of State protects the symbols and coats of arms of the Holy See, through appropriate regulatory instruments provided for on an international level.

In order to make its protective action more effective with respect to stated purposes, and to halt situations of illegality that arise, the Secretariat of State will effect systematic surveillance activities apt to monitor the ways in which the image of the Holy Father and the coats of arms of the Holy See are used, [and] if necessary intervene with appropriate action.

Socialists Want to Change Iconic Heldenplatz to Something More Democratic and Therefore Demoralizing

Edit: socialists despise heros.

VIENNA. The city of Vienna is positively inclined to a possible renaming of the Heldenplatz. [Hero's Square] The proposal of Austria's Minister of Culture Thomas Drozda (SPÖ) is "interesting and worthy of discussion", said the office of Culture Councilor Andreas Mailath-Pokorny (SPÖ)  on Monday to the news agency APA.

It is useful to devote a special place to the Republic of Austria on the occasion of the Jubilee 2018. In 1918 Austria had abolished the monarchy and declared the country a democratic republic.

Minister of Culture Drozda had previously criticized the current name and expressed his opinion that the Heldenplatz would be renamed. As examples he suggested "place of the republic" or "place of democracy". This seemed more appropriate to him "than the historical, yet uncomfortable current variant," he told the press on Sunday.

Resistance came from the coalition partner. ÖVP chief and vice-chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner who wrote on Twitter that " Heldenplatz belongs to Austria."

The Heldenplatz had experienced good and bad times and was a fixed part of Austrian history. "It should remain, I see no reason for a renaming."

The Heldenplatz is located in front of the Hofburg [Imperial Palace] in Vienna and has born its name since 1878. It is where  the two equestrian statues of Archduke Charles and Prince Eugene stand. (Krk)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

An Italian Court Finds Muslims Who Tortured and Drowned Christians Guilty of Religious Hatred

A court in Palermo imposes 18 years of imprisonment because in 2015 Muslims apparently had thrown 12 Christians into the sea on their flight across the Mediterranean Sea - the judges regarded religious hatred as an aggravating circumstance

Palermo (kath.net) An Italian court last week condemned six migrants to 18 years imprisonment because they had thrown twelve Christians into the sea in April of 2015. The judges considered religious hatred as an aggravating circumstance. A defendant was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for torture, and others charged were released. Italian and Austrian media, including the daily newspaper "Der Standard", published in Vienna, reported on a report from the APA press agency.

Christian and Muslim refugees had dared to flee across the Mediterranean, and religious disputes arose on the ship: Christians had been compelled to pray to Allah. Muslim migrants are said to have beaten twelve Christians from Nigeria and Ghana and thrown them overboard.

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Cardinal Refused Masonic Grandmaster Church Funeral

(Abidjan) This news has been concealed in Europe. Cardinal Jean-Pierre Kutwa, the Archbishop of Abidjan, denied the Honorary Grandmaster  and founder of the Grand Lodge of the Ivory Coast, Clotaire Magloire Coffie, an ecclesiastical funeral. Coffie had been killed in a traffic accident this January 29th.

His sudden death has shaken the economy and politics of the West African country. Freemasonry is also influential on the Ivory Coast. Alassane Quattara, Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso, and that of Gabon, Ali Bongo Odimba, were among the first to be included in the condolence book. In the Congo, Gabon and Sierra Leone, there is no prospect of a higher position in the state without initiation in the lodge.

The funeral ceremonies, in addition to a Masonic "farewell", which was not publicly announced, also foresaw an ecclesiastical funeral with a Requiem Mass on February 12th. So it had been announced from Coffie's circle.

Despite massive pressure, Cardinal Kutwa refuses Church funeral

In spite of massive political pressure on him, Cardinal Kutwa has denied the Grand Master an ecclesiastical funeral. The archbishop of Abidjan remained firm, recalling that Catholic faith and Freemasonry were incompatible. Cardinal Kutwa also instructed Msgr. Ziad Sacre, head of the Catholic, Lebanese mission of the country, not to undertake an ecclesiastical funeral for Michel Georges Ghorayeb. The Lebanese Ghorayeb, a Freemason  like Coffie, had been killed together with him in the traffic accident.

Coffie was called "Le Papa" by the Freemasons. "Le Papa et un autre frère, Michel Ghorayeb, sont morts" (The father and another brother, Michel Ghorayeb, are dead), Jeune Afrique reported on 31 January, citing the Grand Lodge of the Ivory Coast.

It was the Greek Orthodox priest of Abidjan who finally agreed to perform the religious rite on 6 February as part of a vigil.

Incompatibility: Fellowship automatically leads to excommunication

The incompatibility between the secret bond of the Lodges and the Catholic Church was confirmed by Pope Clement XII. in the dogmatic bull In Eminenti of 28 April 1738. Since then, Catholics know that they merit the punishment of the excommunication latae sententiae when they join a lodge.

The founding of the Grand-Lodge of London in June 1717 is considered the "birth-hour" of Freemasonry around the world. All other lodges invoke this grand lodge. 300 years later,
nothing of what Pope Clement XII. in his bull has been altered. On 26 November 1983, the Catholic Church finally confirmed the condemnation of Freemasonry. The Declaration of the Congregation for the Congregation of the Faith, headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, took place with the express approval of Pope John Paul II. It stated that the negative judgment of the Church on Freemasonry was "unchanged". Literally it means:

"The negative judgment of the Church on Masonic associations thus remains unchanged because their principles have always been regarded as incompatible with the doctrine of the Church, and therefore, their membership in them is prohibited. The faithful who are members of the Masonic associations are, therefore, in the state of serious sin, and can not receive Holy Communion."

"Those who put pressure on Cardinal Kutwa to persuade him to allow an ecclesiastical burial for the Grand Master, despite the condemnation, may have been accustomed to dealing with a spineless clergy ready to bend, eager to please. But not all, thanks to Providence, are this way. There are Church leaders who continue to take the Catechism seriously and, above all, say no, when the sacraments and especially the Eucharist are at stake," said Mauro Faverzani of Corrispondenza Romana.

Great influence of the lodges on the policies of several African states

The funeral ceremonies for the influential Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the Ivory Coast lasted several days from the 6th to the 10th of February, and were strikingly similar to the protocol for the corresponding celebrations at the death of a head of state. A large number of politicians had appeared, including the country's Minister of Security, Hamed Bakayoko, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the Ivory Coast, who had been in office since 2015, and Alain Donwahi, the Grand Master of the Province of the Grand Center. Also present were Vice President Daniel Kablan Duncan, Minister of Economic Affairs Bruno Koné, former Prime Minister Jeannot Ahoussou Kouadio, Chairman of the Economic and Environmental Council, Charles Koffi Diby, and former Prime Minister Henriette Konan Bedié.

They presented themselves to Cardinal Kutwa. Jean-Pierre Kutwa, ordained a priest in 1971, was appointed Archbishop of Gagnoa in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. In 2006 Pope Benedict XVI appealed to him to take the archbishop's See of Abidjan. In February 2014, Pope Francis Francis raised him to the rank of Cardinal.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: MiL (Screenshot)
Trans: vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG