Will Archbishop Gänswein be Appointed to Cologne?

(Vatican)  Pope Francis has made his first appointments.  Following the practice of the Holy See, he confirmed the second secretary of his predecessor, the priest Alfred Xuereb from Malta in office. It is customary that the first secretary resigns with the end of a pontificate and is replaced by a confidant of the new pope. The second secretary of the predecessor is however retained for a transitional period in order to have a smooth transition. In a second moment, as a rule, he will be replaced by the new Pope. Pope Francis has not appointed an first secretary.

Pope Benedict XVI. appointed his first secretary, Monsignor Georg Gänswein in fall 2012, as Prefect of the Apostolic House. As such, he could, if confirmed by the new Pope,  continue performing his duties at the Vatican. The prefect has no influence on the decisions of the Pope, but he coordinates all visits and meetings with outsiders from  leaders to ordinary believers. Msgr Gänswein also remains personal secretary of Pope Benedict XVI., Who currently lives in Castel Gandolfo.

Now, reports the online daily news Cattoliche is that Msgr Gänswein could be appointed as Coadjutor Archbishop of Joachim Cardinal Meisner with right of succession. The secretary of Pope Benedict XVI. could be the next Archbishop of Cologne. It falls on the parallels with Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the first secretary of Pope John Paul II, who Pope Benedict XVI. was appointed  on 1 June 2005, two months after the death of his predecessor to be Archbishop of Krakow,  the seat of a metropolitan, which had been previously occupied by the late Pope. On 2006 Archbishop Dziwisz was elevated to Cardinal status. Cologne is also an archbishop seat that is traditionally associated with the Cardinal. Cardinal Meisner is at the end of his 80th year.

Pope Francis has also followed the practice, all of the Roman Curia Dikasterienleiter confirmed with the usual formula for donec aliter provideatur until is to make different choices. Therefore nothing can be read in his personal politics for the time being.

Before jumping to higher applies Monsignor Lorenzo Baldisseri, the former nuncio to Brazil and hitherto secretary of the Congregation for Bishops and Secretary of the College of Cardinals, which is why he played a special role in the conclave. As Pope, Francis, just elected, received the white Pileolus of the Pope, he put on his purple Cardinal’s pileolus  on Msgr. Baldisseri. This spontaneous gesture is seen as a sign that the Curia, that the Archbishop will be raised by the next Conclave to the Cardinal rank. The elevation of Cardinal Conclave Secretary certainly has a tradition in the church. Benedict XVI. created the then secretary Curia Archbishop Francesco Monterisi, not the first consistory, but later.

An appeal to the Curia could affect Monsignor Nicola Girasoli, the nuncio in the West Indies. He has been friends with the new pope for some time and until 2005, worked for six years as a Counsellor at the Nunciature in Buenos Aires.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Messa in Latino

Mozetta Returns --- Was it All a Misunderstanding?

(Vatican) A bright red mozetta  was recently delivered to the Vatican by the Pontifical Household. It was ordered just this morning  in haste at the tailor Gammarelli in Rome.

Tomorrow morning there will be the solemn Pontifical Mass for the beginning of the Petrine ministry of the Bishop of Rome. An inauguration ceremony has replaced the usual once since John Paul I. 1978 replaced the usual  coronation of the Pope with the tiara. "In all probability, the only possible reason to explain the order is that  it will be worn by Pope Francis at the inauguration. It is believed that this will be at the tribute ceremony, where the Pope accepts "the promise obedience of the cardinals,” as Messa in Latino reported.

Papal Mozetta Hurriedly ordered and delivered in the Vatican 

Will  the cover  combined with the choir dress of the pope back sooner than expected? Will its owner be the occupant of the Petrine Office?  Tomorrow we will have clarity. Pope Francis had the papal Mozetta that is not any piece of clothing, but a liturgical robe, rejected with rude words when master of ceremonies Monsignor Guido Marini tried to attire him for his first appearance after the Habemus Papam at the loggia of St. Peter's. The loud confrontation with Monsignor Marini was witnessed by many in attendance. The rejection by the Pope was all the more surprising to see, as the master of ceremonies only did his duty and Francis had worn the Mozetta since his episcopal ordination around 1992, including most recently, those of cardinals during the conclave in the Sistine Chapel. Was it all a misunderstanding in a highly emotional moment for the new Pope after his election?

Will Pope Francis wear tomorrow the vestment he rejected at his election?

Messa in Latino,  who was notified of a near dismissal of the Benedict XVI appointed  master of ceremonies, takes note with satisfaction that Monsignor Marini in any case will direct the inauguration ceremony and coordinate with the altar server Franciscans of La Verna who were summoned to Rome.

The Pontifical Ceremonies has with meticulous precision and dedication prepared everything in detail on the model and the provisions of Pope Benedict XVI. Lauds Regiae and the Pontifical Mass will be celebrated in Latin, the language of the Church. The readings, the Responsorial and the supplications are in different languages ​​including Arabic and Chinese. The Gospel is presented only in Greek, the language of the Church of the East, not in the sacral language, as Pope Benedict XVI. had introduced for solemn papal conventions. It seems to have been the desire to abbreviate the ceremony somewhat. With the same intent, the procession will account for the offertory.

Monsignor Marini XVI had prepared a solemn Pontifical Mass according to the specifications of Benedict.

For the Offertory,  the Sistine Chapel will sing the four voiced,  Palestrina motet Tu es Pastor Ovium which was specially composed for the 1585 coronation of the popes.

Monsignor Marini has compiled Latin / Italian / English program notes  for the inauguration, which was printed for the next day at the Vatican publishing house and will be given to all believers and the present leaders, the diplomatic corps and representatives of the Eastern churches, other denominations and religions . In the Eucharist, the Roman Eucharistic Prayer will be used. After the elevation of the Body and Blood of Christ is explicitly recorded that "the Holy Father kneel in adoration."

Pope will bow in adoration after elevation of the Body and Blood of Christ, the knee?

Pope Francis had in his two Masses in the Sistine Chapel in the parish of Santa Anna, and each made only one bow.

The Communion is kneeling on the tongue, as Pope Benedict XVI. had restored under the current rules of the Church. Pope Francis, however, has not as yet not participated in the Communion. In the Sistine Chapel and Santa Anna he gave Holy Communion, only to the two who were serving as deacons.

No Communion by the Pope

With the Te Deum sung, the liturgical part of the celebration closes.

Gammarelli Tailor is a traditional company, since 1798. Under the Blessed Pope Pius IX. it was in the papal tailor in the  19th. All of the robes of all popes since the Blessed John XXIII. were tailored by them.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Messa in Latino

Invitation to Pope Francis to Visit Econe?

(Rome) Pope Benedict XVI. had launched talks between the Society of St. Pius X. and the Holy See. A few months after his election he received Bishop Bernard Fellay, the Superior General of the Society of Castel Gandolfo. Despite his patient efforts during an eight-year pontificate his desire to bridge the gap and a canonical recognition of the Society did not materialize.

On the 21st of February, Benedict XVI again lifted one of the [many] CDF “ultimatums” for 22 February for an answer from the SSPX to the "doctrinal preamble" of June 2012. He left the decision as to the fate of the Society to his successor.

While the radical left’s fight on the political level in their fight against the Church continues unfazed against Pope Francis, the Modernists in the tattered, left side of the Church from Hans Küng and Leonardo Boff, applaud the new Vicar of Christ on earth and to suborn him as much as possible. Behind this strikingly flaunted joy just conceals another form of criticism of Pope Benedict XVI. and his pontificate. By praising his successor, they put down the image of their favorite bogeyman, Benedict.

Of course, it's also about an unvarnished attempt by praise for the new Pope to show their own positions in a hospitable light. Leonardo Boff says in a Spiegel interview, the new pope was set for a gay-friendly and adoption rights for homosexuals. His rejection of gay marriage in Argentina had been obtained only after pressure from Rome. Also a form of wanting to control a pontificate from the outside. But the reality is different. The opinions of the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires against the introduction of gay marriage are just as authentic as the resulting conflict with the Argentine government of President Kirchner. Proof that Boff's representation doesn’t correspond to the truth is an internal letter of 22 June 2010 by the then Cardinal Bergoglio to the cloistered convents of Carmelite nuns in Argentina. In this letter he condemns degenerate "marriage" in the strongest terms, and asks the nuns to pray intensely to the Argentine senators not to vote at that time for the law being drafted by Parliament.

So much for the aging modernists. But what about the SSPX?

The relationship of the newly elected Pope Francis and the SSPX founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre was recently attended by the American priest, Father John Zuhlsdorf and the Italian site Cantuale Antonianum.

A further contribution to the discussion was yielded in the meantime on the traditional Cordialiter site. Under the contribution "Pope Francis Trip to Econe” it reads:

"In the future we might receive a nice surprise, an apostolic journey of Pope Francis to Econe (Switzerland) to sign the historic peace agreement in the stronghold of Lefebvrians. That would be really a nice and concrete gesture of brotherly love. I do not think it is a non-realizable dream. It is now known that the Archbishop of Buenos Aires used to have warm relations with the Pius Brothers and I believe that if Monsignor Bernard Fellay would invite Pope Francis to Econe, the Pope might even accept the invitation. These days, we have seen that he is a spontaneous person, who can not be pressed into templates, ready even for unfamiliar and unpredictable gestures. I think that he would not let the clamor of the progressives intimidate him. Imagine the pope in the stronghold of the SSPX. That would truly be a historic meeting.

In the meantime it would be advisable for the SSPX to initiate friendly gestures such like Patriarch of Moscow. There would be nothing wrong there, if Monsignor Fellay and Patriarch Kirill would meet for dinner to talk about the dramatic would amicably spiritual situation in Europe and to other important issues for Christianity. That would not in any way contradict the doctrinal content of the encyclical Mortalium Animos by the great Pope Pius XI. If Bishop Fellay was photographed while he and the Patriarch of Moscow, was shaking his hand and the news spread that the two were friends, this would strengthen the position of the SSPX considerably. The modernists, they could not attack as much, since they might run otherwise the risk of damaging the diplomatic relations with the Orthodox, where they are known to take over a more friendly and respectful attitude as against the SSPX. “

Translation: Tancred
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
 Bild: Cordialiter
 Corrections? vekron99@hotmail.com AMGD

Judas’ Words Echo Through the Centuries

Edit: interesting that so many commentators are creating a false dichotomy between poverty and glorious liturgy and the beauty of the Church. It summons up an image of Judas and the incredulous disciples:

And when Jesus was in Bethania, in the house of Simon the leper, There came to him a woman having an alabaster box of precious ointment, and poured it on his head as he was at table. And the disciples seeing it, had indignation, saying: To what purpose is this waste? For this might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. And Jesus knowing it, said to them: Why do you trouble this woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me.

For the poor you have always with you: but me you have not always. For she in pouring this ointment upon my body, hath done it for my burial. Amen I say to you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, that also which she hath done, shall be told for a memory of her. Then went one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, to the chief priests, And said to them: What will you give me, and I will deliver him unto you? But they appointed him thirty pieces of silver.

FatherZ expresses this misgiving as he discusses his own ministry in Holy Mass and his own coming to terms with its “trappings”. Indeed, the caricature of humility and poverty from the media, and others who should know better, when they talks about Pope Francis’ simplifications when St. Francis himself spared no expense for the beauty of his church, vestments and appointments. FatherZ passionately writes:

Back when I resisted the liturgical kissing of my hand when being handed a chain, spoon or chalice, I had made the mistake of imagining myself to be more humble by that resistance. That was a mistake. Ironically, my resistance to those gestures turned the gestures into being about me. Submission to the gestures, on the other hand, erases the priest’s own person and helps him to be what he needs to be in that moment: priest, victim, alter Christus. The trappings, the rubrics, the gestures erase the priest’s poor person. Resisting these things runs the risk of making them all about the priest again.

In a sense, I had made the objection of Judas about the precious nard which the woman brought to the Lord. Jesus responded that the precious stuff should be kept for His Body, which was to be sacrificed. People who object that we should have only poor liturgy are falling into the argument of Judas. We must submit to the precious and sublime in recognition of the truth of what is going on. To pit the sublime and complex and precious and beautiful against the low, simple and humble is schizophrenic and not Catholic.

There is no real conflict of the humble and the sublime in liturgical worship

Link to painting a stained glass store.

Which Coat of Arms Really Expresses the Reality of the Papacy?

 Christ the King!

Elected Official.

This discussion has been invoked in part thanks to a post at Orbis Catholicus.

Image with Papal Tiara from Michael Y. Medvedev.

Media Takes the Side of Communists in Argentine War to Attack Pope

Edit: stories attempting to downplay Papa Bergoglio’s relationship to Argentina’s anti-Communist leadership during 70s and into the 80s doesn’t look very credible.  And who gets to decide it was a “dirty war”?  The allegedly conservative boulevard mag the  Daily Mail? Since when do they take the side of Communist insurgents?


Rome (kath.net/KNA) while he German media is currently whipping up a “black legend” against the newly elected Pope Francis, there are new details about the role of the former Jesuit Provincial Jorge Mario Bergoglio in the Argentine military dictatorship (1976-1983).  This is according to the periodical “peril”of an interview immediately after the Papal election on the internet site, that they had conducted already in 2010 with the former Cardinal.

In that Bergolio describes how he had gained entrance into the house of the former military dictator General Jorge Videla (87), in order to appeal for clergy who had been imprisoned and abducted by the military.  At that time the Jesuit Provincial Bergolio contacted the military chaplain who said Mass regularly in Vidal’s residence.

They arranged that the priest would claim a sudden illness and Bergolio was then  proposed as a replacement priest for the Mass in the General’s house.  The plan worked, and the Jesuit celebrated Mass with the entire Vidal family.  Finally he asked the General in a personal discussion, to appeal for the imprisoned priests.

This and other contacts to Vidal as well as to Admiral Emilio Massera would be portrayed by journalists 30 years after the events, as intimate contacts to those in power.  Bergoglio had publicly explained and founded his disposition and motives during the time of the unjust regime
 [sic]. At least twice he was a witness at a court trial to this fact, and in the “peril” interview he described further details.  Never the less, his reputation was damaged -- and in 2005 there had been adverse accusations which meant that Bergoglio would not become Pope at the Conclave.

The polemics against the Cardinal received support at that time from assertions of journalist Horacio Verbitsky, that Bergoglio is supposed to have not protected Jesuit priests Francisco Jalics and Orlando Yorio from persecution by the military.  Bergoglio contradicted, he is supposed to have warned and urged them, to bring themselves to the safety of the Provincial headquarters.  Both did not obey and decided for the path of open resistance -- and its dangers, to be arrested.  As this happened,  he appealed for them afterward.  Both were released after some months.  One of the two died in the meantime; the other one received a formal pardon.

Bergoglio comported himself in his situation like some Bishops of the Evangelical Church in the former DDR, who considered the radical ways of some pastors against the Communist regime as indeed imprudent,  but then also tried to help them, as the power of the state worked against them.  In contrast to the revelation of the misdeeds of the DDR, there is no archival evidence for support in Argentina. So in many cases it is statement against statement.

It is a fact that many Catholic Bishops in Argentina then sympathized with the military and were silent about the human rights abuses. [Good for them]  Only some of them intervened for those persecuted.   The former Jesuit Superior Bergoglio is considered, as also Nobel Peace Prize Winner and human rights activist Adolfo Perez Esquivel (81)  stressed recently,  a noteworthy exception.

[That’s why he was passionately advocating a just war for the Junta in the Falklands?]

SSPX Building in Philippines

In Iloilo City, the “heart of the Philippines”,  a Noviciate of St. Bernard has been started.  It will be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  At the place of the future main altar, there will be a Miraculous Medal placed in the ground.

The building has taken place not without difficulties.  Hardly had the excavation foundation been laid down, and indeed with floods of water in the torrential downpour.  Prior Coenraad Daniels will not, however, be influenced by a few drops.  The pit was pumped out and the project continued.

The church will be completed in two years.  According to the words of the Prior the building of the church will be of immense important for the life in the Novitiate.   The consecrated souls will find themselves at home there.

On the circular letter of the building in the Asian District.

The Society of St. Pius X is active on five continents in 62 countries.  (Numbers in German)

More pictures available on the SSPX German site.

Faithful in the entire world who are attached to the Society of St. Pius X: 600,000. (According to Cardinal  Castrillón, President der Commission Ecclesia Dei, Declaration of 16. May 2007 to the Bishops to CELAM)

Richard III Was Catholic and He Should be Buried as One

Edit: we said it first in September as soon as it was possible it could have been him. Indeed, a proper Mass for him still isn’t impossible.

By John-Paul Ford Rojas7:26PM GMT 17 Mar 2013 

[Telegraph] Dr John Ashdown-Hill argued that the monarch, killed in 1485 before the Reformation, was “a very religious man”. He suggested that the split from Rome that took place a few decades later might never have happened were it not for Richard’s defeat at the hands of the Tudors.

The king’s skeletal remains were discovered under a car park in Leicester earlier this year and he is now expected to be buried at the city’s Anglican cathedral – since it is the nearest consecrated ground.

But the decision has proved controversial with many arguing he should be re-interred at York Minster because of his strong ties to the region. There has also been the question of his religious affiliation.

Dr Ashdown-Hill told the BBC: “There is a lot of evidence that Richard III had a very serious personal faith. If Richard III had not have died, maybe the Anglican church would never have existed.”

Maybe this Mass would look like this:

Cardinal Kasper Pushes For Women Deacons

 Edit: he’s been quiet since being reprimanded and sidelined by Pope Benedict during the creation of the Ordinariate.  Now he’s feeling his oats, and his time is short.  Here’s an article from the anti-Catholic, Nazi continuations magazine, Spiegel:

[Spiegel] Trier - At the spring meeting of the German Bishops' Conference, Cardinal Walter Kasper has proposed a new diaconal Office for Women. He spoke of a Church deacon who undertakes pastoral, charitable, catechetical and certain liturgical services. Such an office is different from the post of male deacon, said Kasper. The church deacon will be commissioned by blessing, not by a sacramental consecration.

"I think if there is such a position that is not easily attached to the classic office of deacon, it would have a lot more flexibility," the retired Cardinal said on Wednesday in Trier. The occasion was a study day in which the bishops discussed how they could incorporate women in the Catholic Church more thoroughly.

They committed themselves to "the proportion of women in leadership positions that require ordination to increase significantly," said Bishop Franz-Josef Bode. Currently, women in the Catholic Church at the top management level make up 13 percent. At the central level, this may be 19 percent. The figures show: "Women are still under-represented." After five years, the bishops wanted to examine how their intent had been implemented, said Bodo.

Women in the priesthood earn a rejection from Kasper. "I think that it changes nothing that women can not be ordained to the priesthood." This was "the unbroken tradition of the Eastern Church as in the Western Church." Women are however, employed in all other parts of the Church with honor full time. "Every German parish would collapse if the women would not cooperate.”

The Movement We are Church called on the margins of the Spring Plenary for women priests again. "Are the key positions in the Church only through the Office," said Annegret Laakmann Officer. "We want to be priests, bishops and Popes." According to the view of the movement, there need to be more positions for women in the administration of the Church are not being addressed. "It's a matter of course, that women with similar qualifications get these positions," said Laakmann. The talks had been "a placebo”.

wit / dpa

Communion is Still Kneeling and on the Tongue

Edit: got a frantic report in cap letters from Southern Orders.  It’s different but looks ok.  The Holy Father wears an amice.   Perhaps Msgr. Marini still reigns?  We haven’t seen the whole thing yet, so would appreciate any comments you may have.

Infernal Spanish Marxists Ridicule the Cross in Malaga Spain

Edit: this is a report from Katholisches. The video they published on their site isn’t reproduced for various reasons, so instead we published a real procession above, the kind which which these Spanish Marxists mock.  This is clearly part of a campaign in a war on the Woman and a mockery of Her Son’s sacrifice on the Cross.

(Madrid) on 8 March organized a group of radical feminists in Malaga (Spain), the imitation of a procession. Under the title "El coño Insumiso" (not the submissive ...   a vulgar term for vagina), the women went into a sacrilegious  demonstration through the streets and described themselves as "victims of the repression." In fact, they paid homage to profanity and insulted the Church and the ecclesiastical hierarchy with chants and banners, and  mocked the Catholic priests or nuns in disguises. Instead of a miraculous image they carried a giant vagina made of styrofoam. In a statement, they accused any of their  potential critics of hypocrisy. In allusion to a held in the southern Spanish city of Malaga Passion procession declared feminists, "Who carries a bloodied figure through the streets and celebrates a sort of pain cult that we do not share, has no right to get upset about it, if we had a female sex organ by the street. “

The the feminists accused the Church in chants to be science-and anti-progressive, to promote religious wars, to ally themselves with fascism, sexual repression and facilitate the oppression of women. "We refuse, however, the guilt complex" that the Church teaches and call for "resistance” say the radical feminists.

The Popes Will Meet

Edit: the following just came from Katholisches.

On Saturday, the 23rd of March, Pope Francis will visit his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI in Castel Gandolfo as announced

Italian Blog Quotes Pope, “The time for carnival items is over”.

Is this good-bye Msgr. Marini?

Edit: this is Cathcon’s translation of Katholisches which picks up a lot of stuff in the Italian press and presents it for a Catholic audience in Germany. Here, they’ve quoted the very reliable blog, Missa in Latino, with one person apparently overhearing the Pope tell Msgr. Marini that "The time for carnival items is over”.

It’s also apparent that Msgr. Marini, Pope Benedict’s Master of Ceremonies, is going to be fired.

Monsignor Guido Marini, the Master of Ceremonies of Pope Benedict XVI. and all previous Masters of Ceremony face redundancy. This is reported by the tradition-orientated Messa in Latino . Pope Francis will get for his inauguration ceremony and the associated Pontifical Mass, the Franciscans of La Verna. "A further signal of the Jesuit Bergoglio to present himself as Franciscan on which the media places great value " said Messa in Latino .

Can only panic ensue because of the nature of the statement for which no exact source can be specified? Only a form of incitement associated with traditionalists against the new Pope, as the Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi recently lamented? Traditionalist Catholics are confused by some gestures of the Pope. The return of the "plywood altar" (Paul Badde) as people's altar in the Sistine Chapel was perceived partly with horror.

The Master of Ceremonies of the Pope is associated with the Roman Curia and the leadership of the church as much as a hermit on a high mountain. He is responsible for the central part of the liturgy, from which alone can come the renewal of the Church. If Monsignor Marini should actually be dismissed and it looks like even the first to be dismissed, then the recently so vehemently demanded conversion of the Roman Curia would start with a completely wrong step.

Link to Cathcon...

A Gloating Cardinal Mahony Disparages Pope Benedict

Edit: why isn’t he on a plane back to California and Folsom Prison? Some may have noted that Pope Francis publicly stripped Cardinal Law of his office. Hopefully, he applies discipline equally, for Cardinal Mahony cost the Catholic Church in the United States, just in terms of capital, far more than Cardinal Law by about 150 million Dollars.

There is not much of an outcry for the fifth estate to put this man away either.



 Of course, who does CNN go to to get expert clarification? National Catholic Reporter. H/t: Alison

Epoch Making: Patriarch of Constantinople WIll Come to Popes Inaugural Mass

For the first time since the Great Schism, ecumenical patriarch to attend pope's inaugural Mass

The metropolitans of Argentina and Italy will accompany Bartholomew. Moscow Patriarchate hopes in closer cooperation with Rome but excludes for now a meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill.

Istanbul (AsiaNews) - The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I will attend Pope Francis's inaugural Mass. The Ecumenical Patriarchate Press Office informed AsiaNews about the decision, noting that this is the first time such an event occurs since the Catholic-Orthodox split in 1054, an important sign for Christian unity.

The ecumenical patriarch will be accompanied by Ioannis Zizioulas, metropolitan of Pergamon and co-president of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Church, as well as Tarassios, Orthodox Metropolitan of Argentina, and Gennadios, Orthodox Metropolitan of Italy.

Relations between Catholics and Orthodox have been improving since the Second Vatican Council through mutual visits, acts of friendship and theological dialogue.

Under Benedict XVI, the dialogue picked up in earnest after a lull. In trying to promote it, the pope suggested ways to express the primacy of Peter's successor that could be acceptable to the Orthodox, finding his inspiration from the undivided Church of the first millennium.

Catholic ecumenism has met however with great resistance from the Russian Orthodox Church and the Moscow Patriarchate, seat of the 'Third Rome'.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church's Department for External Relations, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, said on Thursday that a meeting between the pope and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow was "possible but the place and timing will depend on how quickly we will overcome the consequences of the conflicts from the turn of 1980s and 1990s".

The issue of the Ukrainian Catholic Church is at the core of the "conflicts" to which Hilarion was referring. Although it was unbanned following the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was left without its original churches, which had been seized by the Communists under Soviet rule and later transferred to the Orthodox Church.

Still, "on several occasions, Pope Francis has shown spiritual sympathy towards the Orthodox Church and a desire for closer contacts," Hilarion said.

It is his hope that under the new pontificate "relations of alliance will develop and that our ties will be strengthened."

H/t: Badger Catholic

Mellow Out Subcaths, Free Speech is a Democratic Virtue

Update:  Mark Shea has apologized for slandering Michael Voris, who was simply reporting the news and not making any negative statements about the Holy Father at all.  Well!

Edit:  after reading a blog post recently urging a non-descript group of intransigents, integralists, seminarians, mothers of five at home and people of the remnant, to “calm down”,  I thought it would be interesting to address the subject of public browbeating typical of certain people who attempt to vilify that group known as “Traditionalists”,  loosely described as a group of individuals who embrace the rites and doctrines of the Catholic Church as they have been practiced throughout the ages.  First off, assuming that most of the people are firm advocates of the Second Vatican Council, we should perhaps step back from vilifying a group of people and consider the importance of free expression, religious freedom of speech and  assume that we're supposed to be adults capable of forming our own judgments, even if they are incorrect.  But hey, it's a lot easier to kick a dog we think won't bite!

Part of the problem with these rushes to judgment, even if we're criticizing people we think no one regards as human beings, is that the individuality of each one is forgotten.  This is important, for there are almost as many reactions to this papal election as there are different members of the alleged "trad" group being vilified.  The responses range from palpable anger, despair, grief, resignation, cautious optimism, joy, legitimate concern,  to outright enthusiasm for this Pope.  Of course, it also helps that bloggers are so vague in their accusations, this enables many others, even self-identified traditionalists who proceed to beat themselves up with recriminations, can join in with their own particular image of the fire breathing, unfriendly, mean spirited traditionalist that they've learned to despise.

Ultimately, this kind of attempt at public shaming has the intention, whether expressed or not, of silencing legitimate criticism.  You're kicking the barking dog, or even giving him sleeping pills so a thief can get in and out undetected with the goods.

This sort of thing brings to mind a certain kind of cliquey blogger, but one blogger in particular, some blogs are more passive in their appraisal of traditionalists, but there are other blogs who shrug off not only any pretense of restraint, factuality or a love for persons, but they go right for good old fashioned slander, like Mark Shea does.

But in addressing this issue of individuals and groups, let's not assume that the people offended don't have a legitimate point to make.  Let's not blame the victim of bad behavior for calling out as so many have before only to suffer this:

And which of you, if he ask his father bread, will he give him a stone? or a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

Indeed, rather than blaming those who are suffering and recognize the familiar signs of the things which have scandalized them, why not blame the agents of such crimes?   Is there really anything wrong with having a "questioning faith" if your name isn't Hans Kung, Roger Cardinal Mahony or Sister Joan Chittister?

Just to point it out, most people in the world are deliriously happy about the new pontiff, but in some areas it seems that he has profoundly distressed a section of Catholic Church who has made extensive use of the Pope's opening up of the Mass of All Ages to the entire world with his Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum in 2007 in Argentina.  There have been numerous responses to Rorate Caeli's expose on the situation in Buenos Aires, most of them are as hysterical and uncharitable as the post accusing intransigents of doing.

In fact, according to Rorate Coeli's journalist, the Holy Father did not implement the legislation in his See and even went to extents to suppress it by refusing to allow his priests to say it.  This goes against what else we've heard from Giuseppi Nardi at Katholisches, that the Institute of the Good Shepherd has a Mass location in his See, but we have been unable to confirm that at present.

But then there are other "trads" like Father Gruner, who believe that we are on the eve of a Fatima Papacy.  Father Gruner has been in contact with the Holy Father in the past and is beside himself.

Of course, focusing on the alleged problem of people with legitimate or perhaps, ill-formed and misplaced grievances in good will, we should be considering where the true problems lie instead:

SSPX DICI on Papa Bergolio in Argentina

15-03-2013

DICI obtained the opinion of Fr. Christian Bouchacourt, District Superior of South America, on the evening of the Pope’s election.

Cardinal Bergoglio wishes to be a poor man among the poor. He cultivates a militant humility, but can prove humiliating for the Church. His appearance in the loggia of St. Peter’s in a simple cassock without his rochet and mozzetta is a perfect illustration. He is a fine politician… And idealistic apostle of the poverty of the 70’s, he is completely turned towards the people, the poor, but without being a disciple of the theology of liberation.
Very conscious of the dilapidated state of his clergy, he did nothing to fix things. Never has the seminary of Buenos Aires had as few seminarians as today. It is a disaster, as have been the liturgies presided over by the “Cardinal of the Poor.” With him, we risk to see once again the masses of Paul VI’s pontificate, a far cry from Benedict XVI’s efforts to restore to their honor the worthy liturgical ceremonies.

He was firmly opposed to abortion. But while he wrote a beautiful letter to the Carmelites of Buenos Aires against the homosexual “marriage” bill – which was unfortunately voted through in the end – he had a regrettable discourse read during the protest against this bill, in which the name of Our Lord was not pronounced even once, while the Evangelistic pastor who spoke before him to excite the crowd delivered a more courageous discourse…(see DICI #219, July 24, 2010).

During an ecumenical meeting, he knelt to receive the blessing of two pastors.
He is a man of consensus, who hates confrontations. He kept his distance from the Catholics who denounced the blasphemous expositions that were held in Buenos Aires.

I have met him 5 or 6 times and he has always received me with benevolence, seeking to grant me what I wished, without going out of his way to overcome obstacles….

(sources : SSPX – DICI #272, March 15, 2013)

The Pope’s New Coat of Arms Restores Tiara?

A Fanciful Aspiration?

Edit: a Pope who doesn’t  speak English, who in turns plays the pilgrim Pope, then the Mystic Pope, a connoisseur of decadent art, then sending signals by venerating the relics of St. Pope Pius V, and now putting the tiara back on his coat of arms which the previous Holy Father, Benedict XVI had removed.

H/t to Orbis Catholicus…

And from Charles Coulombe:

Will the Next Pope Be Crowned?

The announcement of Pope Benedict XVI on February 11, 2013 that he would leave the Papacy (he could notresign it, as there is no earthly authority into whose hands he could do so; he renounced the See of St. Peter and the Diocese of Rome, and abdicated as Sovereign of the Vatican City State) on February 28 sent shock-waves throughout the world, and continues to do so at this writing. The fact that he will still be alive, though not participating, immediately alters many of the traditional features of the Sede Vacante — those dealing with ceremonial side of Papal death will be omitted, though something will have to be decided about such things as the ritual destruction of Benedict’s official ring. The Conclave shall duly elect Benedict’s successor, and the new Pontificate shall begin.

Apart from the next Pope’s record in diocesan or curial administration, much will be told about the course he intends to follow by his choices for the rites with which his Papacy will begin — what was traditionally called acoronation, and has been referred to in the last three Pontificates as an “installation” or “inauguration.” Pay close attention to what transpires on that day in early or mid-March; you will learn a great deal about the course of the Church in the next few years.

For the past several centuries, the coronation was a long ceremony, taking about six hours to complete. When Paul VI was elected, he shortened it considerably, by removing many of the small gestures, some of the repeated actions, and the like. He was however crowned with a Tiara as were his predecessors (albeit — in keeping with his unique aesthetics — a rather ugly one lacking the traditional ornamentation). Paul laid it on the altar of St. Peter’s at the end of Vatican II, in a gesture that was seen as bespeaking humility by some and as virtual abdication by others. Because of the changes he made in the Papal Court (ending most hereditary and lay offices, though a few remain), Paul made it impossible, just as he had with Papal funerals, for the sort of Coronation that he and his predecessors enjoyed to be performed again (cynics noted that while calling for a greater role for laity in the Church at large, he sharply reduced their standing in the ceremonial life of the Vatican). Nevertheless, it is certain that he intended for his successors to have some sort of coronation. In 1975 Apostolic Constitution, Romano Pontifici Eligendo, Paul explicitly declared, “the new pontiff is to be crowned by the senior cardinal deacon.”

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

Discalced Franciscan Does Penance at St. Peter’s During the Conclave

Credit: radiocristianidad

Edit: a lone pilgrim was praying in the rain in St. Peter’s square on a sewer grate while curious passers by watched (some joined him in prayer, and one priest even offered him grapes).  After finishing his prayers, he would go back to Assisi, to sleep outside there in the portico of the church.  Being interviewed by one journalist, he spoke of the end times.  Yet another journalist, interviewed the Friar and recorded his thoughts:

"Now times are very difficult for the church," said Massimo Coppo, who for more than 30 years has devoted his life to prayer and penitence for the church, following the example, he said, of St. Francis of Assisi.

Coppo arrived in Rome early Tuesday on the train from Assisi, where he is part of a community dedicated to St. Francis – and reforming the church. He's become something of a fixture at St. Peter's, but usually takes the train back to Assisi at night, where he sleeps under the porticos of the basilica.

"Tonight, I think I will stay," Coppo said, thanking a young priest who pressed a bag of grapes and crackers into his gnarled hands. "Here it is a mission of praying." He'd chosen his spot, kneeling atop the sewer drain, because, he explained, "When Francis came here to meet the pope, the story says that he also stayed in a stable with animals. So I want to stay here, as a sign of penance and also in prayer, so that our church may be clean and restored."

When I asked the question that is nearly ubiquitous in Rome at the moment – who would he like to see elected pope – Coppo skipped names and went straight to description.

"To me, I hope it will be a pope who is poor or who understands the poor. Many people are poor and becoming poor," he said. "A pope that speaks of eternity – of paradise – and even of hell in a world that doesn't like it.

"The revolutionary approach of Francis to poverty and suffering is the approach of the apostles, of the Bible," the soft-spoken pilgrim continued. "Sometimes, part of the church wants to please the world. It's not possible.”

The full story is here...

Pope Francis’ Aesthetic Tastes Are Revealing

Edit: another feature of Pope Francis that might provide an indication of what his approach to the Liturgy and sacred art will be, are the things he likes.  According to Nick Squires, the Pope’s favorite “painting” is Marc Chagall’s Crucifiction:

His favorite film is Babette’s Feast:



A Review on Rotten Tomatoes:

The Danish/French Babette's Feast is based on a story by Isak Dinesen, also the source of the very different Out of Africa (1985). Stephane Audran plays Babette, a 19th century Parisian political refugee who seeks shelter in a rough Danish coastal town. Philippa (Bodil Kjer) and Martina (Birgitte Federspiel), the elderly daughters of the town's long-dead minister, take Babette in. As revealed in flashback, Philippa and Martina were once beautiful young women (played by Hanne Stensgaard and Vibeke Hastrup), who'd forsaken their chances at romance and fame, taking hollow refuge in religion. Babette holds a secret that may very well allow the older ladies to have a second chance at life. This is one of the great movies about food, but there are way too many surprises in Babette's Feast to allow us to reveal anything else at this point (except that Ingmar Bergman "regulars" Bibi Andersson and Jarl Kulle have significant cameo roles).. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Pope’s First Mass is Versus Populum

Setting for Mass Versus Populum

Is the Cafeteria Open?

Edit: according to FatherZ, the new Pope is now saying Mass in the magnificent Sistine Chapel versus populum.  Once you start a ball rolling, it’s hard to stop.  One wonders what other changes will be taking place?  It looks like we’re going back to John Paul II and that Msgr Marini may be looking for a new job soon.

Some of us were brought back to 2006!

Here you can watch the Mass live on EWTN.

One reader asks, “is the cafeteria open?”  Thanks to him for that witty reposte.

Newsmax Poll on New Pope and State of the Church

Edit: currently with a little under 3,000 votes cast, most are Catholic, against birth control by a slim margin, overwhelmingly against priestesses, overwhelmingly favorable to the new Pope and overwhelmingly favorable toward the Catholic Church.

Cast your vote, here….

Pope Francis: A Brighter Portrait [Update]

Update:  according to what we’ve heard from the Argentine journalist at Rorate Caeli, the Immemorial Masses offered within the vicinity of Buenos Aires, in fact, one close to the city center, another 20 miles away and the third within 60 miles, but none of them are within the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires itself.

When individual priests attempted to offer the Immemorial Mass, in this very conservative Archdiocese, they were ordered to stop.

We still don’t know what to make of the Society of the Good Pastor’s alleged presence in the Diocese

At any rate, it’s indisputable that when he was the ordinary, he not only didn’t promote the Traditional Mass, he thwarted it, against the spirit of the legislation, and it could be said in a spirit of disobedience to the wishes of the Holy Father and the legislation of Summoroum Pontificum.

Edit: this is a bit of an overwhelmingly positive look at the new Pope, with some cautionary notes.  It’s interesting to note that despite a local Argentine journalist’s description of the new Pope as a man who did not implement Summorum Pontificum,  the new pope has, in fact, several locations, far more than most cities in North America, including the Society of the Good Shepherd.  Not only that, but he appears to have been a bit of a cold warrior, and is going to face some nasty reprisals against the Leftist press for his involvement.  Hopefully the links on all the locations will still work.  Each cross marks a Mass location in and around Buenos Aires.:

Ver Misa Tradicional Summorun Pontificum en Argentina. en un mapa ampliado

Buenos Aires is a city with almost three million inhabitants.  It has four Latin Mass locations within the city limits and reasonable driving distance.  It looks like two of them offer Mass daily, according to the map above, while one offers it at 12 on Sundays.  Further to the south at the Air Force base, Mass is offered only once a month.  You can click and drag around the window to look inside them.   It will be easier to look around if you access it directly on google.

(Vatican)The conclave brought a big surprise. What is surprising is the choice of the Argentine, Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio. The Archbishop of Buenos Aires is the first non-European, [St. Gregory III?]  the first Hispanic, the first Jesuit, on the See of the Prince of the Apostles Peter.  Surprisingly, he is also the first to take the name Francis, which he has chosen as pope. Although he is a Jesuit, the recent descendant of Italian immigrants, he is close to the new Community Communion and Liberation (CL) of Giussani. From the ranks of this community comes Milan's Archbishop Angelo Cardinal Scola who was actually considered "papabile”. Bergoglio is only one and a half years younger than Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was when he was elected as pope in 2005. Contrary to expectations, the College of Cardinals would set clear signals that needs to be read, but no long pontificate, as had been adopted previously. On the 17th of December,  Pope Francis I ail be 77 years old.

The choice of name inevitably points to the "poverello", the “little poor one",  St. Francis of Assisi. No pope has previously held the name. One name says it all. Cardinal Bergoglio forbade the Argentine faithful who wanted to accompany him to the joy of his elevation to cardinal in Rome, to make the journey. [Forget about any of the spiritual benefits pilgrims would receive for their sacrifices and good intentions.] He asked them to donate the money to charity. Appointments to the Roman Curia were refused by the Jesuit. He traveled to Rome only when it was absolutely necessary.

Francis, however, was not just the stereotype, which is known today about him, but in addition to his evangelical poverty, he is an especially staunch defender of God and an indefatigable son of Holy Church. This at a time when there were many sectarian currents outside the Church and many believers joined these groups because of their dissatisfaction with the church.  St. Francis opposed them by offering an equally authentic counter model. Which included also, if necessary, to suffer emergencies in the Church,  from what did not correspond to Her real nature in this time by human weakness and ignorance.

The new pope was also the Bishop for Eastern Christians in Argentina. He has not celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, since the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum. The implementation of the motu proprio in the archdiocese was "rather lukewarm," writes Messa in Latino. The Remnant said that not much is known about his disposition to the traditional rite in a preliminary report. In his archdiocese there is a branch of the Old Ritual Institut du Bon Pasteur. He also was, however, so far, among others in the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.  As for questions in the Church's moral teachings and ecclesiastical discipline, he is considered to be like Pope Benedict XVI.. To legalize the killing of unborn children, the Cardinal said: In Argentina, "there is the death penalty." He turned and decided, without success, against the legalization of gay marriage by the Argentine government. [In one of the most Catholic countries in the New World.]

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi, a Jesuit like the new pope said in an initial statement that Francis is a Pope who will show a "style of simplicity and evangelical witness" and also a "continuity with Benedict XVI."

On fiscal policies he may be expected to criticize the excesses of capitalism. Bergoglio, although no Franciscans may be considered  as a Franciscan in his manner of living. He has neither a driver nor a stylish sedan. In Buenos Aires, he used a lot of public transport. In the conclave of 2005, he was as the “rival" of Benedict XVI. said to have tearfully asked the cardinals in the conclave not to choose him, but Joseph Ratzinger. His opponent is now to succeed. The pendulum has swung in the other side? Among the human vices he finds particularly offensive is careerism, especially in the church.

In the short speech to the assembled crowd at St. Peter's, he said, both in relation to his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. and of himself as "bishop."  Francis clearly addressed his diocese as Bishop of Rome. How this will affect his understanding of the papacy, must be seen. What role will the collegiality on which was in the General Congregations much emphasis?

In 1973 to 1980 Bergolio was the Argentine Superior of the Province of Argentina of the Jesuit Order, and then vigorously opposed the Marxist liberation theology. Not least because of his resistance to some Marxist-inspired confreres and the resulting conflicts, he was transferred. [He fought with the good guys] In 1986 he received his doctorate in Germany, which is why he learned, alongside Spanish and Italian, very good German as well. Subsequently, he served as spiritual director and confessor at the Jesuit church of Cordoba. In 1992 he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires by John Paul II.  In 1997 he was appointed Coadjutor, and he succeeded Cardinal Antonio Quarrancino by the Office of the Archbishop of Buenos Aires. By 2011 he was also Chairman of the Argentine Episcopal Conference.

In the General Congregations prior to the Conclave for the new pope, he spoke especially about the mercy of God and the joy of the faith. In Argentina it is the priest, acting in the slums, who are his favorites. Without Deviations of the Doctrine of the Faith he was trying to win all, even the most feeble, for Christ. The Church, said then Cardinal Bergoglio,  must "always reflect the merciful face of God."

Pope Francis, Now the Jesuits Are Control All Your Bases!

Edit: when we were watching the last election, it was with resignation.  Pope Benedict XVI was a possibility and probably the best possibility of them all, but there was much trepidation about what he’d do in the future.  Could we be, as one anonymous canonist remarks, be looking down the barrel of another Vatican Council?

At this point, the new Holy Father, Francis I, is not being met with a great deal of enthusiasm by traditionalists in Argentina.  Despite his intransigence on matters such as sexual morality where he opposed illicit unions, he has been unfriendly to tradition in his See.

This may mean, of course, the death of any reconciliation with the Society of St. Pius X, and even a complete abandonment of Benedict XVI’s project of restoration.

He’s already off to a bad start, (change is a bad thing in rituals and doctrine) taking an unusual name and appearing to the Sala window only in a white cassock without his mozetta as his predecessors had done.  At least he kept the Ferula Papalis, but I don’t think we can be hopeful that he will be restoring the papal coronation and tiara at any point.

Still, it’s not the end of the world. The Pope in white may be the greatest Pope we’ve ever had, greater even than St. Pius IX.  Or he may be the worst Pope we’ve ever had, only time will tell.

Anyway, don’t expect him to put much of a break on false ecumenism:




Update:  Here’s a comment from Rorate Caeli’s combos:

"I live in Buenos Aires. Bergoglio has destroyed the archdioceses, persecuting every single orthodox priest. He despises sacrality, and has de facto prohibited the application of Summorum Pontificum. He is an utter enemy of Tradition, ill-minded, almost maffiosi. This has to be a severe chastisement from God to us all."