Pan-Orthodox Council is Endangered? Conflict in Moscow and with Constantinople

Since the Synaxis of 2014, an Agreed Meeting of a Holy and General
Council of Orthodoxy for 2016 is Endangered 

(Moscow) The Roman Curia has officially been a permanent construction site since March 2013. Currently, it's primarily the communication area that's being reorganized. While Rome is being restructured, there was a veritable earthquake in the communication sector of the Moscow Patriarchate.

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In Rome the Pontifical Council for Social Communications headed by Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli Curia is pending a change in leadership. Msgr. Celli will be 75 in a few months. His former deputy, the Irish Curial Bishop Paul Tighe has already been appoinnted by Pope Francis in mid-December to the Assistant Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture  under the direction of Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi. The American journalist Greg Burke is the new Vice-Vatican spokesman and deputy of Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi.

In Moscow, at the same time, the two most famous heads of communication  were shown the door.  On December 24, approximately two weeks before  Orthodox Christmas, the Moscow Patriarchate issued the press release no. 98. At the end of a meeting of the Holy Synod, the merger of two previously separate departments of the Synod was announced. The Department for Relations between Church and Society and the Information Department were merged.

The newly created institution is called Department of the Church, Society and the Media. It is led by layman, Vladimir Legoyda who already previously headed the information department and is chief editor of the Orthodox journal "Thomas."

However, Archpriest Vsevolod Tsaplin was shown the door. Since 2009 he was head of the Department for Relations between Church and Society. In this capacity, the Archimandrite was regarded as the main spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church.

Critics of too much dependence of the Church on state power

A few days before him, Sergei Tschapnin, the chief editor of the official press organ of the Moscow Patriarch had already been dismissed. The reason for the dismissal was that  the American website in First Things published an article by him in November, "A Church of Empire". The title could be translated as "state church". Tschapnin expressed himself  very critically of the close association of the Russian Church to the state power.

In an interview with the Catholic News Service Asianews Tschapnin repeated that the main bone of contention justifying Russian military intervention in Syria and Ukraine is that it is a "holy war" for God..

The Orthodox churches are known for the fact that internal conflicts are carried out with rigor. In the current power struggle are Tsaplin and Tschapnin against Patriarch Kirill I and the "foreign minister" of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. Tsaplin complained in his criticism, of authoritarian repression of synodality, which is so characteristic of the Orthodox Church, by the patriarch and the "foreign minister".

 

The Dismissed Santander Archimandrate Tsaplin,
one of the most famous voices of Russian Orthodoxy

Against criticism: cooperation with western stakeholders

Tschapnin repeated his criticism at the Moscow Carnegie Center. Therein his critics see the evidence that the two dismissed workers are collaborating in the new East-West conflict between Moscow and Washington with western stakeholders. The Patriarchate did not justify the dismissal order, but in the reading of subordinate bodies, the dismissal is presented as "self-protection" by the Russian Orthodox Church against a kind of fifth column. Established in 1994, the Carnegie Center in Moscow is an offshoot of the US foreign policy think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The Russian government accuses comparable Western institutions of interference in internal Russian affairs.

Points of contention between Moscow and Constantinople endanger convening a Pan Orthodox Council

At the same meeting of the Holy Synod on 24 December,  Metropolitan Hilarion reported that it had come to a time to break the Pan-Orthodox meeting in mid-December in Athens. In the Greek capital, representatives of all recognized Orthodox churches gathered for the preparation of a Pan-Orthodox council. In a dispute over the rules according to which the  Council should take place.  Farthest apart are the positions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Patriarchate of Moscow. Constantinople claims primacy, while the Moscow does not recognize in this form. [Emphasis ours]

The patriarchs and heads of the Orthodox churches had agreed to in March 2014 after many years, to convene a Holy and Great Council of the whole Orthodoxy in Constantinople  in 2016.  The Pan-Orthodox Council is to be held in the Cathedral of St. Irene in Istanbul. The official reason for convening is the situation of Christians in the Middle East and the Ukraine issue. It is also about the recognition of a Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Equality of all Orthodox Churches has blocked the convocation off a Council for 50 years 

The convening of a Pan-Orthodox Council has been attempted  already for half a century, but failed repeatedly owing to inter-Orthodox  conflicts. In the absence of a generally recognized authority with ​​the outbreak of new conflicts always brought all previous attempts to naught. Central to this is the dispute over the question of what powers the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is entitled to as Primus inter pares. Since all Orthodox Churches are equal and decisions can be adopted unanimously, they block each other from a common approach.

Without an agreement in the current procedural issue,  there will be no Pan-Orthodox Council. Observers already expect   a postponement of the date by a few years, as has been the case for more than half a century.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi 
Image: Asianews

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

French Pastor Threatened by Prefect and Punished by His Bishop -- An Unwanted Truth About the Attacks in Paris

To Contact the Bishop and complain: 

 Mgr Jean-Paul Mathieu 

 7, rue de la Préfecture 88025 Epinal Cedex 

 03 29 82 21 63   

http://www.catholique-vosges.fr/

(Paris) The minister spoke of an inconvenient truth and was punished for it, and not by those who he had criticized, but by his superiors.

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On Sunday, November 29,  Msgr. François Schneider, the pastor of Wisembach in the Lorraine Vosges addressed the bloody bombings  which had 16 had days earlier shocked Paris in his sermon. He also mentioned that "Satan sang" at the concert in the concert hall Bataclan during the time of the attack of Islamic terrorists,  and thus pointed to a link. In the attack 89 concertgoers were killed, hundreds were injured.

Bishop demanded a public apology from the priest

This statement was made immediately by the competent Bishop, Msgr. Jean-Paul Mathieu of Saint Die. This called for the priest to apologize publicly for his statement, and in turn, to do this in a Sunday Mass. A statement, which Msgr. Schneider was to comply with last December 20 at the end of the liturgy. He is to practice "self-criticism" and read a statement, which - according to Riposte Catholique - was drafted by the bishop. In this the priest expressed his regret that there had been outraged media reactions because of his statements to the laity there present.

According to the daily newspaper Vosges Matin the Department Prefect had even threatened the pastor with criminal penalties on the instructions of the French Ministry of the Interior.  The Catholics of Wisembach are appalled at the harshness against the pastor by  the media, authorities and his superiors. "One wants to put a  muzzle on Christianity" said Corrispondenza Romana of their mood.

The pastor also received numerous expressions of solidarity. Parishioners wrote the local newspaper. It says: "He is a good priest, we have always appreciated. What he is going through, in no way changes our attitude towards him. He has been criticized by those who almost never go to Mass. [This is almost always the case that those who are the most ignorant of Catholicism and do not live its precepts feel they have the most right to criticize it and be heard.] "

Lyrics "inspired by Satanism" - parish was ordered "collective transformation"

Jesse Hughes from Eagles of Death Metal in Bataclan

Pastor Schneider was also defended by Emmanuel Delhourne, the President of the association "Christians in Politics". "What was said by Msgr. Schneider was the truth. The lyrics of the group Eagles of Death Metal is inspired by Satanism," said Delhourne. The American rock band Eagles of Death Metal was playing on stage when the terrorists struck.

The journalist Yves Daoudel expressed the suspicion that behind the whole affair the government desires to suppress unwanted opinions. Also Riposte Catholique wrote: "The Marxist-Leninist dictatorship does not give up, no matter under what name, till the class enemy is destroyed."

The Vicar General of the Diocese of Saint Die which declared: "Our first goal was that Msgr Schneider makes this declaration.  Now it is only to wait andd  watch the thing to consider further. It is still too early to say anything."  He hinted to the fact that the matter had therefore not yet been completed. It became known that a priest who is active in the field of hard rock music, soon to come after Wisembach to provide the Catholic faithful with a "collective transformation" when it comes to hard rock music. "That the Church has such a penchant for self-destruction, is something that not even their most bitter opponents had dared to hope," said Corrispondenza Romana.

At the time when Islamic terrorists struck the Bataclan, the band played Eagles of Death Metal on stage the song "Kiss the Devil". In the chorus of the song, the words repeated in a penetrating way: "Who'll love the devil? Who'll sing his song? I will love the devil and his song! Who'll kiss the tongue of the devil? I'll kiss the devil on his tongue!."

But this part of the story does not seem to fit into the image of the French government, which is why it  the Prefect makes his threats, to apply pressure to the diocese and the media rushing against a country parson.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Inotos / Corrispondenza Romana

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Stray Dog by the Lord

(Brasilia) A photo being passed around in social networking sites has given rise to some emotions in the past few days. A Brazilian pastor published the picture of a stray dog on his Facebook page, "what is commonly called a stray dog ​​here," said the pastor.

The dog somehow got into the parish church of the Brazilian community Aguas de Santa Barbara on the Second Sunday of Advent. In the church there is a replica of the tomb of Christ with a life-size sculpture of the Lord lying in the grave. The dog lay down directly on the figure of Christ and remained there motionless throughout the celebration of Mass.

"It seemed as if he felt safe with Jesus, and as if he would protect the Lord. A moving scene, "Msgr. Jose Edmilson Zanin described the unusual event, "At the sight of this ownerless animal that lives on the street, but found a safe refuge here in the Lord, I was moved with compassion, and I thought: Why can't even we humans, guided by this certainty, always find safety and protection with Jesus." The dog behaved very calmly, without moving around in the Church during the sacred liturgy. "What lessons can animals give us," exclaimed Msgr. Zanin. Meanwhile, several people have reported that they wish to raise the animal.

Aguas de Santa Barbara has more than 5,000 inhabitants. The community is located in the state of Sao Paulo and is part of the Archdiocese of Botucatu.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi

Image: Secretum Meum Mihi

Trans: vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Israelis Drone the Vatican

[Jerusalem Post] Two Israelis were arrested by Italian police for flying a drone over Vatican city, Italian media reported on Sunday.

Rome Police spotted the suspicious drone over the Tiber River and immediately began looking for the aircraft's operators. Police located two Israelis, ordering them to land the drone and taking them into custody.

http://m.jpost.com/Israel-News/Two-Israelis-arrested-for-flying-drone-over-Vatican-438628#article=6017NjgxRjA1OUVEMDQ0QTg2N0QzRTEyQjIxRUY2Njg5RDg=

Franciscan Priest Missing After Returning from Turkey

Communique of the Custody of the Holy Land

As from the morning of 23 December, we have lost all contact with Father Dhiya Azziz ofm, parish priest of Yacoubieh (Syria). Father Dhiya was travelling with a taxi car. There were other passengers with him. He departed from Lattakia early in the morning and was heading for Yacoubieh, most probably passing through Hama, in order to arrive at his parish for the Christmas festivities. He was returning from Turkey, where he had gone to visit the members of his family who live there as refugees after Daesh (ISIS) entered at Karakosh (Iraq), his native town.

The last contact by telephone was registered on 23 December at 9.00 a.m. From that moment nobody knows where he is. He should have arrived at Yacoubieh during the early hours of the afternoon of the same day, 23 December. There is absolutely no news regarding Fr. Dhiya and the other passengers.

We are trying to contact the various factions on the ground in order to understand whether somebody is in a position to give us information. Up till now there have been no results.

It is reasonable to assume that he has been kidnapped by some group. We are doing all that is possible to understand who could have kidnapped him. Unfortunately, the chaotic situation in the Country does not permit us to achieve much.

If we receive other news, we shall communicate it.

We invite all to pray and show solidarity with Father Dhiya, with his parishioners, with his confreres in Syria, with the spiritual leaders and pastors and all those who are still dedicating their lives and energies in that Country to do good to all.

The Custody of the Holy Land

Link...

The Last Arab Christian Prince: "My Great Mission is Raise the Awareness of the West"

The Ghannasid dynasty has ruled a vast territory that included parts of present-day Saudi Arabia, Syria and Jordan. It was an allied Christian kingdom of the Byzantine Empire. Its importance was vital and contributed to progress to protect and promote trade.The dynasty was overthrown by the Muslims in the seventh century, although its descendants ruled kingdoms until the eighteenth century.

Currently, the heir and head of the royal house is Prince Gharios Gasánida and  Actuall  is confronting this great challenge: to protect millions of persecuted Christians in the areas in which his family ruled.

Come Let Us Adore Him

The Holy Family and Angels Adoring the Christ Child

BREAD OF LIFE (excerpt)

Father Leonard Feeney

At Bethlehem, in the crib, is a loving, warm, exquisite Baby. In order to find that little Charity, that bundle of Love lying in the straw, you have got to walk down the hills, over the rocks, across the brooks, into the dark, in your hunt for the cave. You have got to sacrifice other things in order to find it, even the brightness of the stars. The songs of the angels have to be put away, or, if you are a shepherd, your sheep. That is how chaste you have to be to find this Baby ...

A Child is given unto us! A Child is born to us, Who is Christ the Lord! Our Lord’s life was, in its simplicity, the life of a child. He did not have too many friends. I do not think you would call seventy-two disciples too many followers — or twelve apostles too many close friends. ...
We all stay a child as we go through life — the best part of us does. We are a child when we eat, when we sleep, when we are sick, when we are old. When we are lonely, we are a child; when we are hurt, we are a child. If we only would let that child in us become interested in Jesus, you would be surprised how easily we could find Him!

Jesus of Bethlehem is given all over the world in the simple, complete value of Christmas, in all the traditions we know — in the kind of story one tells to a child. The inspired record of His life in Holy Scripture is there, in case a child is looking. If you are looking as a child this Christmas, it is child’s play to find it.

Link to The Point...

Painting: Adoration of the Child by Gerrit van Honthorst (Uffizi, Florence)

Christmas Greetings from Galliawatch and an edifying Christmas mediation by Jean Paul Sartre.

H/t photo: Katholisches...

Msgr. Balda Will Not Spend Christmas Behind Bars

Edit: this was the case with Benedict's butler as well.

The only prisoners in the Vatican must not spend Christmas behind bars. 

 Vatican City (kath.net/KNA) The only prisoner in the Vatican must not spend Christmas behind bars. The Spanish priest, Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, one of the five defendants in the Vatileaks II process is released from the cell by the Vatican Gendarmerie and taken to a hotel in the Papal State, the Vatican announced Wednesday evening.

There he has been since Tuesday under house arrest, according to spokesman Federico Lombardi. The Secretary of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See has been kept since early November on remand at the Vatican.

The prosecution accuses him of having passed confidential documents on two Italian journalists. Since early December, Vallejo has been put on a Vatican court. He is threatened with a multi-year  prison term.

Link kath.net...
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Broadcaster: Archbishop Gänswein Suggests Resignation of the Cathedral Chapter of Limburg

Curia Archbishop Gänswein: "Whoever has responsibility and makes mistakes, should also take appropriate action."

Frankfurt (kath.net/KNA) The German curial Archbishop Georg Gänswein is suggesting the resignation of the Limburg cathedral chapter, according to Hessischer Rundfunk (hr). As the station announced on Tuesday, Gänswein responded in a radio interview on the question whether the chapter  should resign as a consequence of the financial affair of the Limburger bishop's residence and the local cathedral chapter: "You could say yes to that of the gentlemen of the chapter ." On inquiry,  the prefect of the Papal Household and private secretary of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.according to HR,  agreed with this request for resignation.

  As was said, Gänswein stressed: "Whoever has responsibility and makes mistakes, should also take the appropriate action." The first part of the discussionn is in the show "Horizont" on the HR television on 25 December at 10:10, the second part on 26 December at 10 o'clock.

When asked why he had defended the former Limburger bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst for a long time, Gänswein told HR he had done so out of the clear sense that Tebartz had been treated unjustly.

Tebartz-van Elst had offered the Pope his resignation as bishop in October 2013. Five months later, the Pope accepted his resignation. In addition what was a perceived by many as an authoritarian administration, a wave of indignation over the construction costs of the episcopal residence  on the Limburger Cathedral Hill in the amount of approximately EUR 31 million and the [alleged] concealment of these costs had contributed decisively to the resignation. (C) 2015

CBA Catholic News Agency. All rights reserved. Photo (c) kath.net/Petra Lorleberg
Link to Kath.net
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Highest Court Confirms Judgment in the Case of the Franciscans of the Immaculata

Franciscans of he Immaculata Before the Commissar Came:
Ordination of Nine Deacons in 2010

(Rome) The Supreme Court in Rome has confirmed that the founder of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate and the lay organizations related to the Order are guilty of doing nothing wrong.  The confiscated real estate property must be returned to the lay organizations.

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In late June, the rumored reason for the provisional administration of the Order of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate had dissolved into nothingness."Rumored" because was no reason was named for appointing an apostolic commissioner by the Vatican until today. Behind closed doors rumors were spread that it had allegedly been an irregular shifts of assets, including the suggestion that it might be someone who was enriched. It was a slander  which was directed against Founder Manelli to discredit him. A court sentenced Commissioner Volpi to pay 20,000 euros compensation for the false claims.

When the Commissioner Came with the Prosecutor

After the first Commissioner, Father Fidenzio Volpi from the Capuchin Order, could not lay his hands on the real estate owned by the lay organizations affiliated with the Order, he  summarily confiscated the real estate ownership by the public prosecutor. In June  the competent Judicial Senate of Avellino  established that no irregularities were present and ordered the release of the seized property.

Shortly before the verdict of Avellino, Commissioner Volpi had died and been replaced by the canon lawyer Fr Sabino Ardito from the Salesian Order. It  had been hoped there would be a relaxation. But Father Alfonso Bruno was still a driving force in the conflict applies Father Alfonso Bruno in the Franciscans of the Immaculate, who had rebelled against Founder Father Stefano Maria Manelli. After the dismissal of the General Government under the Superior General, Father Manelli,  Pater Bruno then became the Secretary-General and therefore became the right hand of the Commissioner.

Return of property ownership is legally binding

In any case an appeal was filed against the judgment of Avellino, on behalf of the Commissioner. The Second Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court in Rome has rejected the appeal, thus confirming the judgment of Avellino. The release and return of the seized property ownership to the lay organizations of the Order is now final.

Part of this property is also that of the religious house in Rome, where Father Alfonso Bruno is domiciled. "With the decision of the Supreme Court the last word in the matter,"  said Alfonso Rocco, the legal counsel of the Lay Association Mission of the Immaculate Heart.

A thriving religious order of tradition was unbearable to the Congregation of Religious

The order launched in 1970 by Father Stefano Maria Manelli  is committed to tradition. Under Benedict XVI. the Order became, according to the motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum was pastorally birituell and internally old ritual. Since the Order was not under the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei for old rite communities, the Congregation of Religious  made it ​​an exception in the Church. Under Benedict XVI. it was regarded as an attractive model, which aroused the interest of young members of other religious orders, since the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, despite their strict habit, had a large following.

This combination of factors is thought to be in close religious circles  as the real reason for the provisional administration.  A thriving, tradition related Order, which grew in the midst of widespread vocations crisis,  had become unbearable for many.  But Pope Benedict XVI. held his protective hand over the young religious. Under Pope Francis and his declared aversion to tradition,  the conditions were established to take action against the Order. Four months after taking office, the Order was placed under provisional administration.

The parents of the Founder are recognized as a servants of God. The beatification process is running.The Order was gagged by the provisional government, but not the lay organizations related to the Order.  They continue to see in Founder Manelli their reference point. With the court ruling, their position relative to the Commissioner has been significantly strengthened.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Mil

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

No Christmas in Bethlehem? The Christians Rebel

Bethlehem With Traditional Lights in 2015

(Jersualem) The Palestinian Authority has asked all of the West Bank to cancel all public Christmas festivities. There is nothing to celebrate, it is said, referring to the continuing violence in October between Palestinians and Israelis, which has already claimed 147 deaths.

Palestinian Authority and Tanzim militia: "There's nothing to celebrate"

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Bethlehem also had to bow to political pressure - at least partially. "That right  in Bethlehem, the town where Jesus was born, Christmas must only celebrated quietly, is a sad absurdity," said the Catholic weekly magazine Tempi.

The Tanzim militia, the armed wing of Fatah, called for by the municipality of Bethlehem, that erected in the square in front of the Nativity this year no Christmas tree and no crib, no Christmas lights set up in the square and in the streets, no Christmas concerts and also  the traditional fireworks will not be set off. The Tanzim militia was established in 1995 by Yasser Arafat as a counterweight to the propagating among Palestinian Muslims Islamism of Hamas. It bases its claim on the new Intifada. As long as Israeli soldiers, police and special forces kill Palestinians, "there is nothing to celebrate."

Bethlehem had a Christian majority until a few decades ago. Through the establishment of the State of Israel and the Jewish-Palestinian conflict there was a different demographic development, the Christians are now in the minority. Due to an internal Palestinian agreement between Muslims and Christians, Bethlehem has nevertheless in Vera Baboun a Christian mayor. It is thanks to Baboun's stubborn resistance that despite the conditions in Bethlehem   Christmas will be celebrated publicly in 2015.

The fireworks and the Christmas concert of the tenor Andrea Bocelli were cancelled. The Christmas lights will be only reduced. Only the two main streets are illuminated. But Baboun made the Chistmas trees on 5 December visible for miles around  (see picture)  and made the manger big. The traditional procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem will take place on 24 December.

The procession is as usual to be led by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, led and crosses on the wall  built by the Israelis. The Christmas procession connects the two cities, which lie within sight and played a central role in the life of Jesus. "The birth of Jesus took place already facing Jerusalem, where he suffered death, but is risen. The two cities are inextricably linked," says Jamal Khader, the rector of the Latin Patriarchate in Bethlehem.

"It is impossible for Christians to Cancel Christmas"

"We are in a critical situation," said Mayor Baboun to the press. "But it is impossible for a Christian to cancel Christmas. And it is   mandatory for Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas. "Even Jamal Khader, Palestinian Christian and known peace activist, stressed that it was "unthinkable" not to celebrate Christmas. However,  Khader showed understanding that it should happen this year publicly if being somewhat subdued. "We can not hide what is happening currently. Here you are going to lose the hope of a future of peace."

Mayor Vera Baboun fights tenaciously for Christmas, but because of the majority this has its limits.  Ekram Juha, her office manager, took the sentiment towards the Washington Post to the point: "I am disappointed. I can understand if you restrict the festivities somewhere, but not here in Bethlehem. If one restricts Christmas here, where Jesus was born, it has a spiritual dimension. It relates to the sacred. Apart from this we have lived for many years under difficult conditions, yet the festivities have always taken place."

A "miracle" that Christians endure in Bethlehem

The latest "miracle of Bethlehem," said La Repubblica, it is that Christians remain in Bethlehem, persevere in the birthplace of Christ, even though they have been harassed, threatened and attacked by gangs of young Muslims. And that yet they celebrate Christmas in defiance of orders."

When Bethlehem was partitioned in 1948,  when the UN authority proclaimed the State of Israel,  its population was made up of  85 percent of Christians. The Muslim share was 12 percent. The birthplace of Jesus through all the centuries had been a sheltered place for Christians. Because of the political situation and the economic problems, Christians migrate and Muslims have more children. 20 years later, 1967, the majority was overturned.Today Christians are  only 12 percent in the city. The Christians fear to be displaced entirely in 20 years from Bethlehem. A "land Mafia"  is using tried  criminal methods, violence and official networking to drive the Christians from their land. Since the 90s, also takes place Islamization of Palestinian Muslims.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi

Photo: Tempi

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches....

AMDG

 Print Article

Papal Critic's Press Credentials Restored for Year of Mercy

(Rome) At the beginning of the Holy Year of Mercy on 8th December, the Vatican expert Sandro Magister  was accredited back the Holy See Press Office.

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The accreditation was Magister last June been withdrawn after the weekly magazine L'Espresso, for whom Magister works, published the eco-Encyclical Laudato si  by Pope Francis  a few days in advance and thus disregarded the Vatican embargo. Magister insisted that publication had been decided by the editor in chief, yet he lost his approval after 41 years.

The punishment was also seen related as related to Magister's critical attitude to the pope. Observers spoke of a reprimand of an internationally known papal critic.

Only on December 4, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi SJ had been asked if, in the context of the Jubilee Year of mercy, about  the case Magister and a possible change of attitude. Lombardi responded with a "We'll see."

On December 9, Magister was informed of the new re-registration by Lombardi, but it was made public only today.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: MilTrans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

The 68 Revolution and Its Consequences: The Year of 1968 Had the Fewest Children

The 1968 Revolution, the German People and Empty Cradles

(Berlin) statisticians and demographers have calculated: "The year 1968 had the least children." This was announced in Die Welt  in an edition from last week. 1968 is regarded as the crucial "year of change", the significant outcome of this year made  the world today is as it is. With the left-wing student protests of May 1968, the long-term profound cultural, political and economic changes were introduced. Three significant consequences are the demographic collapse, mass immigration and the weighty church crisis. It was then that the decisive year took on a more significant prominence, for  1968 became  the year in which  women have borne the least children. It's a fact of a symbolic nature. 

The following considerations relate to the Federal Republic of Germany, but also apply to the other German-speaking countries and more or less include  other Western European countries.

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The God of Surprises: Papal Audiences and Events Dwindling at Christmas

Edit: this is a photo taken from Osservatore Romano by Caminante of a General Audience on December 5. Their editorial has some interesting observations, as papal audiences shrink to lower than expected numbers.  People aren't breeding like rabbits any more...and that the Romans  are beginning to grow tired of their Argentine cousin.

 Thanks Rorate.

(Image by L'Osservatore Romano, selected by the Argentinian blog Caminante Wanderer Revisited.)

The Slovenian People Resoundingly Reject Aberromarriage

In Slovenia, citizens have rejected same-sex marriage  - and declared themselves against the equality of homosexuals.  Opponents of the law received, according to the State Election Commission, more than the legally required number of 342,000 votes.

The Slovenian parliament had allowed same-sex couples  the right to marry and adopt children nine months ago. The conservative opposition and the Catholic Church had then forced the vote. The vote was also declared by them as a vote of no confidence against the government of Miro Cerar, who proposed permits for marriages of homosexuals.

Church and opposition groups rejected the law because it threatens traditional values ​​in their view. Opponents argue that only a relationship between man and woman could give children a happy upbringing.

BRK / dpa

Link to spiegel...

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Opus Dei Greg Burke Will be New Deputy Vatican Speaker

Greg Burke Will be the New Deputy of Vatican Speaker Father
Lombardi

(Rome) In recent days there have been rumors that Father Federico Lombardi SJ would be replaced as the Vatican spokesman and might be replaced by a layman, was  already the case  under Pope John Paul II.  in Rome. At that time, the Spaniard, Joaquin Navarro-Valls was the Vatican spokesman.

The rumor has not been confirmed, but a change of the Vice Vatican Spokesman has been announced.  So far, the Passionist Father Ciro Benedettini from the tiny country of San Marino is Lombardi's deputy as the Vatican spokesman. Father Benedettini was introduced in 1994 by Navarro-Valls in the press-service, and appointed in 1995 as deputy director. After 20 years there is now a change. Until January 31, 2016 Father Benedettini  will hold this office. From February 1, the American Greg Burke will be  Lombardi's new deputy.

Greg Burke began in the 1980s as Rome correspondent of the weekly National Catholic Register, from 1994 he was in the same function for  Time Magazine and from 2001 for Fox News. In 2012, he was appointed under Benedict XVI.  as Communication Advisor to the Vatican Secretariat of State. The appointment was seen in the context of ongoing criticism about inadequate public relations of the Holy See and a bad media image of the German pope.   Critics then held   the then Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone responsible for this.

Will Greg Burke Really be Vatican Spokesman?

Then came the unexpected resignation of Benedict XVI. and with Pope Francis everything seemed quite different. It was said that Burke was held in disgrace  because of his appointment by Benedict XVI. membership of the Opus Dei by the new Church leadership. Indeed,the American had become silent, even before he could put the expectations placed in him to the test. Senior Communications Adviser Burke got his own office at the Secretary of State but his exact field of responsibility was not defined.

With his appointment as deputy Vatican spokesman, these voices have been proven wrong, while those  who predicted that the Jesuit Lombardi would be replaced by Burke in 2012  have received new confirmation.  Father Lombardi has been Vatican spokesman since 2006.  In August 2017, he will be 75 years of age.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Famiglia Cristiana (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
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