Paul VI’s Failed Ostpolitik and Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968

Soviet tanks in Prague's Wenceslas Square.

 (Rome) A historical event is still very close in time and yet seems to have disappeared from general consciousness.  At the end of August 1968, Pope Paul VI condemned  the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, which crushed the "Prague Spring".

Paul VI described the invasion as a "serious blow to the international order" in his condemnation and called for "that insight into every motive for the conflict is preferred and that peace can be ensured in the civil coexistence of the peoples affected".  At the same time, the head of the Church made a larger sum available to support Czech and Slovak refugees, as the Osservatore Romano reported.

At the same time, the Pope asked Caritas and the international Catholic charities to help the refugees.

On August 21, when the invasion began, Paul VI was just on the way to Bogotá to attend the World Eucharistic Congress.  The Pope announced that he would immediately interrupt his visit to Colombia: "We would be willing to give up our trip at once if we knew that our presence and action could in any way help ameliorate the evil that is already afflicting that nation so dear to us".  He also said in that first statement:

 "And may the Lord of Peace, to whose honor we make this journey, share His mercy with us and restore 'rest of order' to all."

During his stay in Bogotá and after his return to Castelgandolfo, he repeatedly expressed his concern for the people of Czechoslovakia.

In his September 1 address, Paul VI said that the presence of Warsaw Pact troops in Czechoslovakia meant "imposing an alien will on the life of a people."  This is "a serious offense against freedom and national dignity and a threat to the security of other nations".

 He reaffirmed his “solidarity with those who are suffering” and “the need to reaffirm with renewed energy the moral principles that must protect the dignity of the human person, on which social and political relations must be based.

 "Those who suffer violence and those who look on helplessly," Paul VI. continued, “we often experience a sense of helplessness and despair, and then the resort to prayer, which becomes logical and compelling especially for us Christians.”

 “God does not abandon human events to a bad fate.  May God, who will one day be the supreme distributor of justice, generously enlighten those responsible for the destiny of nations, comfort the weak and make them a people of prophets and heroes.  God can always save us.”

 The background

For the Vatican, the events of 1968 burst in the middle of its new "Ostpolitik" launched under John XXIII.   and was seen as a "learning process" from communism.  What Pope Roncalli had initiated had been systematized and rationalized by Pope Montini.  The history of the Catholic Church behind the Iron Curtain is one of heroism and tragedy.  The Catholics had against them the state power which the Communists used.  From the late 1950s onwards, however, they could no longer be sure of Rome's support.

From the outset, some core concepts of communism, such as "atheism", "revolution", "class struggle" and the "non-recognition of private property", were particularly problematic for the Holy See  with Pius IX.  in the encyclical Qui pluribus and 1864 in the Syllabus Errorum and by Leo XIII.  in Quod apostolici muneris (1878) and Pius XI.  in Divini redemptoris (1937).

While the encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge against National Socialism, which was promulgated in the same year, is still known today, hardly anyone remembers the encyclical against Communism.  This has to do with the fact that communist propaganda successfully helped focus attention on the first in order to cause the second to be forgotten.

Pius XII, who was Cardinal Secretary of State at the time the encyclical was published, firmly maintained the Vatican's anti-Communist stance, but under his successor John XXIII.  since 1958, the foreign policy of the Holy See had changed.  Now, under the sign of "peace", a "normalization" of relations was sought in order to enable the approximately 60 million Catholics under Communist rule to lead a religious life.  Paul VI  it said in 1965, at the end of the Second Vatican Council, why this Church assembly did not comment on Communism, although this had been desired by many bishops beforehand:

 "(...) so as not to provoke greater evil.  (...) Also ready to look to the present and future and not to the recent painful past, wherever he encounters effective signs of good will”.

Moscow, through its agitprop departments, has supported the Vatican's "learning process" on how to deal with Communism.  The sandwich to which he was even steered still awaits processing.  This included the 1963 masterpiece, the publication of Rolf Hochhuth's play "The Deputy", with which Pope Pius XII.  was basely discredited for failing to defend the Jews from the Nazi "final solution."  In reality, it was about shattering the reputation of the most morally upright anti-Communist figure in the world and the anti-Communism he represented.

The realignment

The election of John XXIII.  meant a paradigm shift, including a move away from open anti-Communism.  The new “Ostpolitik” he started was a huge stage victory for the USSR.  The decision not to allow the Second Vatican Council to discuss Communism was strategic and exactly what Moscow wanted.  There should no longer be a condemnation of Communism like in 1937.  Paul VI, who had ruled since 1963, believed in this ironclad turning away from anti-Communism,  and thus enabled a largely unhindered spread of Marxist ideas and more or less intensive attempts to unite socialism and Christianity in the Church.  The forces sympathizing with the political left were openly advancing, while the official ecclesiastical line, which had lasted until 1958, was put on the defensive on all fronts.

Soviet reports indicate that in Moscow in 1968 it was very well received, for example by its agents at the fourth plenary session of the World Council of Churches, held in Uppsala, MN that summer, that the Vatican, in the run-up to the invasion of Czechoslovakia, remained diplomatically "passive”.  This did not correspond to the attitude of the Catholics behind the Iron Curtain, nor to those in Czechoslovakia, although or precisely because the anti-Church measures there after the Communist seizure of power were particularly harsh.  Czech and Slovak Catholics supported the "Prague Spring" while Rome stayed away from it.

Paul VI refrained from sharp protests even after the Soviet troops invaded.  He focused on peace appeals and words of support for Czech and Slovak Catholics.  He avoided naming the aggressors, above all the USSR and other Warsaw Pact states.  The  Communist "brother states", including the Central Committee of the SED, observed "attempts at the renaissance of the Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia, which must be countered".  Moscow accused the Vatican of inciting the Uniates in Ukraine.  The Eastern Bloc was anxious, perhaps also concerned, not to allow the conflict to spread to other Eastern Bloc countries.

While the Vatican hesitated, cardinals like the Uniate Ukrainian Slipyj and the Hungarian Mindszenty spoke out loudly to condemn  Communism.  That was also the reason why these churchmen were not only kept away from official Vatican foreign policy, but also excluded.  Cardinal Slipyj, who had been imprisoned in communist camps for 18 years, lamented that Ukrainian Catholics had "no defenders".

Was the Vatican thanked for this attitude?  As the Soviet tanks rolled through Prague, Soviet journalists published a kind of “White Paper” on the Prague Spring.  In it, the Vatican was named among the “counter-revolutionary forces of world imperialism.”

 Text: Giuseppe Nardi

 Image:

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

+++Schönborn’s Mother Dies at 102

 Eleonore Schönborn, mother of Vienna Cardinal

Schönborn, 102, passed away in Montafon, Western Austria. The Cardinal spent the last hours at her side.

Born Freiin von Doblhof, Eleonore had a “wonderful” youth in Moravia, but her father died early. She meets the painter (and Freemason) Hugo-Damian Schönborn at a party around her 22nd birthday. On their third date, he asked her to marry him.

Schönborn became a soldier in Stalingrad and deserted to England. At the end of the war, Eleonore had to leave the family castle within one hour. Her Christoph was born a few months earlier. She came to Austria where her marriage turned into a disaster. The couple divorced in 1958 which left deep scars on her children.

She remade her life, became a secretary, built a house, was involved in the parish. At the end, she went almost completely blind.

AMDG

Why Bother With NO Fasting Rules?

 Edit: Novus Ordo fasting rules seem pointless to me.  Why bother?  Found this at a site on FB.

I remember reading about how Evelyn Waugh bought scales which were owned by Recusant Catholics for the purpose, to measure his portions during Lent. He must have purchased them at a junk store.  No wonder he was so depressed about what was going on at Westminster and worldwide at the time of the Council. It probably brought him to an early death.

AMDG 

Omicron Queen

Bloody Passover in Ukraine

AMDG

Cardinal Sandoval’s Censored Video is Back

 Cardinal Sandoval spoke a year ago in a video about the pandemic, Corona and plans for world domination.  The video was deleted, but now it's back.

 (Mexico City) The censorship rage of the operators of the leading social networks does not stop at this cardinal.  A year ago, a video message from Cardinal Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, Archbishop Emeritus of Guadalajara in Mexico, fell victim to it.  On January 12, 2021, he commented on the so-called pandemic.  The video received a warning from Facebook and was deleted from the Cardinal's channel.  At that time, Katholisch.de also reported about it, the news portal of the German Bishops' Conference, without taking offense at the censorship.  The video is now available elsewhere.  How long?

“Professional examiners” had discovered that “untruths” were being spread in the video.  The transition of the Internet from a haven of freedom of expression to a desert of censorship began the day after the US presidential elections in 2016, when the ruling establishment was shocked to discover that Donald Trump had unexpectedly won the elections.  Since then, censorship has intensified rapidly and is becoming increasingly massive.  Unwelcome opinions are suppressed.  "Professional examiners" or "fact checkers" are put forward as justification, who usually check little and certainly do not stand up for "the truth", but are only the alibi for the censorship measures.  Information was yesterday.  Today is propaganda.

Katholisch.de gave the censors to understand that they also have the green light from the Church side, cardinal or not.  One must show "attitude", which is why the Church hierarchy, especially that of the German and Santa Marta, constantly reaffirms whose side they are on.  Of course, Katholisch.de did not publish the video, nor any link.

After more than a year, Cardinal Sandoval's video is available again, on YouTube.  It will not be tolerated there for long.  So far, however, it has not been noticed.

Many months before Cardinal Sandoval, in May 2020, a group of cardinals and bishops issued a warning with the appeal Veritas liberabit vos:

 "There are powers that want to abuse Corona to seize world domination."

 “These gentlemen determine how long the pandemic will last”

Cardinal Sandoval said right at the beginning of his video message that "these gentlemen" will determine how long the so-called pandemic will last, whether "one or two months", or whether "three, four, five, six years".  In the ears of Facebook and other BigTech global players, such a statement sounds like a “conspiracy theory”.  In reality, it can rely on well-known representatives of the establishment, most recently even on WHO Secretary-General Tedros Ghebreyesus.  He tweeted on February 18 from the Munich Security Conference:

“Pleased to join @MunSecConf today.  I was asked: when will the #COVID19 pandemic will end?  It will end when we choose to end it.  Because ultimately, it's not a matter of chance, it's a matter of choice."

In plain language, he said three days ago: "The pandemic will end when we choose to end it".

To clarify who is meant by “we”, Tedros Ghebreyesus sent a photo along with the text that shows him on stage next to Bill Gates at the Munich Security Conference.

WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus with Bill Gates (red circle) last weekend at the Munich Security Conference.

Cardinal Sandoval speaks of a "hard, difficult time such as the history of mankind has never seen".  He calls Bill Gates a "threat".  This man is known to everyone "because he is a prophet who predicts the future".  It is the same with this corona pandemic.  What Gates says sounds like "magic," says the cardinal sarcastically, who then reveals that a laboratory in Atlanta, of which Gates is a "benefactor, sponsor," is researching smallpox, a disease that is considered to have long since been overcome.  Cardinal Sandoval links Gates' warnings of the next pandemic to his research into the smallpox virus.  An unequivocal indication that the cardinal believes the pandemic was artificially and intentionally created.

 "What do these gentlemen want?"

The question is what "these gentlemen want," said the cardinal.  They are people who have "great power in the financial world", even if it is "very hidden".  The cardinal accuses this group of people of having “created this virus” “that is attacking many nations”.

“These gentlemen want world government, a new world order.  They only want one government, one army, one currency, one economy and one religion, which will certainly not be Christian.  It will be the religion of the earth, of mother earth, of man, of humanity, of universal brotherhood.”

 And what are the pandemics for, asks the cardinal.

 Tedros tweet of February 18, 2022

"To weaken the nations, impoverish the people, the economy is devastated, to weaken education through the closed educational institutions, to reduce religious practice, to prevent gatherings, etc."

Above all, great fear was spread among the population and "Fear makes you ill, the doctors know that".  Fear weakens the immune system and self-defense.

 "They want to reduce the population because they say we are too many people on earth."

 Therefore "5-6 billion" should be removed.  The question is whether they will achieve this:

 "Will they make it?  Temporarily maybe.”

 The struggle currently taking place in the United States is not between Biden and Trump, but "between those who want the new world order and those who stand up for the independence of this great nation".  With independence, “the US could do a lot of good to positively influence other nations as well.”

In the US, of course, there are many supporters of the new world order “and in other countries too, many leaders are partisans of the new world order”.  They could be "temporarily successful".

According to Cardinal Sandoval, he says this because there are "mysterious words" in divine revelation, in the Old and New Testaments, "that are now beginning to be fulfilled, for example Isaiah, chapter 20".

 "And the chip they plan to put in with the vaccine to keep you under control.  The mark of the beast spoken of in Apocalypse chapter 13.  Anyone who does not have the mark of the beast on their hands and forehead will not be able to buy or sell.”

 And further:

 "Our Lord Jesus Christ spoke of a great tribulation, a difficult time."

The Lord will then come again and the question will be who he will still find on earth with faith.  However, those days would be cut short for the sake of the elect who will not apostatize.

“So there are mysterious statements in the Scriptures.  Apocalyptic literature is full of those mysterious things that you don't take seriously or understand until they happen."

 The decisive factor is that "they can temporarily enforce the new world order, I cannot rule that out, but they will certainly not win".

 “What is definitely certain is that Christ will win.  Our God definitely wins.  There is a very strong, mysterious, but very strong word of the Lord when he says about the Church:The  gates of Hell will not prevail against Her.

 “Even if the whole world of these supporters of the new world order, which is anti-Christian, conspires, they will not succeed.  Our Lord Jesus Christ who is with us will triumph.  He said: I will be with you always, even until the end of time.  The Lord sees everything.  He looks down from the sky and laughs at the plans of these people, which he can destroy with a breath.”

 And finally:

“Dear brothers, dear sisters: do not be intimidated, do not be paralyzed by those who want to make the whole earth one huge flock, where a few shepherds, from very high positions, who are very hidden, but feel very sure that  they can tell us what to do and how to live.  But much higher than them, much mightier than them is our Lord Jesus Christ, King and Lord of ages, King of kings and Lord of lords.  Let's not live in fear of them.  We believe in God because we believe in Christ:

 Our destiny is in Your hands and You will save us according to Your immeasurable goodness and mercy.

 May the Blessed Virgin Our Lady of Guadalupe continue to protect us and we will have nothing to fear.”

 Text: Giuseppe Nardi

 Image: Youtube (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

It's hard to forget all of this as he appears to talk tough with Vlad

Prayer for the Conversion of Russia is Trending

 [catholicism.org] The following prayers are excerpted word-for-word from The Raccolta , a manual of indulgences, prayers, and devotions officially authorized by the Holy See. We are using the 1957 Benzinger Brothers edition, which was republished in 2004 by Loreto Publications and Preserving Christian Publications. This edition is a high quality exact photo reproduction of the original, which bore the Imprimatur of Francis Cardinal Spellman.

All the numberings, titles, and notes on indulgences at the end of the prayers, as well as the prayers themselves, are exactly as they appear in this official edition.

These beautiful prayers appear in the section of The Raccoltaentitled, “For the Conversion of Non-Catholics.”

630

To obtain the reunion of the Christians of the East

O Lord, who hast united the various nations in the confession of Thy name, we pray Thee for the Christian peoples of the East. Mindful of the high place they held of old in Thy Church, we beg of Thee to inspire them with an ardent desire to regain that place, in order to form, with us, one only fold under the guidance of one and the same Shepherd. Grant that their hearts may be docile to hear the voice of their holy Doctors, who are likewise our Fathers in the faith. Let a spirit of concord and charity, which is a sign of Thy presence among the faithful, hasten the day when our prayers shall be united to theirs, so that every nation and every tongue may acknowledge and glorify our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

An indulgence of 500 days. 

A plenary indulgence once a month, on the usual conditions, for the daily recitation of this prayers (Apostolic Brief, April 15, 1916; S.P. Ap., May 22, 1937) .

631

Invocation for the Conversion of Russia

Saviour of the world, save Russia.

An indulgence of 300 days (S.P. Ap., Nov. 24, 1924)

632

Prayer to Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus for the Conversion of Russia

O loving and compassionate Saint, deign to comfort our Russian brethren, the victims of a long a cruel persecution of the Christian name; obtain for them perseverance in the faith, progress in the love of God and of their neighbor, and in confidence toward the most holy Mother of God; prepare for them holy priests who shall make reparation for the blasphemies and sacrileges committed against the holy Eucharist; grant that angelic purity, especially in the young, and every Christian virtue may once more flourish amongst them, to the end that this noble people, being delivered from all slavery and returning freely to the one fold entrusted by the loving Heart of the Risen Christ to Saint Peter and his successors, may at length taste the joy of glorifying the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in the fellowship of the holy Catholic Church. Amen.

An indulgence of 300 days. 

A plenary indulgence on the usual conditions, if this prayer is said devoutly every day for a month (S.P. Ap., Aug. 19, 1929)

Voris Just Can’t Stop Lying

Edit: is this really hot mike? It’s more of a concealed mike. It doesn’t really matter since Michigan is “one party consent” state. 

Anyway, Voris reveals his psychological defect in all of these phony complaints.  One of the most damning accusations by Restoring the Faith is that they’re not effective, despite the large amount of resources they receive.  Do Gary, Milo and Budgie really merit the fifty million dollars they have since they are so ineffective in terms of what they claim to do?

I’ve never heard Restoring call Budgie a “Chink,” but someone on here has done that. 

 AMDG

“Traditiones Custodes Was Not Intended for Ecclesia Dei Communities”

Father Benoît Paul-Joseph was one of the two FSSP Brothers who were received by Pope Francis in early February.  In an interview, he reports on the encounter.

On Monday, the Society of St. Peter (FSSP) announced that two of its representatives were received by Pope Francis on February 4 and the Pope granted the Society a special decree on February 11 to mitigate the Motu Propio traditionis custodes for this community of tradition. One of the two representatives who met the Pope in Santa Marta was Father Benoît Paul-Joseph, District Superior of the French District.  He gave an interview on the events to the French online daily Présent, conducted by Anne Le Pape.

Présent: Father, what is the background to your recent meeting with the Holy Father?

Father Benoît Paul-Joseph: Together with Father Ribeton, Regent of the European Seminary of our Fraternity, I wrote directly to the Pope on December 28 last year to express our dismay and incomprehension at the publication of Traditionis Custodes and the Responsa  in order to express and confidently appeal to his care.  He answered us personally the very next day – everything was scanned, but the letter was actually his handwriting – reassuring us and inviting us to come and explain our position.  So we contacted his secretariat and February 4, 2022 was set as the date when Father Ribeton and I traveled to Rome.

We were received at the Santa Marta guest house for almost an hour.  The Pope was very benevolent throughout the conversation and showed a real caring.  He confirmed to us verbally what he had indicated to us in writing, namely that he really distinguishes our situation from that of priests who are not members of the former Ecclesia Dei communities and that in our particular case, since our Institute has the  special permission to use the ancient liturgical books, this document was not intended for us.

Présent: So you were immediately reassured?

Father Benoît Paul-Joseph: Yes, indeed.  The Pope also reminded us that in the Moto Proprio, when speaking of the former Ecclesia Dei Institutes, it is indicated that in future they will come under the authority of a new Dicastery, namely that for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the  Societies of Apostolic Life and that it was intentional that we were not directly mentioned in this document as we would depend on a new jurisdiction.  "You are not affected by these restrictions," he told us, "but you retain your own right, which was granted to you when you were founded in 1988." The Pope was really touched by the history of our Fraternity, by the fact that  our founders turned to the Holy Father in 1988 to express their confusion, much as we have done now.  He felt that this was an act of faith that deserved to be honored and encouraged.  He assured us that we would retain the use of all liturgical books, including the pontificale for ordinations.

Présent: So you now have all the guarantees?

Father Benoît Paul-Joseph: We respectfully asked him if all this could be formalized.  We received the letter yesterday, Saturday 19 February, so we did not wish to discuss it publicly before then.  It is a decree that revisits the decree of the Ecclesia Dei Commission of September 1988, which confirms the use of the liturgical books of 1962 for our Fraternity, a decree this time signed by the Pope.  The 1988 was signed by the Ecclesia Dei Commission.

Présent: So is your position vis-à-vis the bishops confirmed?

Father Benoît Paul-Joseph: The bishops are still free to accept us in their diocese or not, but once we exercise an apostolate in a diocese, we cannot be argued with the argument of obedience to the Successor of Peter or the recent document [Traditionis Custodes] requiring the use of the current liturgical books as our own right is protected by a de facto exception.

Présent: What about the consecrations?

P. Benoît Paul-Joseph: There is still a small gray area here.  The bishops are not members of the Society of Peter.  Recently it has been said that they no longer have the right to use the traditional pontifical and this may cause some hesitation.  But the Pope was delighted to hear us discuss our future ordinations and his position in this regard is clear.

Présent: Do you know whether other institutes will have a similar experience, or was that not an issue during this visit?

Father Benoît Paul-Joseph: Verbally, during the audience, the Pope spoke in the plural of “the Iinstitutes” of Ecclesia Dei.  I can't be more categorical, but that's what emerged from the discussion.

 Translation: Giuseppe Nardi

 Image: Present (screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.Com

AMDG

The Loss of Papal Authority With Heresy

AMDG

 

A Republic, if you can keep it...

EMJ interviews for 2/21/22

 

 It was a busy week! And last week was busy too!

Thug Gordon and Patrick Coffin discuss the mess in Rome

 

 We're wondering if Preppy Taylor will accept Gary Voris' debate challenge.

The Catastrophe of Canada

People of Toronto Stand up to the Corona Tyranny

 Edit: still demonstrating after police attempted to tow trucks and cleared the capital. 

https://odysee.com/@demonstration:d

AMDG

Power Struggle in New Knights or Malta

Grand Chancellor of Boeselager and Pope Francis want to give the Order of Malta a new constitution, but they do not want the same.

Will there be a showdown in the Sovereign Order of Malta between the Special Representative of the Pope, Cardinal Silvano Tomasi and Grand Chancellor Albrecht von Boeselager, who does not want to accept the changes to the constitutions of the Order prepared by the Tomasi Commission? At the end of February, Pope Francis will intervene directly and bring about a decision, as he himself announced.

"I will not get rid of the spirits I called," Goethe has the sorcerer's apprentice say. Grand Chancellor Boeselager seems to be in a comparable situation. In December 2016, he called on the Holy See to help him assert himself against the then Grand Master of the Order of Malta, Fra Matthew Festing. With Pope Francis behind him, this also succeeded. It was not Boeselager who had to vacate his chair as head of government of the Order of Malta, but Fra Festing that of the Grand Master. Last November 12, Fra Festing, who was elected as the 79th Grand Master for life, passed away.

More than five years have passed since those dramatic moments and Boeselager is once again standing with his back to the wall, only with the difference that it is now the Holy See to which the Grand Chancellor had opened the gates of the Order at that time, which drives him into a corner.

The Showdown in the Order of Malta could be imminent. At the end of February, if it stays that way, there will be a meeting with all those involved in a conflict that threatens to tear apart one of the oldest institutions of civilization. The Order of Malta will celebrate its thousandth anniversary in a few years' time.

The meeting is to take place in the presence of Pope Francis. The Pope is more determined than ever, it is said, to intervene personally to settle the disputes over the reform of the Order's constitution once and for all. However, the matter is not that simple. The Holy See, called by Boeselager in 2016, rushed to this friend's aid. But now that Francis and his followers were in the Order of Malta, the weights began to shift, and yesterday's friend is no longer necessarily today's friend. New "friends" now have a say in the Order, who are closer to Francis than Boeselager.

Yesterday's friend ...

Last October 25, Francis wrote a letter to Cardinal Silvano Tomasi in which he assured his special representatives of full papal support. The Vatican professional diplomat, who was a permanent observer of the Holy See at the UN and the WHO in Geneva until 2016, is said to have been on the verge of losing face in recent months due to Boeselager's resistance despite his diplomatic experience.

When Grand Master Festing confronted his Grand Chancellor about his activities, everything seemed to be lost for the German Baron. But his good contacts with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and the then substitute in the Vatican Secretariat of State, Msgr. Angelo Becciu, paid off. Boeselager achieved what he wanted: not only did he get back his office as Grand Chancellor, but Pope Francis also cleared his opponent, Grand Master Festing, out of the way for him. Boeselager appeared to be the new lord of the Order of Malta in February 2017.

Under Becciu, who was appointed by Francis as the first special envoy, the relationship also went quite well. But Becciu crashed in 2020 over the purchase of luxury real estate in London. Msgr. Silvano Tomasi took his place as Special Representative to the Order of Malta. In 2017, the Pope had appointed the diplomat as delegate secretary of the newly established, but rather ominous, Dicastery for the Integral Development of Man. A few weeks after his appointment as special envoy, Francis also created him a cardinal. Tomasi is not Boeselager's man, but the Pope

Tomasi intervened much more intensively in the new version of the religious constitutions and himself chaired the commission, which had to prepare a corresponding draft. Grand Chancellor Boeselager is largely powerless against the cardinal. Not only because Tomasi is the Pope's special envoy, but also because Tomasi was a member of the five-member commission of inquiry that Cardinal Secretary of State Parolin set up in December 2016 to investigate Grand Master Festing's accusations against Boeselager. This commission attested to the German Baron's guiltlessness in no time at all. At the end of January 2017, Francis also took the report as an opportunity to demand the resignation of the Grand Master. A scandal from which the Order has not yet recovered internally.

In other words, Tomasi rescued Boeselager from the Bredouille. Exactly he, to whom the Grand Chancellor owes a lot, is now sitting with his neck in a sling. Tomasi, however, is much more interwoven in the matter, not only as today's special representative and as a member of the then commission of inquiry. Tomasi is also associated with the Caritas Pro Vitae Gradu Charitable Trust (CPVG), where 30 million Swiss francs are parked, which are said to have been donated to the Order, but whose provenance Grand Master Festing doubted. This was one of the points of contention that led to Boeselager's dismissal as Grand Chancellor at the beginning of December 2016. And it was the reason why Grand Master Festing accused the Vatican Commission of Inquiry of bias when he learned of its establishment. However, the Vatican was not interested in these "details". Or were they even very interested?

The booklet of action

In the meantime, Boeselager had to realize that Cardinal Tomasi, who does not belong to the Order, took the reins of action out of his hands. In the course of the elaboration of the draft for the new constitutions, the sparks flew repeatedly. Finally, Boeselager set up a kind of shadow commission to draw up its own draft for the order's reform. At the end of January, Boeselager assured in an internal letter that he did not want to convert the Order into an NGO. This accusation had already been made of him by Fra Festing, because of some cooperation with UN agencies, which the then Grand Master disapproved.

At the same time, Boeselager entrusted the chairman of the Lebanese Religious Association, Marwan Sehnaoui, with the chairmanship of the Shadow Commission and declared him the sole authorized communicator in connection with the order's reform. However, Cardinal Tomasi claims this right for himself and had expressly confirmed in Pope Francis' letter of 25 October 2021 as "sole spokesman for everything concerning relations between the Apostolic See and the Order".

Like Tomasi, Marwan Sehnaoui was not only a member of the Vatican Commission of Inquiry into the Rescue of Boeselager's Honour, but, like the two aforementioned, is also associated with the Swiss millions. Obviously, they are no longer completely friendly with each other. The fault line today runs between those who belong to the Order and those who do not belong to it.

The tug-of-war

The tug-of-war has continued since Tomasi was appointed special envoy. On January 29, "a representative group of the Order of Malta" was received by the Pope "together with the special envoy's working group," as Boeselager emphasized within the Order. In the daily bulletin of the Vatican Press Office, however, only one audience for Cardinal Tomasi and Fr. Gianfranco Ghirlanda was reported. With such subtleties, the Holy See communicates who is the contact person for it – and who is not.

Since then, the Grand Chancellor has had to row with what his powers give him, because he not only has to pursue his plans for the Order, but also has to defend himself against a new, powerful opponent, Cardinal Tomasi, who has the Vatican behind him. Boeselager is also not without controversy within the order. One part carries the fall of Grand Master Festing after him and waits only for an opportunity. In addition, there are widespread concerns that the Order should be converted into an NGO, although an NGO de luxe, since it is endowed with diplomatic immunity, but at least an NGO. However, this could not do justice to the Order's thousand-year-old legacy, certainly not to its charism.

Fr. Gianfranco Ghirlanda, a Jesuit and jurist, rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University until 2010, already "visually" represents a serious blemish in the current process in the Order of Malta. Ghirlanda enjoys the absolute trust of Pope Francis and is used by him in delicate and important matters. Where Fr. Ghirlanda is deployed, an order or community is under provisional administration and a "process of renewal" supervised by the Holy See is imposed. In this sense, Ghirlanda was already in use with the Legionaries of Christ, with the Sodalitium Vitae Cristianae ... and now also with the Order of Malta. Within the Order, one tries to downplay this aspect, but really no Knight of the Order is comfortable. Ghirlanda's participation makes it clear that Pope Francis wants to have a say, that is, to decide, and thus applies what admonishing voices had already said at the beginning of 2017: Boeselager had sacrificed the sovereignty of the Order in order to save his post.

Pope Francis is not one voice among several that can be overheard or overruled in case of doubt. Boeselager has now become all too clear about this. He had to learn that Fr. Ghirlanda was acting as the spearhead of the Special Representative. The excellent lawyer is the author of the draft for the new constitutions prepared by the Tomasi Commission.

Centralization according to Santa Marta

The draft provides for a tight centralization in the life and management of the Order. This thinking corresponds to that of Francis, which he knows from the Jesuit order. However, it does not correspond to the essence of the Order of Malta. In the Order and also in the Vatican, some believe that Boeselager is weakening. Will the German baron seek a compromise, which could only be a submission in order to save for himself what can be saved?

Boeselager, who found such willing support in the Vatican Secretariat of State in December 2016, currently finds only closed doors there. At the audience on January 29, Francis had announced that he would intervene personally. He requested that all activities relating to the new constitutions be suspended until the end of February. Cardinal Tomasi's commission acquiesced to this, but the Sahnaoui Commission did not. On February 2, a meeting on the reform of the Order is said to have taken place in Rome under the chairmanship of Peter Szabadhegy, Boeselager's deputy in the Order's government and one of his confidants, without the papal special representative being informed.

The matter quickly became known and reported by those in Cardinal Tomasi who are interested in driving the wedge deeper.

Against this background, the Order is increasingly eagerly awaiting the date announced by Francis for the end of February, on which he himself wants to intervene. In the Order itself, in the various "tongues" and associations, regardless of whether they belong to the "German" or "English" camp, the desire is louder that the Order should decide its affairs sovereignly, i.e. independently and without interference from outside. But the spirits that have been called cannot be rid of.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi

Image: MiL

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.Com

AMDG

Epstein Pimp Found Hanged

[Guardian] The former boss of a French model agency accused of rape and under investigation on suspicion of supplying underage girls to the late American financier Jeffrey Epstein has been found dead in prison.

The body of Jean-Luc Brunel, 75, was reportedly found hanging in his cell in the early hours of Saturday. The French prosecutors’ office confirmed the report and said an inquiry had been opened into the exact cause of death, but early indications pointed to suicide.

Brunel was arrested in December 2020 at Charles de Gaulle airport before boarding a plane for Dakar in Senegal where he told police he was going on holiday.

AMDG

German Interviewer Collapses on TV Presenting Need for Death Vaxx

Edit: there are quite a few of these journos and death vaxx shillers collapsing on TV.

 A German TV interviewer fainted during a newscast just seconds after she pushed for mandatory vaccinations.

[Info Wars] The incident happened Tuesday during a live on-air N-TV news broadcast while reporter Clara Pfeffer was interviewing politician Sepp Müller.

AMDG

Cardinal Duka Calls out Evil Cardinal Marx

Cardinal Dominik Duka accuses Cardinal Marx of apparently defaming Pope Benedict XVI..

(Munich/Prague) The Czech bishops are jumping to Benedict XVI's side to protect him because the German bishops are obviously unable or unwilling to do so. Cardinal Dominik Duka, Archbishop of Prague, defends Benedict XVI. in an open letter against the dirt bucket campaign that is underway in Germany against the former head of the Church. At the same time, he accuses Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the incumbent Archbishop of Munich and Freising, "of having defamed and tarnished his reputation".

The heckling from Prague shook the bishop's palaces in Munich and Limburg like thunder. Cardinal Duka, the primate of Bohemia, reads his German brothers the riot act in an open letter. Even more: He practices devastating criticism of one of the most powerful bishops in Europe.

The report with which Benedict XVI. is "unjustly slandered and hurt," as far as is now clear, is not worth the paper it is printed on. This report "probably cost hundreds of thousands of euros," said Cardinal Duka. The words weigh as heavy as lead: The Czech cardinal says frankly that apparently a lot of money was paid to drag Benedict XVI. through the dirt.

Cardinal Duka, persecuted by the Communists, knows how directed discrediting campaigns work. The Munich lawyers who prepared the report were unfair to Benedict XVI. because, as the cardinal implies, they apparently already had the intention of pillorying the former pope. The motivation remains unclear for the time being. Cardinal Duka ignores it. Do the lawyers just want to attract attention in a cheap way, make themselves important? One thing is certain, according to Duka: "No evidence" was presented, only an "opinion" was given.

The canon lawyer Stefan Mückl, who in the course of the dirt bucket campaign against Benedict XVI.  explored the allegations made in detail, meanwhile, came to a clear conclusion: More than 40 years ago, the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Archbishop of Munich and Freising, had "no knowledge of the criminal acts of these priests", contrary to the assumption in the Munich report.

Specifically, there are four cases. The report scandalized the fact that the archbishop at the time knew about the cases but did nothing to counteract them. "But it's not true. He didn't know what these priests did," said Mückl after studying the files.

Monsignor Bätzing, Bishop of Limburg and President of the German Bishops' Conference, plays an opaque role in the matter. In any case, he did nothing to improve and defend the reputation of Benedict XVI. On the contrary, after the publication of the dubious allegations by the Munich report, he was ready to join the chorus of critics of Benedict. Cardinal Duka does not mention Bätzing by name, but the head of the German bishops is also washed with it. 

Far more serious is the accusation that Cardinal Duka makes against Cardinal Marx. Marx, former President of the German Bishops' Conference and representative of Europe in the Council of Cardinals, which advises Pope Francis in the governance of the universal Church, was guilty of "defamation", the defamation of his predecessor as Archbishop of Munich and Freising and later Pope Benedict XVI.

Cardinal Marx, who has twice offered his resignation to Pope Francis in connection with the cases of sexual abuse by clerics, albeit only pro forma, is standing in front of a pile of rubble. Cardinal Duka's accusation weighs heavily: the Archbishop of Prague says that Cardinal Marx has lost his credibility.

It really is time for Marx to resign.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image : Wikicommons

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG