Pope Francis Receives Left-Wing Trade Union for the First Time

 CGIL, one of Europe's largest left-wing trade unions, received in audience by Pope Francis.

(Rome) An unusual premiere took place yesterday in the Great Audience Hall of the Vatican. Pope Francis received the leadership and a large delegation of the left-wing trade union CGIL in a special audience.

The Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro (CGIL),  General Italian Trade Union Confederation, was founded in 1944 by the communists, socialists and Christian democrats united in the struggle against fascism and its National Socialist allies, i.e. the forces that were to determine Italian post-war policy until 1992. When the Stalinist, strictly Moscow-oriented Communist Party (PCI) wanted to use the CGIL and the alliance after 1945 to turn Italy into a Soviet republic, the trade union unity that still exists in the German-speaking world today collapsed. In 1948/1950, the Christian trade unions and those socialists who wanted to escape the close embrace of the Communist Party separated from the CGIL and founded their own trade union confederations, the Christian CISL and the socialist UIL. In the political fragmentation, other trade union confederations were added. However, the three leagues confederated and were granted by the state the exclusive right to conduct collective bargaining.

From 1948 at the latest, the CGIL was the trade union of the communists and the popular frontists. Anyone who was a union member did not have to be a party member. But those who wanted to become politically active had to do so in the Communist Party. Dissent was not tolerated. In the troubled 70s, when the turn to the left seemed possible, non-orthodox leftists tried to take over the Christian trade union in order to lead it into a popular front with the communists and thus prepare the establishment of a "people's democracy".

The CGIL now has 5.5 million members (CISL 4.1 million, UIL 2.2 million). The largest non-Confederate union today is the UGL, founded in 1996 with 1.8 million members, which is close to Matteo Salvini's Lega and Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia.

While the CISL always maintained good contacts with the Christian Democrats and the Church, the CGIL stood on the anti-Church barricades. All socio-political struggles against the natural order were supported by the CGIL propagandistically, financially and on the streets, especially the legalization of the killing of unborn children. Most recently, it has called for discrimination against doctors who, for reasons of conscience, refuse to assist in abortions.

The Italian Communist Party underwent some metamorphoses from 1991 onwards when, after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it changed its name to the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), then to the Left Democratic Party and finally to the Democratic Party following the US model. (PD). The latter is a joint project of the former communists and the former left wing of the Christian Democrats. At the trade union level, however, no rapprochement had so far been shown because of the strong Christian trade union.

Under Pope Francis, whose embrace of the political left is well known, new alliances are emerging, as was the case yesterday with the first large audience for the hard-left trade union CGIL, which is still the trade union rallying point of the radical left.

Work, Peace, Fraternity. Pope Francis with GGIL Secretary General (Chairman) Maurizio Ladini (prevented)

In his extensive criticism of abuses in the world of work to the detriment of workers, Pope Francis managed to address the "pandemic years" without finding a word of comfort for the incredible harshness with which the Italian governments at the time forced entire professional groups such as doctors, medical personnel, police, military, teachers to "vaccinate" with an experimental genetically modified preparation or were suspended without salary. Francis also did not find a word about the fact that the Italian state imposed a fine on all over 50-year-olds who did not "get vaccinated" (the payment of which was suspended by the new government until June 30, 2023) and excluded them from the world of work.

Why the Pope is silent on this is obvious: because he himself had introduced these hardships even more radically for the employees of the Vatican State and the Holy See. Measures that have not yet been repealed. Why Francis, however, partly imitated these radical measures, and partly anticipated them, is still unclear.

Here is the full translation of his address to the leadership and the numerous delegation of the General Italian Trade Union Confederation CGIL:

Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning!

I welcome you and thank the Secretary-General for his words. This meeting with you, one of Italy's historic trade union organisations, invites me to renew my attachment to the world of work and, in particular, to the people and families who are struggling the most.

There is no union without workers, and there are no free workers without unions. We live in a time which, despite technological progress – and sometimes precisely because of this perverse system called technocracy (cf. Laudato Si', 106-114) – has somewhat disappointed expectations of justice in the field of work. This requires, first and foremost, a new beginning in terms of the value of work as a place where personal vocation and social dimension meet. Work enables man to realize himself, to live in brotherhood, to cultivate social friendships and to improve the world. The encyclicals Laudato si' and Fratelli tutti can help to follow educational paths that provide reasons for commitment in today's world.

Work builds society. It is a primary experience of citizenship, in which a community of destiny is born from the commitment and talents of each individual; this community is much more than the sum of the various professional abilities because everyone is recognized in relation to others and for others. And so the fabric of "democracy" is brought to life day by day in the ordinary web of connections between people and economic and political projects. It is a fabric that is not woven at the desk in some palaces, but with creative diligence in factories, workshops, farms, trade, crafts, on construction sites, public administrations, schools, offices and so on. It comes "from below", from reality.

Dear friends, when I recall this vision, it is because one of the tasks of the trade union is to educate in the meaning of work and to promote fraternity among workers. This educational concern must not be missing. It is the salt of a healthy economy capable of making the world a better place. In fact, "the human price is always an economic price, and economic ills always demand a human price. Stopping investing in people in order to get a greater immediate return is bad business for society" (Laudato si', 128).

In addition to training, it is always necessary to point out the distortions of work. The culture of waste has crept into economic relations and has also penetrated the world of work. This is the case, for example, where human dignity is trampled underfoot by gender discrimination – why does a woman have to earn less than a man? Why send a woman away as soon as you see that she is getting "fat" in order not to pay for maternity leave?  It manifests itself in the precarious situation of youth – why do people have to postpone their life decisions because of the chronic precariat? – or in the culture of redundancy; and why are the most demanding jobs still so poorly protected? Too many people suffer from unemployment or unworthy work: their faces deserve to be heard, and they deserve the commitment of the trade unions.

In particular, I would like to share with you a few concerns. Firstly, the safety of workers. Your Secretary-General has spoken about this. There are still too many deaths – I see them in the newspapers: every day there is someone – too many mutilated and injured people at work! Every death at work is a defeat for society as a whole. We should not only count them at the end of each year, but remember their names, because they are people, not numbers. Let us not allow profit and man to be equated! The idolatry of money tends to trample on everything and everyone and not appreciate differences. It is about educating us to take care of workers' lives and educate us to take safety rules seriously: only a wise alliance can prevent those "accidents" that are tragic for families and communities.

A second concern is the exploitation of humans as if they were performance machines. There are violent forms, such as the "caporalato"1 and the enslavement of workers in agriculture or on construction sites and other workplaces, the coercion of workers into grueling layers, the downward play in contracts, the disregard for motherhood, and the conflict between work and family. How many contradictions and how many wars between the poor take place around work! In recent years, the number of so-called "working poor" has increased: people who, despite working, are unable to feed their families and give them hope for the future. The union – listen carefully – is called upon to be the voice of the voiceless. They have to make noise to give a voice to the voiceless. In particular, I would like to commend you for taking care of young people, who are often forced into precarious, inadequate, even slave-like contracts. I thank you for any initiative that promotes an active labour policy and protects human dignity.

In addition, during these pandemic years, the number of those quitting their jobs has increased. Young and old are dissatisfied with their profession, the climate in the workplace, the forms of contract and prefer to quit. They are looking for other options. This phenomenon does not mean disconnecting, but humanizing work. Here, too, trade unions can take preventive action by focusing on the quality of work and helping people find a job that better matches their talents.

Dear friends, I invite you to be "guardians" of the world of work, creating alliances and not sterile contradictions. People thirst for peace, especially at this historic moment, and everyone's contribution is fundamental. Peace education, even in the workplace, which is often marked by conflict, can become a sign of hope for all. Also for future generations.

Thank you for what you do and will do for the poor, the migrants, the infirm and disabled, and the unemployed. Don't forget to also take care of those who do not join the union because they have lost faith and make room for youthful responsibility.

I entrust you to the protection of Saint Joseph, who knew how beautiful and laborious it is to do his work well and how satisfying it is to earn bread for the family. Let's look at him and his ability to educate through work. I wish you all and your loved ones a peaceful Christmas. May the Lord bless you and Our Lady protect you. And if you can, please pray for me. Thank you!

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

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

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1 "Caporalato" in Italian means migrant workers who work irregularly in agriculture, often earn only half of the regular helpers, but have to work longer.

AMDG

McCarrick Creature Turns 75

 

Pope Francis with Cardinal Wilton Gregory, Archbishop of Washington, who turned 75 on Dec. 7.

(Rome) Every pope has his peculiarities in the administration of office. In addition, however, there are customs that were respected by the popes. Under Pope Francis, many things changed, including the retirement of bishops. Critics accuse Francis of acting according to the Peronist maxim: "For friends everything, for enemies, not even justice". Currently, the focus is on the US capital Washington, where the incumbent archbishop reached the canonical age limit of 75 years on 7 December.

Archbishop of Washington since 2019 is Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who, like his predecessor Cardinal Donald Wuerl, belongs to the so-called McCarrick Boys. Theodore McCarrick, as a predecessor of Cardinal Wuerl, was also Archbishop of Washington and himself a purple bearer until he fell deeply in 2018 after an accusation from the New York Times. Because of homosexual abuse, he lost the cardinal dignity and was finally laicized. Who had covered everything McCarrick, who gained the greatest influence under Pope Francis, is still unclear. This also applies to the relationship between Pope Francis and McCarrick. The former apostolic nuncio to the USA Carlo Maria Viganò revealed in 2018 that he had informed Pope Francis about McCarrick's activities as early as June 2013. Francis ignored the information of his ambassador and installed as bishops those candidates in the US that McCarrick suggested to him. McCarrick's desired successor as Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Wuerl, also had to leave the field in 2019 after his behavior towards cases of homosexual abuse by clerics became known.

The fact that in 2019, after the fall of McCarrick and Wuerl, a McCarrick boy became the new Archbishop of Washington, showed in a shocking way that old gay cliques and progressive cliques are intact and have influence in Santa Marta.

Gregory's protective hand over Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi

The importance of Washington's appointment of bishops was shown in the dispute over the Communion to abortion politicians such as US President Joe Biden and the now voted out Leader of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi. It is remarkable that this implacable advocate of abortion is confronted with homosexuality and abuse in the immediate family environment, although not child abuse.

When several U.S. bishops demanded consequences for politicians who actively promote genocide through abortion and wanted to exclude them from receiving Holy Communion because canon law provides that they are excommunicated latae sententiae, the Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, refused this demand and held his protective hand around Biden and Pelosi. He apparently fulfilled the expectations that Pope Francis had placed in him. The point of contention was finally "settled" by Francis himself by receiving Biden in the Vatican in 2021 and then allowing him not only to explain how much the Pope appreciated him, but also to receive Holy Communion. The same was repeated in 2022 with Nancy Pelosi, who even received communion in St. Peter's Basilica in the presence of the Pope. Roma locuta, causa finita. Translated: To whom the Pope grants communion, a local bishop cannot refuse it. Theoretically, yes. The bishop would even have canon law on his side. But he would then be "more papal than the Pope", a negative title that one tries to avoid.

Thus, with the help of the McCarrick boys, who are only a minority in the US episcopate, Francis succeeded several times in imposing his course on the bishops' conference of the United States: in 2018 regarding the fight against sexual abuse by clerics and bishops, 2021/2022 regarding the abortion issue.

"Everything for friends, for enemies..."

Meanwhile, Francis is rebuilding the episcopate through new appointments. According to the maxim mentioned at the beginning, it is to be expected that Cardinal Gregory, who turned 75 on December 7, will remain in office and control the politically important bishopric of Washington.

It will therefore be different in Washington than in the Archdiocese of La Plata, where Archbishop Héctor Rubén Aguer, the Argentine opponent of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was immediately retired, or in the Archdiocese of Ferrara, where Archbishop Luigi Negri had barely finished the thanksgiving service and already had to leave his office, or in the Archdiocese of Milan, where Cardinal Angelo Scola, Bergoglio's opponent in the conclave of 2013, was hardly less quickly removed from office.

In part, this even happened, although the affected episcopal see then remained vacant for years, as happened in the Archdiocese of Caracas, where Cardinal Jorge Liberato Urosa Savino, a staunch critic of the socialist regime of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, retired in 2018 and the episcopal see is still vacant today.

Cardinal Urosa had fallen out of favor with Francis in 2015 because he had participated in the anthology "Staying in the Truth of Christ" before the beginning of the second Synod on the Family in defense of the Church's marriage and moral teaching. On the first day of the synod, he was one of the thirteen cardinals who handed over a letter of complaint to the Pope on October 5, 2015, in which they raised the accusation of a guided synod with "prefabricated results on important controversial issues".

Cardinal Urosa died in September 2021 without Francis, whose friendly relationship with the regime of the "Bolivarian Revolution" is known, having appointed a successor.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: VaticanMedia (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Italy's domestic intelligence agency warns of unrest against the next government - which is also being attacked by Pope Francis

 Pope Francis "passionately" defended migration yesterday, attacking the new Italian government that was about to take office.

(Rome) Italy will have a new government at the end of October with two firsts: the first government headed by a woman and the first post-war government to be led by a hard-right party. The losers of the September 25th parliamentary elections and the globalist establishment are already mobilizing against this – including Pope Francis.

Italy is facing two firsts

The political earthquake at the recent election was enormous. The right-wing Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) achieved a sensational result, becoming by far the strongest political force in Italy with 26 percent. The party, which was only founded in 2012, ran for the first time in 2013 as part of the center-right alliance and did not even get two percent of the votes. In 2018, she managed to jump over the four percent hurdle that applied at the time, albeit only just. The Fratelli d'Italia were then the only parliamentary party not to enter the all-party government of former ECB President Mario Draghi, which Brussels wanted, and who had been installed without elections from above.

The party is led by Giorgia Meloni, who became the youngest-ever minister in Italian history in 2008 in the center-right coalition then led by Silvio Berlusconi. The Fratelli d'Italia is the post-post successor party to the neo-fascist Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI ), which dissolved in 1994. 1 This distant inheritance will be played against them. The Left Democrats in particular based their election campaign on warning of a "fascist danger", which the voters obviously recognized as discrediting and did not appreciate.

The Fratelli d'Italia is not an anti-system party, because as such they would have no prospect of participating in the government. Meloni is a Realpolitiker who doesn't want to stay in the opposition forever, but is striving for a course like Orbán in Hungary and Trump in the USA. Certain circles do not like strengthening this axis at all.

The warning of the Italian domestic intelligence service

The Italian domestic intelligence agency AISI presented its latest report last week. One copy each went to Prime Minister Draghi, his interior minister and the parliamentary committee for national security COPASIR, which is also the parliamentary control committee for the secret services. The content is secret, but the broad outlines of it quickly became known. The domestic secret service warns of unrest on the streets of an intensity that Italy has not experienced for a long time. According to the secret service, the riots will be sparked by the high electricity and gas bills. The aim of the riots is to overthrow the government of Giorgia Meloni.

Although Meloni's government, backed by a strong majority in parliament from the centre-right coalition she leads, is not even in office yet, certain forces are already looking to overthrow it. But who wants the destabilization of the country?

First and foremost are the losers in the parliamentary elections. The left-wing parties (Left Democrats, Greens and Radical Left), which had previously formed the core of Draghi's government, were voted out. While the moderate left waits, the radical left is preparing for insurrection. The left-wing trade union CGIL, which is close to the left wing of the left-wing democrats and the radical left, started the agitation last Saturday.

In addition to the radical left, former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also announced that he would take his Five Star Movement (M5S) to the streets if “citizen money” were to be touched – as the unconditional basic income wanted by the globalists is called in Italy.

The communist partisan movement ANPI wants to blow the "anti-fascist march on Rome" on the centenary of Mussolini 's march on Rome, which aims to place Meloni in line with Benito Mussolini's fascism.

Criticism of the future government is supported by a strong media front, the so-called mainstream. This will become the actual pacemaker. The new government is to be taken into a pincer movement, from above by Brussels, international financial institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and speculative high finance, and at the same time from below by unrest on Italy's streets. And if her fall doesn't succeed, it's at least about her "discipline."

Italy experienced what that means in 2019, when the Five Star Movement, which had been critical of the EU until then, surprisingly elected Ursula von der Leyen as EU Commission President after the elections to the EU Parliament. According to the then Italian Family Minister Lorenzo Fontana, a traditional Catholic, it was clear that the Five Star Movement had been bought by the establishment and it was only a matter of time before the then government in Rome would be blown up at the behest of the Five Star Movement and the Lega.

In the list of government opponents, left-wing Catholic circles should not be forgotten - Conte made his threat through the Avvenire, the daily newspaper of the Italian bishops - and finally Pope Francis. So far, he has been benevolent towards representatives of the political left, while refusing to meet representatives of the center-right coalition.

The "passionate" defense of migration

One of the main concerns of the new parliamentary majority is the amendment of the immigration law. During the election campaign, Meloni promised to accelerate the repatriation of illegal and criminal immigrants and to tighten asylum regulations. She also called for a naval blockade to North Africa to prevent illegal immigration via the so-called Mediterranean route. The "open door" policy, which encouraged illegal immigration through the tolerated breaking of the law, must end.

Pope Francis opposed this yesterday and remarkably vehemently. In St. Peter's Square yesterday, according to Reuters, he "passionately defended " a right to migrate. That's not exactly what Francis said. He did it a little more subtly, vigorously defending migrants but meaning migration. The exclusion of migrants is "scandalous, disgusting and sinful," said Francis, who had already called on the EU to do so during the "refugee crisis" of 2015: "Take in everyone, good and bad".

The international press agency Reuters became his most influential mouthpiece. Reuters made the direct connection with Giorgia Meloni and her impending formation of a government, and so that the last person would understand what is at stake, Meloni was dubbed in Reuters report a "right-wing extremist". The globalist elite media discredit Meloni across the board in this way, which corresponds to the terminology used by the radical left. “Far Right” denotes a violent extremist right. How far that is from Giorgia Meloni and her Fratelli d'Italia, which are comparable to the AfD in Germany and the FPÖ in Austria and form a common faction in the EU Parliament with the Polish PiS and the Czech ODS, which until their British Conservatives also left, need not be specifically explained.

At one point Francis deviated from the prepared text yesterday.

Pope Francis on a collision course

The example shows how the international public is being “framed” against Meloni – and Pope Francis is (once again) a frontline actor working towards this strategy. Yesterday, Francis embarked on an open collision course with the next Italian government, which is not yet in office. No grace period, no willingness to talk, and no openness. He's already erecting walls around the Vatican in advance, avoiding the otherwise vaunted dialogue, and will be vigilant to ensure none of the new government officials offer anything that could be construed as kindness. With this, Francis negates any cooperation and prevents

supporting some cornerstones of the globalist agenda which Francis is making the focus of his pontificate. Supporting an unrestricted “right to migrate” is at the top of the papal list, as is the uncritical promotion of the Corona measures, the legitimacy of the narrative of human-caused climate change and the implementation of religious relativism by equating all religions and denominations.

On the occasion of the canonizations he made yesterday in St. Peter's Square, Francis deviated from the prepared text of his homily and said:

“The exclusion of migrants is scandalous. The exclusion of migrants is indeed criminal. As a result, they die before our eyes. And that is why the Mediterranean Sea is now the largest cemetery in the world. The exclusion of migrants is disgusting, it is sinful. It is criminal not to open the doors to those in need.” Returned migrants would be “put in concentration camps where they are exploited and treated like slaves”. 

The version subsequently published by the Holy See reads as follows:

“And today I want to think about the migrants. The exclusion of migrants is scandalous! The exclusion of migrants is indeed criminal, it leads to them dying in front of us. And so today we have the largest cemetery in the world, the Mediterranean Cemetery. The exclusion of migrants is abominable, it is sinful, it is criminal not to open doors to those in need. 'No, we're not excluding them, we're just sending them away': to the camps, where they are exploited and sold as slaves. Brothers and sisters, today we remember our migrants, those who are dying. And those who can come in, do we take them in as brothers or do we exploit them? I leave the question open.”

Francis didn't have to mention Giorgia Meloni, her coalition and her election program, because the mainstream media like Reuters took care of that.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image : Vatican.va (screenshots)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

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1 In the course of the complete restructuring of the Italian party landscape after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, the renaming of the Communist Party and the dissolution of the previous parties that shaped the post-war governments, in particular, the Christian Democrats and the Socialists, the MSI, which was described as neo-fascist and isolated outside the "constitutional arc", was also dissolved. Its "experience" was declared over by the party leadership and party congress majority. The MSI had consisted of two "souls" dealing with the historically different development of Italy during the Second World War. After the war in northern Italy, the "indomitables" gathered there, who remained loyal to fascism even after the German occupation of Italy in September 1943 and continued to fight on the German side. 

In 1994, the Alleanza Nazionale (AN ) was founded as the successor party, which has now been included in the constitutional arc as a right-wing conservative ally of Silvio Berlusconi's center-right alliance.

2009 also saw the dissolution of the Alleanza Nazionale, which had already been in talks to join the European People's Party (EPP ), and merged with Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI) into the new Polo della Libertà ( Freedom Pole ), modeled as Berlusconi's Republican Party wanted to establish a two-party system in the USA and create a large center-right party for this purpose. 

In 2012, some former AN representatives, including Giorgia Meloni, saw this attempt as a failure and founded the Fratelli d'Italia .

AMDG

Nicaragua: Processions Banned in Dissident City of Masaya

 In a statement, the Archdiocese of Managua announced the recent ban on processions in the city of Masaya.

(Managua) "For reasons of public security" processions in honor of Saint Jerome have been banned by the Nicaraguan National Police. He is the patron saint of the city of Masaya. As the socialist regime intensifies its persecution of the Church, it is backed by Pope Francis.

On Saturday, the Archdiocese of Managua announced in a statement: 

"The National Police of the city of Masaya has informed the religious communities and parish priests of the parishes of Masaya, San Miguel Arcángel and San Jerónimo that, for reasons of public safety, no processions are allowed on the respective feast days in this city."

The city of Masaya is 28 kilometers southwest of the capital and traditionally celebrates the longest patronal festival in Nicaragua, perhaps in the world, from September to December, in honor of Church Father Jerome.

In its statement, the Archdiocese of Managua invited parishioners “and those who devote themselves to the patron saint to remember that faith and devotion are treasures that we carry in our hearts and from there we cherish with them by virtue of ancestral heritage in our communities."

According to the archdiocese, the Masses, novenas, and liturgical celebrations will take place as planned. At the same time, the Archdiocese invoked the intercession of the Archangel Michael, St. Jerome "and the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church and Queen of Peace", "to heal us from all evil with the medicine of God."

Masaya is a former Sandinista stronghold that revolted in April 2018 in the wake of anti-government protests against President Daniel Ortega's Sandinista regime. In the city, the demand for the resignation of Ortega and his government was raised for the first time after they used violence to put down the demonstrations.

Since then, the bishops have been called "putschists" and "terrorists" by the Sandinistas, and the Church has been opposed by the regime. Three bishops critical of the government had to resign, go into exile, or were arrested. On August 19, Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa was arrested after having been effectively under house arrest since August 4. Several priests and seminarians were arrested with him and taken to the infamous El nuevo Chipote prison brought to opponents of the regime. Pope Francis has not yet commented on the bishop's arrest. Sandinista circles had already interceded with the Holy See in the days when the bishop was besieged by the police in the episcopal Curia to have Francis appoint the bishop to the Roman Curia. The negotiations about a "deal" have not yet led to a result. According to this, the bishop will be released on condition that he leaves Nicaragua.

The anti-Church reprisals also included the ban on nine Catholic radio stations. Three Catholic television stations were removed from the service by the state media authority.

Processions have been banned in the past because the socialist rulers fear they could become a visible expression of criticism of the regime. Priests were besieged in their churches and the faithful were prevented from entering the church for Mass.

With the support of the USA, the Central American country was ruled by the Somoza family for 43 years. 43 years ago, the Sandinistas overthrew the Somoza regime and seized power for the first time. After the collapse of the communist bloc, they were removed from it but returned to the government in 2006. Relations between the Church and the Sandinistas have been strained for 43 years. The reason for this is not least church circles which, as followers of Marxist liberation theology such as the three priests Ernesto Cardenal, Fernando Cardenal, and Miguel d'Escoto, allied themselves with the Sandinistas. 

Before the Sandinista Revolution, 96 percent of Nicaraguans professed the Catholic faith. According to the latest government information, it should now be only 56 percent. The number of non-denominational rose to 16 percent, and the proportion of Protestant free churches to 25 percent - a phenomenon that Pope Francis, who is described by dictator Ortega as a "friend", seems just as unconcerned as the persecution of the church. Not everything that the government is doing is good, Francis said last Thursday on the return flight from Nur-Sultan to Rome. At the same time, however, he announced that, according to his assessment, it was "not correct" to describe the totalitarian communist regime of the People's Republic of China as "undemocratic".

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image : Archdiocese of Managua/Facebook (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Consistorium 2022: A Missed Opportunity

 Cardinal Walter Brandmüller laments Pope Francis' gag order for the cardinals who are supposed to advise him.

By Roberto de Mattei*

There is a relationship between grace and nature analogous to that between faith and reason. There is an imbalance when there is faith without reason or grace without nature and vice versa, but the perfect balance is not in putting these realities on an equal footing. On the contrary, it consists in bringing them into their legitimate order, subordinating nature to grace, of which the former is the premise, just as the premise of faith is the reason, but which is subordinate to faith.

This helps us understand what "spirit of faith" or "supernatural spirit" means, depending on whether we are referring to the primacy of faith over reason or grace over nature. It means not renouncing the indispensable role of reason and nature, but seeing everything through the eyes of faith and expecting even the impossible from the work of grace.

Today that spirit of faith has been lost in the Christian people, beginning with their church leaders. The spirit of faith and the supernatural has been replaced by the political spirit with which Christians claim to understand and intervene in reality through reason alone, without resorting to the decisive action of grace.

Pope Francis has repeatedly recalled that the true reformers of the Church are the saints, yet his approach to the world's great issues always appears political and therefore "worldly" rather than "supernatural" and moved by a spirit of faith. This “political” approach dominated the recent consistory, held August 29-30th in the Vatican in the presence of some 180 cardinals, which missed a great opportunity to address the serious problems afflicting the Church today. The focus of the meeting of the cardinals was officially the reform of the Curia, which is contained in the new Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium being proposed, but the Pope has prevented the cardinals from expressing themselves in joint session on this and other subjects, as it were, he muzzled them.

The consistory is a meeting of the pope with the cardinals, who according to the code of canon law (canons 349-359) are his first advisers. For at least seven years, Pope Francis has not allowed the cardinals to speak and express their opinions at this solemn gathering. Everyone had expected this to happen at the end of the August meeting, but the consistory was fragmented into language groups at the behest of the pope, paralyzing the cardinals and preventing the open and direct dialogue that last took place in February 2014.

We are reminded of this truth by an important cardinal and great historian, Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, whose voice, which was not allowed to be heard in the consistory hall, echoes outside the hall. The Vaticanist Sandro Magister has allowed us to get to know them by publishing the speech that the cardinal had prepared but was not allowed to deliver.

Cardinal Brandmüller recalls in his document the function of cardinals anchored in canon law, which in ancient times found its symbolic expression in the rite of the "aperitio oris", the opening of the mouth. A rite, the cardinal explained, which “meant the duty to speak openly one's convictions, one's advice, especially in consistory. This openness – Pope Francis speaks of 'parrhesía' – was particularly important to the Apostle Paul. At the moment, unfortunately, that openness has been replaced by a strange silence. The other ceremony of closing the mouth, which followed the 'aperitio oris', referred not to truths of faith and morals, but to official secrets”.

"Today, however," Cardinal Brandmüller added, "we should emphasize the right, indeed the duty, of cardinals to speak clearly and frankly, especially when dealing with the truths of faith and morals, the 'bonum commune' of the Church. The experiences of the last few years have been very different. In the consistories - which were convened almost exclusively for the canonization processes - cards were distributed to ask for the floor and of course spontaneous interventions followed on any subject, and that was it. There was never a debate, an exchange of arguments on any particular subject. Apparently a completely useless procedure", although the primacy of the Successor of Peter in no way "precludes a fraternal dialogue with the cardinals, who are obliged to cooperate conscientiously with the pope” (can. 356). The more serious and urgent the problems of pastoral leadership, the more necessary is the involvement of the College of Cardinals”.

 

The cardinal, who is a Church historian, continues:

“When Celestine V wanted to renounce the papacy in 1294, recognizing the special circumstances of his election, he did so after intensive discussions and with the consent of his electors. A completely different view of the relationship between pope and cardinals was represented by Benedict XVI, who - a unique case in history - renounced the papal office for personal reasons without the knowledge of the college of cardinals that elected him. There were only 70 electors until Paul VI, who increased the number of electors to 120. This increase in the size of the electoral college, almost doubling it, was motivated by an intention to conform to the hierarchy of lands far from Rome and to honor those churches with the Roman purple. The inevitable consequence was that cardinals were installed who had no experience with the Roman Curia and thus with the problems of the pastoral leadership of the universal Church. All of this has serious consequences when these cardinals from the periphery are called to elect a new pope.”

Currently, it is like this:

“(...) many, if not the majority, of the voters do not know each other. Yet they are there to elect the Pope, one of them. It is obvious that this situation makes it easier for operations of cardinal groups or classes to favor one of their candidates. In this situation one cannot rule out the danger of simony in its various forms.”

The Cardinal's document concludes with a suggestion:

"Finally, it seems to me that the idea of restricting voting rights in the conclave, for example, to cardinals resident in Rome deserves serious consideration, while the other cardinals could share the 'status' of cardinals above octogenarian."

 

These are clear, unmistakable words that should make the entire College of Cardinals think.

Pope Francis' refusal to give the floor to the cardinals stems from the political and secular perspective of his pontificate. He fears that free and open discussion will weaken the exercise of his power, unaware that the truth can never harm the Church and the souls subject to Her. The spirit of faith, which is opposed to the spirit of politics, consists precisely in seeking in all things what is highest and most sublime, what is best for the glory of God and the good of souls, always looking to the commandments of the Gospel.

The alternative is between the truth of the Gospel and the power of the world. Proclaiming the truth of the Gospel does not mean talking about immigration or the climate emergency, but about the novissima- Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell - and the divine providence that governs all events of the created universe. Preaching the Gospel means using the voice of the Church to condemn sin, especially public sin, foremostly abortion and LGBT doctrines, which the world considers “civil rights achievements”. It means speaking of holiness and not of synodality, because it is from holiness and not from political mechanisms that the necessary reform (renewal) proceeds within the Church: a renewal of the people who form Her and not of Her divine ones and immutable constitution.

A cloak of silence has now fallen over the consistory. And the silence of those who should speak is the greatest punishment our Lord can inflict on His Church.

* 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, author of numerous books, most recently in German [Possibly English] translation:  Defense of Tradition: The Insurmountable Truth of Christ, with a foreword by Martin Mosebach, Altötting 2017 and  The Second Vatican Council. A Hitherto Unwritten Story, 2nd ext. Edition, Bobingen 2011.

Books by  Prof. Roberto de Mattei in German translation and books by  Martin Mosebach are from our partner bookshop..

Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
Image : Corrispondenza Romana

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

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