Wednesday, August 9, 2023

Pope Francis Stabs Opus Dei in the Back


Pope Francis with Prelate Fernando Ocáriz (far left) and Auxiliary Vicar Mariano Fazio, both from Opus Dei, in November 2021

(Rome) Pope Francis has published a new motu proprio that not only has a direct impact on Opus Dei, but is directly aimed at it. It also dismantles an option that was recently offered to the SSPX.


With the motu proprio, Pope Francis transformed personal prelatures into "public clerical associations of pontifical right with the power to incardinate clergy", so that the laity are excluded from the work, although "the laity can devote themselves to the apostolic works of the personal prelature".


The intervention is of a fundamental nature. The only personal prelature of the Church is Opus Dei. In 2017, Rome offered the Society of St. Pius X (FSSPX) the canonical legal personality of a personal prelature, but this did not happen. Two central points that were supposed to be attractive to the SSPX at the time were now, only six years later, abolished or redesigned by Francis.


The lay members of a personal prelature were subordinate to it under canon law, no matter where in the world they lived. This peculiarity had this legal form in common with the personal ordinariates that Benedict XVI established for those Anglicans who wanted to return to full unity with Rome. The special position was made possible because the prelate of a personal prelature had the rank of a bishop with all the associated powers for jurisdiction. Francis had already cashed in on this special position for the personal prelatures with the Motu Proprio Ad Charisma Tuendum in the summer of 2022. The episcopal dignity is lost to Opus Dei with the election of the next prelate. Now the laity, thus the people, were also withdrawn from the Work of God. The role of the prelate was redefined yesterday as that of a "moderator". The statutes to be drawn up could bring further surprises in this regard. A first draft is said to be available in the Congregation for the Clergy. Since 2017, Opus Dei has been headed by Fernando Ocáriz Braña, the third Prelate of the Personal Prelature.


The motu proprio published yesterday consists of three articles and provides that the lay members of a personal prelature are again subject to the jurisdiction of their territorial bishop. The motu proprio also came into force with its publication yesterday.


It seems to deal primarily with the clergy, but the drastic intervention took place among the laity. Yesterday's measure is justified by the Constitution Praedicate Evangelium, the new constitution of the Holy See, which came into force on July 1, 2022. Since then, personal prelatures have been subordinate to the Roman Clergy Dicastery (formerly the Congregation for the Clergy). Now this is taken as an opportunity to say that laity could clearly not be subject to the Dicastery for the Clergy, that this would be a contradiction. This is how step by step the restructuring that Francis is pushing forward.


Since there is only one personal prelature in the Church, all new regulations are aimed solely at Opus Dei. The peculiarity of the Work of God by the Spanish priest Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albás (1902-1975), who was canonized by John Paul II in 2002, has so far consisted precisely in the fact that the lay members could be particularly closely bound to the community by being removed from the jurisdiction of their bishop and subordinate to the prelate. The new regulations make a canonical bond between Opus Dei and the laity almost impossible.


Pope Francis obviously did not wonder where the young people who welcomed him at World Youth Day in Lisbon came from. Many thousands have been mobilized by Opus Dei, which instructs and forms them in the Christian faith. Francis thanked this "with a stab in the back," according to the Spanish news site InfoVaticana. Francis is thus dismantling another piece of the legacy of his predecessors John Paul II and Benedict XVI. In 1982, the Polish Pope transformed Opus Dei into a personal prelature, giving it a privileged position in the Church.


"The Jesuit Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda, 40 years later, has succeeded in imposing his clerical vision of what personal prelatures should be," says InfoVaticana.

 

The renowned canon lawyer Gianfranco Ghirlanda, a Jesuit like Pope Francis, was created cardinal by him in August 2022. He was not ordained a bishop. Last June 19, Francis appointed him Cardinal Patron of the Order of Malta, a post to which Francis had deported Cardinal Raymond Burke in 2014 when he removed him from the Roman Curia. With the dismissal of the Grand Master of Malta, Fra Mathew Festing, Cardinal Burke was also disempowered in the Order of Malta, but his dignity was retained. Now Francis has also withdrawn this from him.


For years, Cardinal Ghirlanda led the resistance to the special position of the personal prelatures, specifically Opus Dei – and was able to prevail with Francis. Here is the new motu proprio in its own translation:

With the new motu proprio, Francis cut through the previous attachment of the laity to Opus Dei and redefined the prelate as "moderator"

Apostolic Exhortation in the form of a "Motu Proprio" of Pope Francis, by which the can 295-296 are amended with regard to the personal prelatures.


Personal prelatures are mentioned for the first time by the Second Vatican Council in the Decree Presbyterorum Ordinis, No. 10, concerning the distribution of priests within the framework of the care of all Churches.


This spirit is taken up again by the same Council in the Decree Ad gentes, which states: "In order to facilitate certain pastoral works for the various social classes, provision is made for the establishment of personal prelatures, as required for the proper exercise of the apostolate" (note 105).


The Motu Proprio Ecclesiae Sanctae (August 6, 1966), in its article on the "Distribution of the clergy and the assistance to be given to the dioceses" on the prelatatures, reminds us that "in order to promote special pastoral or missionary initiatives in favour of certain regions or social groups in need of special assistance, the Apostolic See may fruitfully establish prelatures consisting of: priests of the secular clergy who have special formation, are endowed with their own statutes and are under the direction of their own prelate" (I, 4).


In the Code of Canon Law of 1983, in accordance with this view, the personal prelatures are located in Book II, in Title IV of Part I, where the "Christian faithful" are treated, between the "ministers or clergy" (Title III) and "associations of the faithful" (Title V).


Considering that the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate evangelium (19 March 2022), Art. 117, the competence for personal prelatures has been transferred to the Dicastery for the Clergy, on which public associations of clerics with the power to incardinate clergy also depend (Art. 118, 2);

in view of can. 265 and Art. 6 of the M.P. Ad charisma tuendum (14 July 2022)


I determine the following:


Art. 1


To can. 295, § 1, with regard to the Statutes and the Prelate, it is added that the Personal Prelature is "equivalent to public associations of clergy of pontifical right with the power to incardinate clerics" and that its statutes "may be approved or issued by the Apostolic See" and that the Prelate "acts as a moderator, endowed with the powers of an Ordinary", which leads to: that the Canon in question is worded as follows:


Can. 295, § 1. Praelatura personalis, quae consociationibus publicis clericalibus iuris pontificii facultate incardinandi clericos assimilatur, regitur statutis ab Apostolica Sede probatis vel emanatis eique praeficitur Praelatus veluti Moderator, facultatibus Ordinarii praeditus, cui ius est nationale vel internationale seminarium erigere necnon alumnos incardinare, eosque titulo servitii praelaturae ad ordines promovere.


[Can. 295, § 1. The personal prelature, which is equivalent to the public associations of clergy of pontifical right with the power to incardinate clerics, is governed by the statutes approved or promulgated by the Apostolic See and is headed by a prelate as moderator, who has the right to establish and establish national or international seminaries and to incardinate students and to confer them in the rank of prelature. promote.]


Art. 2


Canon 295 § 2, which refers to the responsibility of the prelate in the formation and support of students incardinated in the Prelature, establishes that he acts "as a moderator vested with the powers of an Ordinary", from which the Canon in question formulates as follows:


Can. 295, § 2. Utpote Moderator facultatibus Ordinarii praeditus, Praelatus prospicere debet sive spirituali institutioni illorum, quos titulo praedicto promoverit, sive eorunddem decorae sustentationi.


[Can. 295, § 2. As a moderator with the powers of an Ordinary, the Prelate must provide for the spiritual formation of those whom he has led to ordination by the aforementioned titles, as well as for their proper maintenance.]


Art. 3


The reference to Canon 296 is added to Canon 107 with regard to the participation of the laity in the apostolic activities of the Personal Prelature, which results in the Canon being formulated in its entirety as follows:


Can. 296. Servatis can. 107 praescriptis, conventionibus praelatura initis, laici operibus apostolicis praelaturae personalis sese dedicare possunt; Modus vero huius organicae cooperationis atque praecipua officia et iura illa coniuncta in statutis apte determinentur.


[Can. 107 By virtue of provisions and agreements made with the Prelature, lay people may devote themselves to apostolic works of the Personal Prelature; the nature of this organic collaboration and the principal duties and rights associated with it shall be adequately defined in the Statutes.]


What is decided in this Apostolic Exhortation in the form of a Motu Proprio, I command that, notwithstanding all things to the contrary, it has a firm and stable validity, even if it deserves special mention, and that it be promulgated in L'Osservatore Romano, coming into force on the day of its publication and therefore being included in the official commentary of the Acta Apostolicae Sedis.


Given in Rome, at St. Peter's, on the feast day of St. Dominic, August 8, 2023, in the eleventh year of the pontificate.


~Francis


Text/Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: VaticanMedia/Vatican.va (Screenshots)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com


[Update: The present text contains a correction, as it was rightly pointed out that Pope Francis had already deprived the future prelates of Opus Dei of the dignity of bishop with the motu proprio Ad charisma tuendum of July 14, 2022, which entered into force on August 4, 2022.]


AMDG

26 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The SSPX was prudent in not accepting the agreement with Rome.

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  2. The SSPX knew what they were doing. Pope Francis cannot be trusted.

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  3. The SSPX will be most welcome to return to the Church when the schismatics accept all Catholic doctrines and not the cafeteria picks. Vatican II is not divisible. To be Catholic is to accept Vat II in its fulness.
    The old none sense of the Council being just pastoral and therefore optional doesn't cut it Chaps.

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  4. Dear Yves. You’re correct it was not just pastoral. It was disastrous.

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  5. O.D. has too much money and they weren't coughing up enough to the Vatican.
    The Curia is rubbing it's hands together just waiting to weigh the gold.
    Spiritual reasons for this change sound all high-minded but it's always about the dollars. (Or Euros, take your pick),

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  6. What about Pope Francis ordering canonical proceedings against this opus dei 'celibate' pedophile lay person? Seems PF is treating the celibates of opus dei as religious and has been since last year. Maybe O.D. will come clean and call their celibate lay people, "religious" the way the rest of the church does and has always done instead of saying these people are in the world while stealing all their money and subjecting them to abuse that the church (and no one else either) controls.

    It was egregious that opus dei w/its secret control was able to get this pedophile abuser off scott free even after he was convicted. Hope Pope Francis locks him up.

    https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252313/pope-francis-orders-new-canonical-process-in-abuse-case-at-opus-dei-school-in-spain

    https://bilbaohiria.com/en/present/The-Vatican-condemns-the-Gaztelueta-Opus-Dei-School/

    Hope he gets opus dei out of all vatican operations (financial and administrative) too. The deep state is opus dei and all you so-called faithful catholic bloggers and news outlets are just purveyors of their lying propaganda.

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  7. Are you saying it was opus dei that made WYD a success for pope francis? Why I thought opus dei was 'conservative' and against pope francis and all his evil works. What a joke you people are! On the one hand conservatives are supposed to flock to opus dei and all their evil works to fight pope francis and on the other hand it is opus dei getting the youth out to be propagandized into apostasy by pope francis.

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    Replies
    1. Where did it say that Opus made WYD a success?

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  8. WYD was a success in what way?

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  9. Jao Maria ConcalvesAugust 10, 2023 at 7:01 PM

    "VWYD was a success in what way?" Well, Nemo 3:00 PM, if nearly a million Catholic youth were happy for a week, then it was a success. If the figures are correct, then Portugal's economy received an economic stimulus of around €350 million. Ansell shares rocketed but interest in the Third Secret was at an all time low.
    It is to be seen if the next WYD in Seoul will be more successful than the recent Scouts Jamboree.

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  10. Anon @8:55: Where did it say that Opus made WYD a success?

    The whole point of this blog article was that od mobilized many thousands of youth to welcome PF at WYD and PF thanked OD w/a stab in the back. The title of the piece is "PF stabs OD in the back" and the title comes from this paragraph: "Pope Francis obviously did not wonder where the young people who welcomed him at World Youth Day in Lisbon came from. Many thousands have been mobilized by Opus Dei, which instructs and forms them in the Christian faith. Francis thanked this "with a stab in the back," according to the Spanish news site InfoVaticana."

    The implication is that w/out OD, WYD (and VCII) would collapse (like a house of cards).

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  11. If you knew anything about Opus, you’d know that they’re not that conservative, or even principled, and that the author of this article has repeatedly attacked Opus for its preemptive and slavish adherence to Bergoglio’s unspoken desires and wants as when it disciplined and silenced its own members and ministries for criticizing Bergoglio.

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  12. Nowhere in the article did it say that Opus ensured the success of Bergoglio’s boondoggle.

    It was one of the nice features of this pontificate that Bergoglio didn’t go abroad as much as the Polish thespian.

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  13. "Nowhere in the article did it say that Opus ensured the success of Bergoglio’s boondoggle."

    Minor irritants like this should never get in the way of a good detour or interesting but irrelevant gibberish about exotic OD self-flagellating' celibates'.

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  14. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  15. JH - "OD had come under the Dicastery of Clergy and was from that time described as an Association of priests. The former lay members are now known as associates or supporters."

    Is this lay supernumerary "associate or supporter" being charged/tried as a priest?

    https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252313/pope-francis-orders-new-canonical-process-in-abuse-case-at-opus-dei-school-in-spain

    https://bilbaohiria.com/en/present/The-Vatican-condemns-the-Gaztelueta-Opus-Dei-School/

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  16. That’s funny, Bergoglio is showing a lot more due diligence with O.D. than he is with those in his own circle and his own diocese.

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  17. Anon @ 11:09 AM - The Lord works in mysterious ways.

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  18. As was mentioned earlier on in this thread, Opus Dei was neither stabbed in the back or blindsided by Pope Francis. Changes had been made two years ago to the responsibilities of Dicasteries. OD had come under the Dicastery of Clergy and was from that time described as an Association of priests. The former lay members are now known as associates or supporters.

    Read all about it in UCANews

    https://www.ucanews.com/news/opus-dei-accepts-changes-pope-made-to-canon-law/102245

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  19. You’re wrong Gaybrielle. OD is clearly getting shit on and demoted.

    According to Escriva, the Holy Spirit gave him the administrative structure of OD and Bergoglio is now changing all of that.

    Ironic, considering how obsequious OD has been to Bergoglio.

    Imagine the Jesuits getting this kind of micromanaging.

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  20. Under intense political pressure, Pope Clement XIV suppressed the Society of Jesus in 1773 which lasted until 1814, when Pope Pius VII restored the Society which immediately resumed its mission of evangelization. The Jesuits serve the Church.

    Opus Dei is a founder-fixated cult and mini-sect within the Church. OD serves itself. It’s only a matter of time before the cult is named for what it is and removed from the Catholic Church.


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  21. "Removed from the Church" What, if you'll enlighten us, did O.D. remove from the Church? Again, Gaybriel's fingers type up what his heart is full of, as St Josemaria might have said. If anything O.D. is trying to restore some sanctity.

    What needs removal is the unreal amount of homosexuals leeching off the Church, at all levels.

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  22. BTW, that's why O.D. priests on the whole are great priests. Few homos.

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  23. "What needs removal is the unreal amount of homosexuals leeching off the Church, at all levels."

    With your extensive inside experience with intrinsic disorder, you should be remarkably well placed to sort out the 10-15% of Church membership who are of homosexual orientation: clergy, adult women and men as well as children.

    It never ceases to amaze me that people who are incapable of understanding an issue such as Opus Dei's organizational and cultural elitism and track record of cult like behavior automatically deflect attention away from OD to those problem 'homos', Jews, Gypsies etc.
    Serial offenders like Barnum should understand that this kind of thinking is strongly indicative of a diseased mind and very insecure personality.

    Get help.

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  24. Gaybrielle gets triggered when someone puts their finger on the real problems in the Church.

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