Bishop Athanasius Schneider Visits SSPX Seminary in USA

Edit: Interesting news. More talk about an impending resolution.

Link to DICI...

Link to Rorate...

On February 11, 2015, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary bishop of Astana in Kazakhstan, met with Bishop Bernard Fellay, SSPX Superior General, and also with several priests of the Society, at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Winona (United States). 

This was the second visit by Bishop Schneider to one of our seminaries. On January 16, 2015, he had visited the St. Cure d’Ars Seminary in Flavigny (France). Both meetings pertained to the question of the liturgical reform of Paul VI and the doctrinal presuppositions of the Novus Ordo Missae. 

On December 5, 2014, Cardinal Walter Brandmuller, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, had visited Sacred Heart Seminary in Zaitzkofen (Germany), where the discussion focused on the magisterial authority of Vatican Council II. 

These meetings are a way of continuing the doctrinal discussions between the Society of St. Pius X and the Roman authorities « in a larger and less formal context than that of the preceding meetings », according to the decision made during the meeting of Bishop Fellay with Cardinal Gerhard Muller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on September 23, 2014.

Cardinal Brandmüller Meets With SSPX at HQ

[SSPX USA] On December 5, 2014, Cardinal Walter Brandmuller, president emeritus of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, met with Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X, accompanied by several priests. The meeting was held at the Herz Jesu Seminary of Zaitzkofen, in Bavaria.

This meeting was a follow-up of the September 23, 2014 meeting in Rome, during which all had agreed to pursue the doctrinal discussions “in a broader, less formal framework than in the previous discussions.” (see DICI #302, Oct. 10, 2014). The theme was the Council and its magisterial authority.

The goal of these meetings is to make the Church’s authorities more aware of the Society and the works of Tradition, and at the same time to expose to them the serious objections and points of divergence that remain concerning the Second Vatican Council and its reforms. In this perspective, two more meetings are scheduled in the coming months, one at the St. Cure de Ars Seminary in Flavigny (France), and the other at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Winona (USA).

(Source: fsspx/MG–DICI #307, Dec. 19, 2014)

Why Are Conservatives Obscurantists, Lord Cardinal?

Walter Cardinal Brandmüller in an interview with "Bild am Sonntag" about cruelty, sin and madness.   

by Paul Badde.

Rome (kath.net/ BILDamSONNTAG)
The revolution will not take place in the Vatican. Attempts to establish a reform of the life world of sexuality in Catholic doctrine are thwarted by the opposition of conservative cardinals. For the time being. Behind the St Peter I meet Walter Cardinal Brandmüller (85), a prominent representative of the counter-revolutionary wing of the Roman Curia. He drinks his coffee black. 

Bild am Sonntag: Why are conservatives so hard and merciless, Your Eminence? 

Are they? I have not seen a man who was merciless because he is conservative. There are compassionate and ruthless liberals and conservatives. But  is the doctor is merciful, who saves a patient saving surgery and allowed him alcohol and nicotine will? The a diabetic mitgibt a Sacher Torte? 

But don't conservatives usually talk more about sin, and liberals more about forgiveness and mercy?

This is new to me. How do you know? From the Newspaper? Even liberals talk of sin. But they usually understand something else underneath that's right.  For them there are more parking offenders and diet sins. So what is sin? 

Please say it.

Sin is a morally inferior attitude or action, with which people harm themselves and others. But we had all been told that we feel bad when we do evil and act falsely. That fraud, adultery, murder, etc. has not yet made ​​people really happy. Dostoevsky wrote whole novels about this dark secret. 

But aren't conservatives are rather more about fear, where liberals are brave?

Where is that? Let's talk perhaps of the elephant who bravely trudges here in the china shop? Caution in dealing with precious vessels, I would never be confused with fearfulness. 

How did conservatives get the reputation of being the obscurantist - in contrast to the liberal luminaries

Should I laugh? Obscurantists are shooting gallery figures brought out of mothballs of the so-called Enlightenment. There are prejudices that are without any reasonable justification.  200 years ago, everyone who opposed that obsession with progress and modernity were slandered as obscurantists. The Jacobins, however,  liked to stylize themselves as she heads rolled for progress. 

Why are many liberals so fascinated with the concept of revolution 200 years later?

You have to ask the Liberals. I shiver at the notion. Let us not forget, the great revolutions have brought upon the people so much blood and tears! The Nazis saw themselves as revolutionaries. Revolutionaries are arsonists. 

But conservatives do not like to look back, while liberals actually look forward and to the future? Why? 

I am a historian. The past is the stuff of experience and very concrete. The future is the realm of dreams and seducers. It is untested and one can easily say and promise anything. Only on the basis of historical experience can a secure future be built. 

Why has the dispute between conservatives and liberals today erupted because of the topic of family?

Ideologues who want to change people and society, starting at the family and its destruction. That was the same with Marx and Lenin. Families are the primordial cells of every community. That is why they are so vulnerable. They should not be experimented with. I will not speak of the latest insanity of "social freezing" of female ova here. Anyway, an incredible fight has broken out about families in which  unfortunately none has defended so  much  as the Church. That's what   Pope Paul VI. .. and John Paul II decades ago pointed out so prophetically?  

How do you interpret the fact  that  Cardinal Müller and Cardinal Kasper. the biggest opponents, are German in this debate between conservatives and liberals in the Catholic Church? 

I have to respond with Goethe: "Two souls dwell, alas! in my chest."  This is true somehow also of Germany, particularly since the Reformation, in which the Germans have split into two camps. This cleavage even now has penetrated the Catholic Church in Germany. 

The Catholic Church was in conflict over the indissolubility of marriage in conflict with Henry VIII. 1535, which led to the separation of the Anglican Church. Was it worth the price?

The question is wrongly put. No pope and no council can pass over  the words of Jesus about marriage. "What God has joined together, man must not separate." Fidelity to the Word of God was something  Pope Clement VII held more weighty than the political threat of the English king. The Church is not entitled to modify the sacraments. The apostle Paul says that we are only managers and that a manager must be faithful. The Church is a foundation, since it the founder's will is what matters. 

Do we understand the Word of God today better with today's theologians than earlier ones. 

God's Word is inexhaustible in form and content. Therefore, there is very probably an advance in knowledge. But it is inconceivable that later findings contradict those previously the known. Two times two is four. Truth does not change. And the Spirit of God does not contradict itself. 

Doesn't a healthy Church really need this dispute? 

A certain ferment of unrest does each community well. Even conservatives need surface friction where they can light their matches. The error has its importance for the progress of knowledge. 

Should  we not  fear a Church that consists only of conservatives? 

That depends on what you mean by conservative. 

What is conservative, Eminence? 

Conservative means in the culture and  in religion something else than in politics.  Social relations or forms of government like perhaps the monarchy to be maintained under all circumstances is not conservative. So it is in life. The lizard can lose the tail to save himself. The true conservatives understand it, dismissing things of secondary importance to obtain essentials. To preserve worthless things  is not conservative. It is not conservative to preserve the ashes, John XXIII. said, but to guard the embers. In dentistry it is conservative to preserve the root, and not to pull the tooth. We need tined food: blood products, canned foods. What would be the art of the world without conservators? The fire department is conservative - when it comes time! Photo: Walter Cardinal Brandmüller © Paul Badde

Link to Kath.net...

Trans: Tancred vekron99@homtail.com
AMDG

Cardinal: There's No Conspiracy Against the Reform For the Remarried Divorced

De Paolis criticizes freedom of speech and debate within the Church.

Rome (kath.net/ CBA) Two weeks before the World Synod of Bishops on the Family, the Italian media is fueling further debate about dealing with divorced and remarried in the Catholic Church. In an interview with the newspaper "La Repubblica" the retired Italian Cardinal, De Paolis Velasio, rejected on Saturday the claim that the opponents of a change in Church practice have come together to form a conspiracy.

He wanted to have the freedom to say what he thinks "without being accused of being a conspirator," said De Paolis, who was president of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See until 2011. He pointed out that he had first published an essay that deals with the subject months ago. The Italian Cardinal is one of five authors of a paper whose contribution expects adherence to the existing exclusion of remarried divorcees from receiving Communion.

The publication date of the book in Italy, will be four days before the start of the World Synod of Bishops, on October 1, which had fueled speculation in the media that it was a deliberate action by the opponents of reform. It is directed in particular against the retired German Cardinal Walter Kasper, who advocates a cautious change [sic] in the current practice in dealing with divorced and remarried, as speculated by some observers.

He wanted to make a contribution to the dialogue with his opinion, De Paolis said, continuing in the interview. At the same time he insists that he would also like to add an opposing vote in the Synod of Bishops. "So I would have no problem". De Paolis argued against the idea that one can only change the praxis without calling into question here previous doctrine. There should be no conflict between teaching and everyday pastoral care, says De Paolis.

The Cardinal pointed out that he had first released the essay question months ago. Among the other authors of this volume are also the prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine and the Faith, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller as well as the retired German Cardinal Walter Brandmüller. Their contributions have been previously published already elsewhere. (C) 2014 CBA Catholic News Agency. All rights reserved. Any media usage and forwarding only under written agreements with CBA allowed.

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches... AMDG

Cardinal Brandmüller: Enthusiasm Surrounding the Pope is Superficial

"That is superficial. Were this a religious movement, the churches would be full "- Regarding the abolition of celibacy and women priests: "We draw clear boundaries faith clear. This is not a sign of weakness but of strength"

Hamburg (kath.net/KNA) Emeritus German Cardinal Walter Brandmüller (85) does not think much of the enthusiasm for Pope Francis: "It is superficial. Were this a religious movement, the churches would be full," said the former president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, in an interview with the Hamburg magazine "Zeit Geschichte" Brandmüller opposes the abolition of celibacy and is against women priests: "We draw clear boundaries regarding faith. This is not a sign of weakness but of strength," he said.

 A "laissez-faire, laissez-aller would mean watching passively the devastation of the Church from within," said the 85-year-old.

An ecumenism uniting the Protestant and Catholic believers could not exist with this doctrine, because "what is true now was true then, the Church in Luther's sense was a purely spiritual mass. Thus Protestantism is contrary to the Catholic faith."

 As the greatest threat to the Church today Brandmüller sees the absolutism of the individual: "Modernity does not ask: What is true?, but: What good is it? Is it feasible? Pragmatism and utilitarianism are the great heresies of our time."

 (C) 2014 CBA Catholic News Agency. All rights reserved.
  Link to kath.net...
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Three Cardinals at the Third Pilgrimage of Tradition to Rome

(Rome)  On the coming 23-25th of October in Rome, theThird International Pilgrimage of Tradition will be held. It was organized by the Coetus Summorum Pontificum Internationalis, an international federation of communities and faithful in the Old Rite, which is the implementation of the Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum, which  Benedict XVI endeavored and  thus allowed all priests the celebration of the Mass in effect till 1965/1969 in 2007.

The still provisional program provides for the participation of two bishops and three cardinals. The bishops are the Frenchman Francois Bacque, a retired Apostolic Nuncio,  and Archbishop Guido Pozzo, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei , who is responsible for the communities of tradition.

Three Cardinals Take Place at Pilgrimage

Among the cardinals is Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke the American, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura. He will be celebrating  Pontifical Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on Saturday, October 25, which is the culmination of the pilgrimage. In 2013 Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, the Spaniard,  Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, celebrated the Mass. In 2012 it was the Colombian Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy from 1996 to 2006 and from 2000 to 2009, Chairman of Ecclesia Dei . Under Pope Francis, Cardinal Burke is among the degraded. The American Cardinal  has been removed from all the congregations to which he belonged. Burke  under Benedict XVI. made sure that good bishops were appointed in the United States. It's an influence that has eluded him Pope Francis.

The second is the German Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, who is on Sunday, October 26, to celebrate the feast of Christ the King witb the Traditional Benedictines of Norcia. Cardinal Brandmüller was, from 1998-2009, President of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Science, casually known as the "chief historian" of the Vatican. In 2010, Cardinal Brandmüller was named to cardinal because of his personal services, who was the first since the liturgical reforms of 1969/1970 to celebrate the Immemorial Mass of All Ages again at the Altar of the Chair of Peter  in 2011 on one of the two main altars of St. Peter's Basilica.

The third cardinal is the Australian, George Pell. As the cardinal deacon, Jean-Louis Tauran announced the new pope on the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica at March 13, 2013, some had thought at the mention of the name Georgium, for a fraction of a second to be the then Archbishop of Sydney. Cardinal Pell may celebrate a Pontifical Mass in the Roman church of the Fraternity of St. Peter SS Trinità dei Pellegrini on Friday, October 24. He is the only Cardinal of the fifth continent who has been close to traditional circles  for many years. 

Cardinal George Pell

During the pontificate of Benedict XVI. Cardinal Pell was in talks twice, to take over the management of a Congregation of the Roman Curia. In 2005 he was one of the three candidates to succeed the chosen pope. Joseph Ratzinger, as Prefect of the CDF.  The American, William Cardinal Levada was selected, while the third as stated was Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, whom Benedict XVI.  made a Cardinal Secretary of State.

2010 was already fixed as Pell's appointment as Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops. A campaign was launched against him in anticlerical circles with the accusation that he may have covered cases of sexual abuse, so Rome decided at the last moment for the French-Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet.

The allegations against Cardinal Pell proved to be baseless smear campaign. [?] So it happened that the Australian cardinal has made unexpectedly rapid career under Pope Francis. Under a Pope who is not suspected to be tradition-friendly. The first promotion was inevitable. A representative in the C8 Cardinal Advisory was selected from each continent to advise the Pope on the reform of the Curia and the Church leadership,  for America for each of the three sub-continents. George Pell is the only Cardinal of Oceania, which is why he had a secure place among the cardinals.

Once in Rome, Pope Francis entrusted him with other leading tasks at the Curia. However, with those in which the Australian may be more expected to put his organizational talents to the test than his liturgical sensibility and enforcing his understanding of the church.

Pope Francis even made him the prefect of a Roman Congregation. On 24 February,  the Pontiff created  a new "Ministry" as an economic secretariat, in which the entire economic and financial affairs of the Holy See were pooled, and made  Pell the first Cardinal Prefect.

The promotion  under the liturgically uninvolved Argentine Pope seem to have done nothing to change the attitude of the Cardinal, as the appointment of Father Mark Withoos as his personal secretary shows. Withoos previously worked for the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei . Another clue is his willingness to celebrate a Pontifical Mass in the traditional rite at the Third International pilgrimage tradition. A willingness, among the number of cardinals who do not condescend due to an internal distance.

Traditional Rite More Visibility

The International Pilgrimage of the tradition took place in 2012 with the declared aim of the traditional rite to gain greater visibility and return it to St. Peter's Cathedral, the main church in Christendom for the first time. 2012  also had a certain hope that Pope Benedict XVI. could even celebrate the Pontifical Mass or at least  attend. It was a hope that did not come true.

The General Delegate of the pilgrimage is the Italian prosecutor, Giuseppe Capoccia of Lecce (head of the Association Summorum Pontificum in Puglia, Campania and Basilicata. Pilgrimage chaplain is a French priest Claude Barthe, Secretary General is the French layman Guillaume Ferluc. The program  can be viewed in English, French and Italian on the website populussummorumpontificum.com.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Summorum Pontificum Populus / Una cum Papa nostro (Screenshots)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Anti-Kasper Front: From Brandmüller and Caffara Come De Paolis and Bassetti

(Vatican)  Kasper has been slowly forming resistance behind the lines.  This is according to Archbishop Carlo Cardinal Caffarra of Bologna in the newspaper Il Foglio and Cardinal Walter Brandmüller in the daily newspaper The Daily Mail, a third wearer of the Purple  has publicly and thoroughly taken a position on the issue of remarried divorcees. And he opposes himself against the theses of Cardinal Walter Kasper, who was the only speaker at the recent Cardinal consistory of February 20 and 21 at the request of the Pope. Kasper was therefore able to give his opinion from a privileged position.

A position that secured him a considerable advantage in the public debate.  Or would have had at least, if the historian Roberto de Mattei had not immediately countered him with a profound contradiction. Not coincidentally, it was the German Cardinal Brandmüller who publicly disagreed with the German Cardinal Kasper first among the purple hats. Everyone knows this and is disillusioned.

De Paolis' Detailed Polemic Against Walter Kasper

Now Cardinal Velasio De Paolis has taken up a feather to cross blades  with Kasper in the dispute. The well-known canon is Prefect Emeritus of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See and was from the beginning, an apostolic delegate of the Legionaries of Christ.  The cardinal has expressed on several occasions his appreciation for Pope Francis.

De Paolis took advantage of this past March 27, the opening of the new judicial year at the church court of Umbria, to  challenge  Cardinal Kasper in the ring. The title of his speech was: "The Remarried Divorcees and the Sacraments of the Eucharist and of Penance" .

De Paolis counter reply is more extensive than   Kasper's paper  before the Cardinals. 40 pages  have been published in full by the church court on the Internet, the intention of the Cardinal of the Order of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo (CS)  also called the Calabrians,  is trying to set his brother back on track.

Support for De Paolis of Neocardinal Bassetti

"Moderator" of the church law of Umbria  is Archbishop Gualtiero Bassetti of Perugia, whom Pope Francis has made ​​Deputy President of the Italian Bishops' Conference and a cardinal.  Archbishop Bassetti was not only the only resident Italian who has been created cardinal by Pope Francis. As Archbishop of Perugia he stands in front of a diocese whose bishop's throne is not connected in accordance with the Concordat, to  the dignity of Cardinal, like Venice and Turin, whose occupants,  however, have come up empty-handed.

It was Neocardinal Bassetti, whom De Paolis invited to give the opening speech. It was also Bassetti, in the ceremony gave the floor on March 27, De Paolis in advance and said that  De Paolis'  introductions, "are valuable, and very current  as well as very enriching for us."

"What is to be Said on the Question of Cardinal Kasper?"

Cardinal De Paolis  combined these theses of Kasper together to refute them: "What's to say about the question posed by Cardinal Kasper on February 21, 2014 in the Consistory?" According to Kasper the way of the Church is to balance between rigor and laxity, a way of repentance, which flows first in the sacrament of penance, and then in the sacrament of the Eucharist. Kasper had wondered if this way is feasible also for remarried divorcees and described conditions under which in his opinion it was possible. Kasper listed five conditions and formed them into questions  on whether the remarried divorcees communion even then could be refused if they fulfill these conditions. Whereat Kasper had clearly allowed to keep the admission to communion possible and desired.

Kasper posed his "opening",  as an exception that should not be a general rule. One limitation, however, seems to serve more for the enforcement of its goal to open to remarried divorcees access to communion. As an argument  the German Cardinal also claimed, again in the form of a question, whether the worst case could be averted, such as the loss of an entire generation, namely, the children of remarried divorcees. "Life is not just black and white, but many shades," said Kasper with a less original, but trendy commonplace.

"No Positive Response Possible"

Then Cardinal De Paolis rebutted: "Apart from  good intentions, it does not seem to be possible to answer positively  to this question. Apart from the various situations in which there are  remarried divorcees, all these situations, but the same problem is common: the inadmissibility of cohabitation, "more uxorio" between two people who are not connected to each other by a real marriage bond. The civil marriage is no marriage bond in reality. According to church doctrine, it has not even the semblance of a marriage, which is why the Church speaks of an attack against marriage. Given such a situation it is not clear how one divorced  could receive sacramental absolution to get access to the Eucharist. In order to justify access to the Eucharist for remarried divorcees, reasons are often cited, which have more the appearance of good nature and legitimacy."

Kasper's "Aberration" - "Misunderstood" Pastoral and Mercy

Among these "justifications"  Cardinal De Paolis described "pastoral" and "mercy." Against the   "misunderstandings"  associated with this, the cardinal takes his position ending with a pointed reference with the infamous comment by  Pope Francis, "who am I to judge".

"Often and with justification it is said  that we are not called to condemn the people. The judgement is in fact God's.  It's another thing though, to order to evaluate a completely different situation morally, to distinguish what is good and what is evil; to check whether or not something corresponds to the plan of God for man. This review is imperative. Given the different life situations, such as that of remarried divorcees, can and must say that we do not condemn, but to help. However, we can not confine ourselves not to condemn. We are called to assess the situation in the light of faith and the divine plan, the well-being of the family, the persons concerned and especially the law of God and His love. Otherwise, we run the risk of no longer being able to appreciate the law of God. What's more, almost to consider it an evil, since we put the blame for all evil in a law. Due to a certain representation of things it just seems as if it would make us feel better, if it were not for the law of the indissolubility of marriage. An aberration  that we can recognize in the mistakes in the way we think and argue."  This goes an excerpt from Cardinal De Paolis' rejection of Kasper's theses.

It is generally expected in Italy so that Pope Francis is going to appoint Cardinal Bassetti  soon as the new President of the Italian Episcopal Conference. Even his appointment as deputy chairman was seen as the disempowerment of the Chairman in Office of Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco.

 The Vatican expert Sandro Magister is not presently of this opinion.  He assumes that Cardinal Bagnasco remains in office until the end of the regular term of office in 2017. Magister, says it is also that Bassetti  is aligned  in the group  resisting  Cardinal Kasper, because he called Cardinal De Paolis to Perugia and who already knew in advance his unambiguous rejection of Kasper-theses and approved of them, as is clear from his words in greeting and announcement of De Paolis.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Picture: Wikicommons

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Katholisches....

AMGD

Papal Praise For Kasper and Progressive Anathema Against Doctrine of the Faith

Haw-Haw, I Love This Guy!

What is brewing in the preparation of the Synod of Bishops on behind the scenes together? Is the convening of the Synod of Bishops only a  pretext to cap the sacrament of marriage? Are the remarried divorcees only the first step to a "new morality"? Was this topic remarried divorcees a secret ballot surrender  in the case Jorge Mario Bergoglios? The answer to these questions is not available. It is possible, however, to summarize the events of the past month and a half.

(Rome) A few days ago, Pope Francis joined the office of the Under Secretary of the Synod of Bishops  for the first time with the Episcopal dignity. In an accompanying letter to the Secretary of the Synod of Bishops, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, the Pope who wants to strengthen "collegiality" in the Church as "signs of the times". An intention, which is clearly expressed to the bishop by the imposition of cardinal status on the secretary  and the appointment of the Under Secretary. This is also a step towards the preparation of the first Synod of Bishops of this pontificate, which will take place in early October and will be looked to in the Church with mixed feelings. It's about the fear that a synodal coup could, if not in this first part of the Synod of Bishops, then in the second part, which is scheduled for autumn 2015, bypass parts of Catholic teaching on marriage and undermine the sacrament of marriage. The formula was supplied by the German theologian and Cardinal Walter Kasper. It is understandable given: Changing the formal doctrine untouched by a new practice. Specifically on the Kaspers program is the approval of remarried divorcees to the sacraments. Since the individual lives in a permanent state of public sin that remarried divorcees are excluded from receiving communion. If it goes according  to the Episcopal Conferences of Germany and Switzerland to the reception of communion will be possible under one or the other new formulae.

Cardinal Brandmüller Complains of "Chaos" in the Catholic Church

Ignorance of Catholic doctrine among bishops and theologians is in the opinion of Cardinal Walter Brandmüller the main reason for the current "chaos" in the Church.

Rome (kath.net / KNA) Ignorance of Catholic doctrine among bishops and theologians is in the opinion of Cardinal Walter Brandmüller (photo), the main reason for the current "chaos" in the Church. Given the internal Church debate on marriage and family the "unadulterated Catholic doctrine" is in danger, said the German cardinal and ecclesiastical historian of the Italian newspaper "Il Foglio" (Thursday).

Under bishops, preachers, catechists and "especially among moral theology professors", there is  often prevails an absence or lack of  clarity about the doctrine, complained Brandmüller. Adding to the resulting confusion are bishops who claim that the Catholic moral teaching is not up to date.

 Brandmüller also identified statements by Bishop Stephan Ackermann of Trier to a renewal of moral and sexual education. Ackermann might be right if he meant that believers are more motivated to live a life according to Catholic doctrine, and this needed to be better explained. He could, however, be wrong, if he wanted to have said that the Catholic doctrine no longer fits the times, says the cardinal. Ackermann told "Mainzer Allgemeine" early February declaring in an editorial interview with the that he saw the need for a change of morality and sexual ethics of the Church. It is no longer appropriate, to refuse divorced and remarried   admission to the sacraments permanently and consider premarital sex in general as a grave sin. At the same time Ackermann stressed he  is not about making fundamental changes in teaching. 

 The Augsburg Church Historian Brandmüller had been President of the Pontifical Committee of Historical Sciences from 1998 to 2009. He has belonged to the College of Cardinals since September of 2010.  

Link to Katholisches...

Bishop Tebartz-van Elst Often Back in His Diocese of Limburg

The "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reported, citing "Church circles" remaining anonymous  that the Bishop of Limburg  residing more often in his diocese again. UPDATE: Opinion of the diocese

Limburg (kath.net) According to the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" (FAS), the Limburg Bishop Franz-Josef Tebartz van Elst  (photo) is back in his diocese on a regular  basis. The bishop, who had been temporarily relieved of his residence obligation by the Pope Francis, apparently spends at least several days every month  in the Episcopal House [Palace] of the Diocese of Limburg. The FAS has received this information from unnamed "church circles".  

Tebartz van Elst's driver cooks for him at his official residence, apparently he also celebrates  Holy Mass occasionally in the Bishop's Chapel, says the FAS.

The FAS also pointed out that the presence of the Bishop of Limburg  "is critically eyed in German church circles", [a good sign] since they are concerned  that Tebartz van Elst will have "influence on official business". The FAS wrote, but without any reference to sources: "In fact, he issues instructions to the new Vicar General. Wolfgang Rösch, who officially leads the diocese, in the background." 

From the environs of the bishop it is also to be learned that he  continues to strive for his full reinstatement to Limburg. In this he will be assisted by the Archbishops of the Curia Gerhard Ludwig Müller and Georg Gänswein and who also had actually become very cautiously positive for the Limburg Bishop.  Gänswein, Prefect of the Papal Household, had also said to "Mittelbayrischen Zeitung"   in mid-January that the Commission of Inquiry will exonerate  Tebartz van Elst  kath.net has reported . 

The Limburg Bishop had also received support from Cardinal Walter Brandmüller in Rome. In an article in the "Daily Post" of last Friday, Brandmüller blamed the difficulties in the diocese of Limburg not of the current bishop, but his predecessor, Bishop Franz Kamphaus. This one is said to essentially support an "anti-Roman sentiment" that has spread in the diocese. Kamphaus has defended, for example, the Church advising consent to abortion  to pregnant women against the Vatican. 

Brandmüller had been quoted in the "Daily Mail": "There can be no doubt that this attitude of a bishop will have destructive consequences for the relationship of the faithful of the diocese of Limburg to the Magisterium of the  church - and the  successor of Franz Kamphaus." 

And this was Brandmüller's diagnosis on the events in Limburg for the "Daily Mail": "But what had happened in Limburg, was basically nothing more than the transfer of the partnership model, the form of government of modern democracy, to the Church. Such attempts at transmission  - and that is secularization in the proper sense  - have been made ​​several times in history and each time has done damage. The Church is, after all, neither monarchy [?] nor dictatorship, nor aristocratic republic or corporate state - it is simply the "Church", though in this world, but not of this world. It is a mystery of faith and follows her own, her own law legislated by  Jesus Christ." 

In the mean time now  an article by the "Focus" with news from Rome has become public, after which the results of the investigation conducted by the Church will be shown to have largely exonerated Bishop Tebarz-van Elst. "Focus" has  also reported that the diocese of Limburg may even be disolved by Roman considerations, as kath.net has reported .

 UPDATE: Statement of the Diocese of Limburg: The Limburg Bishop Franz-Peter van Elst Tebartz regularly stays in his diocese. A report of the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" (FAS) confirmed by Diocese Spokesman Stephan Fast on Sunday for the Catholic News Agency (KNA). The bishop among other things, being criticized the way he managed and because of the cost of a construction project on the Limburg Cathedral Hill, has returned briefly to Limburg  for "personal reasons". 

But this was neither an interdict nor libelous because he lived "neither in exile nor in restriction", even if it the Pope had granted an break at the end of October for an indefinite period  outside his diocese. FAS further reports that Tebartz van Elst imparts instructions to the new Vicar General Wolfgang Rösch, who leads the ongoing administration of the diocese during the absence of the bishop. To that, KNA was quick to reply that of course Rösch is in contact with the bishop, but is "solely and exclusively" accountable to the Vatican."

Foto Bischof Tebartz-van Elst: (c) Bistum Limburg

Cardinal Cañizares Celebrates Mass in St. Peter's in Immemorial Rite of All Ages

In St. Peter's Basilica there will be a Mass in the Old Rite for a second time since its reintroduction to the main altar, and the celebrant is the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Canizares Llovera.

Vatican City (kath.net/KNA) As planned the Old Mass will be celebrated on the main altar for the second time since the freeing up of the Mass by Pope Benedict XVI.  The celebrant of the Pontifical High Mass will be the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Canizares Llovera on November 3rd.  It would be the first time since the publication of the Papal permission "Summorum Pontificum" in July of 2007 that a Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship has celebrated Mass in the Old Rite.

In May of 2011 the Curial Cardinal Walter Brandmüller had celebrated High Mass on the main altar of St. Peter's Basilica in the Extraordinary Rite.   Since then a Pontifical Mass at the cathedral altar with Cardinal Llovera as celebrant was announced.   For unknown reasons Cardinal Brandmüller was replaced by the Spaniard.  The Old Rite has been regularly celebrated in a side chapel for a long time.

The Mass with Cardinal Llovera is taking place in association of a Pilgrimage associated with those attached to the Old Rite.  The co-organizer is the Italian branch of the society "Una Voce".  It is an association of Catholic laity, who are attached to the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite and have committed themselves to the preservation of the Gregorian Choral.

With the allowance "Summorum Pontificum" Benedict XVI had freed the Tridentine Mass on September 2007.   The latin language service in the Old Rite will be designated, as it was prescribe after the Council of Trent (1545-1563) in the Catholic Church for the whole world.  These Mass books were gradually replaced at first after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) by a new Liturgy,  which was to be celebrated in the respective national languages,  Latin was still allowed, however. [Actually, it was expected]

Cardinal Brandmüller Admitted to Hospital

[Katholisches] Walter Cardinal Brandmüller (83) has been admitted to hospital because of heart pain. This was reported by Francisco de la Cigoña. Born in Ansbach in the year 1929, the German Church historian and theologian was called to the College of Cardinals in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI. On May 15th 2011, he celebrated the first Pontifical High Mass in St. Peters in Rome since 1970. He was President of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences of leading Historians of the Catholic Church. He is counted as one of the most acclaimed members of the College of Cardinals and is a promoter of the Liturgical renewal of the Catholic Church and the rediscovery of the classical form of the Roman Rite.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi Bild: La cigüeña de la torre

Disagreements Between Cardinal Koch and Cardinal

Edit: There was a minor translation change in the statement by +Koch at his astonishment at the fixation about the SSPX after 50 years of dialog, rather than implying that he was thinking it would stall the talks.  Thanks to P-Hall.


What binding level t the texts of the 2nd Vatican Council have?  A decisive question.  How the media plays the Cardinals against each other::  "Divide et impera?"  by Armin Schwibach

Rome (kath.net/as)  The discussion of the forthcoming unification with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X (FSSPX) driven some strange blood, which are in view of the interpretation of the texts of the 2nd Vatican Council.  So it happened in the last days that the media has played two Curial Cardinals who have expertise in the matter, against each other: a completely far fetched situation of a published opinion without foundation.

The play began after the President for the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity,  Kurt Cardinal Koch,  had held a lecture with the title "Building on 'Nostra Aetate -- 50 Years of Christian-Jewish Dialog" at the Papal University of St. Thomas (Angelicum) in the "John Paul II" center.   All questions in the concluding press conference resolved themselves  then, however, on the FSSPX and the negotiations in the Congregation for the Doctrine and the Faith:  it was a question of
the long expected 'feria quarta', on the meeting of the Congregation over the document presented by the FSSPX and being informed about the possible coming unification.

Cardinal Koch explained to the media concerned with this only that the discussions were in process and he could not say what they concerned till Pope Benedict's decision.   At the same time the Cardinal announced his surprise at this that over fifty years of dialog with Judaism would be fixated in such a way  by the Society of St. Pius X.

Journalists constructed from this statement the opposite.  It was loudly announced  that Cardinal Koch himself as the first according to the full committee of the Congregation of the Doctrine and the Faith had expressed himself about the unification with the Society, which wasn't the truth, because:  Koch had refused for that reason to  comment.

Cardinal Koch further explained that the Second Vatican Council and all its texts are binding for a Catholic, from which the journalists determined that it was a "mandatory obligation". In the sense of Pope Benedict XVI's called for Hermaneutic of Continuity with Tradition, Koch underlined, it is important to stress that it is the Magisterium which determines the authentic interpretations with respect to Catholic doctrine and answers all subsequent open questions. With his address to the Roman Curia on the 22nd of December 2005, Pope Benedict XVI presented a "key for the interpretation of the Conciliar texts offered: "Reform in Continuity" against the "Hermeneutics of Rupture".

The presentation of the book "Le chiavi di Benedetto XVI per interpretare il Vaticano II"  (The keys of Benedict XVI for the interpretation of the Second Vatican Council)" took place on the 22nd of May in Rome.   The work was written by Walter Cardinal Brandmuller together with Curial Bishop Agostinoo Marchetto and the Italian theologian and liturgist, Msgr. Nicola Bux.  At the presentation of the book, +Brandmuller touched on the various levels of binding of the Council texts.  There is a big difference between a Constitution and a simple Declaration, as well as those on Christian Education, the Mass Media or even "Nostra Aetate".  Those "controversial documents" for the FSSPX as even over religious freedom and the relationship to the other religions have no binding doctrinal content, said Brandmuller, as is the case with the Dogmatic Constitutions.  For that reason they may be discussed.  Oddly  both of the controversial texts, namely, "Nostra Aetate" and "Dignitatis Humanae", according to the estimation of Canon Lawyer Klaus Morsdorf would have no doctrinal content.  That doesn't mean, however, said the Cardinal, that one need not take them seriously:  they are expressions of the living Magisterium, without binding the entire Church.

Brandmuller's address was taken up by the media immediately represented as the opposite to the words of Cardinal Koch.  This then did not correspond to reality.  As to the question if he was in contradiction with Cardinal Koch's comments, +Brandmuller explained that this couldn't have possibly been the case.  It is completely correct, when Koch says, that a Catholic has to accept the decrees of a General Council.  That doesn't preclude, "that the Decrees have various levels of binding".  Also there is a "Free space for theological discussion abut the correct understanding of the Conciliar texts":  "Where then is the disagreement?"

This begs the question: is the reason that these differences which are as obscure as the Antipodes be a wedge driven between two Cardinals, these two who could or will be the spearheads of Benedict XVI's work of reform and  give significant contributions for the reflection over the Vatican Council right in the wings of the upcoming "Year of Faith?  "Divide et impera" appears to be the motto. Cui bono?

Link to origial kath.net....

Cardinal Brandmuller Recommends Tough Measures Against Schismatic Austrians

Edit: What with the way that the Swiss Catholic Bishops are treating the Rome-true Bishop Huonder these days, things are starting to well up from beneath the surface and the cracks are forming around the edifice as significant portions of the Church in the German speaking zone threaten to break off to form their own time-kept projects.

According to Chiesa, Cardinal  Brandmüller [83] is recommending sterner measures against the dissidents fomenting rebellion.

 A few days ago, we translated an article about a similar priest rebellion from kreuz.net which developed in Bohemia and Slovakia in 1908. That rebellion involved not a mere 400 signators of an internet petition, as is the case with the present schismatic "Pastor's Initiative" in Austria, but held 1300 priests in Czechoslovakia. The schism still exists today and contains about 100,000 members. Despite having many points in common with the Pastor's Initiative, they are still waiting for a change from Rome.

 Clearly, a certain  Bishop of Regensburg should be eager to take some lessons from history his own past notwithstanding,  if he intends to be the next to fill the shoes of Cardinal Levada, President of the Congregation for the Doctrine and the Faith.

VATICAN CITY, March 20, 2012 – "How a schism was born": this is the title of an article that appeared recently in "L'Osservatore Romano" with the byline of the Bavarian cardinal Walter Brandmüller (in the photo). An article with an historical slant, but with explicit references to current events.

An article that from the very beginning recalls the anti-Roman movement "Los von Rom" that emerged in Austria between the 19th and 20th century, which "was able to drive about a hundred thousand Austrian Catholics to separate from the Church."

This movement – the cardinal continues, coming up to the present – "was revived following Vatican Council II." But not only that. "Similar tendencies seem to be reemerging from time to time in our days as well, in some of the appeals for disobedience toward the pope and the bishops.."

Chiesa...