Highest Court in Italy Considers Aberrounions Invalid

In Italy homosexual unions concluded abroad remain invalid. Judges stressed: According to prevailing legal precedent, valid marriages may only be concluded only between a man and a woman.

Rome (kath.net/KAP) In Italy homosexual unions concluded abroad remain invalid. This was decided by the Supreme Administrative Court in Rome, according to Italian media (Tuesday). According to prevailing legal precedent, valid marriages may only be concluded between a man and a woman, stressed the judges.

This year the mayors of several Italian cities, including Rome and Milan, had registered homosexual couples who had married abroad as married couples in the municipal register.

Interior Minister, Angelino Alfano had declared this inadmissible. Homosexual couples and the Roman mayor Ignazio Marino, have submitted a counter-action. Link to Kath.net... Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com AMDG

Cardinal Arinze Counters Cardinal Marx

The emeritus Cardinal has clearly rejected proposals regarding the possible admission of remarried divorcees to Communion. The Ten Commandments were given by God, no one should consider himself wiser.

Rome (kath.net/LSN/jg) 
Francis Cardinal Arinze has rejected proposals to relax the ban on Communion for divorced and civilly remarried  in no uncertain terms. Proposals of this kind had been expresed by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising  at the Synod of Bishops. Marx had justified its recommendation, among other things, saying that for many it appears "unrealistic" to require remarried divorcees abstinence. Sexual activity should also be assessed in each "life context". Kath.net has reported.

Cardinal Arinze said: "The Ten Commandments have been given to us by God. Do we have the authority to say it was 'unrealistic' to expect the people to control themselves?" With the proposed argumentation, one could allow people to disobey any commandment of God. If you could say to the civilly divorced and remarried, that they need not obey the sixth Commandment, why should  there not similar  exceptions from the other commandments  be allowed, asked the emeritus Cardinal. 

Christ has foreseen every possible situation, as he had announced his commandments. No one should consider himself wiser than Jesus. "He is the Way, the Truth and the Life," continued Cardinal Arinze. 

Whoever receives Communion and is not in a state of sanctifying grace, thus commits another sin. In this way, no one can come closer to God, reminds Arinze. Communion for divorced-and-remarried is a rejection of Divine law: Cardinal Arinze

Link to kath.net..

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Pope Receives Resignations of Cardinals Caffarra and Romeo -- Successors Named

Cardinal Carlo Caffarra

(Rome) Pope Francis has today accepted the Resignation of Cardinal Carlo Caffarra as Archbishop of Bologna and of Cardinal Paolo Romeo of Palermo. According to canon law both had offered the Pope their resignations with the 75th year of life. Both dignitaries stayed two years longer in office. Cardinal Romeo was on 77 years old on February 20, Cardinal Caffarra  on the 1st of June. Their successors are to be called from among the representatives of the "poor Church for the poor".

Cardinal Carlo Caffarra - distinctive shape of the European episcopate

Cardinal Caffarra had been appointed by Pope John Paul II. Archbishop of Bologna in 2004. The Cardinals from Busseto in the Emilia, was born in the same place as Giuseppe Verdi, and came from humble beginnings. Caffarra received his doctorate in canon law and moral theology. At the family Synod of 1980, whose result was Familiaris Consortio, Pope John Paul II. had appointed him as an expert on marriage and family questions. John Paul II. appointed him as the first president of the Pontifical Institute established in 1981, "John Paul II. For Studies on Marriage and Family" at the Pontifical Lateran University. He is one of the most distinctive diocesan bishops and cardinals in Europe: a fine, razor-sharp thinker with a willingness to fight.  Most recently, he raised his voice against  gender ideology and the homosexual agenda. Even last week he refused allegiance to Pope Francis, as this the Synod Fathers presented the almost unchanged working document of the Synod  from the beginning as a final document for the vote, despite more than 1,300 amendments after three Synod weeks. 
The protest, including Caffarra's, was so clear that the pope had to relent and sought in the final hours before the final vote to somehow seek a compromise on a tight deadline for a majority.

Cardinal Romeo - alleged assassination plot against Benedict XVI.

Cardinal Paolo Romeo

Cardinal Romeo was appointed in 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI., the Archbishop of Palermo. Romeo comes from a wealthy and large family of Catania in Sicily. Like Cardinal Caffarra, he also received his doctorate at the Pontifical Gregorian University in canon law. He is extroverted and enthusiastic about technology with the precision thinking of a lawyer. In 1967 he entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See and was active until his appointment as archbishop of Palermo in the Apostolic nunciatures or the State Secretariat. In 1983 he attained the rank of Apostolic Nuncio and became titular bishop of Vulturia, a defunct diocese in the imperial province of Mauretania of the Roman Empire.
Cardinal Romeo got international notoriety momentarily because he predicted in November 2011, that Pope Benedict XVI. would die within a year. The incident became known only later. Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, who had learned of Romeo's statements during a visit to China, wrote a statement of the facts for the German Pope. For security reasons and due to its confidential nature,  the Colombian cardinal wrote on 30 December 2011 a letter in German and sent it to Benedict XVI. as Cardinal Romeo's interlocutor, "thought with horror that we are dealing with an assassination plot against the Pope," said Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos in his exposition of the facts, that it involved an "assassination plot."  To make sure that the Pope had received his letter, the Colombian cardinal sought the pope in mid-January as part of a private audience.
Vatican spokesman Lombardi denied  media reports in February 2012 as "absurd and frivolous". A year later Benedict XVI surprisingly announced his resignation from office.

The new archbishops of Bologna and Palermo

The new Archbishops (from left) Msgr. Zuppi (Bologna) and Msgr. Lorefice (Palermo)

For new archbishop of Palermo, Pope Francis has chosen the Sicilian priest Corrado Lorefice (born in 1962). Ordained priest in 1987, he was incardinated in his home diocese of Noto. Most recently  Msgr. Lorefice was parish priest of San Pietro a Modica and episcopal vicar for pastoral care in the diocese.

For new Archbishop of Bologna, Pope Francis has chosen Matteo Maria Zuppi from Rome (born in 1955). Msgr. Zuppi belongs to the Community of Sant'Egidio. He was ordained a priest in 1981 and incardinated in the diocese of Rome, he received his doctorate in Church history. From 1981-2000 he was a chaplain in Santa Maria in Trastevere. In 2000 he became the spiritual assistant as a successor of the diocesan bishop Msgr. Vincenzo Paglia to the Community of Sant'Egidio. In 2012 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him. auxiliary bishop of Rome and Titular Bishop of Villanova, also a defunct diocese in the province of Mauretania Caesariensis. Msgr. Zuppi has been in the past 25 years, together with Andrea Riccardi, founder of Sant'Egidio, active in the so-called parallel diplomacy, at the official Diplomatic Service of the Holy See. In March 2014 Msgr. Zuppi also visited as the competent Bishop the traditional Roman personal parish Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, which is supervised by the Fraternity of St. Peter and celebrated at his own request in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite.

The local press of Sicily and Romagna speaks of a "great discontinuity". The two successors of the former archbishops have been representatives of the  "poor Church and for the poor" of Pope Francis.

Both diocese were previously linked to the dignity of Cardinal. Under Pope Francis, however, it can not be said  that the newly appointed will also be raised in the cardinal state.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Wikicommons / Diocese Noto / Vicariate Rome
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

The Results of the Family Synod: Cardinal Kasper "I am very pleased"

I'm very pleased...

.

(Rome) Cardinal Walter Kasper is "very pleased"  about the result of the Synod, although Communion for the divorced and remarried wasn't mentioned once. "When the result of the Synod is agreed to by Kasper, then it is time to be worried," says Secretum meum mihi.

The Italian daily,  Il Giornaleve Interviewed the German Cardinal with the title: "Hosts for Divorced, If Penitent"  And the subtitle: "The prelate  talks about the closing of the Synod as though his progressive line had succeeded." The newspaper had cited Kasper with the words: "I am very pleased and am overjoyed by the Synods successful work. The closing report is a good text, and we only await the Pope's decision.“

The full interview:

Il Giornale: Your Eminence, in the Synod your line has predominated, that is to say, the possibility to allow  remarried divorcees to communion through an individual assessment. How do you rate the discussion of the Synod Fathers on this subject?

Kasper: I am pleased to open the door to the possibility of the divorced and remarried to  communion.  There is a certain opening, but you do not even talk about the consequences. Now everything is in the hands of the pope, who decides. The Synod has made recommendations. There has been an opening, but the matter is still not completely resolved and needs to be further deepened.

Il Giornale: If it is, the priest stands there to decide on a case by case basis, what is meant by that?

Kasper: There needs to some conditions given for admition to the sacrament of the Eucharist. First, the assessment of whether everything possible has been done possible to save the first marriage; then that there is a way of repentance for the couple. Then there must be a path of reflection and accompaniment, because divorce is a disaster and leaves traumatic experiences. It takes time to overcome the wounds of separation.

Il Giornale: But running such an opening does not risk confirming divorce?

Kasper: Yes, the doors are not opened for divorce. The pastor must do everything possible to reconcile the couple. Divorce is never a pleasant thing and is a sad moment, especially for the children of the couple.

Il Giornale: There were elements of  "disorder": The Coming out of Monsignor Charamsa who professed to be gay, have the letter of the 13 cardinals,  who have criticized the methods of the Synod work, the dissemination of the message through QN, the pope's  benign brain tumor. Has all the Synod work destabilized?

Kasper: The Synod can not  be manipulated. We have gone further in our work and in accordance with a fixed agenda, without  having us be influenced or manipulated by external factors.

Il Giornale:  the Synod, however,  has not come to an agreement about homosexual relationships. 

Kasper: The theme of the Synod was the family and homosexuals are not the family.  We have not dealt with the subject of homosexual partnerships, but only with the presence of persons with homosexual tendencies within a family. The Church must help with these situations, one must help, not  discriminate.

Il Giornale: What do you now expect from the Pope?

Kasper: I hope that the Holy Father has written a compelling text that emphasizes the joy of Christian marriage, which is the most important thing. The indissolubility of marriage is not up for discussion, but there is no contrast between mercy and truth of the Gospel.

Il Giornale: When can we expect Francis' decision?

Cardinal Kasper: It takes time, it is not a document that you do from one day to the next. The final report of the Synod is a foundation for the Pope. I hope that the text of the Pope comes during the Year of Mercy. That would be a nice sign.

Secretum meum mihi adds:  They were still worried about the result? Now you have a reason to be there.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Giornalettismo (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmailcom

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Evil Thomas Reese Celebrates the Ambiguity of the Synod -- "...like Vatican II"

Edit: this aberrosexual enabler is beside himself with glee. 

[National Catholic Reporter] think that the truth is that Communion was not mentioned because that was the only way the paragraphs could get a two-thirds majority. Like the Second Vatican Council, the synod achieved consensus through ambiguity. This means that they are leaving Pope Francis free to do whatever he thinks best.

Hats off to the drafting committee that found exactly the right language to achieve consensus even if it does not give a definitive answer to our questions.

Josh McElwee also reports that the document touches on artificial contraception, quoting Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae that prohibited the practice. But the Synod document also calls for a "consensual dialog" between spouses when considering children.

http://ncronline.org/blogs/faith-and-justice/synod-remarried-catholics-consensus-ambiguity

An Analysis of the Synod

Edit: from Father Zuhlsdorf's blog. Seems to me we've been living with an unacceptable praxis which assumes unacceptable doctrine, tolerated by very powerful churchmen,
for centuries. Faithful Catholics somehow survived evil prelates like Cardinal Gibbons and Archbishop Ireland, and they will certainly survive Kasper and his lackies.

UPDATE: 26 Oct 11:00 AM ROME (CET)
From a different friend who is a canonist.  I’ll leave his name out of this for now:

What Did The Synod Really Say? Some analysis of the Final Report. 

“[IF] If the Pope decides to publish this section of the Final Report in whatever document he issues, and if he, too, leaves out that section of FC 84 that bars civilly divorced and remarried from Communion, then this section will become magisterial teaching. [Get it?] Will that mean that the civilly divorced and remarried can be admitted to Holy Communion without promising to live “as brother and sister”? In my view, …without the benefit of much time for reflection, it could very well mean that. IN OTHER WORDS the Kasper Proposal has come into the Final Report through the back door.”

Concedo: you could give a Kasperian interpretation of this document.

Distinguo: a Kasperian interpretation of this document does not mean that the document itself supports the Kasper Proposal.

Of course Cardinal Kasper also interprets the Scriptures in an “interesting” way to support his thesis.

That does not mean that Scriptures support the Kasper Proposal. 

And a  Kasperian interpretation of this document cannot become a “Magisterial” teaching when the Kasper Proposal is clearly not guided by the Holy Spirit – because

1.       It would be in contradiction to the Teaching of Christ on the Indissolubility of Marriage.

2.       It would be in contradiction to the Teaching of the Council of Trent on the Indissolubility of Marriage.

3.       It would be in contradiction to the Teaching of St John Paul II on the Indissolubility of Marriage.

4.       It would be in contradiction to Sacred Tradition on the Indissolubility of Marriage.

The Pope cannot make a Magisterial declaration that is clearly false. He cannot solemnly define that 1 + 1 + 3.  But that is what he is trying to do. It is totally illogical and crazy.

He would be very unwise to plunge half the Church into schism.

I think even he realises this – which is why he threw his toys out of the pram again the other day.

Hopefully that the letter of the 13 Cardinals will have given him a wake-up call.

If Pope Francis does issue false doctrine, please God the next Pope will revoke the false teaching.

 I think that the whole of this document needs a Hermeneutic of Continuity – especially as it claims to be building on the Magisterium of Vatican II, Paul VI, John Paul II & Benedict XVI. 

And furthermore in Chapter II the second section is entitled “Indissolubilita e fecondita dell’unione sponsale” begins “I’irrevocabile fedelta di Dio all’alleanza e il fondamento dell’indisolubilita del matrimonio.” (48)

A pity Ed Peters was not part of the Synod to introduce some logic.  [Amen.]

 http://wdtprs.com/blog/2015/10/what-did-the-synod-really-say-some-analysis-of-the-final-report/

https://canonlawblog.wordpress.com/2013/12/12/lets-understand-whats-at-stake/

And Father Ray Blake admires Cardinal Pell:

http://marymagdalen.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/i-admire-cardinal-pell.html?m=1

Synod: Conservatives Win

Edit: I think the conservatives were better organized this time, but ultimately, all of the things which the Kasperians clamoired for have been done for years by dissident parishes and evil places like, say, Collegeville. Yet it still has to be said that they at least didn't give the appearance of consensus like they have in the past when they host these teachin consensus building events where opposing groups and individuals are identified and marginalized, while the evil people, in this case the Kasperians, are made to look like the sensible party.

[Damian Thompson, Spectator] This afternoon the Vatican Synod on the Family amended and approved the final document summing up three weeks of chaotic and sometimes poisonous debate – much of it focussing on whether divorced and remarried people should be allowed to receive communion.

The majority view of the Synod Fathers is that they don’t want the rules changed. They especially don’t want one rule to apply in, say, Germany and another in Tanzania. Pope Francis has just given a cautiously worded (but also, alas, rather waffly) address in which he acknowledges as much:

… we have also seen that what seems normal for a bishop on one continent, is considered strange and almost scandalous for a bishop from another; what is considered a violation of a right in one society is an evident and inviolable rule in another; what for some is freedom of conscience is for others simply confusion.

Significantly, the Fathers didn’t back a ‘solution’ suggested by liberal cardinals, whereby divorced and remarried Catholics could consult their consciences and their confessors over whether they should follow the rules.

http://blogs.new.spectator.co.uk/2015/10/the-vatican-synod-on-the-family-is-over-and-the-conservatives-have-won/

Synod: Pope Francis' "American Problem"

(Rome) The thirteen working group reports published on Wednesday  for the third part of the Instrumentum laboris (the topics divorced and remarried and homosexuality) reveal different nuances depending on the majorities. The Vatican expert Matteo Matzuzzi of Il Foglio has presented  some considerations.

It just so happens that since the "Kasperians"  were not able to march through any other group group  not even in the German one,  by the workings of Cardinal Prefect Müller was probably no accident.  Even Marx and Kasper could not pass him by. Upon Cardinal Schönborn, the "born diplomat," as they say in Vienna, the task fell to to conjugate the contrasting positions until a unanimous document came out, which left the "Kasperians" looking pretty weak.

They bring all their concerns, but the only reference to the actual implementation is  no. 84 of Familiaris Consortio called by Pope John Paul II.. Although only the first part was quoted and the second, on the divorced and remarried, can no longer be 'on serious grounds' (for children) can not separate, and omit the  obligation to Josephite marriage [Spiritual Marriage]. Implicitly, he is by invoking  no. 84, however, with this case.

Have "Kasperians" Already Written off  the Synod and Hope for Francis?

With Cardinal Müller, the Kasperians had an opponent who can not be intimidated. As always, behind closed doors, things may have run their course, in which the German paper explained the resentment of Kasperians, as they reacted from the very beginning to Cardinal Pell.

It is more likely that the Kasperians have  already abandoned any   hope to achieve a breakthrough in the Synod.  They now look to Pope Francis. He could change the tide in their favor still.  Will he do it? And if so, how? Ways and means have been discussed more in the past few weeks, or at least indicated.

The Synod, not the papers of thirteen working groups, provide no recourse or even support to soften or turn  Catholic doctrine on marriage and morality. The Pope, if he wanted it, would have a   hard time to ignore this synodal orientation.

The "American problem" of the Pope

The biggest problem for the Church leader comes from the United States, exactly the country to which he had just paid a visit. That was foreseeable. It was sufficient to read  Francis' speech  to the bishops in the cathedral of Washington. With the appointment of Blaise Cupich as Archbishop of Chicago, the American Phalanx was indeed broken up something more than that. Cupich even tried to show his gratitude.

Even outside of the Synod,  the US episcopate shows itself to be combative. The Archbishop of Newark, Msgr. John Myers, sent this week to all the priests of his diocese a letter in which he has strictly forbidden them to give communion to believers who are in an irregular situations (as divorced and remarried) or positions contrary to Catholic doctrine.  These include abortion proponents and supporters of "gay rights" or "gay marriage".

Although the letter is directly related to the beginning of the primaries to the presidential and parliamentary elections next year, it also falls in the middle of the Synod work in Rome.

Archbishop Myers also stated unequivocally that he will not tolerate in his jurisdiction that church institutions or Catholic organizations "persons or organizations" offer hospitality "which contradict the teachings of the Church". A rejection of cooperation and action coalitions on premises that are made available in parishes.

Guidelines to help, "preserve and protect the Catholic faith in the midst of an ever secularized culture," says the Archbishop. 

Even in Rome the American synod, together with the Polish and African, made  their voice more clearly heard than before. Above all, they lack the often misty-blurred church-diplomatic language of Western Europeans.

Strongest criticism of the Instrumentum Laboris from North America

One example is the Archbishop of Philadelphia, Msgr. Charles Chaput, who hosted the recent World Meeting of Families, in which  Pope Francis allso participated. "As Pastor of the Catholic Church," said Chaput of Pope Francis, "he can listen to the advice of [the Synod Fathers], ignore them or do something between these two paths. But it would be strange that the Bishop of Rome would not take into account the consensus of his brothers "because" the synods indeed have a collegial value. 

"Archbishop Chaput was the Relator of the vicious Anglicus D, Moderator of the Canadian Cardinal Collins, about the workgroups heard the sharpest criticism of the papal approved Instrumentum laboris practiced. The working groups run by Chaput and Collins  made ​​the Pope and the Synod black know to know that "the Instrumentum Laboris not the slightest definition of marriage has" and that "is a serious deficiency, which the entire text ambiguous" makes. A damning critique of the Pope and the Synod Secretariat established by it is hardly conceivable.

That the Synod ultimately focused on a question, the admission of remarried divorcees to Communion, once more confirmed by Cardinal Marx, who reiterated in assembly that "the possibility that access is allowed to divorced and remarried at the very least to the Sacrament of Penance and Holy Communion, should seriously be taken into consideration, " he added the proviso that this is based on individual cases and not intended as a general scheme. The Dominican Jean-Paul Vesco, bishop of Oran in Algeria, seconded. There will always be marriages that fail. One must look "reality in the eye."

The derived conclusion was contradicted energetically by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Roman Congregation for Bishops, a man who weighs his words carefully and basically receives little public comment. But in the Synod Hall he became clear and repeated its position also with respect to Vatican Radio: "The position of Familiaris Consortio, is the traditional teaching of the Church, confirmed by John Paul II and Benedict XVI.. (...) If a marriage bond is indissoluble and this sacramental, we can [divorced and remarried] not grant access to the sacraments, without changing the doctrine,
because that is the central doctrinal point. "

Western Europe and North America form two parts of the so-called West, as it was created by or after the Second World War. And yet the two parts are clearly different from each other.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Mil
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

The Synod Has Been a Sham -- Faithful Catholic Leaders Should Walk Out

Edit: it's not going to happen but it's worth a try. Here's a piece by Steve Skojec exhorting faithful Catholic clergy to walk out.

[Washington Post] Over the past three weeks, Catholic Church leaders from around the world have gathered for the Ordinary Synod of the Family in Rome, the second in a two-part session that began in October 2014.

The meeting was a perfect opportunity for bishops to discuss how to strengthen the family in the midst of serious challenges — issues such as contraception, abortion and chastity in a sexually licentious culture. Instead, it has become mired in debates over long-settled teaching on sexual mores, with agendas advanced by progressive and controversial figures invited by Pope Francis himself. What we’re left with is nothing less than a battle for the soul of Catholicism.

The church’s teaching on marriage has always been that it is indissoluble. As we read in Matthew 19:6, “so they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” While annulments can be granted, those who divorce then remarry are living in de facto adulterous relationships, according to the church. This violation of the sixth commandment is, according to Catholic belief, a serious sin. It does (and should) preclude such individuals from receiving the body of Christ until they repent.

Read on:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/10/23/the-synod-has-been-a-sham-faithful-catholic-leaders-should-walk-out/

When the Most Catholic Voice in Rome is the Moscow Patriarchate, That Should Be a Problem

(Rome) When one of the most Catholic voices in Rome   is that  of the Moscow Patriarchate, this is a problem. Last Tuesday  Hilarion of Volokolamsk Metropolitan addressed the Pope and the Synod of Bishops, a  message of greeting from the Moscow Patriarchate.  Archbishop Hilarion is head of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Orthodox Church. Here is the full speech of Metropolitan. The highlights come from the editorial:

Holiness,
Beatitudes, Eminences and Excellencies,

On behalf of His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, and the whole Russian Orthodox Church, I address our fraternal greetings to you all on the occasion of the XIV. General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church, which is dedicated to the theme of the family.

In our turbulent and unsettling world, man needs solid and unshakable foundations on which he can rely in order to fully trust to be able to build  their  lives on them. The secular society that is geared primarily to the satisfaction of individual desires can give man no clear moral orientations. The crisis of traditional values ​​that we experience in the consumer society leads to a contradiction between the different preferences, even in family relationships. When on the one side,  extreme feminism  sees in  motherhood an obstacle to  the self-realization of women who have children, on the other hand, more and more regard children as a right that can be realized by any means. Increasingly, the family is seen as a connection between two people, regardless of their gender, and it is believed that the individual can choose the affiliation to one or the other sex according to his personal taste.

On the other hand, new problems occur that directly affect the foundations of the traditional family. The armed conflicts of the modern world causing a mass exodus from the war-affected regions towards the richer countries. Emigration often leads to breaking of family ties while creating a new social environment, creating  connections that often have an interethnic and inter-religious character.

These challenges and threats are, for all Christian churches alike, the need to look for the answers, by relying on the order entrusted to them by Christ,  to lead the people to salvation. Unfortunately, we often hear in Christian circles, voices demanding that there be a "Modernization" of the Church's conscience, thus the rejection of the apparently Christian apparently obsolete doctrine on the family. Nevertheless, we must not forget  the words of the Apostle Paul to the Christians in Rome: "conform  not on this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God: what He desires, is what is good and perfect."

The Church is called to be a light and a beacon in the darkness of this world, and Christians are called to be the "salt of the earth" and "light of the world". We all need to remember the harrowing admonition of the Savior: "If the salt loses its savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is good for nothing; it is thrown out and trampled by men."  (cf.. Mt. 5:13 to 14). Such a salt that has lost the power of its own taste, are in our time what some Protestant communities who call themselves Christian but preach moral ideals  that are incompatible with Christianity. When a community of this kind, introduces the rite of blessing  homosexual unions, and a lesbian woman who describes herself as a "bishop", who prompts her churches to remove the crosses from the steeples and replace them with Islamic crescents, can such a community may be called "church"? Before our eyes is Christianity is  betrayed by those who are willing to play the game of secularized, anti-clerical and Godless society.

The leadership of various countries of Europe and America, despite numerous protests, even by the Catholic faithful, continue a policy aimed deliberately at destroying the understanding of family. Not only are homosexual connections made legally equivalent to marriage. One goes so far as  to prosecute those who because of their Christian faith, refuse to register these connections. Immediately after the end of the visit of Pope Francis, the American president Barack Obama has openly declared that the rights of homosexuals are more important than religious freedom. This clearly shows the intention of the secular authority to continue the attack against the healthy forces of society who defend  traditional family values. The Catholics are in the front line in this fight, and just against the Catholic Church, there is a veritable campaign of discredit and lies under way. Therefore, the force in defending the Christian conviction and fidelity to the tradition of the Church today are particularly necessary.

Society today comes to resemble more and more  the foolish man, "who built his house on sand" (Mt see. 7.26). It is the duty of the Church, to remind   society of its established foundation - the family as a union between man and woman, who has the birth and education of children as its goal. Only such a family, established by the Lord at the time of the creation of the world itself, is able to prevent the release of modern society into the abyss of moral relativism, or at least slow it down.

The Orthodox Church, like the Catholic, has always followed the Holy Scriptures and Holy Tradition in their teaching about the family and established the principle of the sanctity of marriage affirming that  based on the words of the Savior Himself (cf.. Matt 19:6 ;. Mk 10:9) In our time, this position must be united and unanimous. We must work together to defend dialogue with the legislative and executive powers of each country and at the level of international institutions such as the UN and the European Union. We can not only limit ourselves to exhortations. We need to ensure the legal protection of the family completely.

The solidarity of the Church and all people of good will is essential for the purpose, to protect the family from the threats of the secular world, and thus to safeguard our future. I hope that the fruit of this Synodal Assembly will be a development of Catholic-Orthodox collaboration in this direction.

I wish you peace, God's blessing and success in your work!

Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Il Timone

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Polish Bishop Sacks Aberrosexual Priest

Edit: he might have been a great help to Synod Fathers who were defending Catholic doctrine in the family at the Synod. His flamboyant and narcissistic outburst might have been the Kasperian sect's undoing.

Warsaw (AFP) - A Polish bishop on Wednesday defrocked a high-ranking Catholic priest fired by a furious Vatican earlier this month after he came out as gay on the eve of a key synod on the family.

Bishop Ryszard Kasyna has decided that Krzystof Charamsa should no longer be able to celebrate mass, administer sacraments like communion and baptism or wear a cassock, according to a statement on the website of their northern Pelplin diocese.

 Charamsa had held a senior position working for the Vatican office for protecting Catholic dogma, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

http://news.yahoo.com/polish-bishop-defrocks-gay-priest-sparked-vatican-fury-183410822.html

Coptic Priest Concerned About Mixed Marriages

Edit: as well he should be. Marriages between Muslim males and Christian women are worrying and this Coptic priest asks some important questions:

[Breitbart] Addressing the ongoing Synod on the Family at the Vatican, Fr Garas Boulos Garas Bishay, who serves as a Coptic Catholic priest in Sharm el Sheikh, said that mixed marriages between Christian women from Russia and Europe and Muslim men are “a profound and worrying concern”.

The problem not only applies to majority Muslim countries, Fr Garas said, but also to European nations where Muslims are settling.

He asked why Christians seem more willing to give up their culture and faith to take part in “without realizing it and with tremendous superficiality, the realisation of the Islamic plan of ‘demographic invasion.’”

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/10/21/children-muslim-christian-marriages-disturbed-says-vatican-favoured-priest/

Pope Francis Has an Operable Tumor: Vatican Denies

Edit: remember the reports that the Holy Father had suffered a stroke dealing with the complaint letter from the 13 Cardinals? This was reported by infowars citing sources in the Italian media, and the report promptly disappeared from their site.

Vatican Denies Report Pope Has Small, Curable Brain Tumor

• By NICOLE WINFIELD, ASSOCIATED PRESS

VATICAN CITY — Oct 21, 2015, 5:59 AM ET

• Email 

The Vatican is denying as "completely unfounded" a report in an Italian newspaper that Pope Francis has a small, curable brain tumor.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the report Wednesday in the National Daily was "completely unfounded and seriously irresponsible and not worthy of attention."

Citing unnamed nursing sources, the National Daily said the 78-year-old pope had traveled by helicopter to the San Rossore di Barbaricina clinic near Pisa in recent months to see a Japanese brain cancer specialist, Dr. Takanori Fukishima. The newspaper said the doctor determined that the small dark spot on Francis' brain could be treated without surgery.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/vatican-denies-report-pope-small-curable-brain-tumor-34618040

Cardinal Marx Gorges on Sumptuous Meal --- Enjoys 9 Million Euro Palace

Edit: Cardinal Reinhold Marx is the classic, bloated, gluttonous, greedy, oozing metaphor for the typical churchman, but his leftist politics keep him and his German Tax-Church mostly above all criticism by the world press.

Edward Pentin and NCR used to link to us. We'd also like to think he's indebted to us, but he's one of the few professional journalists in the English speaking world who points these hypocritical lapses out, so we won't cry too much.

Cardinal Marx is clearly intouchhable.

[NCR] Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who is attending the Synod on the Family as president of the German bishops’ conference, is allegedly holding extravagant dinners for synod fathers at a multi-million euro villa in Rome owned by the archdiocese of Munich.

Around 20 bishops from a number of countries attended a lavish dinner at an archdiocesan-owned guesthouse located on Via delle Medaglia d’Oro last Sunday.

According to an informed and reliable source, there was such an abundance of food “the bishops’ stomachs were hardly able to take a break.” Another similar banquet is planned tomorrow.

http://m.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/cardinal-marx-hosting-extravagent-dinners-for-synod-fathers#.VicAAFI8LKA

Evil Thomas Reese Laments End of Synod

Edit: so much for the Bergoglian Teach-in and the Consensus .

Ht to our friend Rick DeLano

VATICAN CITY

With time running out, the synodal fathers appear no closer to resolving their conflicts over issues facing the family than they were a year ago. One of the principal sticking points is over Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics who do not have an annulment. Another controversy is over the language to be used in speaking about homosexuals.

The Synod of Bishops concludes this Sunday after meeting in Rome since Oct. 4. The synod has been discussing issues facing families, the same issues discussed at a similar gathering of bishops last October.

The pope and the bishops argue that the synod is about the family and decry the media’s focus on homosexuality and divorce, but there is no question that these are the topics around which the bishops have conflict. There is little disagreement over other issues.

http://ncronline.org/blogs/faith-and-justice/synod-ends-where-it-began-disagreement

Synod: "Overwhelming Majority Are Against Communion for the Remarried Divorced"

(Rome) Matteo Matzuzzi, the Vatican expert of the daily newspaper Il Foglio wrote to 14:52 on Twitter: "++ Overwhelming majority against Communion for remarried divorcees, according to sources in the Synod ++"

Just a few minutes earlier Sebastien Maillard, the Vatican expert of the daily newspaper La Croix, had tweeted the French Bishops' Conference:

"Overwhelming majority against the Communion for remarried divorcees, according to observers in the Synod Hall"

In another Tweet Matzuzzi wrote at 3 o'clock: "In the end everything is a matter of numbers. One begins to  count  ... "

Voters during the Synod as they also took place in the past year,  were not provided  for by Pope Francis for this Synod. That was a point which the thirteen Synodal Cardinals criticized  in their complaint letter to the Pope. The intermediate votes before the final vote on the Relatio finalis at the end of the Synod serve an orientation of the Synod, to which direction to go to see the positions on an issue.

Should the vote be confirmed, this would mean that the Synod Fathers were able to free themselves from the Synod Director. Today's vote was all just an orientation that, however, anticipates the final vote on  the topic. The final vote is scheduled for next Saturday, 24 October.

It has long been  unclear how the final vote will be held. The Cardinals complaining expressed concern that the Pope let the Synod vote only in the block, and not on the individual sections. The Synod General, Cardinal Baldisseri assured Cardinal Pell last week, that the paragraph will be voted on by paragraph. Still, there is no certainty as of yet. 

Overall, there is a lack of clarity in the air, as to whether the Synod will end at all. It was the closest confidants of the Pope,  Cardinals Baldisseri and Tagle, who wished for ambiguity. Will the Relatio finalis be published? Will there be a Post-Synodal Letter? The speech of Pope Francis last Saturday at the ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the Synod of Bishops, and an interview published yesterday of Cardinal Walter Kasper certainly provides for new uncertainty.

Cardinal Kasper indicated that a Post-synodal letter may be long in coming, but it should announce the admission of remarried divorcees to Communion in a statement by the Pope. Since Kasper  is one of the closest confidants of the pope in the matter, his statement could be less of an invitation to the pope, and rather more of  an announcement of what the pope has intended all along. At least this option can not be ruled out  in view of the recent course of the Synod.

The same applies to the Pope's appeal of wanting to decentralize the Church. Roberto de Mattei drew attention to the fact that decentralization could serve as a "way out" of the impasse in which the progressive camp sits when the Synod majority pronouncess itself against "new Mercy." Then, instead of the synodality being stressed,  decentralization would be entered into. In other words, Africa could then retain the Catholic teaching on marriage, while the western episcopal conferences practice a liberal openness?

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Twitter/Matteo Matzuzzi

President of Polish Bishops' Conference Sounds the Alarm

Stanisław Gądecki, Archbishop of Posen and President of the Polish Bishops' Conference has spoken of an attack against Catholic teaching on marriage and sexuality on October 17, 2015 in the Synod Hall.  

Some said that they do not wish to change doctrine, but that is indeed exactly what they are trying to do.

The proposal for a change in the order of the sacraments is in reality an attempt to change the doctrine by the back door.

The intervention of the Archbishop is of great significance, because these attacks had been carefully planned afore time. Additionally the polish delegates can count on the support of other East European synod participants. 

The proposal of the German delegation, to give more autonomy to the "local churches" (what's meant are Bishops' Conferences), was sharply criticized by Cardinal Raymond Burke for  Lifesitenews. Kirche. The Church must declare the truth and this is not dependent upon the time and place, says the Cardinal, who is not a Synod Father.

In view of the desolate situation of German Catholicismleads directly to the formation of national churches. 

Changes in the teaching on marriage and the new role of the "local churches" are presently the most heatedly debated themes in the synod. Both poles in the synod --  conservatives and progressives -- are becoming increasingly augmented, as they attempt to promote their viewpoints. 

http://mathias-von-gersdorff.blogspot.de/2015/10/synode-polarisierung-verscharft.html?m=1