Pope to Canonize Terrorist Marxist Bishop and Marxism

Enrique Angelelli: a disquieting beatification despite a dubious background and with an ideological stale smell.
 
(Rome) It had already become apparent and some had feared that the Argentine Bishop Angelelli would be beatified. The train of dubious canonizations continues unabated.

On October 17, the new substitute of the Cardinal Secretary of State, the Vatican diplomat and Archbishop Edgar Peña, signed a letter (Protocol No. 423.517) as one of his first acts, appointing Msgr. Marcelo Colombo, emeritus bishop of La Rioja, the date for the beatification of Bishop Enrico Angelelli Carletti, former Bishop of La Rioja.

"It is my pleasure to inform you that the Holy Father grants that the celebration of the beatification rite of the Reverend Servant of God, Enrico Angelelli Carletti, Bishop of La Rioja, will take place in this city on Saturday, April 27, 2019. "

The Pope will not attend in person, but will be represented by Cardinal Angelo Becciu, Prefect of the Congregation of the Congregation of the Causes of Peña, as a substitute in the State Secretariat.

Who was Bishop Enrico Angelelli Carletti?

Beatification of Angelelli

Bishop Angelelli was a representative of Marxist liberation theology, who had had friendly contacts with the Communist Eastern Bloc since the 1950s, particularly the Pax Movement, which infiltrated the Catholic Church on behalf of the regime. Since the 60s, he was closely associated with the left-wing terrorist movement Montoneros. The Montoneros were part of left-wing extremism that was radicalizing and seeking a violent seizure of power in Argentina, as was attempted in many Latin American countries by communist revolutionary movements with Soviet and Cuban support. The result was terror and counter-terror, with - this is an Argentine feature - right and left Peronists faced each other as enemies. When terror threatened to overthrow the country, the military intervened to restore order, as the generals declared in 1961.
 
Not only did the dubious left-wing orientation make Angelelli a controversial Church leader during his lifetime, he was described a contemporary pamphlet:

"Anyone who thinks like a Marxist and speaks like a Marxist is also a Marxist!"

Doubtful circumstances of death

Doubtful are the circumstances of his death. Officially, he died in a tragic traffic accident, most likely due to a mistake made by his companion, another liberation theologian and priest belonging to the left-wing Third World Priestly movement supported by Angelelli. His passenger said that he could no longer remember the accident. He quit the priesthood shortly thereafter.

"Who thinks and speaks like a Marxist is also a Marxist"

Several years after the death of Angelelli, another Marxist priest, the Capuchin Antonio Puigjané, suddenly declared that the bishop had actually been assassinated. The order was given by the then military dictatorship. Since then, he has been diligently elaborating on the myth of the murdered "Bishop of the Poor."
 
Puigjané himself hit the headlines as a left-wing terrorist, as he wanted to topple even then in 1988, five years after the end of the military dictatorship, the already democratic government of Raul Alfonsin.
 
There were no lack of circles in Argentina and in Western Europe, inside and outside the Church, who willingly jumped on this unusual move and indignantly denounced any involvement of the hated military regime as fact, although no evidence could be presented for such a daring assertion. None of the eyewitnesses of the accident and at the accident testified to anything like this.
 
Under quite different political auspices - meanwhile, in Argentina, under the moderate left-wing Peronists - the case of the traffic accident was reopened 38 years later and two leading military figures were convicted without concrete evidence, as the principals of an assassination attempt. In the same period, the ex-Capuchin Puigjané was pardoned prematurely, although his terrorist attack had cost eleven lives.
 
The issue is still controversial in Argentina. Critics speak of a political process, which served less the truth, but to the settling of old scores (see to Angelelli, the situation in Argentina and left myths: The Unequal "Martyrs" ).

Did Angelelli die in odium fidei?

However, whether a traffic accident or assassination, neither in one case or the other are there indications that the death of Angelelli occurred in odium fidei. But hatred of faith is a prerequisite for recognizing a death brought on as a martyrdom for Christ.

Angelelli, a leftist taboo

After Francis had declared Pope John XXIII. an unmiraculous saint, no less doubtfully, he declared the death of Bishop Angelelli an assassination and the bishop as a martyr. The recognition of his death as martyrdom shortens namely the lengthy path of the beatification process, since no miracle is needed.
 
With the miraculous beatification of Bishop Angelelli by an event, whether a traffic accident or assassination, which is reinterpreted to be a martyrdom, Pope Francis is creating a new, questionable category of "political martyrs."
 
Last August, another Argentine archbishop, Msgr. Hector Aguer, broke the Angelelli taboo . He asked why not a contemporary of Angelelli, the Catholic intellectual Carlos Alberto Sacheri, to be beatified, who really became a victim of terrorism, but of Marxist terrorism. Sacheri was executed in front of his own children. He had previously pointed out and criticized the Communist infiltration of the Catholic Church with a book.
 
But in this, the political left is always blind. Meanwhile, the Church leadership seems to have become blind.
 
What conclusion can be drawn from Pope Francis' unusual approach?

Probably only one: The confirmation of a long-standing suspicion that the obstinate, Argentine Pope wants to canonise a disturbing, highly politicized and long-overstated direction in the Church, the alliance between Christianity and socialism, historically compromised by Soviet dictatorships, terrorism, hostility towards the Church, denunciations, abortion ... Should we list more?

Text: Andreas Becker
Image: InfoCatolica
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG 

The case of Julio Cesar Grassi -- Cardinal Bergoglio Refused to See the Victims to Protect them From Murder Threats

August 31, 2018 0

Jullio Cesar Grassi: sexual abuse case in Argentina

by Antonio Tortillatapa
 
The case of Julio César Grassi has been holding Argentina under his spell for 25 years now.
Julio César Grassi (born 1956) was ordained a priest in 1981. As part of Liberation Theology and post-conciliar, humanitarian social engagement, he was particularly involved in social work and "pastoral accompaniment" for poor children and disabled people from deprived backgrounds in Argentina.
 
The decade-long economic decline of Argentina, the political turmoil, the impoverishment of large parts of the population and the chronic recurrent disappointed hopes with deep frustration of the poor population strata, formed an excellent [hunting] ground for the activities of Grassi.
 
Under Grassi's leadership, a large complex of social welfare institutions and homes for the care and support of children and adolescents from precarious conditions emerged.
 
Grassi promoted everything with a great media hype through television and radio, with publications and with very complex and opaque financial transactions.
 
Grassi excelled in tying politicians and wealthy, well-known personalities to his activities and facilities. Especially in the Peronist milieu (or in the political leadership caste of Peronism at the end of the 20th century), he found many sympathizers.
 
At the same time, his ability to raise funds for his facilities was very great, and he became widely known through television appearances.
 
One focus was the establishment of Felices Los Ninos ("Happy Children") for children and adolescents with problems.
 
The center of activities was the Argentine diocese of Morón, suffragan of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires.
 
In 1992, a lawsuit was filed against Grassi on behalf of children and adolescents at the Felices los Ninos in a local court.

The case was not pursued and the proceedings suppressed.

In 1995, the world public was shaken by many cases of severe and widespread and institutionalized sexual abuse of children and wards in the Catholic Church in North America.
 
Pope John Paul II wrote extensively to the bishops of North America.

At the same time, the sexual abuse of children and the disabled in Church institutions in Belgium came to light, in addition to abstruse advertising for pedophilia in local diocesan newspapers and religious books (affair Barzin , affair Roeach3 , case Anneke ).
 
At the turn of the millennium, the tremendous extent of child abuse was perceived in the ecclesial context of Western Europe and North America; it was discussed in great detail in the media.
The Church establishment responded in 2005 mainly with cover-up, beautification, attempts at deescalation and slick financial compensation.
 
The number of trials became Legion, the convictions increased rapidly and the compensation payments reached astronomical heights in the US.
 
In 2002, the Argentine TV station Telenoche reported in a sensational report that a lawsuit had been filed against Grassi for pedophile abuse.
 
The news struck like a bomb: huge popular upheaval, broad media interest, loud defiance of Grassi, and spirited complaints from angry family members.
 
Anticlerical resentments, clerical protective reflexes, competition between media holdings, financial irregularities and political fronts additionally colored the Grassi case: a victim was very fiercely defended by a protagonist of the Montoneros (left-wing Peronists); at the same time, much of the Peronist nomenklatura was associated with the omnipresent Grassi on television.

Extensive police and financial investigations took place.
 
The complaints were examined very carefully; especially the cases "Gabriel", "Ezequiel" and "Luis" were very stressful.

The sealed-off structures of the facilities were screened, tons of little Christian material came to light, many co-workers testified, and not least the horrendous financial mismanagement and embezzlement came to light.
 
Grassi defended himself in a very strange way:

He did not respond to the allegations and substantiated very hard-backed complaints with exhaustive, substantive evidence and evidence, but threatened with very expensive lawyers, attacked the victims loudly, tingled through radio and television stations and railed against a media extermination campaign by the Argentine press group Clarin against him (Grassi) and his private broadcaster.
Grassi refused to comply with a subpoena in court, became fleeting and also gave an interview with the radio before the camera.
 
The matter escalated: In 2003 there were threats and attacks with firearms on witnesses and claimants.

The Grassi case has now become nationally known.

The Argentine episcopate was already aware of the explosive nature of the Grassi affair in 2003: the responsible Bishop of Morón, Justo Oscar Laguna, had immediately forwarded the case to the next higher instance, the Archbishopric of Buenos Aires, given the complexity of the case and the manifold additional interests.
 
The victims and the witnesses, intimidated and threatened with firearms, asked Cardinal Bergoglio, then archbishop of Buenos Aires, for a meeting to stop the attacks on the victims and the witnesses.
 The request for a conversation was denied.
 
By contrast, the plaintiffs and the witnesses were able to raise their concerns with Monsignor Justo Oscar Laguna (1929-2011), Bishop of Morón (1980-2004) and former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner.
 
From various sides much pressure was exerted on the judicial organs.

On 10 June 2009, the Tribunal N ° 1 of Morón sentenced Don Julio Cesar Grassi to 15 years' imprisonment for sexual abuse of minors and corruption.
 
In September 2010, the Second Chamber of the Court of Cassation of the Province of Buenos Aires rejected all appeals against this verdict.
 
On 27 November 2012, the Supreme Court rejected all recourses and confirmed in January 2013, the first instance imprisonment of 15 years.
 
However, Grassi then remained on the loose for a long time for unclear reasons.
 
He was arrested only on 23 September 2013 (according to the 2 + 1 rule in force in Argentina - the period of pre-trial detention is double and is counted towards the sentence - he would have been released in 2018).
 
In 2016, Grassi was sentenced to another 15 years in prison for financial fraud and tax evasion.
Theoretically, Grassi will remain in custody until 2033.

By the way: the word misericordia (mercy) did not even fit in this context.
 
Sources:

• Wikipedia (Spanish edition): Julio César Grassi
• Federico Fahsbender: Cuatro libros encargados por el papa aseguran que el padre grassi es inocente.
• «Caso Grassi: la causa que desvela al papa Francisco» . Infobae

Text: Antonio Tortillatapa
Image: Wikicommons / InfoCatolica
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG 

Benedictine Professor: Why Are Almost All of the Cardinals and Bishops Silent?

July 9, 2018 1

Current issue of "Catholica". Why are almost all cardinals and bishops silent about the end of Catholicism that Pope Francis brings about? The "other understanding of the Church" behind Amoris laetitia.

(Paris) The international magazine for culture, politics and religion, Catholica, which has been published in France for 30 years, counts "well-known authors such as Émile Poulat, Robert Spaemann, Ernst Wolfgang Böckenförde, Vladimir Bukowski, Stanislaw Grygiel, Thierry Wolton and Jacques Ellul and Pietro De Marco," says Vatican writer Sandro Magister. The editor-in-chief is Bernard Dumont.

Bernard Dumont

In its latest issue, Dumont, whose editorial is also freely available on the Internet, deals with the "unbelievable" silence of almost all cardinals and bishops - with the exception of the four signatories of Dubia - "the dissolution of the traditional form of catholicity by the pontificate of Jorge Mario Bergoglio has been set in motion." Bernard Dumont discusses the apparently desired end of "Roman Catholicism" without, however, raising an outcry, as the historian Roberto Pertici once complained. The end is proclaimed by Rome or those who invoke Rome, and all are silent and seem to submit to the inevitable fate. See the analysis of Prof. Pertici: The reform of Pope Francis was already written by Martin Luther .

Why is this?

 

The belief reduced to ethics

 

Dumont also published in the new edition the text of a Benedictine monk and theologian who analyzes and criticizes "perhaps the most radical upheaval in Catholicism of our time." No longer does the sacrament have primacy in the Church, of which the Second Vatican Council said it was the "culmen et fons" of the life of the Church, but ethics.
 
This subversion is also reflected in the question of remarried divorced as well as the inter-communion with the Protestants.
 
The Benedictine theologian is Fr. Giulio Meiattini, who this year already published the monograph  "Amoris laetitia? The Sacraments Reduced to Morality" (publisher La Fontana di Siloe, Turin 2018). He is a monk of the Benedictine Abbey of Madonna della Scala in Noci and Professor of Fundamental Theology at the Theological Faculty of Apulia and at the Pontifical Athenaeum Sant'Anselmo in Rome.
 
Meiattini accuses Pope Francis and his whisperer, Cardinal Walter Kasper, of promoting "cunning" rather than the much-cited "distinction." There is cunning in Amoris laetitia and the mind behind it.

"The state of confusion is obvious".

With these words the theologian and monk begins his essay. It is claimed that the confusion is only supposed, and only the result of a new style of government. Such a picture of the current situation is not something Fr. Meiattini takes pleasure in.

"Can the confusion and disagreement between bishops on tricky points of faith be fruits of the Holy Spirit? Not in my opinion."

Several small steps mean a large one in sum

P. Giulio Meiattini OSB

Then Meiattini indicates that in the matter of remarried divorced people a ready-made plan was pursued from the beginning. With the opportunity of being able to deliver the only speech in February 2014 to the Cardinals' Consistory procured by Pope Francis, Cardinal Kasper "laid the groundwork". Nevertheless, two bishops' synods failed to produce a common line to the problem being discussed. Anyone reading the reports of the "circuli minores" of the 2015 Synod can easily see that there was no common position.
 
The pope would have had to examine and understand, which would have been the first task of "distinction", "which processes" would be initiated and pursued, and which not. However, such a distinction did not take place. The path taken was not changed.
 
The fact is that a large majority of the Synod Fathers wanted "no change in the traditional order". The editorial committee of Relatio finalis therefore took care not to include any innovations in the text.
  For this reason, a "small step," according to Meiattini, was undertaken instead of a big one: The editorial committee formulated some undefined positions, which meant a "change of atmosphere".
 
The non-rejection of these ponderous formulations, which received the necessary two-thirds majority only with extreme difficulty, sufficed that the next "small step," with some ambiguous footnotes in Amoris laetitia, were sufficient to indicate a new direction.
 
These small steps, which, strictly speaking, did not reinforce the traditional position, were enough to split the episcopate. The next step was papal confirmation of the guidelines of the ecclesiastical Province of Buenos Aires on the Eighth Chapter of Amoris laetitia.
 
In reality, these guidelines are not mere interpretations, because they contain statements and instructions that were neither found in Amoris laetitia nor adopted by the synods, and never found a majority there.
 
Through a series of "small steps", a "big step" was finally taken within three years, with a profound intervention. But this has nothing to do with "synodality," according to Meiattini.
Faith would be reduced to ethics in Amoris laetitia , that is the total thrust.

"Ethics has neither the first nor the last word."

"I do not understand how the Bishop of Rome can write such a thing"

And Meiattini continues:

"To be honest, I can not understand how a bishop, especially that of Rome, can write such sentences: 'One should not burden two limited people with the tremendous burden of perfectly recreating the union that exists between Christ and his Church '(AS, 122)."

This formulation is an expression of a very different way of thinking: A gospel ethic, freed from the sacrament, becomes a "mighty burden" rather than a "sweet yoke" and a "light burden."
 
Such a statement can only be reached if one understands Christianity - perhaps unconsciously - only as ethics. In this way we arrive at results that correspond to the Lutheran concept of simul iustus et peccator, condemned by the Council of Trent.


Intercommunion with the Protestants follows the same logic. What is only decisive is the presumed, inner feeling. For the objective criteria, all conceivable attenuating circumstances are taken into account, and the subjective decision of conscience is decisive. Why, then, according to this pattern, should not even a Buddhist or a Hindu be able to receive the Catholic Eucharist, according to P. Meiattani?

"Damaging the relationship between morality and sacraments can ultimately lead to a non-Catholic understanding of the Church."

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Catholica / Vida inteligente / Cooperatores veritatis (Screenshots)
 Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG 

Saint John Cantius Priest Exonerated But Won’t Return

Edit: our instinct for this was correct. Father Zuhlsdorf has reported on the echo station of Father Frank Phillips.  The local ordinary does mean to chip away at this brodgehead of tradition after all. Meanwhile, Father Michael Pfleger at St. Sabina’s blathers heresy incessantly from his pulpit with impunity in a kind of ecclesiastical minstrel show.

Yesterday I posted that Fr. Frank Phillips who founded the Canons of St. John Cantius in Chicago, who had been accused of immoral behavior and suspended pended an investigation by a board, had been exonerated of all charges.The board issued a letter.

I wrote, in an update to that post, that people in the Chicago would not make a mistake to attend Sunday Masses this weekend.

AMDG

Pope Throws Enemy Archbishop in the Street

Archbishop Hector Ruben Aguer at Corpus Christi in his last act

 as ordinary of La Plata

Edit: when they do things like this, as they often have, there is need of retribution.  Bergoglio did the same to Bishop Rogelio Plano, who died not long after.


(Buenos Aires) The retirement of Archbishop Hector Ruben Aguer of La Plata has been closely watched for the past few weeks. Archbishop Aguer has been Bergoglio's leading opponent in Argentina for the past 25 years. When he leaves, the Church's Maximum Leader is letting him feel his displeasure.
 
As previously reported , the Jesuit Bergoglio and the secular priest Aguer, both from Buenos Aires, became Auxiliary Bishops of Buenos Aires at the beginning of the 1990s. At that moment, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who until then had been "exiled" internally, had the better luck between the two. He began his phenomenal rise.
 
With the help of the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Antonio Cardinal Quarrancino, Bergoglio and not Aguer became the new Primate of Argentina. Although Aguer was made the archbishop of the second most important diocese in the country by Pope John Paul II. The cardinalatial dignity is connected with Buenos Aires, not with La Plata. Pope Benedict XVI. supported Archbishop Aguer against the Bergoglio-led majority in the Argentine Bishops' Conference , but acted against his successor Francis with too cautious and hesitation, in order to make his intended renewal in the episcopacy really effective.
 
Bergoglio sat in the Conclave in Rome in 2005 and 2013, not Aguer.
 
After Francis became pope, he quickly disassembled the minority led by Aguer, who opposed him as a primate. Only Aguer remained in office, but not a day longer than necessary - which was quite literal.

Victor Manuel Fernandez

On May 24, the archbishop completed his 75th year. According to canon law, he presented his request for resignation to Francis. With a conspicuous haste, Francis accepted it and appointed one of his closest confidants, Titular Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernandez, as his successor. The head of the Church Maximum Leader, thus, not only eliminated the last representative of a traditional understanding of the Church, but also wanted to ensure that the archdiocese was taken by a  Bergoglio team member.
 
What animosities are behind the scenes, illustrates an additional unfriendliness of the Pope to Archbishop Aguer. Francis was not content to emeritize Aguer at the earliest opportunity and immediately appoint a successor, which is also a humiliation for Aguer. Francis did not appoint the archbishop in charge, who is in good health, as diocesan administrator until the inauguration of the successor, as is customary, unless death or health force him to change the bishop. Francis openly expressed his disapproval of Archbishop Aguer. Not a day longer than absolutely necessary, Aguer should have something to say in the archdiocese of La Plata.
 
Francis Monsignor Alberto Bochatey OSA, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of La Plata was appointed diocesan administrator. This was announced by the chargé d'affaires of the Apostolic Nunciature, Msgr. Vincenzo Turturro, on Monday to the Archdiocese.

"Msgr. Bochatay will head the archdiocese of La Plata until the inauguration of Msgr. Victor Fernandez next June 16," said the press service AICA of the Argentine Bishops' Conference.

The appointment of a diocesan administrator for only 14 days when the previous archbishop is in the best health?
 
The Bergoglio related news site Valores Religiosos headlined:

"Aguer confirms that the Holy See wanted a quick change".

Monsignor Aguer had announced last Sunday that the change should be "quick" so that his successor, Fernandez, could already receive the pallium from the Pope's hand on June 29th in Rome.
 
At the same time, the emeritus archbishop expressed his astonishment that the media had already reported exactly for weeks what then became reality in those days: that Francis would immediately emeritize him and would make the papal ghostwriter Fernandez his successor.
 
The Argentine news site CadenaBA wrote critically:

"Pope Francis behaved towards Monser Aguer more after the Old than after the New Testament: according to the motto, "Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth ". He reciprocated with Msgr. Hector Aguer, who had asked him to leave him in office until next September, so that he could celebrate his twenty-year jubilee as Archbishop of La Plata," for which several parishes of the archdiocese were already preparing.

At the end of the Feast of Corpus Christi, which was celebrated in Argentina on June 3, according to Wanderer,  the Syrian Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostom approached the microphone and made his home available to the archbishop," since Monsignor Aguer has no place to go ( his original plan was to move to the Small Seminary of La Plata.)"
 
Behind the scenes, the retirement was obviously far more dramatic than when it became public.
The AICA press release from the Argentine Bishops' Conference said two days later:

"The retired archbishop will live for so long at the archdiocesan curia deems it necessary to find a new home."

In La Plata, not only was an archbishop emeritized and replaced by a towering mediocrity in a demonstratively urgent procedure, but evidently evicted on the spot.
 
Pope Francis' retaliation for revenge has found another victim at La Plata.
 
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Archdiocese of La Plata / MiL
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
ADMG 

Franciscans of the Immaculate Win Important Legal Battle

Franciscan of Immaculate marching for life. New points for victory, but without a rethinking in the Vatican there seem no end to the torments in sight.

(Rome) The Franciscans of the Immaculate, oppressed by the Congregation of Religious with the approval of Pope Francis, have achieved another victory, at least a moral victory, which should more than ever be the occasion of a process of reflection in the Vatican. There aren’t any indications so far.

Despite its young age, the Order, which was not established until the early nineties, stood out for the great number of religious and priestly vocations, even in Europe, where most of the orders are moaning because of a lack of vocations.

Old Rite and missionary - and a thorn in the eye

The secret: As large parts of the Church and also many members of the Order, especially during and after the Council, were enthusiastic about "cutting off old braids" and introducing all sorts of innovations in the name of new "freedoms," from the setting aside of the Order's name to the abandonment of the Order's habit, from the convenient expansion of the cells while at the same time reducing the communal prayer of the hours, two friars minor went the opposite way. They asked to leave the company of their "progressive" confreres and retire to an abandoned monastery and revive it. There, they did not seek to subject their religious rule to an "aggiornamento" but to build on the first Franciscan rule of the order and deepen Marian spirituality.

The two Minorites, Fr. Stefano Maria Manelli and Fr. Gabriele Pellettieri, were joined by others, and they became the founders of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, a Marian and traditional order. As Pope Benedict XVI. freed the Immemorial Rite with the Motu proprio Summorum Pontificum and procured a home in the church, the young religious community did not hesitate to follow him in it. The Franciscans of the Immaculate became the first and so far only new religious order, which has returned to the traditional rite, but remained pastoral and bi-ritual. The special charisma that has distinguished the Order from other altruistic communities was its missionary zeal.

Benedict XVI. held his protective hand over the Order, which seemed to become as unique and interesting a model as it was to young members of other orders.

The Commissar 

Then there was the unexpected resignation Benedict XVI. and election of Pope Francis. In the Order, a tiny minority of five disgruntled, liberal brothers had complained because of the change to the Immemorial Rite in the Vatican. Under Benedict XVI. the Congregation of the Religious did not dare to take action. Under Francis, it immediately received the tiny minority's complaint as an opportunity to crack down on the unloved model - and radically.

Order's founder, Father Manelli

Manelli was deposed as Superior General and placed under house arrest. The order's leadership was removed from office, the priests were forbidden to celebrate the Immemorial Rite, and an apostolic commissar was appointed. In contradiction to Summorum Pontificum, each priest had to individually apply for a special permission to celebrate in the forma extraordinaria.

In order to exorcise the Order's charisma, monasteries were closed, its seminary closed and evictions were carried out. The conversion into an Ecclesia Dei community was prohibited as well as the founding of a new order. Bishops were threatened if they accepted Franciscans of the Immaculate who left the Order.

In that summer of 2013, a veritable destructive campaign was kindled. The consequences did not remain: the first was the drying up of the vocations.

No reason

The Summit: To date, the Vatican has not given any reasons for this radical interference, let alone any charges. So far there was no possibility for the Franciscans of Immaculate to defend themselves against the oppressive measures of the papacy or at least to defend themselves. The requests and queries of Fr. Manelli to be received and heard by the Pope were not answered by Francis.

As Commissar, the Congregation of Religious used the Capuchin, Father Fidenzio Volpi. A man who was possessed of no sympathy for the tradition or the Immemorial Rite. Accordingly, he raged against the Order. Unofficially, let it be cryptically hinted that the order was being cleaned up because of "Lefebvrian deviationism." Later, he even claimed that the Order had been put under temporary administration four months after the election of Pope Francis, because it wanted to "overthrow" the Pope. That tradition and the Immemorial Rite is the real enemy became more and more clear, if there was any need for further proof.

In May 2013, founder Manelli celebrated his 80th birthday (see Father Stefano Maria Manelli is 80 - success story of the Franciscans of the Immaculate: Old Rite and Missionary), unaware of what a storm would soon rage over his work. Meanwhile, Fr. Manelli is 85 years old and has been under house arrest for nearly five years, as ordered by the Vatican.

The Book of Slander

By contrast, Commissioner Volpi has been long dead. Today, the second Commissar, who is a bit more reserved than his predecessor, is in office today. Volpi died in the midst of a civil and criminal dispute before Italian courts. The way in front of state courts is at least open to Father Manelli and representatives of the lay organizations affiliated to the Order because the Vatican has no access to it.

The book by Loredana Volpi

Volpi had been condemned by the Italian court for defamation, to payment of damages, the execution of which was prevented by his death.

Loredana Volpi, a niece of the deceased commissar, saw the reputation of her uncle damaged. Together with Mario Castellano, she wrote the book "Truth and Justice for Father Fidenzio Volpi. A dark matter in the pontificate of Pope Francis" (Verità e giustizia per padre Fidenzio Volpi, Una oscura vicenda nel Pontificato di Papa Francesco). Now, she has admitted to accusing the Order of unproven things and writing slander against those in charge of the lay religious organizations.

"While the Acting Administration of the Franciscans of the Immaculate continues in its sixth (!) year, without for the time being, foreseeing a possible solution to this unusual affair, which together with other actions bordering on arbitrariness (see the Order of Malta) like a blemish on this pontificate, has been a important manner of procedure in the indictment and slander-construct that has poisoned this story," said Vatican Marco Tosatti.

Mario Castellano, the co-author with Loredana Volpi, was a consultant to Commissar Volpi. Numerous hints, tips and "recommendations" from Fr. Alfonso Bruno, the main opponent of Fr. Manelli, who became the main beneficiary of the provisional administration of the Order, were probably included in the book.

In each country there are keywords that function as ciphers. If you want to slander someone, it is sufficient to incorporate these keywords and to drop some allusions in the subjunctive. Castellano and Volpi in their book brought the Order and lay organizations into contact with the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia. The mafia is good for slander in Italy.

Loredana Volpi was received in audience, apparently for merit in the struggle against the Franciscans of the Immaculate, even by Pope Francis, to whom she presented a copy of her book.

The Apology

The founders Manelli and Pellettieri

The two authors, however, made a mistake. In their references in the book, they named the leading lay representatives by name. These filed a criminal complaint for defamation. This was to prove the truth, which was obviously not possible. To escape prosecution, Loredana Volpi decided to come to an out of court settlement with the plaintiffs. She undertook to write a letter of apology to be published in the leading daily newspaper of Southern Italy, in Il Mattino, and in the national daily La Repubblica. The left-liberal Repubblica was not the only newspaper to participate in the campaign against the Franciscans of the Immaculate. The ruling may have fallen on it because it is the only newspaper that Pope Francis reads daily, according to his own statement.

However, in order for the message to arrive at the governing pope, who bears the responsibility for the whole case, Volpi must, as she had handed him a book, also make her apologies directly.

Tosatti published excerpts from the letter of apology:

"It is absolutely certain that the statements employed are [...] not justified, being untrue, and for that reason they must be considered absolutely baseless and unjustified. In that sense, I renew to you my formal apology for the unfortunate and unjustified conduct towards you, and I inform you that the present letter will be published in the following ... media organizations and also on the Internet so that it may be widely used to redress the damage caused."

In return, those affected withdrew their ad.

The one most principally responsible is Pope Francis

The incident proves "once more," according to Tosatti, that the whole affair, which brought a most extraordinary, flourishing, young order to the brink of annihilation, is based on a construct of unproven allegations, rumors, baseless allusions, numerous verbal aggressions, and unbelievable slander. In short: it is an intrigue. The intriguers, that's for sure, seem partly personal, but partly ideologically motivated.

The ultimate responsibility for this lies not only with Pope Francis, because he endorsed the interventions of the Congregation of Religious, but above all because he has put both the male and the female branch, which was also placed under provisional administration at a later time, with two separate actions he refused to appeal to the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signatura against the measures of the Congregation of Religious. Thus, he decided by virtue of his powers as an absolute monarch. Why so much emphasis on an Order with which he had never had direct contact? The ordinary legal process would have clarified the legality and validity of the measures of the  Congregation of Religious and above all revealed what it is all about. That was (and is) precisely, obviously not desired.

Loredana Volpi's apology, according to Marco Tosatti, "casts a heavy shadow on the credibility of the Fronde [faction] of adversaries," arrayed against Father Manelli and his Order.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi

Image: MiL / Chiesa e postconcilio / Corrispondenza Romana
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Papal Praise for Fake News at La Stampa's Religion Site, Vatican Insider

(Rome) Last year, the Vatican bureaucrats started hunting for InfoVaticana, the largest independent Catholic news platform in the Spanish-speaking world. Allegedly because it leads with the Vatican in its name. With a letter from Pope Francis to the multi-lingual news platform Vatican Insider, the Vatican provided proof that it was only an excuse.
 
The Vatican Secretariat of State sent a warning to the operators of InfoVaticana, the Spanish professional journalists, last year. The news site, according to the accusation, operates by naming  itself "Vatican" in the name of unfair competition through misleading advertising. The Vatican is serious. The State Secretariat appointed Baker & McKenzie, one of the top 10 global law firms, to take legal action against InfoVaticana. Cannons were used to shoot sparrows, said Gabriel Ariza and Fernando Beltrán, founders and operators of InfoVaticana .

Logo development of InfoVaticana since the outbreak of the legal dispute. The compulsion to "neutrality"

They see the real reason for the unusual Vatican approach in their basic attitude and the pope-critical reporting. The independent platform has in the past published critical accounts of certain acts and statements of the ruling Pope, as well as of Spanish bishops, including the Archbishop of Madrid appointed by Pope Francis.

Tendentious Church Journalism

Edit: it's like there's an editorial template for this sort of thing that journalists in the Western world are expected to use when it comes to distort the public's understanding of these power struggles. Never mind that they're like the ritual combats of professional wrestling.


What has recently been read in aggressive commentaries and reports against conservative bishops brings to mind the papal expression "explosive hostility." This is how Pope Benedict XVI. had complained in 2009 complained of media reactions to his statements.

A guest contribution by Hubert Hecker.

At the Spring General Assembly, the majority of German bishops adopted a paper on pastoral care for sectarian marriages. Thereafter, a Protestant spouse should then approaching Holy Communion would be admitted if they affirmed the Catholic understanding of the Eucharist and at the same time disallowing Communion would plunge the spouses into a "serious spiritual emergency".

Campaign for Intercommunion [In this corner, weighting in at 130 kilos!]

Celibacy and Its Opponents

Bishop Bode, pictured with new "liturgical" headgear, is preparing the German public for the introduction of married priests. A plan with far-reaching consequences ...

 

(Berlin) If there were any doubts that the Amazon synod would be programmed, they should be dispelled. The Amazon synod is will not just be somehow programmed, but in the background from the German-speaking countries. The German Church is said to be recovering from the German spirit, not just since the 1960s. Like with Hegel the tourist in his rucksack, they seem to have a fixed view of the Protestantism that emerged from German lands as a role model. The demand is already old, but now it should really lunge for the neck of celibacy.

On German nature ...

The Amazon Synod is being prepared on behalf of Pope Francis by  the emeritus Austrian missionary Bishop Erwin Kräutler and German-born Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes. Hummes (born 1934) is a personal friend of Pope Francis. Kräutler (born 1939) is the bishop who "does not agree" when it comes to praying priestly vocations.

Amazon Basin

Both have spoken repeatedly in favor of celibacy's demotion to a voluntary basis, which amounts to its de facto abolition, as practice in the Orthodox churches shows. In Protestantism, it never came up again. Both already spoke out for the ordination of women. The Amazon synod with the aim of a married clergy is therefore only a first stage in the attack on the sacrament of Holy Orders.
 
Kräutler is head of Repam Brazil and Hummes is head of the entire Repam network. Repam, in turn, was founded in late 2014 through episcopal conferences in all Amazonian states to prepare the Amazon synod on behalf of the Vatican. Thus, Kräutler and Hummes have a central influence on the direction of the synod.
 
The main concern of the Synod, which has since been barely hidden, is, unlike allegedly, not a "cry" of the indigenous Amazon people, because they have no priests. Hummes himself immediately smashed an unwanted proposal to remedy the alleged shortage of priests for the maximum of 300,000 Amazonian Indians. Why? Because the primary goal is not the pastoral care of the Indians, but the abolition of celibacy.

Pope Rejects Dogma in Emotional Photo Op With Child

Update: here’s the “accurate” report from Rome Reports now that Herald has seemingly taken theirs down.”, which omits the paragraph included in the Herald report.

Edit: another telegraphed Photo Op to attack the words of Christ.  Or is he invoking his Petrine privilege to bind and loose?

'God has the heart of a father, your father was a good man, he is in heaven with Him,' the Pope said

Pope Francis comforted a grieving child by telling him that his atheist father is in heaven.

During a visit to Rome’s deprived Corviale district on Sunday, the Pope answered questions from a group of children. One of them, a boy called Emanuele, burst into tears when he met the Pope.

After giving the child a long hug, Pope Francis asked him what was troubling him. Emanuele whispered in the Pope’s ear that his father, who was an atheist, had recently died and he was worried he could be in hell.

Pope Francis asked Emanuele for permission to tell the crowd what he had said, and then announced (according to La Stampa): “If only we could cry like Emanuele when we have pain in our hearts.”

http://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2018/04/16/pope-tells-grieving-child-your-atheist-father-is-in-heaven/?platform=hootsuite

AMDG

Pope Shuts Down Traditional Order

Pope Francis has confirmed the abolition of the Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles by the Brussels Archbishop De Kesel. The reason: too many and too orthodox priestly vocations.

(Rome) Pope Francis signed a decree dissolving the fraternity of the Holy Apostles. Nothing is charged to the Brotherhood. It was guilty of nothing. Their only mistake seems to be orthodoxy in a liberal environ that seems to despise nothing more than faithful priestly vocations.

The Fraternité des Saints Apôtres

The Fraternity of the Saints Apôtres, Dutch Broederschap van de Holy Apostles, was canonically established in April 2013 by the then Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels and Primate of Belgium, Mgr. André-Joseph Léonard. The brotherhood goes back to the French priest Michel-Marie Zanotti-Sorkine.

Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles

Archbishop Léonard called the faithful community to Belgium to help with the spiritual renewal of his archdiocese. He allowed the fraternity and gave it the parishes of Sainte-Catherine / Sint-Katelijnekerk, in the center of Brussels, and Saint-Joseph in the formerly Flemish, now French-speaking Ucclé (Ukkel) in the south of Brussels.

Archbishop Léonard, Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels since 2010, who was strongly opposed because of his faithfulness inside and outside the Church, built with the help of the Priestly Fraternity a parallel formation of priests outside the diocesan seminary. This is a path other bishops had already taken before him.

Archbishop Léonard’s initiative proved to be a complete success. The Society was able to achieve what the progressive diocesan institutions could no longer do: to lead young men to the "beauty of vocation and service as diocesan priests". The Brotherhood is a community of world priests, but with a strong community life. She sees in it the answer to the crisis of the world priesthood in Western Europe. The parishes entrusted to them flourished in contrast to the neighboring parishes and were visited by numerous young people.

Although the community was only three years old, in the spring of 2016 it included six priests, one deacon and 21 seminarians. An extraordinary success considering that last year there was not one new entry into the Archbishop seminary in the Archdiocese of Brussels.

Danneel's retribution

Among the pope makers of the current pontificate, there is  the progressive Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who was Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels before Msgr. Léonard. Pope Benedict XVI. made him an archenemy when he did not chose Danneels’  preferred candidate. Archbishop Léonard had therefore to face heavy resistance in the liberal archdiocese from the beginning. This massive resistance made the necessary reform of the seminary impossible for the time being, which is why he wanted to promote priestly vocations by establishing a second seminary and to build a new clergy.

Michel Marie Zanotti Sorkine

But his episcopate was too short. With the resignation of Benedict XVI. and the election of Francis the hour of the long-retired Danneels struck again. As a personal friend of the new pope, he was able to take revenge. Pope Francis refused Léonard the cardinalatial dignity and made instead the then apostolic nuncio in Belgium a cardinal, who had been Danneels’ preferred candidate and whom Léonard wanted to prevent. A double affront to Léonard.

Hardly had he completed his 75th birthday then he was retired by Francis, and Pope Bergoglio made Danneel's preferred candidate, albeit with a five-year "delay" yet, the new primate of Belgium. Not only that: he raised the new Danneels-compliant archbishop, Jozef De Kesel, immediately to cardinal.

There has seldom been more a demonstrative presentiment  in this pontificate than in Brussels, of who is in papal favor and who is not, and what that means.

De Kesel's purge

The new Archbishop De Kesel,  with whom Danneels also retired to the Archbishop's Palace, began to systematically eradicate what Archbishop Léonard had done to recover a local church lying on the liberal soil. It is not just about people, but about a far more  involved conflict of direction.

Archbishop Leonard ordains SocietyMembers 

One of the first victims of the purge was the Priestly Fraternity of the Holy Apostles. In June 2016, De Kesel threw the Brotherhood out of his diocese. And to make sure that it did not find acceptance in another Belgian diocese, he immediately made for an expulsion from all over Belgium. The reason? Hard to believe: too many and too orthodox priestly vocations.

The official reasoning was obviously just a pretext: The expulsion was "out of solidarity" with the French bishops - several members of the Society, especially their superior Zanotti-Sorkine, are French - because there is also a shortage of priests there. The seminarians were offered the opportunity to switch to the diocesan seminary or to leave Belgium, as if the training at the Brussels Priestly Seminary was the same as that of the Priestly Fraternity.

But that was exactly what it was about. A progressive episcopate obviously wants progressive priests or if not, the. no priests. In one of the first public statements as Primate of Belgium, De Kesel called for the abolition of celibacy with reference to the prevailing lack of priests.

It is easy to see a direct connection between the expulsion of the fraternity and his plea for married priests.

The thing is not surprising. In 2017, De Kesel "totally" applauded the proposal to set up an Islamic prayer room at every Catholic school.

Brussels: dechristianized and islamicized

The fact that two Brussels parishes would remain without a priest as a result of the expulsion did not seem to burden Archbishop De Kesel. Neither is the fact that the parishes experienced a veritable renaissance after being transferred to the Society. After the expulsion of the Society, De Kesel ordered the demolition of the St. Catherine's Church, as it is no longer needed because of massive parish mergers. One third of the churches have already closed or are due to close.

Ordination by Archbishop Léonard 2015

Since the Society was established according to diocesan law, the new Archbishop De Kesel could also dissolve them again. He did just that for the Saints Peter and Paul Day in 2016, the day on which the new priests are traditionally consecrated in the dioceses. The main task of the Society is the promotion of vocations and the formation of priests. However, the consecrations of the Society had been suspended by De Kesel.

Brussels today is the heavily de-Christianized and massively Islamized capital of the European Union (EU). Nevertheless, the incumbent archbishop has the luxury of removing from his archdiocese those forces that promise renewal. The Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles was only one stage of his purge against orthodox groups. Others were to follow.

Believers are taking legal action

The members of the two parishes of Brussels, under the auspices of the Society, did not for a moment believe that their Archbishop, out of sheer "solidarity" with the French bishops, showed the Society to the door. At the same time 80 seminarians were studying in the diocese of Namur, of which only 25 were Belgians. So far, however, the other 55 seminarians have not been sent home out of  "solidarity". Not even the numerous African or Polish priests who work in Belgium. Therefore, the parishioners asked De Kesel for a discussion. Without a result.

Several laymen then took legal action and turned to Rome. They appealed to the Congregation of Clergy objecting to De Kesel’s decree of dissolution. However, the prefect of the Congregation of Clergy was the first dicastery leader, which Pope Francis changed after his election. Cardinal Beniamino Stella, previously Vatican diplomat, has been sitting there ever since.

In November 2016, the Congregation of Clergy rejected the cases filed by the faithful "without any justification".

Sainte-Catherine church of Brussels

This left only the path to the Apostolic Signatura, to which anyone, layman or cleric, can turn if he sees his rights violated. Prefect of the Signatura was the brilliant canonist, Cardinal Raymond Burke. But Pope Francis had also exchanged him. To be precise, he had been similarly rudely thrown him out of the Vatican, as De Kesel had thrown the Priestly Society out of Belgium. Since the end of 2014, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Vatican, Msgr. Domenico Mamberti, is Prefect to the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signatura. Formerly a Vatican diplomat like Stella.

In December 2016, the Brussels faithful brought their case before the Signatura. The promoter Justitiae gave a positive opinion. According to the notification to the consignors, the cause should be submitted to a judge's collegium in autumn 2017 for treatment. "We were in good spirits, the right is and remains right."

But then things happened differently.

“A bad story "

On 25 November 2017, the consignors received a succinct statement that the case had been closed. Even before the ordinary legal process was completed - or perhaps for that very reason - Cardinal Stella, the Prefect of the Congregation of the Clergy, had visited Pope Francis and submitted to him a decree for the definitive dissolution of the Priestly Fraternity of the Holy Apostles. Pope Francis signed the decree, challenging the case. The objection to the resolution decree by Cardinal De Kesel had become obsolete with the dissolution decree of Pope Francis.

Taking advantage of the papal powers, the ordinary legal process was reduced to absurdity without any apparent necessity. The procedure is understood by those affected as arbitrary. It recalls the approach of Pope Francis against the Franciscans of the Immaculata. With the decree of the Congregation of Religious, the disempowerment of the Order, the appointment of a commissioner and the ban to celebrate without special permission the Holy Mass in the traditional form, the affected religious, including the Superior General and founder of the Order, P. Stefano M. Manelli appealed to the Apostolic Signatura. Pope Francis, however, highhandedly rejected any recourse. The persons concerned have since arbitrarily delivered the decision.

The Catholic Internet newspaper Nuova Bussola Quotidiana commented on the papal decision against the priestly brotherhood of the Holy Apostles by saying:

"The decree signed by Pope Francis seems to violate the right of the weakest in the Church. It’s a story that does not throw a good light on the way business is done by the head of the Reformed Roman Curia and the Pope. A bad story. "

Text: Giuseppe Nardi

Image: fraternitedessaintsapotres.com

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG