New Foundation of the Franciscans of the Immaculate in the Philippines?

Archbishop Ramon Cabrera Arguelles

(Rome) In the Philippines, there seems to be an attempt, for the reincorporation of the Order of the Franciscans of the Immaculate in a new guise, but with its old charism. This seems to explain the angry reaction of the Apostolic Commissioner Father Fidenzio Volpi with the suspension of several priests.

The news of the suspension a divinis of six priests of the Franciscans of the Immaculate by the little "merciful" Commissar of the Order, has attracted international attention. The reactions have forced the acting head of the Order to an opinion, which can only confirm the critics of the punitive actions against the Order in their opinion, in their mocking tone about "ultra-traditionalist" circles. One of those critics described Father Alfonso Bruno,  who was imposed by the Commissioner and is the Secretary General and spokesman of the Order, as "Mr. Nobody". The charges against the six priests remain vague in Father Alfonso Burno's  description. Compared to the poor reproaches, the penalties seem excessive. Bruno's anger was directed  chiefly against the American website Rorate Caeli , which had dared to point out that disproportion.

Disproportionate Actions

Since August 2013, a public smear campaign against the Franciscans of the Immaculate of Father Manelli  has taken place, including fake Facebook profiles. [And here in the comment box] The fact is that there is neither an investigation nor an indictment against him and not even any concrete evidence of misconduct. Given the appalling libel, distributed under pseudonyms against him, which seems to be quite an indictment of the Apostolic Commissioner and his minions in the Order, and even more for the  Congregation of Religious that ruled the disproportionate action with papal approval.

More than that, it begs the question, how can Father Alfonso Bruno spread the word in such an insolent manner in secrecy against the Founder in all places? How can it be that an Apostolic Commissioner tolerated such an arrogant attitude? And that still forces  another question: What exactly is it that the Apostolic Commissioner for the Order, except impose disproportionate penalties, prohibitions and penalties and, it seems, while also violating church law?

New Foundation?

This is exactly where the hook of the  critics of the sanctions against the Order  speak of an "ideologically" motivated approach, because the Order discovered  tradition in doctrine and liturgy for itself and accepted it.  At the beginning of the punitive measures,when asking for specific allegations and evidence, there are still mysterious rumors of "misconduct", which have the dismissed leadership of the Order is allegedly guilty. But fifteen months later no one is convinced by cryptic talk.

More interestingly it appears that in the Archdiocese of Lipa in the Philippines, a public association of the faithful was recognized on June 28, 2014, as the French site Riposte Catholique reported. This could be the precursor to a reestablishment of the oppressed Order of Franciscans of the Immaculate. Archbishop Ramon Cabrera Arguelles of Lipa gave the five suspended Filipino Franciscans of the Immaculate, a celebret . Apparently  a new foundation on the horizon looming in his area, is the reason he therefore reacted so sharply. Perhaps the Order of Father Stefano Maria Manelli will soon arise anew in his mind.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Riposte Catholique

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link...

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Is the Lodge Behind the Commissariat Over the Franciscans of the Immaculate?

(Rome)  Is the hand of the Grand Lodge hidden behind  the provisional administration of the Franciscans of the Immaculate (FI)?  Another spotlight on a controversial measure of Roman Congregation for Religious, with the approval of Pope Francis.

Storied Florence, destination of aesthetes and art lovers, is the Italian capital of Freemasonry. In the city on the Arno, there is no quarter and no district in which a Temple  of a lodge can not be found. The late Florentine Father Florido Giant Ulli SJ (1906-1974), one of the foremost Catholic experts on Freemasonry said: "There is no association, whether secular or Catholic, into which the long arm of the Lodge does not reach." The Jesuit wrote, among others, the fundamental work: " L'Essenza della Massoneria italiana: il naturalismo "(The Essence of Italian Freemasonry:  Naturalism), in 1973, shortly before his death, it was published in the same place with  a double imprimatur of the Jesuit Order and the Archbishop of Florence. Father Giantulli paid for his studies on the "Masonic sect" (Pius IX.) with that price which is reserved especially for anti-Masonic authors: After his death he was slandered with the rumor that he was a "secret lodge brother".

Since the 60s, the Church has become quiet on Freemasonry

In the 60s of the last century, the Catholic Church ceased almost entirely from talking about Freemasonry. It seemed suddenly that a secret peace agreement entered into force. A mutual "acceptance" in the sign of pluralism. A few Catholic writers, priests and laity, continued the study and observation of this secret society. In the German speaking world it was Alfons Maria Cardinal Stickler (1910-2007); Bishop Rudolf Graber (1903-1992) of Regensburg; his pupil, the priest Manfred Adler (1928-2005) and the Austrian lay theologian and political scientist Robert Prantner (1931-2010). All four were heavily attacked. The latter two were chosen for their publications and lectures as the targets of violent media campaigns that demanded considerable personal sacrifice. Adler was removed from the Diocese of Speyer schools and removed from  his order, the Missionaries of St. John the Baptist (MSJ). Prantner was deprived of his post in the Department of Ethics and Christian Social Teaching at the Philosophical-Theological College of Heiligenkreuz near Vienna in what has been euphemistically  referred to ever since as retirement. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as Faith Prefect  braced himself in November 1983 against the assertion of parts of the Church that the cross and Lodge had become compatible. Quite a few Church leaders ignored the interjection of the Cardinal and later, and the Pope despised by the Lodge. This includes the Vienna Cathedral Rector, Toni Faber, to name just one example.

Fides Catholica , a Magazine Challenging Freemasonry

In other European countries west of the former Iron Curtain, things are no different, so also in Italy. There, the issue was marginalized in its extent  and was surrounded by a media taboo, that the few ecclesiastical writers (not sensational journalists) who still dealt with it, could easily be dismissed as marginal "story tellers". Until 2006, when in that year the new journal was published by the Franciscans of the Immaculate, Fides Catholica . The editors were Father Serafino Lanzetta Maria, a lecturer in moral theology at the convent's Seminary of the Immaculate Mediatrix. Already, in the first issue the  magazine  the point was addressed and published by Father Paolo Maria Siano FI, the recognized experts on Freemasonry in the Order, perhaps even the currently most important Catholic Freemason expert, with the article entitled "A Study on the Incompatibility Between Freemasonry and the Catholic Church."  In it, he pointed out that the "modern Freemasonry, since its inception in 1717,  was characterized by an enlightening and a magical-esoteric component, with the goal to "overcome  dogmatic fundamentalism"  with the reason for division and the absolute, bring out the truth, inn order to bring people together in a broad, natural religion, to leave  the way they realize God left to the subjectivity of the individual, but follows a cultus all the same.

Numerous other publications in Fides Catholica on Freemasonry followed. But Father Siano went beyond mere statements and publicly crossed swords with the Masonic brethren,  as the usual mixture of ridicule and irrationality was  applied to him.

Masonic Satanic Cult and Attacks by the Lodge

Loge Har Tzion Rome

"In the context of a 2009 Conference  held in Florence held by Fides Catholica, my confrere Father Serafino Maria Lanzetta had words with some Masons present in the audience, including Vittorio Vanni from the Lodge Stella del Mattino (No. 1031 -. Florence, Grand Orient of Italy). He accused me in a genteel way of seeing in Freemasonry something that does not exist there, a Masonic satanic cult ... Those responsible for the website of the Roman Lodge Har Tzion Monte Sion (No. 705 -. Rome, Grand Orient of Italy), published on 16 July 2009 an esoteric praise of the Devil,  and one of  his lodge brothers, the psychoanalyst and high degree Freemason, Emilio Servadio (33rd Degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite) wrote in 1974: 'The devil is as a friend with whom you can talk.  The devil  is as an instrument that transforms us, perfects us, and  as we reach the one, the liberation of duality ... It is necessary to reconvert Lucifer back into the devil ... '". Thus Father  Siano wrote in his "Handbook" about Freemasonry. There is also the suggestion that Vittorio Vanni published  "an essay on the Devil of the Tarot,"  in which he praised him as, 'principle or positive energy and as a necessary way to get to the light ... good and evil are the only light."

Commissariat Because of the Opposition to Freemasonry?

"In light of recent events, since the beginning of the provisional administration in July 2013, many things seem to confirm what many suspected immediately. The Franciscans of the Immaculate are paying now for their opposition to Freemasonry. This includes the emergence and role of Professor 'Mario Castellano, who is regarded as an instigator of the "rebels" -  to which belongs Brother Alfonso Bruno. Father Bruno has been the new "strong" man since the overthrow in the Order of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, or what's left of it," said Christiana Riscossa . The particularly active convent of Ognissanti, which was heavily involved in exposing Freemasonry, was dissolved and reorganized by the Apostolic Commissioner. Father Lanzetta was exiled to Austria and Father Siano to Africa.

That the provisional administration has had to do with the fact that the Franciscans of Father Manelli hindered the "dialogue" of part of the Church with Freemasonry, of this the historian and former Christian Democrat vice-mayor of Florence, Giovanni Pallanti is convinced. The columnist of the daily newspaper La Nazione wrote recently:

"When, on March 1, 2013 [at the Church of Ognissanti in Florence, managed by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate] this Order presented two books by Father Paolo Maria Siano  (the " Manual "to Freemasonry and" Freemasonry Between Mysticism, Rituals and Symbolism "), which had appeared in 2012 at the convent's publisher, that is also given by the journal Fides Catholica, I thought that this is an historic event. 

Never yet, so far as I know, was the Freemasonry criticized for their secrecy and their hostility to the Church before so many attendees in Florence. Father Lanzetta chaired. Father Siano spoke.

Could it be a coincidence? After that day, the problems for the Franciscans of the Immaculate and their Florentine monastery of Ognissanti began. It may be a pure coincidence ... Personally, I do not believe in  such coincidences. "

Coincidence or Not: Today "Deathly Quiet" Prevails in the Ognissanti Monastery

The words of former Vice-Mayor originate not from the "usual" circles, the "traditionalists", "Pelagians" and "Crypto-Lefebvrians" or whatever they are  "kindly" entitled with, but by a well-known representative of the Left Wing of the former Christian Democrat party, which one can not be dismissed by  the new Sanhedrin class as "reactionary", without having to enter into a discussion.

"What now of the rescued 'dialogue' between clericals and Freemasons going forward? Can they now sleep peacefully?  In Ognissanti in Florence, peace prevails under the provisional administration  - the peace of the graveyard," said Christiana Riscossa .

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Traditio Catholica

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

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Little Caterina Offered Her Illness For the Franciscans of the Immaculata

Caterina Maria Sudorio (2006-2014)

(Rome) Caterina Maria Sudrio, the youngest of ten children, was born on 1 June 2006 in Benevento, that southern Italian city, which is famous for the Battle of Benevento, which battle as known in German speaking lands that finally brought the dream of the Staufers to an end in 1266. The city was appropriated by the Pope in 1053 from Emperor Henry III., where the Pope renounced his rights in Bamberg. The city remained papal  until the time of Napoleon.

At the age of only four years, the small Caterina asked with a serious tone to confess to Father Pietro Maria Luongo of the Order of Franciscans of the Immaculate. The girl had been Christened by Father Stefano Maria Manelli, founder of this Order. From him she received on Christmas 2011, at the tender age of only five and a half years her First Communion at  High Mass in the traditional, Tridentine Rite. The decree Quam Singularities of St. Pius X from 1910 states: "What is valid for confession as a distinguishing age is when one can distinguish between good and evil, that is, has reached a certain use of reason, we must  open Communion for the same distinctive age  if the Eucharistic bread can be distinguished from an ordinary bread."

Every Evening at the Eucharistic Blessing

Every evening Caterina emphatically wanted to receive the Eucharistic blessing in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Good Counsel at 7:20 in Frigento, which is the mother house of the young Franciscan Order. The serious illness that  affected her young body, she sacrificed in full awareness for Father Stefano Maria Manelli and the Order of the Brothers and the Sisters of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate.

Caterina's favorite movie was "The Secret of Marcellino ", a Spanish production from the year 1955.  Marcellino the orphan is placed in the 18th century as an infant on the doorstep of a Franciscan monastery. The brothers take on the child. One day, the boy discovered a large crucifix in the attic of the monastery. He is overcome with great pity on the emaciated Jesus hanging on the cross. He secretly steals some bread and wine in the monastery and brings them to the crucified.  The crucifix comes to life before Marcellino, takes the bread and wine, at which point the Eucharist, and instructs the boy in the Christian faith. Again and again, the boy returns to the attic, because the man on the cross attracts him and he regularly brings to the Lord some bread and wine from the monastery inventories. The brothers notice the theft and are looking for the cause. Marcellino wishes, meanwhile, to see his mother (of whose death he obviously knows) and also the Mother of God, Mary. The Crucified takes the boy in his arms and tells him to sleep. In the arms of Jesus, the boy falls asleep happy and dies. The Franciscans, who had advanced in their search for the missing food up to the attic,  then see a radiant light shinning through the slatted, which gives a heavenly luster to the lifeless body of the boy.

Favorite Movie and Favorite Song

The film follows the nove l "Marcelino Pan Y Vino" by Spanish author José María Sánchez Silva. In 1955 he won two special awards at the International Film Festival of Cannes and the Silver Bear in Berlin. 

In the film, a Franciscan told in a flashback, the story of young Marcellino to a dying girl. Caterina, who knew herself to be mortally ill, thus  may have been touched by this movie.

Her favorite song was "Preferisco il Paradiso " (I prefer the paradise), which she had heard in a two-part TV movie produced in 2010 on the life of St. Philip Neri. In the television broadcast of the film, which reached viewing figures of 23.9 percent (first part) and 27.4 percent (second part). The pious joy of the Saint,  his cheerful nature and his deep piety impressed and thrilled the small Caterina.

The Deadly Disease and Its victims

Caterina with Pope Francis

Parents and doctors should remember when they talk about Caterina, with admiring astonishment that she never complained about her illness, a malignant epipheochromocytoma.  When she was asked how she was, she always replied "good" and smiled. As soon as she could talk, she repeated again and again that Jesus came to bring joy, because without love, it is difficult to grow.

In summer 2012, her fatal illness was diagnosed. She knew that she would die. On Saturday, July 26, the Feast of St. Anne and Joachim, the parents of the Virgin Mary, God willed to take  Caterina at 9 O'clock in the morning at the age of eight years. Consummatum est !

The parents of small Caterina Maria Sudrio, Francesco and Rosaria of small  are Tertiaries of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, while three older sisters are the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception . So, the little Caterina was familiar with the Order from an early age.  So it was she who one day said she wanted to sacrifice her illness and her death for this order.

Her situation had touched many hearts. On January 23, 2014, she was even received by Pope Francis (see picture)

On June 1,  small Caterina celebrated her eighth  birthday with her family and many of friends and with her brothers and sisters from the Order. On 9 March, she had received at her express request, and with special permission, Holy Confirmation.

"She will intercede for us all" it says in the brief statement by the Franciscans of the Immaculate on Caterina's death, which ends with the words: "The flowers grow from the earth and they return to the earth, but their fragrance rises up to heaven."

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Chiesa e Postconcilio / Osservatore Romano

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

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Troika Over the Franciscans of the Immaculate -- Who is Mario Castellano, Really?

Mario Castellano, Member of the Troika, Which Oversees
The Franciscans of the Immaculatee

(Rome) A year ago, on 29 July 2013, the provisional government of the Franciscans of the Immaculate (FI) was announced.  Nine days before, Katholisches.info had just reported on the opening of a new monastery that the Order was still in flower. The decree of the Congregation of Religious was signed with the approval of Pope Francis on July 11th.  Since August 11, the Order has been prohibited the celebration in the traditional form of the Roman rite. Its fate now lies in the hands of a triumvirate: which was set up by the Congregation of Religious' Apostolic Commissioner Father Fidenzio Volpi, OFM Cap, the Franciscan "parricide" Father Alfonso Bruno (FI) and a hitherto barely visible, but the more active eccentric figure, who was active as a consultant with the criminal action against the Order: "Professor" Mario Castellano. Who is Mario Castellano? This question was asked by Emmanuele Barbieri for Corrispondenza Romana. What he was doing is astonishing as  summarized here.

Mario Castellano came into the world in 1949 in Imperia on the Italian Riviera, the son of a well-off Catholic family. Father Adolfo had come into prosperity as a representative of the rice brand Scotti. During the German occupation of Italy, he joined the  "whites", i.e. Catholic partisans, and after the war on the council of the Christian Democratic party in his hometown. Uncle Ismaele Mario Castellano was Archbishop of Siena.The young Castellano studied law and was admitted as a lawyer, a profession he never exercised, however. His political sympathies were always to the left. To be precise, he belonged to the left wing of the Christian Democrats (DC).In Imperia where he was known as a Cathokommunist. It is said that he belonged to the Grand Orient of Sanremo since the 90s. We wait for the person who denies this news.

Support For The "Nicaraguan Revolution"

Although he never completed his habilitation, he adorns himself with the title "Professor". Castellano taught law  immediately after the takeover by the Marxist Sandinistas at the University of Managua. For ideological reasons, Castellano had moved to support the "Nicaraguan Revolution" to Nicaragua, where he married a Nicaraguan woman, from whom he separated after a few years. After returning to Europe, he worked with various esoteric and pro-Islamic websites before it was the "right hand" or perhaps better to the "left head" of Father Alfonso Bruno. Castellano moved into the convent of the Franciscans of the Immaculate on the Via Boccea in Rome. Into the house that can be viewed as the center of dissidents who originated the order's internal subversion. From this house from the the Sacristan service also  supports   the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. It's the appropriate place to come into close contact with various points in the Vatican. From there, Castellano accompanied Father Bruno as the new Secretary General of the Order in its inspections of the monasteries and religious houses.

Sympathies for the Left, Esotericism and Muslims

Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate Conception as they were allowed to celebrate the Old Rite

Starting in 2005 Castellano wrote passionately for the rights of Muslims in Italy and the EU; for multiculturalism; for the adaptation of European laws on the rights of Muslims and even for believers and non-believers and believers of all religions.

2008 Castellano stood against the traditional rite and everything that might offend "Jewish sensibility". The author named the esoteric as one of three positive reasons why the Catholics are not "damned forever"  to fight against the Muslims and the Jews. On the website Islam Online he raved of mosques as a "factor of stability and security."

In 2011 he held, at a conference  organized by the Lions Club Sanremo  for the Italian Risorgimento,  a lecture on "The timeliness of Cavour," the notoriously anticlerical Italian statesman, who reeked of English Freemasonry.

From the French Revolution to the EU Superstate

In 2012 he was on the website run by Father Alfonso Bruno mediatrice.net  with the anonymous essay " Europe on the way to a federation?," but this actually was by Castellano.
The author gives himself to be an enthusiastic supporter of the French Revolution and of a centralized unitary state of Europe. The crisis that Europe is currently experiencing, he compares with the crisis in France shortly before the outbreak of the revolution. At that time the crisis was voiced in a revolutionary act by which the Estates-General proclaiming the Constituent Assembly and thus nudged the revolution. Today, the takeover of the sovereign debt of some EU Member States and the private debts of some banks by the EU constitutes a revolutionary act, which will make the  way free to a European federal state.

Castellano's Masonic Mind Games

In the wake of the French Revolution, the clergy was divided on the issue of the schismatic Civil Constitution between  constitutionalist and priests true to Rome. Castellano's sympathies include the schismatic priests as he wrote in the  article "France and the Positive Secularity": "When Napoleon concluded the Concordat of 1801 with Pius VII, the clergy true to Rome was pardoned and allowed to exercise their office again, while the work of the clergy loyal to the constitution  had been recognized in the previous decade from the canonical view. It had therefore acted properly both from the point of view of the state as well as from the point of view of the Church in France, who had decided to remain faithful to the nation. "

Mario Castellano has made himself known, beside his sympathies for the left (first left, always to the left), mainly by his wild attacks against traditional Catholics, who are not willing to  make cheap and lucrative compromises with the spirit of the times and the respective power. Perhaps it is therefore such considerations by Commissioner Volpi and the Congregation of Religious that made him a consultant.

He is a remarkable figure who may have a say in the Order, which was obliged to  Catholic tradition and the Old Rite and dared to join the struggle against the influence of Freemasonry. The goat has been appointed to be gardener.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Corrispondenza Romana

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

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Non Audiatur et Altera Pars: Pope Francis and the Franciscans of the Immaculate

Franciscans of the Immaculate Remain in the Shadows
of the Pontificate of Pope Francis

(Rome) The official news agency of the Catholic Church in Germany (CBA) and Switzerland (KIPA) have entitled the following stories:  "Pope  Insists on New Mass for Franciscans of Immaculata" and "Pope Insists on New Mass."  It is further stated in the reports, "Pope Francis has  rapped the Franciscans of the Immaculata over  decisions of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the subsequently developed New Mass."   The pope "warned against departing from  the provisions of Pope Benedict XVI., who had opened up the celebration of the Tridentine Mass again  with a motu proprio of 2007  under certain conditions."

Apart from the peculiar admission that a new Mass form was "developed" that after the Council, the reports are based on the hoax, that the Franciscans of the Immaculate had deviated from "requirements" of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of Pope Benedict XVI.  and thus forged a special path, which had made the intervention of Rome necessary. The Franciscans of the Immaculate were pastorally speaking a perfect bi-ritual Order. Therefore, they were entrusted with the care of parishes and places of pilgrimage not only in Italy. The reports confirm, however, that it is actually the Old Rite, which allowed the Congregation of Religious to  go berserk against the young order with the approval of the Pope. 

Pope Francis remarked with a raised index finger several times directly or indirectly against traditional Catholics with the accusation of "ideologically" motivated action. However, the case of the Franciscans of the Immaculate however, calls into question   question just who is "ideologically"  motivated. The traditional site Corrispondenza Romana published a revealing background report on the papal audience, we document here. The intertitles are from the editorial staff.

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The "Party" Commissar Volpi in Audience with the Pope

Pope Francis meets Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception, but a Audiatur et altera pars looks different

The meeting of the Pope with the young students (and it was a smaller number of young people) of the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception took place on the morning of last June 10 in the chapel of Santa Marta.  The message was only on published on the 23rd of June with an article by Andrea Tornielli and from some photos posted on Facebook, while the Vatican media ignored it completely. Why was the announcement  made only 13 days later? There are numerous doubts around the source, which only become thicker the closer one looks. 

Meticulously Selected Participants, Who did not Know Who They Were Meeting

The participants in the private audience with the Holy Father were meticulously selected, as it were hand-picked, but without knowing until the day itself, where they were to go. Only after they were directed towards St. Peter's, were they informed that they would meet the Pope. It was said they were making a pilgrimage to St. Peter's, others wanted to know that there was a special meeting with the Commissioner. But almost none of the brothers cited   (the novices, the remaining seminarians and some led by the rebellious priests and the leading professed) knew where you really went this morning.

Surprise: After a few minutes of waiting they stood before the Holy Father. Shortly before, the  master of ceremonies and actual architect of the meeting, Father Angelo Maria Gaeta ¹ , with the Commissioner, gave directions on how  behave in the presence of the Pope: no spontaneous questions, obedient listening,  at the end of a quick kiss on the hand without stopping. The Pope was very busy. The day before, he had canceled his audience due to illness.

Pope Francis Openly Contradicts Summorum Pontificum?

Edit: this is from the Catholic Neoconservative commerce website, Kath.net.  It says that Pope Francis has confirmed he will stay the course as stated by his predecessor, and then makes a statement that seems to clearly contradict it.  We can't imagine he wouldn't see the problem.  We suspect that he will continue to say one thing and do another with respect to traditionalists who are at present being blamed for all the woes of the Church at present.

Pope Francis has met with about 60 members of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate Conception at the Vatican.   At the meeting the state of the Order was discussed, which has been placed under an Apostolic Commissar for a year.

Vatikan (kath.net/jg) Vatican (kath.net / jg)
  Pope Francis has already met  with about 60 friars of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate Conception at the Vatican on June 10th earlier this month.  The meeting took place in the chapel of St. Martha Guest House and lasted about 90 minutes.  This is according to reports by Vatican expert Andrea Tornielli on the online edition of Vatican insider.

 

After the Franciscans had renewed their consecration to the Immaculate Conception with the Pope, they asked questions of Francis.  The Franciscans of the Immaculate have been under an apostolic Commissar for almost a year because of "internal" problems.  Even the Capuchin, Father Fidenzio Volpi, attended the meeting, says Tornielli.

 Francis has been "well informed" in all matters. The Vatican expert, says he is following the development of the Order and expressed his appreciation to Volpi for his "work".

 Due to the Vatican measures,  about 40 of the 400 world's brothers have [requested to leave, per Rorate] left the Order.   It's about half of the seminarians who were only under temporary vows, writes Tornielli.

 With regard to the restrictions on the "Old Mass", Pope Francis  does not want to stray  from the line of Benedict XVI.  From the question of rite there should but be no ideological confrontation, the pope continued.   The members of the Franciscans of the Immaculate must obtain permission from superiors and the bishop, if they want to celebrate a Holy Mass in the extraordinary rite in a parish church, a sanctuary or a meeting house.  [Since the legislation specifically says the opposite, it's difficult to see how this doesn't contravene, Summorum Pontificum.]

Franciscans of the Immaculate: New Order? The Curial General's Ridicule

(Rome) The Acting General  of the Franciscans of the Immaculate (FI) recently made a statement in a mocking tone to a recent article by Rorate Caeli. The well-known traditional  English language website reported on 14 May that a "substantial" part of the Order, between 100 and 150 brothers have appealed to the Roman Curia, to be dismissed from the Order of Pontifical Right and to be a Community of Diocesan Right.

The Franciscans of the Immaculate , since 1998, have been an institute of pontifical right, were provided with papal approval  to be under the provisional administration of the Congregation of Religious on July 11, 2013.  Officially no reasons for the drastic intervention were given until today. In reality, the reasons have been thoroughly revised. The management of the Congregation of Religious had interfered in  the  Order's change of internal liturgy from the New to the Old Rite, the participation of the Order in a critical review of the Council and its documents, and the post-conciliar period, and not least the fact that the Order, because of its seriousness and rigor, has become the most flourishing Order of the Catholic Church.

Since the hard engagement of the Congregation of Religious with the dismissal of the Order's leadership and the imposition of house arrest for the Founder, Father Stefano Maria Manelli, the brothers are looking for a way to save the charism of the Order and continue to maintain the Old Rite.

Request for Change of FI to Ecclesia Dei  Ignored

Already in the autumn, there was ​​a motion that the order be recognized as an Old Rite Order and the jurisdiction of the Pontifical Commission of a considerable part of the brothers would be assumed by Ecclesia Dei.  The request was ignored by the Congregation of Religious. In this context, the new test is to see, if they dispense with the already granted papal rights.Under a benevolent diocesan bishop, as the desire of the signatories of the petition, it should form a new order of diocesan right.

The Acting General of the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception, to be exact the papal commissioner appointed by the Secretary-General, Father Alfonso Bruno, has responded now on the article: "Rorate Caeli is lying again about us". For the brothers who want to keep the Old Rite, the Secretary-General  has only few merciful, disparage words.

New Order of Diocesan Right?

However, the Curial General,  confirmed there was a request to "be released from religious vows," but played down the scope.  "Only about 15 priests and seminarians and most  in temporary vows" would have made the request. In short, only about ten percent of the remaining members of the Order and not 30-40 percent. The inner need of the friars after a year under provisional administration, the prohibition of the Old Rite, the imposition of numerous restrictions, the dissolution of several monasteries, the suspension and removal of the international seminary is completely ignored by the Secretary-General.

"No Bishop Even Wants Them"

In a mocking tone the Curial General  insists hat the priests who want to leave the Order, "have not even found a bishop in two months" who would be willing to accept them. Father Alfonso Bruno, the Order's internal gray eminence behind the coup of 2013 against the order leadership, simultaneously provides his interpretation of things corresponding to that line he spread since last summer: When the request for release of the religious vows and desire to found a new order is that it was "merely a destructive and sabotaging strategy of former superiors who do not want the end of the crisis for ideological reasons and personal interests." However, the Secretary General also gave  no reasons in this case for the provisional administration, nor what the  "crisis" is and who caused this "crisis".

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Franciscans of the Immaculate

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Katholisches....

AMGD

Rodriguez Carballo Lets the Cat out of the Bag: “Fidelity to the Council is Not Negotiable"

(Barcelona / Rome) Does the Congregation of Religious suffer from a villainous portrait of  tradition? This question has hung in the air since last weekend. The Franciscan José Rodriguez Carballo, for a year secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, participated in a Conference of Religious of Catalonia. In his speech he delivered  last Saturday  without directly mentioning the Order by name, gave a first official hint as to why the Franciscans of the Immaculate have been reprimanded by his Congregation. The reason  implied much to the young religious Order, and is of a fundamental nature.

In his speech, Archbishop Rodriguez Carballo said that fidelity to the Second Vatican Council constitutes a central point for the religious life. Literally, the number two of the religious congregation said. "For religious the Council is a point that is not negotiable.”    Whoever see the "reforms" of Vatican II,  all the evils  besetting   religious life, "denies the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church.” [It’s ok if you deny the real presence though?]

Congregation “Very Concerned": "Not Only Pre-Conciliar, but Anti-Conciliar Training"

The Curial Archbishop stressed that the Congregation of Religious is "particularly concerned”   on the subject: "We see real differences." Mainly because "many Institutes”  are "not only a pre-Conciliar, but even give  an anti-Conciliar formation” to their religious offspring, says Rodriguez Carballo. "This is not allowed, that is to say, to stand outside of  history. This is something that is very concerning to us in the Congregation. A  ”concern ", which is obviously shared by the prefect of the Congregation of Religious, Cardinal João Braz de Aviz.  Also from Pope Francis? There is some evidence.

The conference was organized by the Unión de Religiosos de Cataluña (URC). On Saturday it was open to all religious in Catalonia. Maxim Muñoz, the URC-chairman and provincial superior of the Claretians of Catalonia described the appointment Rodriguez Carballos as secretary of the Congregation of Religious as a "special recognition by Pope Francis."

Pope Francis had called the Spanish Franciscan Rodriguez Carballo on April 6, 2013, just three weeks after his election to his present office.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: OFM

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Katholisches…

AMGD

A New Blow Against the Franciscans of the Immaculata --- Pilgrimage Church Refused Them

(Rome), a new blow by  the Commission  set upon  the  Franciscans of the Immaculate by the Congregation for Religious. The lay association Mission of the Immaculate Mediatrix (MIM) was denied the Marian Sanctuary of Pompeii.  Since the year 2004, MM brought believers together to  take a pilgrimage from Naples and Campania  to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii, the most famous Marian shrine in this part of southern Italy. Yesterday, on Divine Mercy Sunday, however, the faithful were denied  access to the holy image

Prohibition of Commissar Volpi Led Prelate of Pompeii to Ban

On 10 April, when everything was already organized, the faithful were informed by the rector of the Basilica, Monsignor Salvatore Acampora,  the use and access ban without notice. Pilgrimage, Holy Mass, Rosary and Marian songs had to be canceled. On request of the disappointed believers, Msgr Acampora declared the following day that the Church has the status of a Pontifical Basilica Cathedral and was erected as a Territorial Prelature in 1926. So it stands under papal law, which is why the responsible Prelate and Pontifical Delegate for the Shrine, Titular Archbishop Tommaso Caputo currently could not ignore the measures of the Apostolic Commissar of the Franciscans of the Immaculate,  Fr Fidenzio Volpi.

"Tell us What We Have Done Wrong?"

Commissioner Volpi had in the course of the destruction of  the Franciscan Order, which the Congregation of Religious calls "normalization", forbid on 27 November, 2013, the ecclesiastically recognized lay association from any activity.  "A radical intervention, which took place without any justification. Tell us what we've done wrong: If it is a sin, an act against the Gospel or a violation of canon law" demanded Claudio Circelli, one of MIM leaders of Naples, for the last ten years, who organized the annual pilgrimage to the Queen of the Rosary.

Unfounded Prohibitions: "So They Don't Apply to Believers"

The ban on the pilgrimage's access at the basilica of Pompeii can be justified formally,  with the activity ban on the MIM.  "A ban in reference to the unjustified ban of the Commissioner, and one washes the other's hands. That's arbitrariness. So it doesn't apply to  the faithful," wrote the newspaper which quoted Il Mattino di Napoli, an  indignant member of the MIM. In fact, a Commissioner Volpi has not justified that the prohibition will result in further bans after themselves without ever explaining in order to punish the lay organization.

Old Mass, Promoting Tradition, Criticism of the Second Vatican Council - For Some Unbearable

The provisional administration of the Franciscans of the Immaculate was arranged by the prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, João de Aviz Cardinal Bráz in July 2013.   A step that also took place with the express approval of Pope Francis in a form that the Order took every opportunity to appeal.

The crackdown is connected with that of the hitherto flourishing religious order under Benedict XVI. which changed internally to the  old rite and intellectually took a  very active part in the debate initiated by the German theologian Pope   on the interpretation of the Second Vatican Council. It undertook a defense of Catholic tradition against modernist tendencies in the Church and especially in the training of theologians and priests,  which to some was unbearable in the Church, but under Benedict XVI. they could not take action against the Order. However, due to the pontificate change to Pope Francis, they were active immediately and with the utmost severity against the Order. The arbitrary act against the Order has overshadowed the current pontificate.

MIM - Marian and Missionary

The MIM was established in 1990 by the founder of the Franciscans of the Immaculate   in 2013, the deposed   Superior General Father Stefano Maria Manelli in the Marian shrine of Loreto. The MIM align themselves with lay people who try to live in their respective state of the charism of the Order. They vow  to be Marian and missionary and to promote the devotion to Mary and to promote the mission ad gentes, particularly "where the struggle for the salvation of souls and the edification of the Church is particularly fierce."

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Wikicommons

Pope Francis Unexpectedly Meets Franciscans of the Immaculate

Edit: one might say providentially.  See Rorate report too.

(Rome) A surprising encounter witnessed Pope Francis last 6 April. This Sunday he attended the  Roman city parish of San Gregorio Magno in the suburbs Magliana and came across the Franciscans of the Immaculate, whose until recently blossoming order's suppression has been overshadowed by the Argentine pontificate.

The Salus Populi Romani icon  is particularly dear to Pope Francis. On the morning after his election, he left the   the Vatican unannounced to head down to the Patriarchal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and to venerate the Mother of God before the holy image.

Pope Given a Copy of the Icon of Mary Salus Populi Romani

Pope Francis is expected but certainly not  an exact  copy of the miraculous image he'd been given last Sunday. At the end of  Holy Mass in the Magliana, the Pope was presented with a copy of the icon. Still less did the Church leader expect  to encounter in his parish visit  the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate Conception,or at least the family of Father Stefano Maria Manelli, the founder of   this extraordinary order, that was like  a beacon of hope in the Catholic religious landscape of the West until the summer of the previous year. Since then, the Order has experienced dark times.

Family of Founder Manelli Presented to the Pope

After the Holy Mass members of the Manelli family most notably  the couple Pio and Anna Maria Manelli,  presented the Pope the icon in memory of the parents or grandparents Settimio and Licia Manelli.  Settimio (1886-1978) and Licia Manelli (1907-2004) are the parents of 21 children. A son, Father Stefano Maria Manelli,  is the founder of the religious family of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, he was the Superior General  until the summer of 2013.  His younger brother Pio, named after Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, who was the spiritual father of his parents, lives with his large family in the parish which Pope Francis visited. Pio and Anna Maria Manelli have nine children. Six of them belong to the Order founded by her uncle Stefano Maria. Two sons are in the Franciscans of the Immaculate, four daughters Franciscans of the Immaculate. The parents or grandparents Settimio and Licia Manelli were recognized by the Church as a servants of God. Their beatification process is underway.

The Manelli family is firmly rooted in the Roman suburban parish, which the Pope visited. Last  October 30th    Father Stefano Manelli offered a Mass of Thanksgiving for his ordination 58 years ago in the parish church of San Gregorio Magno along with many brothers and sisters of his Order. It was a celebration that had to be expressly approved by the Apostolic Commissioner, Father Fidenzio Volpi.   After the dismissal of Father Manelli as Superior General and the entire Order.   Line Father Volpi was used by the Congregation of Religious as a delegate of the Holy See. He has since been alone under the management of the whole Order.

Traditional Rite and Love of Tradition Were Young Religious  Order's Undoing

The radical intervention against  the flowering,  pastorally bi-ritual, with the old rite internally within the Order with a strong inclination to the Catholic tradition,  is a central feature of the current pontificate.  The  current  prohibition against celebrating the traditional rite and to be able to act according to  tradition, was has disturbed its relationship with the reigning Pope  in the Order promoted  by Pope Benedict  with the benevolence of the Church. 

It is still unclear why the young religious with many vocations were placed under provisional administration. The Congregation of Religious clearly despised  the Order for  the sole reason because it had changed from the new rite to the old rite,  and unlike most religious in the West could attract many vocations.

Daughter in Law of the Servant of God Painted Icon for the Pope

It was the parish priest of San Gregorio Magno,   who presented  the family Manelli to the Pope  and drew attention to the servants of God Settimio and Licia Manelli.  Literally,  he said  when he introduced  Pio and Anna Maria Manelli: "Having a large family in the parish, is a special gift nowadays. In addition, this family has produced many priests and religious. A blessing that should not remain hidden."

Anna Maria Manelli, the daughter in law of the Servant of God and sister in law of the Founder of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, had made ​​the copy of the icon of Mary herself. Together with her ​​husband,  Pio,  she handed the Pope a copy of the icon Salus Populi Romani.

Appeal  to  the Pope to Get  the Order of St. Francis of Immaculate  "out From the Crypt"

In  the ensuing  personal conversation they begged Pope Francis, if  the Franciscans of the Immaculate could again be "taken  from the crypt", to which the Order has been exiled by the actions of the Congregation of Religious. It was an allusion to the preaching of the Pope, who had previously spoken in his Homily on the Raising of Lazarus from the dead, the Lord commanded, rise out of the grave.

"Soon, Soon"

Pope Francis smiled visibly surprised at the unexpected confrontation with the question of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, patted the hands of the couple in thanks for the icon, and  the cheek of the icon painter and said, "Soon, soon".

"What exactly this 'soon' means, one does not know," said Sandro Magister the Vaticanist.  At least the most optimistic now hope for an early and peaceful end to the provisional administration of the Order.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Picture: Settimo Cielo

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMGD

Rome's Conduct With Traditional Communities -- Society of St. Peter and Franciscans of the Immaculata

(Rome)  The conduct of Rome with traditional communities is completely varied.   A significant aspect of this whether one  is under an Order or the Institute. What difference does it matter whether it's an Old Ritual community of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei established in 1988, or religious congregation, depends on a comparison of the visitations of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate Conception and the Fraternity of St. Peter. In the North American District of the Fraternity of St. Peter, a proper Apostolic Visitation will be held. The routine operation has been arranged by the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, to which the Society belongs. As Rorate Caeli reported, a three-member visitor delegation  was appointed. The main visitor is Bishop Vitus Huonder of Chur, co-visitators are Abbot Hervé Courau from the Benedictine Abbey of Notre-Dame de Triors in France and the Bishop Emeritus Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln in the United States.

Huonder Bishop, Bishop Bruskewitz and Abbot Courau as Visitors

Both Bishop Huonder  and Bishop Bruskewitz are  closely linked to the FSSP. They  have already presided over ordinations of the Society more than once and have celebrated in the old rite.  Bishop Huonder established the first traditional parish in the German-speaking world the and appointed a  Society of St. Peter priest as  the pastor. In the diocese of Lincoln, the Society erected their seminary in 1994 during the episcopate of Bishop Bruskewitz (1992-2012) in North America. Abott Courau heads  a traditional  Benedictine abbey in France. Notre-Dame de Triors is a subsidiary foundation Fontgombault. Abbot Courau visited the Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz near Vienna in the Autumn of 2013, where he celebrated in the traditional rite with the monks of the monastery who served at the altar.

In the case of the Fraternity of St. Peter it is an ordinary visitation. When the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception extraordinary visitation was arranged in 2012 by the Congregation of Religious, is where the differences in treatment begin. The Fraternity of St. Peter is under the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei for Orders and Communities of the Old Rite. The appointed visitators are connected to the traditional rite. The starting point of the visit is supported by brotherly love and basically benevolent, as expected by the canon law.

Hostile Attitude of the Congregation of Religious Against Franciscans of the Immaculate

The situation was quite different with the Franciscans of the Immaculate. They are under the Congregation for Religious  because they were established in 1990 as  new rite Order. Following a gradual development under Pope Benedict XVI they had returned to the Immemorial Rite. The Congregation of Religious appointed a Visitor with Monsignor Vito Angelo Todisco   who was openly hostile to  the Order. He himself had briefly belonged to the Order at a young age, but  had left and since repeatedly remarked disparagingly upon the Franciscan community of Father Stefano Maria Manelli. The basic intention of the Congregation of Religious was obviously directed from a bias in the very beginning  against the Order.  They culminated after July 2013, since with  the abdication of Benedict XVI,  the biggest obstacle had been removed to a radical intervention and the provisional administration of the Order. The Apostolic Commissioner, the Capuchin Fidenzio Volpi has since been working systematically towards the eradication of the traditional charism of the Order, to beat it back into a new ritual Order and thus to be "normalized".

The Franciscans of the Immaculate sought contact with the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, but they were not under it. The request, in the fall of last year, the request to establish a new old ritual Order under the supervision of Ecclesia Dei after the establishment of the provisional administration and the banning of the old rite was not previously considered by the Congregation of Religious. The open revelation of these brothers  was followed instead by the Commissar making more purges. 

"Keep all  institutes  and communities of Ecclesia Dei in your prayers"  this call ends Rorate Caeli the report on the appointment of the Visitors of the Fraternity of St. Peter.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Picture: Rorate Caeli

Link to Katholisches...

AMGD