Franciscans of the Immaculate: Great Show of Solidarity --- Two Roman Reactions

Edit: also, the Vatican website has finally made Summorum Pontificum available in various languages.  So that's another positive indicator.

(Vatican) The appeal of the famous traditional historian Roberto de Mattei, was followed by a large wave of solidarity for the Order of the Franciscans of the Immaculate. Within a week, 3515 letters of support and protest were received in Rome. This violent reaction was not counted on in Rome.  De Mattei interprets two Roman events as a direct response to this welling of solidarity. It is not excluded that the decree will be withdrawn or amended says de Mattei.

The protest against the decree of the Congregation was expressed with letters. They represent an appeal to Pope Francis to reverse the massive intervention of the Congregation under the direction of Cardinal Prefect Joao Braz de Aviz against the exemplary Order. This was announced by Professor Roberto de Mattei on the traditional Internet news service known as Corrispondenza Romana. The initiative was begun by the well-known historian, to address the initiative to the competent Vatican authorities to protest with letters of support for the canonically recognized Franciscans of the Immaculate founded by Father Manelli and Fr Pellettieri in 1990, against the unequal treatment of the Old Mass for the New Mass and the violation of Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of Pope Benedict XVI..

The letters were all sent within the week between the 1st and 8th of August. The letters were addressed to Cardinal Braz de Aviz also the Secretary of the Congregation of Religious, Archbishop Carballo, Prefect of the Congregation, Curial Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Vice-President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei , Augustine di Noia and the administrator appointed by the Congregation of Religious, the Apostolic Commissioner for the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception, Father Fidenzio Volpi. Roberto de Mattei noted that the decree of the Congregation of Religious was "an unjust act", in violation of any applicable Church laws.

De Mattei was very satisfied with the spontaneous international solidarity from many countries including Germany, Austria and Switzerland. De Mattei sees two events in Rome directly related to the appeal for solidarity and so many numerous in-depth responses. The first event is the opinion of Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi SJ of 2 August. In Rome we have seen after the protest, that the reactions were more severe than expected. The first measure was therefore, calm down. Father Lombardi stated officially that the decree did not intend to disagree with the provisions of Summorum Pontificum of Pope Benedict XVI..

That allows us to assume, says de Mattei, that the decree may be withdrawn or amended. That the Franciscans of the Immaculate have banned the celebration in the Old Rite and nullifies the Order, is clearly contrary to the Motu Proprio. Currently, the situation should calm down again, then clarity will rule.

The second reaction de Mattei perceives is the appointment of Curial Archbishop Guido Pozzo, Secretary of the Commission Ecclesia Dei, on the 3rd of August. An unexpected return after Pozzo had taken another job at the Curia until the fall of 2012. De Mattei sees reshuffle as the strengthening of the Commission, and thus a clear indication that the Commission should not be abolished. De Mattei himself had raised the question on July 30th about the intention of the decree against the Franciscans of the Immaculate and asked whether it abolished the Motu Proprio and the Commission should be abandoned. De Mattei interpreted the two Roman reactions of the 2nd and 3rd of August as a signal that Pope Francis neither wants to abolish the motu proprio nor dissolve the Commission Ecclesia Dei, "That is because of the strong reaction of the traditional circles" against the decree, says de Mattei.

The provisional government of the Order goes back to an apostolic visitation by Monsignor Vito Angelo Todisco, who was not known as a friend of the Order nor the tradition. On the basis of a "tendentious" report to Rome, where an "alleged survey" played a central role rolling in the hard treatment against the Order. While Father Alfonso Maria Bruno has a central role, he is the only Franciscan Friar of the Immaculate Conception, who is himself happily opposed to religious discipline is in the picture, which would convince anyone who is on the Facebook page of the Order, which page Alfonso Bruno is the administrator. It was he who tried to steer journalists to misleading information, reporting in a specific direction against the Order's Leadership and against the Old Mass.

Neo-Commissar Father Volpi has just returned from vacation.  It was now to be seen, says de Mattei, whether Father Volpi is driven by the same prejudices against the Order and the Old Mass as Archbishop Todisco.  The historian is convinced that a progressive separation of the rebel group within the Order will be inevitable. Leading the group of rebels is Father Alfonso Bruno, Angelo Geiger and Angelo Gaeta. This part could have all been easier if he had correctly left the Order. Instead, the whole Order was drawn into the conflict. It may also be that - as with any conflict - there is a "gray zone" that keeps watch to be on the winning side. "In the end, the truth always wins," says the historian de Mattei.

It has been shown in all cases that a rapid and decisive response by Traditional circles can get things moving, if the persistence needed is available.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Corrispondenza Romana
Trans: vekron99@hotmail.com
AMGD

Petition to Support the Franciscans of the Immaculata

Edit: this just in which we found on Messa in Latino regarding the Franciscan Friars if the Immaculata. Here's a slight google translation with some editing. You can go to the main site and send an e-mail using Corispondenza Roma. Thanks. Please let us know in the comments if you've signed it. Hopefully it will embolden others to do so.

In support of the Franciscans of the Immaculate and the traditional Mass

Dear friend,

on July 11, the Congregation for Religious has "police" the institution of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, forcing them to abandon the traditional Mass, which they celebrate freely, according to a universal law of the Church, never repealed and confirmed by the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of Pope Benedict XVI on 7 July 2007.

In the canon 212 of the Code of Canon Law currently in force states that the faithful "...have the right, indeed at times the duty, in keeping with their knowledge, competence and position, to manifest to the sacred Pastors their views on matters which concern the good of the Church. They have the right also to make their views known to others of Christ's faithful, but in doing so they must always respect the integrity of faith and morals, show due reverence to the Pastors and take into account both the common good and the dignity of individuals." In the light of this canon, and what forces the sensus fidei of every baptized person, I feel obliged to send an open letter to His Eminence Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life. If you share my concerns, I thank you if you will join this initiative, addressing the message shown in the window below.

Pressing the button below you will be able to send its message directly to the Prefect of the Congregation [in Italian] and, for information, to the Secretary of the Congregation, Archbishop José Rodriguez Carballo, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Vice President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, Archbishop Augustine Di Noia and the appointed Commissioner, Father Fidenzio Volpi, OFM Cap.

Do not forget to sign the letter with your name, with your e-mail address.

Thank you to join this initiative, promoted for the greater good of the Church and of souls.

With esteem and friendship,

Roberto de Mattei

Link to the petition which you can send already in Italian to the concerned Prelates in authority, here.

The Letter as Follows:

A sua Eminenza Rev.ma  Card. João Braz de Aviz
Your Eminence,

The decree of July 11th 2013, signed by you, by which the Franciscans of the Immaculate have been “commissioned” and forbidden to celebrate the Mass according to the ancient Roman rite, constitutes an unjust act in regard to this religious Institute, whose honour it diminishes, but above all it represents a violation of the universal laws of the Church, in particular of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of July 7th 2007 of Benedict XVI, which has never been abrogated and which grants, to every priest, the freedom to celebrate the Mass according to the “extraordinary” form.  This objective lesion of the right cannot but concern all those who believe and love the liturgical tradition of the Church and, also in the same spirit, who fight in defence of life, of the family, of the pontifical Magisterium and of Christian Civilisation.  

The canonical law gives me the authority to express, in a respectful manner, my sorrowful perturbation, my strong protest and my vibrant appeal so that every obstacle to the free celebration of the traditional Mass for every priest may be removed and that the Franciscans of the Immaculate may continue their precious apostolate which has done so much good and will still do so for souls.

Yours respectfully in Christ

Roberto de Mattei: Franciscans of the Immaculata Models in Situation of Liturgical, Theological and Moral Anarchy

(Rome) The measures against the Franciscans of the Immaculate have caused trouble and lively discussions. Katholisches.info is publishing a discussion contribution. The first will be the well-known historian Roberto de Mattei. The March for Life , which was took place with 40,000 participants in Rome in May is largely due to his initiative. On the march, numerous Franciscans of the Immaculate participated, an Order with an apostolate which also includes particularly the defense of unborn life.

The "Causa" Franciscans of the Immaculate

by Roberto de Mattei

The "case" of the Franciscans of the Immaculata is a very serious episode, which is intended to have an effect in the Church that is maybe not anticipated by those who have set about to act imprudently.

The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life (better known as the Congregation for Religious) by  Rodriguez Carballo OFM has overthrown the General Superior of the Franciscans of the Immaculata, and have handed over leadership to an "Apostolic Commissioner," Father Fidenzio Volpi, Capuchin, with its decree of the 11th of July, 2013, signed by Cardinal Prefect Joao Braz de Aviz and Archbishop Jose Rodriguez Carballo.

In order to "cement" the decree, said Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, it received the approbation ex auditu from Pope Francis, to which the brothers have taken every opportunity to appeal to the Apostolic Signatura. [++Burke] The reasons for this condemnation which has its origin in the instigation of a group of dissident brothers to the religious congregation, remains mysterious. According to the decree from the Congregation and the letter of the new Commissioner of the Franciscans, the only charges appear to be a lack of sentire cum Ecclesia and an excessive attachment to the Traditional Roman Rite.

Injustice Against Franciscans of the Immaculate -- Order Surrendered to Progressive Minority

In reality we are faced with a manifest injustice which is being done to the Franciscans of the Immaculate. The Religious Institute founded by Father Stefano Maria Manelli and Father Gabriele Maria Pellettieri is one of the most flourishing that has been established in the Church, both because of the number of vocations and the authenticity of the spiritual life as well as because of the fidelity to doctrine and to Rome. In the situation of liturgical, theological and moral anarchy in which we find ourselves today, the Franciscans of the Immaculate should serve as a model for religious life. The Pope often refers to the need for a simpler and more spartan religious life.

The Franciscans of the Immaculate distinguish themselves just by the rigor and evangelical poverty in which they live, by their Franciscan charism since its inception. Instead of this, the Congregation of Religious is directing in the name of the Pope, to transfer the General Government of management to a minority of rebellious, progressive brothers, to which the neo-Commissioner will rely upon to "normalize" the Order, or in other words, to lead it into that disaster which it has so far escaped, thanks to its loyalty to Church order and the Magisterium.

Cardinal Aviz: Harshness Against Faithful Franciscans - Understanding Heretical Religious Women

But today the bad is rewarded and the good is punished. It is not surprising that it is the same Cardinal, who is taking action against the Franciscans of the Immaculata with an iron fist, who at the same time pleads understanding and dialogue for the heretical and schismatic American Women Religious. Those nuns preach and practice the gender ideology and therefore naturally a dialog must be maintained with them. The Franciscans of the Immaculate preach and practice chastity, penance, and therefore there should be no sympathy for them. This is the sad conclusion which must force itself upon a sober observer.

One of the charges is to be very attached the traditional Mass. But the accusation is just an excuse, because the Franciscans of the Immaculate namely, as the saying goes, are "bi-ritual", that is, they celebrate both the New and the Old Mass, as permitted them by applicable ecclesiastical laws. Given an unjust command, there are some, as you can imagine, who won't refrain from celebrating the traditional Mass, and they do well at this point to resist, because it is not a gesture of rebellion but of obedience. The indults and privileges in favor of the traditional Mass were not abolished and have greater legal force than the decree of a Congregation and even the intentions of a Pope, if they do not find expression in a definite act.

Cardinal Braz de Aviz seems to ignore the existence of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of 7 July 2007, its implementing provisions of the instruction Universae Ecclesiae of 30 April 2011 and which is connected to the CDF Commission Ecclesia Dei entering into their areas of competence by the Congregation of Religious.

Tradition is Increasing in Strength: the Main Reason for Hostility

What is the intention of the highest ecclesiastical authority? Abolish Ecclesia Dei and eliminate the Motu proprio of Benedict XVI.? Then can you say it openly, so that the appropriate conclusions can be drawn. And if it is not so, why will a decree be adopted, which is for the Catholic world, which refers to the tradition of the Church, and is only unnecessarily provocative? This world is in a period of great expansion, especially among the youth, and this is perhaps the main cause for the hostility that is beating upon her today.

And finally, the decree constitutes an abuse of power not only against the Franciscans of the Immaculate and those who are wrongly referred to as Traditionalists, but against every Catholic. Namely, it represents a worrying symptom that loss of legal certainty, which is takes place today within the Church.

The Church is a visible society in which the "force of law and the law" applies (Pius XII., In his speech Dans notre souhait 15 July, 1950). The law defines right and wrong and, as the canonists say, "must be justified in the potestas of the Church, and that is the very being of the Church requires that determines the purposes and limits the scope of action of the hierarchy. Not every act of holy shepherds is, simply because it comes from them, correct. "(Carlos J. Errazuriz, Il diritto e la giustizia nella Chiesa, Giuffré, Milano 2008, p 157).

If the legal certainty is lost, the arbitrariness and the will of the stronger gains the upper hand. So it often happens in society, it can also be done in the church, when the human dimension penetrates in it against the supernatural. But if there is no legal certainty, there is no safe rule of conduct. Everything is left to the discretion of the individual or groups of power and the force with which these lobbies are able to impose their will. Separate from the legal force of presumption and arrogance.

Summorum Pontificum has Greater Legal force Than the Decree of a Congregation

The Church, the mystical body of Christ, is a legal device that is based on the divine law, the trustees and not the creator or men, are the men of the Church. The Church is not Soviet, but a building donated by Jesus Christ, in which the power of the pope and the bishops is exercised in accordance with the traditional laws and forms, all rooted in divine revelation. Today we speak of a more equal and democratic Church, but the power is often exercised in violation of the laws and customs of thousands of years in a very selfish way. If universal laws of the Church exist, such as the Bull of St. Pius V, Quo Primum (1570) and the Motu proprio of Benedict XVI. Summorum Pontificum, there is, in order to change them, a legal act of the same rank is necessary. You can not just look at an older law as waived, except with expressed abrogating document of equivalent scope.

Appeal to Francis: Undo Measures - Dramatic hour, New Storms Are Coming On

To defend justice and truth in the Church, we rely on the voices of jurists, among which there are also some eminent Cardinals,who have ordained Franciscans of the Immaculate to the priesthood in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, and know their exemplary life and their apostolic zeal. We appeal especially to Pope Francis, that he may withdraw the action against the Franciscans of the Immaculate and for their lawful use of the Old Roman Rite.

Whatever decision should ever be made, we can not deny that the hour, in the Church lives today, is dramatic. New storms are on the horizon, and these storms will certainly not be conjured up by neither the Brothers or the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. The love of the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church has always driven and drives us to take their defense. The Mother of God, Virgo Fidelis, will show the right way to the conscience of every individual in this difficult situation.

Text: Corrispondenza Romana

translation: Giuseppe Nardi

Image: Corrispondenza Romana

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMGD

Roberto de Mattei: Will Pope Francis Address the Causes of the Crisis? The Example of Hadrian VI.

What follows is the first opinion of the well-known tradition associated historian, Roberto de Mattei on the election of Pope Francis  (Francis):

The church has a new pope: Jorge Mario Bergoglio. The first non-European pope, the first Latin American pope, the first named Francis. The mass media will evaluate his past as a Cardinal, as archbishop of Buenos Aires and a simple priest to guess what the future of the church will be under his pontificate. Which revolution will he carry the flag for? Hans Küng describes him as the "best choice" (La Repubblica, 14.3.) But not until after the appointment of its staff and to its first keynote speeches will we be able to estimate the orientation of the pontificate of Pope Francis. For each pope, which is 1458 Cardinal Enea Piccolomini Silvia said at the moment of his election as pope with the name Pius II: “Forget Enea, listen to Pius.”

The History never repeats itself exactly the same in the past, but it helps to understand the present. In the 16th Century went through the Catholic Church a crisis that had never happened before. Humanism, with its immoral hedonism had infected the Roman Curia and the popes themselves. The corruption of Martin Luther's Protestant pseudo-reform had arisen, which Pope Leo X. who was from the family of the Medici, dismissed it as a "quarrel among monks." The heresy then immediately spread out, as after the death of Leo X. 1522, a German pope, Adrian of Utrecht, was unexpectedly chosen. He gave himself the name of Hadrian VI. The shortness of his pontificate, prevented him from bringing his projects to a conclusion. This is particularly true that, as well-known papal historian Ludwig von Pastor writes of the gigantic conflict against the many abuses which disfigured the Roman Curia, included almost the entire church. Even if his papacy had lasted longer, the evil was too deeply rooted in the Church, Pastor noted, than it would be necessary for a single pontificate to effect such a great change. All the evil that has been done for generations, could be overcome only by a long continuous work.

Hadrian VI. realized the extent of the problem and the responsibility the men of the Church who bore it. It is clear from the Instructio that on the apostolic nuncio Francesco Chieregati read on behalf of the Pope third January 1523 at the Diet of Nuremberg. Ludwig von Pastor emphasizes the extreme importance of this document, to learn not only about the ideas of the Pope for the renewal of the Church, but because it is as a text, never been in Church history never before.

After it initially rejects the Lutheran heresy, he treats the last and more important part of the instruction, the failure of the highest ecclesiastical authority against the revolutionaries.

We frankly confess that God lets it happen this persecution of His Church, because of the sins of the people and especially the priests and prelates. It is certain that the hand of God has not withdrawn, not because He can not save us, but because our sin separates us from him and therefore He does not hear us. The Scripture clearly teaches that the sins of the people have their origin in the sins of the clergy and therefore, as St. John Chrysostom explains, our Saviour, when He tried to clean the sick city of Jerusalem, he first went to the temple to punish the sins of the first priest, like a good doctor who cures the disease at its source. We have never sought the papal dignity, and would much rather have closed our eyes in the retreat of private life: We have waived the tiara, and only the fear of God, the legality of the election and the danger of a schism have led us to the office of the highest pastors to assume that we do not want to exercise in ambition, nor to enrich our families, but only to return the Holy Church, the bride of God to Her original beauty, to help the oppressed, to promote wise and able men to absolutely everything to do, what befits a good shepherd and true successor of Peter. However, no one should be surprised if we do not remove at a stroke all the abuses, because the disease is advanced and deeply rooted. It will therefore be taking one step after another, and confront the dangerous evils by the right drug, not to hasty reform to confuse everything even more. For, as Aristotle says, any sudden change is dangerous to common life.

The words of Adrian VI. help us to understand how the present crisis of the Church originated in doctrinal and moral defects of the men of the Church in the second half century since the Second Vatican Council. The Church is infallible. But Her members, the high ecclesiastical authorities, can make mistakes and must be willing to admit their guilt publicly. We know that. Adrian VI had the courage to tackle this critical examination of the past. How will the new pope counter the process of doctrinal and moral self-destruction of the Church and what position will he play against a modern world that is immersed in deep anti-Christian feeling? Only in the future will we be able to answer these questions, but it is certain that the cause of the darkness of our present time are in our recent past.

The story also tells us that Hadrian VI. was followed with the name of Clement VII (1523-1534) Giulio de Medici. Under his pontificate, the terrible sack of Rome took place on 6 May 1527 by the Lutheran mercenaries of the Emperor Charles V. The destruction and sacrileges that were committed then, and those of the year, exceeded the sack 410, can be barely described. There was particular brutality taken against religious and clergy: nuns raped, priests and monks killed or sold as slaves, destroyed churches, palaces and buildings, relics scattered and taken away. After the carnage famine and pestilence followed in quick succession. The citizens were decimated.

The Catholic people interpreted the event as a just punishment for their sins. Only after the terrible looting did life begin to fundamentally change. The climate of moral and religious relativism dissolved and in the general distress, a serious, sober and contrite air made throughout the holy city. This new atmosphere made the great religious revival of the Catholic Counter-Reformation of the 16th Century possible.

Link to Katholisches…

Image from here…

Contact: vekron99@hotmail.com

ADMG

Roberto Mattei: It Would be Unwise to Consider This Pontificate “Concluded"

by Roberto di Mattei (February 13, 2013,www.conciliovaticanosecondo.it) On February 11, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, the Holy Father Benedict XVI announced to the Consistory of Cardinals and to the whole world his decision to resign from the papacy. The announcement was greeted by the cardinals “almost in disbelief”, “with a sense of bewilderment”, “like a bolt from the blue”, according to the remarks addressed to the Pope immediately afterward by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals.

If the bewilderment of the cardinals was so great, one can imagine how intense the disorientation of the faithful is these days, especially those who have always regarded Benedict XVI as a reference point and now feel somehow “orphaned”, if not downright abandoned, in view of the serious difficulties that the Church faces at the present hour. Yet the possibility that a Pope could renounce the papal throne was not entirely unexpected. The [then] President of the German Bishops’ Conference, Karl Lehmann, and the [then] Primate of Belgium, Godfried Danneels, had put forward the idea of the “resignation” of John Paul II, when his health had deteriorated. Cardinal Ratzinger, in his 2010 book-length interview Light of the World, had told the German journalist Peter Seewald that if a pope “realizes that he is no longer physically, psychologically, and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right and, under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign” (p. 30). In 2010, then, fifty Spanish theologians had expressed their support for the Open Letter to the bishops of the whole world by the Swiss theologian Hans Küng with these words: We believe that the pontificate of Benedict XVI is worn out. The Pope has neither the vigor nor the intellectual acumen to respond adequately to the serious and urgent problems which the Catholic Church finds that she must face. We think therefore, with due respect for his person, that he ought to tender his resignation from his office.

Continue at SSPX US District Page...

News -- A Powerless Church is Under the Power of the World

A powerless Church is under the power of the world -- Church vandalism: increasing bell thefts -- Jewish right-wing extremists bar Arab farmers -- A victim of the Conciliar Church -- 

A powerless Church is under the power of the world

Italy.  On Sunday the Italian historian Roberto de Mattei commented in the Milan news 'Il Giornale' on the occasion of the 1,700th anniversary of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge (312).  Then, the Emperor Constantine (+337) saw the cross in the sky.  He was victorious and led Christendom into Rome.  Mattei insisted that today's Old Liberals like the Communists are calling for a Christendom without power.  Only: when Christendom ceases to change the world, then it will be changed by the heathen world.

Church Vandalism: increased bell thefts

Germany.  Metal thieves are stealing church bells because of rising commodities prices.  The German bell museum in the 17,000 population community of Gecher in western Munsterland warned on Monday.  The museum asked for better security measures.  The perpetrators would destroy valuable cultural artifacts for raw materials.

Jewish Right-Wing extremists block Arab farmer out

Occupied Palestine.  A group of Jewish settlers blocked about ten dunums (10,000m^2) of farmland near Qarount in the vicinity of Nablus with barbed wire so the owner, Mohamad Najim (66) couldn't enter his unharvested fields on Sunday.  A so-called security post of a larcenous band of settlers warned Najim sternly of further approaches to his property and warned him of "attacks by robbers".  The Right-Wing Radicals had already cut down ripe olive trees 14 years before.  Then they informed the farmer that they wouldn't be responsible for his fat, if he attempted to enter his land.

Another victim of the Conciliar Church

Belgium.  The Carmelites in the 100,000 population city of Mons -- in the western Belgium Province of Hennegau -- must close its cloister.  The community is too old and has no growth.  In the next weeks the remaining sisters will settle in the other Belgian closter.  The Cloister in Mons has existed since 1607.

Link to kreuz.net...

The Fruits of Gaudium et Spes: What's Going on in the Vatican?

[katholisches, Roberto de Mattei] What's happening at the Vatican? The Catholics all over the world ask themselves, stunned by the sense of the messages that are springing up from the ground into the papers and seeming to reveal the impression of an internal church war which is raging within the Leonine walls, and which is inflated artificially by the media. If it is not easy to understand what happens, you can at least try to understand why all this happened.

The fact is not without significance that this self-discharge exactly on the 50th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council made. Among all the documents of the Council, is a particularly emblematic and perhaps the most controversial, namely, the Constitution Gaudium et Spes, which the theologian Joseph Ratzinger did not like. In that document, with optimistic irenicism, the embrace between the Church and the modern world was celebrated. It was the world of the 60s, drenched in consumerism and secularism, a world on which lay the shadow of Communist imperialism, which the Council would not discuss.

The Second Vatican Council saw the positive seeds of modernity, but not their threats and refrained from denouncing the errors and refused to recognize its anti-Christian roots. It wanted to hear the world and tried to read the "Signs of the Times" in the conviction that history means a continuous, indefinite progress. The fathers seemed to be in a hurry to finish with the past, in the belief that the future would be beneficial to the Church and humanity. But that was unfortunately not the case. The vertical post-Conciliar momentum was replaced opposed to the transcendent principles by a chasing after the earthly and mundane values.

The philosophical principle of immanence was transformed into a horizontal and sociological point of view of Christianity, symbolized - in the liturgy - through the people's altar. The conversion to populum, the price has been paid in the unprecedented  destruction of the artistic, has transformed the image of the mystical body of Christ into that of a social body, the soul has been emptied of its supernatural. But if the Church of the supernatural and the transcendent turns Her back  to the immanent, it is to turn the teaching of the Gospel on its head, which should be "in the world but not of the world". It ceases to Christianize the world and is secularized instead of this.

The kingdom of God is thus predominantly a pure power structure in the political calculus and reason of human passions and minor interests. The "anthropological turn" brought much human presence in the Church, but left little divine. When we speak of the Church, we are referring, of course, not the Church itself but to the people who belong to Her. The Church has a divine nature, which may not be marred by anything and She will always be pure and untainted. Her human dimension but can be covered by that soot, which Benedict XVI. at the Via Crucis before his election described as "filth" and recalled Paul VI. in view of the Council's fissures and crevasses referring unconsciously to those prophetic words as "smoke of Satan", which has infiltrated into the house of God.

The smoke of Satan is behind the weaknesses and miseries of the people, especially the heretical speeches and ambiguous explanations or those modified since the Second Vatican Council, that would not have started the work that John Paul II called the "purification of memory", and which we call simply "conscience" in order to understand what we did wrong, what we have to correct, as we must reflect the will of Jesus Christ, the only savior is not only of his mystical body, but a company that drifts. The Church is going through a time of crisis, but is also rich in spiritual resources and holiness, that glow in many souls. The hour of darkness in the story is always accompanied by the hour of the light that comes on.

Roberto de Mattei was a Professor of Modern History at the University of Cassino, now a professor of Church history at the European University in Rome, he was adviser to the Italian government in foreign affairs, deputy chairman of the National Research Council (CNR) of the Republic of Italy, director and editor of the magazine Radici Cristiane and Catholic News Service Corrispondenza Romana, author of the Council's history: The Second Vatican Council - a Hitherto Unwritten History, Kirchliche Umschau Edition Church, for which he won in 2011 by the Italian historian Price Acqui Storia. [Nothing in English as we yet know]

Translation from German: Tancred
Übersetzung: Giuseppe Nardi
Photo: Corrado Giaquinto: Satan Before the Lord (1750)

 From Katholisches...

Cool Headed Conciliar Fathers Warned Against the Vatican Council

"Countless Interpretations of Sacred Dogmas"

The Mass of All Ages at Vatican II

The far sighted Cardinal James Louis McIntyre of Los Angels warned expressly against intervening in the traditional Rite and a suppression of the language of the Church.


(kreuz.net) Cool headed Conciliar Fathers warned against the Second Vatican Council: A change in the Liturgy means a change in Dogma.

The Italian historian Roberto de Mattei (63) wrote this in his book, "The Second Vatican Council. A Story Untold Till Now."

The prize winning work appeared this December in Germany in "Edition Kirchliche Umschau."

"The Holy Mass Must Stay, as it is."

The far-sighted Cardinal James Louis McIntyre († 1979) of Los Angeles expressly warned of a change in the traditional Rite and the language of the Church.

De Mattei cited the Cardinal's remarkable summation:

"The attack on the Latin language in the Holy Liturgy means an indirect attack, but in the truest sense on the stability of the Holy Dogma, because the Holy Liturgy necessarily contains the Dogma in itself."

The Prince of the Church then recalled that in the language of the people the meaning of words are fundamentally changed.

From that he concluded: "If the Liturgy is degraded in the common language of the people, then the unalterability of doctrine would be endangered.

From that he concluded that the Mass must remain as it is.

The Liturgy is understood visually

In the Preces of the Benedictine Congregation of Beuron, Archabbot Benedikt Reetz, warned against reform in the Liturgy.

He rejected the thesis, that one must use the language of the people, in order for them to understand the Liturgy:

Even the priest doesn't understand everything -- argued the Benedictine.

"The active participation of the faithful consist not so much in singing and prayer, rather in the visual apprehension of things, which happen on the altar."

Symbolic: the humbled Guardian of the Faith

De Mattei took up the enlightening case of Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani († 1979), who as prefect of the Holy Office, had his microphone shut off during the Conciliar negotiations.

Cardinnal Ottaviani criticized the proposals for reform of the Liturgy.

He warned of "excessive alterations", which would harm the faithful, if not even bring them to vexation.

The Cardinal went over his allotted time to speak by ten minutes.

Thereupon the Old Liberal destroyer of the Church, Bernard Jan Cardinal Alfrink(† 1987) of Utrecht in the Netherlands, sounded the bell.

The Supreme Prefect was humbled.

The Old Liberal faction greeted the humiliation with applause.

Next time: The linguistic Nationalism was the beginning of the end.
Link to kreuz.net...

Modernists Masked Themselves as the Middle Position

Now it's been scientifically proven:  The Pastoral Council was a great misfortune for the Church, if not the greatest misfortune of the Church overall. -kreuz.net

Available for  about 35 Euro in German

(kreuz.net) In December 2011 the groundbreaking work "The Second Vatican Council. A Till Now Unwritten History" or [The Second Vatican Council: A Story Never Written] by the Italian historian Roberto de Mattei (63) in the "Edition Kirchliche Umschau'.

De Mattei also mentions  the prehistory of the Council as well as the post-Conciliar breakdown.

He explains that the Pastoral Council was "one of the greatests mistfortunes, if not the greatest misfortune of Church history."

Prizewinning Masterwork

De Mattei received the important historical prize "premio Acqui Storia" for the book.

The prize is awarded under the patronage of the Italian President.

The president of the jury, the anti-Church Roman historian Guido Pescosolido, was so outraged about the recognition given to de Mattei, that he resigned as president.


The Emergence of a Third Power

De Mattei demonstrated the theological destabilization of the Church in the first half of the 20th century.

He described the Modernism at the beginning of the 20th century and the heroic struggle against it by St. Pope Pius X. († 1914)

Mattei suggests an ominous third power between the Catholics and Modernists.

These attempted to  take a middle position between "the whole truth and open error".

The Anti-modernism Disintegrated


De Mattei represents how after the death of Pius X the third party won more influence in the 20s- and 30s.

As representatives he named the French philosopher Maurice Blondel († 1949) or the French Bible Scholar, Father Marie-Joseph Lagrange († 1938).

The third party kept Modernism at a distance, but secured its continued existence despite the condemnation. De Matteis writes: "Modernism lived on -- actually Anti-Modernism disintegrated, in the illusion, that the worst had been passed."

There is no Catholic Maccabbees

In the 20s and 30s new heresies developed in all areas of Catholic teaching.

Yet there was no answer to the errors, which spread throughout the Church.

The disappearance of the defenders of the Catholic positions promoted, according to de Mattei, the advent of currents in the 30s, "which gathered in one way or another form of Modernism".

It formed itself in Biblical, Liturgical, the philosophical-theological and the economic movements.
An especially damaging influence was the 'Nouvelle théologie'.

The concealed Modernists raged especially in the area of Exegesis and Liturgy.

Pius XII. Ignored Advice

Indications and calls for alarm have been indicated by De Mattei as "rare and isolated".
They had been under Pius XII († 1958) "ignored as the remnants of 'Integralismus'".

De Mattei described this Pontificate as "much less >>repressive<<", than it is generally represented as being.
 
Next time: "The Church will be brought to Protestantism in this way" 

Also, we'll translate the interview of de Mattei that appeared in Kreuz.  This book doesn't have an American publisher yet, part of which has already been translated by Rorate Caeli.

Link to Sarto Press, where you can purchase this work...

It's reviewed at Pastor's Corner, here..

Link to original...