The "Hushed" Case of Father Calmel

Edit: who were the figures who resisted for a time, remained true to their vocations, and died serving the true Church, only to be obscured, ridiculed, ignored, unnoticed or placed aside? Surely, many in France know this man and felt the influence of his apostolic zeal. This is one of those great men, who fought an often lonesome fight in the Garden of Gethsemane. Fr. Roger-Thomas Calmel was persecuted mightily by the hierarchy.  He was a French Dominican and taught at a school for the Dominican Sisters of Fanjeux and established a lasting legacy there which lasts to this day.  Pertinacious Papist recently posted this, and we received an e-mail from a reader, Anthony.  God bless for this, here's the article by Cristiana de Magistris:

Dominican religious and Thomist theologian of great importance, director of souls, esteemed and sought throughout the whole of France, Catholic writer of a convincing logic and unambiguous clarity, Fr. Roger-Thomas Calmel (1914-1975) in the difficult years of the Council and the post-council period, was characterized by his counter-revolutionary action, through his preaching, writings and above all by his example, both on a doctrinal as well as a liturgical level. 

But on a particular point the resistance of this son of St. Dominic reached heroism: the Holy Mass. The Catholic Faith is founded upon the Mass because it is in the Mass that our Redemption was wrought by Christ upon Calvary and this is perpetuated in the holy Sacrifice offered day after day. 

1969 was the fateful year of the liturgical revolution, prepared for at length and finally imposed with authority upon a people who neither asked for nor desired it.    

            The birth of the new Mass was not peaceful.  Against the hymns of victory of the novatores, there were the voices of those who did not want to trample upon the past––of almost two millennia––of a Mass which dated back to the apostolic tradition.  This opposition was sustained by two Cardinals of the Curia (Ottaviani and Bacci), but remained completely unheeded.

            The date upon which the new Ordo Missae became effective was fixed for 30thNovember, the first Sunday of Advent, and the opposition was not going to be placated.Paul VI himself, in two general audiences (19th and 26th November 1969), intervened, presenting the new rite of the Mass as the will of the Council and as a help to Christian piety.

            On 26th November he said: “The New rite of the Mass:  it is a change in a venerable tradition that has gone on for centuries. This is something that affects our hereditary religious patrimony, which seemed to enjoy the privilege of being untouchable and settled. It seemed to bring the prayer of our forefathers and our Saints to our lips and to give us the comfort of feeling faithful to our spiritual past, which we kept alive to pass it on to the generations ahead.  It is at such a moment as this that we get a better understanding of the value of historical tradition and the communion of the Saints. This change will affect the ceremonies of the Mass. We shall become aware, perhaps with some feeling of annoyance, that the ceremonies at the altar are no longer being carried out with the same words and gestures to which we were accustomed—perhaps so much accustomed that we no longer took any notice of them. This change also touches the Faithful. It is intended to interest each one of those present, to draw them out of their customary personal devotions or their usual torpor…”.  And he continued by saying that it was necessary to understand the positive meaning of the reforms and to make of the Mass “a school of spiritual depth and a peaceful but demanding school of Christian sociology.”

       

Richard III to Be Buried at Leicester in the Rite of Cramner

Edit: it looks like Richard III is going to be reinterred at Leicester Cathedral, but there won't be a Catholic Mass, certainly not a rite he would recognize with ease. We suggested that he be buried in the Sarum Rite. Despite the gravity of the matter, there is almost a carnival atmosphere around the proper treatment of the remains.  Perhaps the local clergy are too embarrassed to say something?

London (CNN) -- It's been a long journey for Richard III, the 15th century king whose skeleton was found under a parking lot in the English city of Leicester. But on Friday, his final destination became clear.
The medieval monarch will be reburied in Leicester Cathedral, just a stone's throw away from where his remains were uncovered.
The discovery of his remains, complete with curved spine and staved-in skull, in the summer of 2012 sparked global headlines and a new battle -- over which city would host his remains in perpetuity.

Link ...

The Agape of the Courtiers --- Hosts in Plastic Cups on the Roofs of Rome

(Rome) The world of courtiers and their privileges, is a recent and a front row seat for the Holy Mass on the roof of the Vatican overlooking St. Peter's Basilica. The strange Agape for 18,000 euros with Holy Mass above the rooftops of Rome has been organized by the enterprising Francesca Chaouqui.  Monsignor Vallejo Balda gave out Holy Communion - in a plastic cup. These are two names in the Vatican, which have already been noticed.

On April 27, hundreds of thousands of believers from all over the world came to Rome. Many thousands had to sleep outdoors to attend and participate in the canonization of Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII.. The large crowd of Catholics pushed  to St. Peter's Square and the surrounding streets. Such  efforts seemed  unreasonable to others. They were offered an exclusive opportunity to attend the papal Mass and the double canonization.The enterprising Francesca Chaouqui organized an exclusive front row seat for a select audience on the roof of a building that is owned by the Vatican. There were 150 guests given a place  in the "front row" and an especially reasonable distance from the common people. For the 18,000-euro canonization party panoramic views of St. Peter's Square and Basilica which were otherwise unattainable were  offered, all kneeling and without jostling and with an exquisite standing buffet by the renowned Roman Catering Services .

18,000 Euro Box Seats for the Canonization 

The distribution of consecrated Hosts from plastic cups, which happened already   last year during the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro. The undignified handling of the body of Christ have happened already in the Vatican, when the courtiers dance.

An illustrious group gathered on the roofs of Rome. Among the 150 guests were the well-known television presenter and author Bruno Vespa, Marco Carrai, the right hand of Italy's new left-wing Democratic Prime Minister of Matteo Renzi, Maria Latella a close associate of Renzi's and Ernst von Freyberg, President of the Vatican bank IOR . The cost of the roof party, after all, was 18,000 euros,  was undertaken by over two sponsors, a health insurance  company for employees and an oil company.

Guests were brought Holy Communion up on the roof. That was taken care of by none other than Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, secretary of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See and a member of the Pontifical Special Commission for the Reform of the Economic and Financial Affairs of the Holy See (COSEA).

The Collaboration between Mons Valleja Balda and Francesca Chaouqui

The COSEA had been established in July 2013 by Pope Francis, is directly responsible to the pope, and equipped with far-reaching powers. The appointment of the eight Commissioners was the reason for some guesswork. In the papal statement establishing the Commission it states that the members of the new Commission have access "to all documents, data and information," the Vatican Bank IOR, all balance sheets, of any authority and establishment of the Vatican and the entire movable and immovable property of the Holy See have worldwide. Each official secrecy has been lifted for the Commission.

Many were most puzzled about the appointment of Francesca Chaouqui. Chaouqui is neither an auditor nor a tax consultant, which would qualify her for the task of the Commission. Rather, she  is much more responsible for PR  for the international management consultant Ernst & Young and is therefore "in short, a lobbyist," says Vatican expert Sandro Magister (see separate reports, New Papal Commissioner and The Confessions of Francesca Chaouqui ).

The still existing Commission is composed of seven laymen and clerics. One cleric in the Commission, Msgr Vallejo Balda,  was handing out Holy Communion at the rooftop party. The Spanish priest approached Pope Francis soon after his election in the guest house of Santa Marta  and then made a ​​quick career. From him the idea was to set up a Special Commission and he gave the Pope the selection of Commissioners, whom Francis then appointed. The collaboration between Msgr Vallejo Balda and Francesca Chaouqui certainly seems variously shown by  the roof party.

"Mixture of the Secular and the Religious Stuff"

Meanwhile, the matter was has become known and "the Pope was outraged," wrote the weekly magazine L'Espresso , when he learned of the "Roof Story." Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, the Prefect for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See told the TV station Italia 1 : "I can not announce what the Pope has said. He has been informed and I can only say that he is not happy, to use a euphemism. But I can assure you that such episodes will not recur. "

Cardinal Versaldi claimed to have known nothing of the rooftop party. "Like many others, I too am surprised by this blend of the secular and the religious stuff." The Cardinal is, piquant detail not included,  the direct superior of Msgr Vallejo Balda. He is quoted by L'Espresso quoted as saying: "I'm not talking about the roof. Thank God we have other problems."

Chaouqui reacted in the usual way: All information would only be disseminated in order to "discredit" in the eyes of the Pope.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Infocatolica

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Katholisches...

AMGD

Pope Francis Excommunicates President of 'We Are Church'

Martha Heizer has been simulating masses regularly together with her husband. Now Rome has cracked down and excommunicated both - Faculty of Theology Innsbruck: Heizer is expected, due to a lack of studies to renounce her self-designation as "theologian"

Rome (kath.net) Pope Francis has excommunicated the President of the anti-Roman platform "We are Church," Martha Heizer (67), and her husband, Gert. This was reported by the "Tiroler Tageszeitung" on Thursday. Because the two Tyroleans regularly simulated Eucharistic celebrations, which is a serious offense ("delictum gravius") so were faced with excommunication, ie, they are excluded from the Church's sacraments. Bishop Scheuer wanted yesterday evening to deliver Rome's decree, but this was rejected by both. The President of the platform "We are Church" and those who helped launch the Church referendum were "shocked by the intervention" of Rome.

Already in 2011 Jozef Neviadomski, Dean of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Innsbruck and professor of dogmatics, pointed out that Frau Dr. Heizer is "presented in public media, 'as a theologian'". Such qualification confers on it "the aura of expertise, which she still - at least in an academic context - has never earned". Neviadomski pointed out that Heizer has "neither theology nor religious education studies," but she was been employed "for many years as an assistant in the area of ​​religious education at the Theological Faculty of Innsbruck" as a PhD educator. The Dean stated: "Your teaching has been considered quite valuable to the Faculty but was characterized by systematic usurpation of competences in things theology, a process that was not legitimized by an appropriate effort in study. The fact is that parts of the faculty had advised for years before the rejection of the self-classification as a theologian, that this had the potential for conflict, even as the affected person was its origin."


Link to Kath.net...

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Edit: But they're also sending a visitor to the Sister of the Immaculate, according to Rorate.
Photo from...
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"Hit and Sunk" -- Pope Francis Promotes Former Critic to Useless Position in CDF

(Rome / Buenos Aires) Monday brought two newsworthy events in Rome. One as Pope Francis "sunk" a former critic in Argentina. On the other hand is was announced that  the Argentine Pope has given  the Italian Bishops Conference more leeway than any other pope, who  in reality has put it on a shorter leash  than any predecessor.

On Monday afternoon Pope Francis opened the Spring General Assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference with a speech. Unlike any that has ever been given. The Pope as Bishop of Rome as automatically been the President since the formation of the Episcopal Conference. All Popes so far, however, are represented by a delegate appointed by them, but never intervened obviously  by their presence in the work of the Bishops' Conference. With the election of Pope Francis everything seemed to be quite different.

Pope Francis Intevenes a More in Bishops Conference than any pope before

Surprisingly the Argentine Pope announced that he would  dispense with the nominal presidency and offered the bishops of the to choose a president for themselves from their own ranks in the future as all the other Bishops' Conferences (except Belgium). Since then Pope Francis has only intervened  more and more significantly in the Italian Episcopal Conference than any other pope before him. The  president,  appointed by Benedict XVI., Archbishop Angelo Cardinal Bagnasco of Genoa although he is still in office, however, Pope Francis has appointed a deputy and a new Secretary General. Both offices have been occupied on a proposal of the presiding delegate. Bagnasco only learned later of the personnel decisions of the Pope, which equaled his disempowerment in both cases.

"Only laconically," says the Vaticanista Sandro Magister, was he informed by the Holy See with a terse press statement of a change in Personnel. "The Holy Father Francis, has appointed S. Ex. Monsignor José Luis Mollaghan, formerly Metropolitan Archbishop of Rosario (Argentina), as a member of the to be erected commission for clerics at the CDF to address delicta graviora."

Punitive Action Against Archbishop Mollaghan of Rosario

Rosario is an Archdiocese of two million inhabitants. "Archbishop Mollaghan, at 68, has certainly not yet reached the end of his career," said Magister. The abrupt removal from Argentina, his appeal to Rome under the direct control of the pope and his banishment to a not even existing curial phantom office, which is not yet built, says everything about the fact that the impact is definitive,"  says the Vaticanist.

To understand the reason for this punishment by Pope Francis against one of the most renowned Argentine bishops, Magister suggests the  "most accurate and credible", to look up the previously existing  Pope's biographies in the book, "Francis, Life and Revolution" by the Argentine journalist Elisabetta Piqué .

Criticism of Bergoglio: Too Lenient About Politics, Pastoral Gestures Too Daring, Too Little Defense of the Doctrine of the Faith

In the chapter,  that pique applied by the opponents of Bergoglio in Argentina, Archbishop Mollaghan in place together with Archbishop Hector Aguer of La Plata and the Apostolic Nuncio Adriano Bernardini in the first place. Mollagahan had not only  accused the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires of not to defending Catholic doctrine, but of making bold, exaggerated or inappropriate gestures and being too pastorally soft on government.

Contact for the critics Bergoglios in Rome were originally from Argentina Cardinal Leonardo Sandri and former Argentine ambassador to the Holy See, Esteban "Cacho" Caselli  who appears now as before a continuing Gentleman of His Holiness appearing in the Pontifical Yearbook.

Past Episcopal Appointments Archbishop Bergoglio

The opposition  against the line of the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, says Piqué, reaches its climax in 2005/2006 reaches its climax when Nuncio Bernardini  appointmented  several bishops who were "embossed conservatives". Among them was also the new Archbishop of Rosario, José Luis Mollaghan and that of Resistencia, Fabriciano Sigampa. The appointments caused, according to Piqué,  progressive bishops unrest and discontent. Neither Mollaghan nor Sigampa had been named by the other Argentine bishops for these dioceses, said the journalist of La Nacion .

The Argentine website Pagina Catolica is a little clearer. The appointment of Archbishop Mollaghan was made ​​by bypassing  three candidates by Archbishop Bergoglio, who had operated as Archbishop of Buenos Aires in an intensive personnel policy in the appointment of bishops. While Bergoglio let the theologian who was admonished by  Rome, Galician  Andrés Torres Queiruga, whom the CDF  accused of "implicitly"  denying the resurrection of Jesus Christ, continue to speak freely in his diocese in 2012, Mallaghan imposed a ban for his diocese in Catholic institutions.

Archbishop  Sigampa has been emeritus since February 2013. As was the case under Benedict XVI. he was still  Archbishop until the completion of the 77th year of life in office. On February 26, 2013 it took two days  after the resignation German Pope for the resignation of Sigampa. Archbishop Mollaghan has now been "hit and sunk" by Pope Francis, says Magister. Only Archbishop Aguer of La Plata is still in place. "But his fate seems sealed", so  at least says the Vaticanist Magister.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Settimo Cielo

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Katholisches...

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Archbishop Gänswein: A "Militant Secularism" is Spreading

(Einsiedeln) Curia Archbishop Georg Gänswein has found clear words a week before the elections to the European Parliament. He criticized the lack of commitment of politicians to oppose discrimination against Christians in Europe.

The Prefect of the Papal Household  of Pope Francis and personal secretary of Benedict XVI. spoke on Sunday in the Benedictine Abbey of Einsiedeln in Switzerland at the annual pilgrimage of the Pontifical Relief and Works Agency, Church in Need. [Kirche in Not] Archbishop Gänswein mentioned that media and politics condemn every form of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, but does not apply the same standards in relation to the discrimination against Christians in Europe.

The German Curial  Archbishop lamented that in the EU, on  May 25th,  a new European Parliament will be chosen which will spread a "militant secularism". Certain circles want the Christians in Europe be "muzzled" and push religion to the margins, says Gänswein. However, he EU is pursing suicide in this, because Europe will not survive, says the Archbishop, when it renounces its Christian roots.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Wikicommons

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

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Franciscans of the Immaculate: New Order? The Curial General's Ridicule

(Rome) The Acting General  of the Franciscans of the Immaculate (FI) recently made a statement in a mocking tone to a recent article by Rorate Caeli. The well-known traditional  English language website reported on 14 May that a "substantial" part of the Order, between 100 and 150 brothers have appealed to the Roman Curia, to be dismissed from the Order of Pontifical Right and to be a Community of Diocesan Right.

The Franciscans of the Immaculate , since 1998, have been an institute of pontifical right, were provided with papal approval  to be under the provisional administration of the Congregation of Religious on July 11, 2013.  Officially no reasons for the drastic intervention were given until today. In reality, the reasons have been thoroughly revised. The management of the Congregation of Religious had interfered in  the  Order's change of internal liturgy from the New to the Old Rite, the participation of the Order in a critical review of the Council and its documents, and the post-conciliar period, and not least the fact that the Order, because of its seriousness and rigor, has become the most flourishing Order of the Catholic Church.

Since the hard engagement of the Congregation of Religious with the dismissal of the Order's leadership and the imposition of house arrest for the Founder, Father Stefano Maria Manelli, the brothers are looking for a way to save the charism of the Order and continue to maintain the Old Rite.

Request for Change of FI to Ecclesia Dei  Ignored

Already in the autumn, there was ​​a motion that the order be recognized as an Old Rite Order and the jurisdiction of the Pontifical Commission of a considerable part of the brothers would be assumed by Ecclesia Dei.  The request was ignored by the Congregation of Religious. In this context, the new test is to see, if they dispense with the already granted papal rights.Under a benevolent diocesan bishop, as the desire of the signatories of the petition, it should form a new order of diocesan right.

The Acting General of the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception, to be exact the papal commissioner appointed by the Secretary-General, Father Alfonso Bruno, has responded now on the article: "Rorate Caeli is lying again about us". For the brothers who want to keep the Old Rite, the Secretary-General  has only few merciful, disparage words.

New Order of Diocesan Right?

However, the Curial General,  confirmed there was a request to "be released from religious vows," but played down the scope.  "Only about 15 priests and seminarians and most  in temporary vows" would have made the request. In short, only about ten percent of the remaining members of the Order and not 30-40 percent. The inner need of the friars after a year under provisional administration, the prohibition of the Old Rite, the imposition of numerous restrictions, the dissolution of several monasteries, the suspension and removal of the international seminary is completely ignored by the Secretary-General.

"No Bishop Even Wants Them"

In a mocking tone the Curial General  insists hat the priests who want to leave the Order, "have not even found a bishop in two months" who would be willing to accept them. Father Alfonso Bruno, the Order's internal gray eminence behind the coup of 2013 against the order leadership, simultaneously provides his interpretation of things corresponding to that line he spread since last summer: When the request for release of the religious vows and desire to found a new order is that it was "merely a destructive and sabotaging strategy of former superiors who do not want the end of the crisis for ideological reasons and personal interests." However, the Secretary General also gave  no reasons in this case for the provisional administration, nor what the  "crisis" is and who caused this "crisis".

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Franciscans of the Immaculate

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Katholisches....

AMGD

Cardinal Schönborn Praises "Conchita Wurst"

Edit: Die Welt must have some stake in portraying Vienna's Cardinal in a conservative light.  He's not the only one.

[Die Welt] Encouragement comes from an unexpected corner: The Catholic Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna is pleased with the victory of drag queen Conchita Wurst at the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC). There "great diversity" in the garden of God, Schonborn told Austrian journal "Heute" . Even those people who did not feel at home with his portrayal, gave "the respect to which we all have a right." 

On the gender identity of the 69-year-old told the Archbishop of Vienna, he felt it as a "wonderful idea" of the Creator that he created man male and female. From this polarity and mutual supplement is apparent attraction, "to draw oneself to another," but also "to struggle with one another". In the context of the creation it was "God's most fascinating idea." Thus, the intriguing idea is also embodied in Conchita Wurst. 

The mild-hearted reaction of the Catholic Church is a bit surprising. Regarding the church and homosexuality, Schönborn had always shown a tough stance. [No he hasn't. Remember his intervention on behalf of an aberrosexual parish council member?] The Russian Orthodox Church had practiced the same heavy criticism at the output of the ESC.

Link to Die Welt...
H/t: T.A.
Also, Catholic4Life...
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Bishop Williamson Holds Forth on Sedevacantism

Number CCCLVII (357)

17th May 2014

CHURCH’S INFALLIBILITY -- III

The crazy words and deeds of Pope Francis are presently driving many believing Catholics towards sedevacantism, which is dangerous. The belief that the Conciliar Popes have not been and are not Popes may begin as an opinion, but all too often one observes that the opinion turns into a dogma and then into a mental steel trap. I think the minds of many sedevacantists shut down because the unprecedented crisis of Vatican II has caused their Catholic minds and hearts an agony which found in sedevacantism a simple solution, and they have no wish to re-open the agony by re-opening the question. So they positively crusade for others to share their simple solution, and in so doing many of them – not all -- end up displaying an arrogance and a bitterness which are no signs or fruits of a true Catholic.

Now these “Comments” have abstained from proclaiming with certainty that the Conciliar Popes have been true Popes, but at the same time they have argued that the usual sedevacantist arguments are neither conclusive nor binding upon Catholics, as some sedevacantists would have us believe. Let us return to one of their most important arguments, which is from Papal infallibility: Popes are infallible. But liberals are fallible, and Conciliar Popes are liberal. Therefore they are not Popes.

To this one may object that a Pope is certainly infallible only when he engages the four conditions of the Church’s Extraordinary Magisterium by teaching 1 as Pope, 2 on Faith or morals, 3 definitively, 4 so as to bind all Catholics. Whereupon sedevacantists and liberals alike reply that it is Church teaching that the Ordinary Universal Magisterium is also infallible, so – and here is the weak point in their argument – whenever the Pope teaches solemnly even outside of his Extraordinary Magisterium, he must also be infallible. Now their liberal Conciliar teaching is solemn. Therefore we must become either liberals or sedevacantists, depending of course on who is wielding the same argument.

Rabbi Skorka: Pope Francis and Judaism -- “We Dreamt, We Embraced in Front of the Wailing Wall"

(Buenos Aires / Jerusalem) Will Pope Francis meet the “mother of his personal faith" in Judaism?  That, at least is what   his Argentine friend Rabbi Abraham Skorka in an interview with the Jesuit magazine Civilta Cattolica. Pope Francis arrives in a few days with a colorful entourage to the Holy Land.

The Catholic Church leader is not only accompanied, as usual, by cardinals and bishops of the Catholic Church, but this time also the honorary chairman of the Orthodox Churches, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople,   Bartholomew I. However, the most importantly will be  a personal friend of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the Argentine Rabbi Abraham Skorka. The Vatican soon made ​​aware of a risk. The very obvious presence of a Jewish representative in the entourage of the Pope, who has   direct access to the Pope, boasting numerous interviews, could trigger irritation in the Muslim world in the Middle East.   Above all, the Muslim Palestinians could feel resentment . So there was a search  for an additional, Muslim travel companion. It is Omar Abboud, who will be the  representative of the Islamic community in Argentina. Abboud is a former Secretary General of the Islamic Center of Argentina .

Two Argentine Friends: Rabbi Skorka and the Muslim Representative Abboud

Vatican spokesman Father Lombardi said the Pope was accompanied by a Jewish and a Muslim agent with whom he is already in “a friendly dialogue” in Argentina .  In fact, Archbishop Bergoglio, Rabbi Skorka and Abboud took part as head of the Islamic Centre in the last ten years prior, as  the Pope's choice in numerous joint events part that stood as a  sign of inter-religious dialogue and were largely initiated by Cardinal Bergoglio.

Skorka About Francis: “We Dreamed of Embracing Before the Wailing Wall"

While Abboud was invited in April to come along on the trip has so far refrained from publicity, Rabbi Skorka has engaged in intense media activism since the election of Pope Francis.  In his recent interview for the Jesuit magazine Civilta Cattolica (Volume 3934 v. May 17, 2914: D he Pope, the Rabbi and the Holy Land ), he said: "Since the election of Francis we have met three times in Rome.”  In one of these meetings, "we began to dream of standing together in front of the Wailing Wall, embracing, to give you a sign despite the two thousand years of disagreements between Jews and Christians, and that I accompany him to Bethlehem to be close to  his mind  in such an important moment,  as a gesture of friendship and respect, to give all peoples and nations of this region an indelible sign of peace."

The interview with Rabbi Skorka led chief editor Father Antonio Spadaro, who led a now famous, but also controversial interview with Pope Francis last fall. Skorka also spoke of how Pope Francis see Judaism: "At the first meeting he said, pointing to me and pointed with his hand up: 'Our friendship and dialogue is the sign that it is'. And I added: 'You can create the path that leads to peace and the Rome and Jerusalem brings together more closely.' "

Skorka: "Bergoglio sees in Judaism the Mother of his Personal Beliefs"

In a conversation between Father Spadaro and the rabbi several names are called as witnesses for the Jewish-Christian dialogue, including the retired Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Lustiger. There are also  publications mentioned considered  by the Pope as  fundamental to the Jewish-Christian dialogue.  According Skorka prevails in Pope Francis especially "an expectation of the church to a Jewish response to the document Nostra Aetate of the Second Vatican Council, an adopted by the majority of the Jewish people manifesto, which answers the question: What does a Christian for a Jew ? "

When asked Spadaros, as Pope Francis see the Jewish religion, Skorka replied: "The many things that I have seen and experienced around Bergolio additionally prompted me to say that he sees Judaism as a mother of his faith. This is not merely an intellectual exercise, but a feeling, which is an important component in his personal faith.”   This statement is in need of explanation. according to the Catholic understanding of  pre-Christian Judaism (Israel) has risen in Christianity and found its completion. Post-Christian Judaism, however, is that Pharisaic cleavage of the original Judaism that rejects Christ as the Messiah. But what Judaism did  Skorka mean?

Pope Reads Rabbinic Writings and is Shaped by Them?

The Rabbi pointed at the same time then that "some viewpoints and findings of Bergoglio" obviously agree with rabbinical writings, which he wants to suggest that Pope Francis has read rabbinic or is reading and was influenced by them.

Other parts of the conversation related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Of this Skorka said: "I do not expect that Pope Francis will solve all problems between Palestinians and Israelis, nor all the conflicts of the Middle East and the world." The "true power of the Pope is the credibility that he  has in  his family and the understanding of this awakened in others."

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Vatican Insider / Centro Interreligioso Buenos Aires

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Katholisches...http://www.katholisches.info/2014/05/17/rabbi-skorka-papst-franziskus-und-das-judentum-haben-getraeumt-uns-vor-der-klagemauer-zu-umarmen/

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Missionary Bishop Kräutler: Praying for Vocations? "I'm Not Game For That"

(Vienna) Praying for vocations to the priesthood for the left-friendly Austrian missionary Bishop Erwin Kräutler is like yesterday's snow. This had been the "concept" of Benedict XVI..

Kräutler insists in an interview with the daily newspaper Die Presse on "regional solutions to the celibacy issue". To such things, Pope Francis, who had received Kräutler last April 4th at the Vatican, showed himself to be "very open". The Pope wished for "proposals" on the celibacy question.

Kräutler have proposed to the Pope, "to decouple celibacy and Eucharist". That a Eucharistic celebration depending on a celibate priest was a "problem": "I'm not game for that," said Kräutler a daily newspaper.

Although Kräutler did not know whether Pope Francis will then implement his solutions, he was nevertheless very satisfied, because: "This process has never been allowed. Benedict XVI. has said, we pray for priestly vocations. This Pope is different. He wants to put in motion a process. "Under Francis doors are opening up, so said the Old Liberal missionary bishop from Austria.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
 image: Wikicommons
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
  Link to Katholisches...
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The Easy World of Some Prelates -- Looking Away and Adjusting to the Powers of the World

From Giuseppe Nardi

(Rome) The incomprehensible words of Bishop Nunzio Galantino, the Secretary General of the Italian Episcopal Conference has unleashed resentment and disappointment among Catholics worldwide.  Particularly irritating is   the true fact that Bishop Galantino was appointed by Pope Francis and is the strong man in the Bishops' Conference.   Is it not the Pope who continuously criticized careerism and comfort? But what other than comfort, could there be if bishops refrain from the defense of Catholic doctrine and make dialectical tricks to bring themselves into line with the world? Bishop Galantino constructed in an interview with the Italian newspaper Quotidiano Nazionale (QN) a contrast between ethical questions that he played off against each other (see separate report Bergoglio Effect: Secretary of the Bishops' Conference Distances Himself from Pro-Lifers ). He opposed the commitment to the right for the life of children against concern for employment and health.

The bishop revealed that the opposition to abortion has become annoying to  part of the Church hierarchy because it strains  a congenial relationship of the Catholic Church with the ruling forces. Not only the left-wing parties, but also increasingly the bourgeois parties exclude any discussion of abortion legislation. Rather, the consent to abortion has become  a condition for government funding or even for licensing  as is done  in the U.S.. Government by Obama

The powerful want  child murder? Hooray We Cave In

Bishop Galantino  spoke openly about  what not a few bishops have long implied indirectly. The right to life issue and the Pro-Lifers disturb the good relations with those less and less influenced by Christianity in power, politics and the media. To express this, the new Secretary General of the startled Italian Episcopal Conference by not hesitating to caricature the Pro-Lifers in a condescending manner. That and the new Chairman of the American Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Joseph Edward Kurtz kneeling in front of abortion clinics praying the rosary, would be passed over in silence by Galantino. He, for one, will not do it. Not only that, those who do it, disturb the influential prelates. Probably because they are a constant reminder to the conscience.

Padre Pio and the Power of Prayer

Does  Bishop Galantino  not believe  in the power of prayer when he finds it so inappropriate and  makes derogatory judgments on those who pray against abortion? "Prayer is the best weapon we have. It is the key that opens the heart of God ", however, was what St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina said.

"Bishop Galantino, maybe you should just sit through a prayer vigil where people witness to the faith witness against the greatest crime in human history, while others are comfortably sitting at home," said Pro-Lifers Michele Majno in Riscossa Cristiana . "In addition to the smooth and slick passers by there will always be some stubborn 'Catholics who hold the rosary between their fingers and pray, rather than discuss some documents on socio-political issues, married priests, communion for remarried divorcees, tacit acceptance of abortion and vocal recognition of homosexuality, because they know that priests do not marry, sacramental marriage is indissoluble, and that homosexuality and the murder of innocent children are abominations that cry out for God's vengeance, "  said Majano.

Many bishops in Europe have remained silent too long

Bishop Galantino invented instead the assertion that he seems to have brought over one to one from Pope Francis, that the Church, so to speak has talked  too much   about abortion and could not constantly continue so one-sidedly.

From the words it is clearly apparent that life issues seem to get on Galantino's nerves.  The mass murder of unborn children isn't bothering him, but that there are Catholics who still point it out, although the rulers of this world have but decided on  their laws and therefore want to kill undisturbed. 

Actually,  Bishop Galantino has claimed the exact opposite to be true. Many representatives of the Church, except the Popes (only since Pope Francis whose  pontificate's  papal attitude seems on the whole ambivalent) have been silent for decades on the subject of right to life. If they take a stand, then it is quite stealthily, so there's not too many to remember. An indictment against the biggest, industrially organized mass murder in human history you do not get to hear from the vast majority. It is much faster to enumerate the few bishops who have seriously  raised their personal voice against child murder with conviction, not as the tentative opinions, or roundabout explanations of the Episcopal Conferences.

Demonstrate with Abortion Lobbyists - Distancing from Pro-Lifers?

Bishop Ludwig Maria Schwarz of Linz, that Austrian diocese, which is a prime example of undersierable internal developments in the church in the German speaking areas, traveled to Vienna in order to participate last Wednesday at a "vigil" in front of the Federal Chancellery. He thus demonstrated against government cuts for NGOs for development cooperation. "We have a duty to provide assistance," rightly said the bishop. However, for the bishop it is not a problem   to show solidarity without distinction with organizations whose "development aid" participates in the promotion of abortion (keyword "reproductive health") . 

Bishop Schwarz, however, was not seen on the street in order to demonstrate for the right to life  or to pray in front of an abortion clinic. An opportunity  would be available in Linz on Saturday, 17 May, where Human Life International Austria and the club Yes to Life invites you to a prayer vigil and among other things to the General Hospital of the city and the rosary for the right to life of mother and child pray against infanticide.

Questions to the Bishops

Bishop Galantinos "slip" was a few days after in Rome 4 March for Life was held in which more than 50,000 people took part, to demonstrate for life and against abortion. The lifers have thus provided evidence that the street does not belong only to those who demonstrate for the death. Is Galantinos  message to be understood in response to the March for Life? Therefore some questions to the bishops of the West:

1) Are the tens of thousands of people, priests, religious, children, adults, women, men and the elderly (including those who came in wheelchairs and on crutches), who drew representatives demonstrating marching for two hours in Rome's  Republic Square to St. Peter's Square  finally finding political recognition? Will the bishops relate a clear position, not only abstract,  for life, but specifically against the daily threat of abortion and the abolition of abortion murder laws?

2) From the 5th to the 19th of October, 2014, the Vatican Synod of Bishops will be held on the theme: "The pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization." In the chapter Code of Canon Law (CIC) states to synodal assemblies (Canon 346.2): ​​"Convened for the Extraordinary General Synod has to deal with matters that require a timely resolution." Do the concerns of lifers belong to the "affairs" that "require timely resolution"  (this is really a matter of life or death)?

3) The Pope said at the Angelus in St. Peter's Square to the 50,000 participants in the March for life in Rome (which  made   all the great Catholic lay associations and movements stand out  by their absence): "Good luck and forward".  When will the bishops follow the example of Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke and go at the first opportunity on the street to take part in the March for Life prayer vigils in their country and in front of abortion clinics and  appeal uncompromisingly for the right to life?

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Riscossa Cristiana / Diocese of Linz (Screenshot) / La cigüeña de la torre

Trans: Tancred verkon99@hotmail.com

Katholisches....

AMGD

Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela Desecrated by Shinto and Buddhist Rites

(Madrid) The famous cathedral of Santiago de Compostela was desecrated by Buddhist and Shinto rites  The Catholic Church prohibits in their churches every act of worship of another religion. Through the implementation of a strange rite a Catholic church is profaned, and requires a special rite to fix this desecration.

Nevertheless, it came as part of an event organized by the local tourist association  "Japanese Week in Santiago", the  desecration of the world famous place of pilgrimage cathedral by Buddhist monks and Shinto priests, who presented ritual songs and dances.

Tourism Association Organized "Japanese Week" and  Allowed Buddhist and Shinto Dance in Cathedral

From the 9th to the 13th of  May, Japan was presented in Santiago with a variety of events all year.  It featured  Japanese art, music and cuisine. On May 13th, the last day of the theme week, the event took place in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela called "The Spirit of Japan".  The program announced the event as "Songs and Dances of Buddhist monks and Shinto priests of the prefecture of Wakayama."

But how is it possible that the cathedral of  the Archbishop  could permit the  Tourist Office to make it available, ​​moreover even for ritual acts of foreign religions? This is what Catholics are currently asking. For the tourist office  Santiago de Compostela all religions are equal,  so for that reason  religious programs can take place in a religious context, specifically Buddhist and Shinto rites in a Catholic church.

Holy Mass in a Side Chapel - Idolatry Before the High Altar

While Holy Mass was celebrated in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of the Cathedral,  the main nave of the church in front of the main altar  was opened to Buddhist monks and Shinto priests for their rites.

The even was not mentioned on the website of the cathedral church, but without the consent of those responsible,   the event could not have taken place. There is also no indication that the procedure  required by the Church after a profanation, that is a  purification rite, will be  performed with a new consecration.

Are really all religions equal and a church  is only a syncretic container dedicated  to fit  in   all religions? What does Archbishop Julián Barrio   of Santiago de Compostela mean by this?

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Messa in Latino

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...

AMGD

Bergolio-Effect: Secretary of the Italian Bishop's Conference Betrays Pro-Lifers for Secular Approval

(Rome) The appointed  new Secretary Generaly of the Italian Episcopal Conference hand picked by Pope Francis, Bishop Nunzio Galatino of Cassano  all'Jonio flattered the abortion lobby and distanced himself from Pro-Lifers in an interview on Monday. "I do not identify myself with the motionless faces of those who pray the rosary in front of the clinics that perform abortions."  We waited for a denial for 24 hours, says the editor of the Catholic website Nuova Bussola Quotidiana . But this denial did not come. "We have to accept it. This statement, which discloses a lack of humanity, one would expect only from the worst secularists, but it really comes from Monsignor Galantino."

The  secretary hand picked by Pope Francis  and since then practically the most powerful man in the Italian Episcopal Conference  is revealing a  "clerical arrogance"  which speaks of  "compassion" (for the women)   and contempt  for ( neighbors) life," said Riccardo Cascioli.

Pope Francis with Bishop Galantino

The governor of the Pope in Italy distances himself not only from the prayerful Pro-Lifers in front of the abortion clinics that already save hundreds of children from certain death and as many women, who they were able to keep  from making the biggest mistake of their lives. In the interview he kept a  distance from the fundamental right to life. "We have concentrated solely on a no to abortion and euthanasia in the past," said Galantino, but forget that "it comes into  existence, develops."  Therefore, an end to the resistance on behalf of  innocents, an end to the resistance against euthanasia and especially an end to the Rosary before clinics. Instead, "better quality of life for the people in their right to health and work," said the secretary of the Bishops' Conference.

"Besides the fact that it already if is no 'right to health' but possibly a right to medical treatment, Galantino  constructs an opposition that goes in deadly manner to the detriment of the child," said Cascioli. But this would in any case be something almost all  could support and propagate. The Church is the only really serious hotbed of resistance to the brutality of "progress". Only an "abstract ideological point of view" can dilute the right to life and dissolve it into a "right to health" and in a "right to work". "The truth is that you no longer want to talk about a thing that has become as  politically troublesome  a thing as abortion," said Cascioli. Not coincidentally, "Msgr Galantino even seems to be afraid, because  he instead speaks of the 'termination of pregnancy'. and  'this pratice', when he means abortion."

Galantino thus is ultimately only following Pope Francis, who distanced himself in Civiltà Cattolica interview in September by commitment to the protection of life and the Pro-Lifers, whom he accused of "obsession."   No abortion lobbyist,  could have said it "better". How now then are the statements for the protection of life  by the Pope? He also avoids meticulously  calling  things by their name and with the distancing from the "non-negotiable values", he gave them to understand that the protection of life was good and right, but ultimately has no priority.

"In addition, I would like to know who  all the bishops and priests who have spoken in these years constantly on abortion and euthanasia have been. I must have been distracted, but I know of so few in the sense that I can list them.  When John Paul II and Benedict XVI. talked about it - but certainly not exclusively - it is because they had to oppose a Church that has completely lost the sense of the "Gospel of Life", as the statement of Galantino confirmed in a startling way," said Cascioli.

"It would be nice if the Secretary of the Bishops 'Conference would at least try to think about the words said by  Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta: 'The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a direct war, a direct killing, it which is the direct murder by the hand of the mother herself. Because if a mother can kill her own child, then there is nothing that would prevent me from killing you, and keep you  from killing me."

The pressure to conform seems to dominate the bishops. The urge to conform, to belong to  the mainstream society  seems overwhelming. Today, no one wants someone who "judges", so there are also no standards, at least not universal Christian standards any more because the standards that the world presents  as authentic, contradict the teachings of Christ. "And who would even dare to pray in front of clinics where innocent children are killed, who will not only be left by their own bishops  in the lurch, that has been happening in Europe for years, but even insulted and offended. They are the same bishops, who call heathens to the pulpit, so that they can teach Christians. Because the only ones evaluated in this new, 'non-judgmental' view who are so condemned, are Catholics.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
images: NBQ

Breaking: Soviet Romero to Be Beatified

Edit: the Reds are invading heaven now, too.  The Patron Saint of Wealth Redistribution.

Breaking: A decision regarding Archbishop Oscar Romero's beatification could be announced soon, say two reports. Both originate from Bishop Gregorio Rosa Chavez, auxiliary bishop of San Salvador, who met with Pope Francis about the canonization process on Friday, and presented with the pope with a letter from all the Salvadoran bishops regarding Monsenor Romero, the martyred archbishop of San Salvador. The first report, from Prensa Latina, is below. The second, from Radio Vaticana's German site, is here:

in German.

Magadan in Russia: Yesterday a Place of Death -- Today Also a Place of Life

(Moscow) Magadan is a city in Russia, which was established as the administrative center for the Soviet Gulag system. The Catholic Chaplain Father Michael Shields works there.  Magadan is  a synonym  for death to  Russians.   Today, however, in the Russian city of nearly 100,000 inhabitants, there is life, because Father Michael is defeating  abortion. "Our program here is great, which I am always reminded of  when I see these children laugh and play,” says the priest of the Order of the Little Brothers of Jesus (IPFI).

Every year hundreds of thousands of children do not see the light of day because they are killed in the womb. This is the brutal legacy of Communism, still overhangs Russia more than 20 years after its collapse.  In 1920 the Communist Soviet Empire was the first country in the world that allowed the child murder. It was the first country in the world, which regarded  murder as "liberation" and the killing of innocent children is portrayed as "humane" act for "progress."

For every 10 children born, 13 children are killed. For the Communists, a life was worth nothing, abortion has been used as a means of birth control. Abortion as a macabre "contraceptive". Through the efforts of democratic governments to counteract it,  the ratio has improved in recent years. The rapid demographic collapse of Russia was halted in 2010.  However, the number of children killed is immense with almost one million.

At the Heart of the Gulag System is The Church of the Nativity 

Magadan is a port town in the far east of Russia. The city on the Sea of ​​Okhotsk was a military district until 1991. The average temperature here even in summer  reaches about 15 ° Celsius. But in winter it sinks to minus 25 degrees. The living conditions are tough, so the Soviets built a warehouse and administrative center right here  for the concentration camp. Here, many Christians have suffered and many were killed. Here today Father Michael Shields is pastor. The Catholic parish church is dedicated to the birth of Jesus. The Church of the Nativity is  a center of life for Magadan.

Father Michael belongs to the order of the Little Brothers of Jesus, which was also founded in 1933 in an inhospitable location on the model of St. Charles de Foucauld in the Sahara desert in Algeria. In 1994, Father Michael left Alaska to go to Russia. "The cold I already knew." He already knew then   though of the many broken and killed human lives, the genocide of his own people, that had been done by  Communism. "But first I have understood here the true extent of this tragedy," he says today.

Almost every woman over 30 years had already had an abortion. Some women even ten or fifteen times. For the Catholic religious order,    the lack of respect for human life is the direct result of an ideology that denies human dignity. Magadan was a concentration camp in 1929 and from 1932 to 1954 an administrative center of the largest concentration camp complex the world has ever seen. In the Gulag, several million people have died and a very large numb have been locked away: "therefore stands  Magadan means death in Russia."

We Make People Aware that Life is Sacred

Step by step, it is Father Michael who managed to replace the non-culture of death by a culture of life and to convince the women to share their pain and guilt about the children killed, with  God. This resulted in Rachel's Vineyard, where annual retreats take place. Quite a few women light candles before the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help for their "unborn" children. "One in five women have been here and have lit 47 candles," said Father Michael.

The Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need offers support to all the girls and women, all mothers, moral, spiritual and economic assistance in parish.  Father Michael has tried quite specifically to help with clothing, food, drugs with his parish. "There are not a few women who can be tempted from economic hardships to abortion. We are trying to raise the consciousness that a human life, even of this small,  unborn,  but already existing child, is sacred and inviolable from conception until natural death,” said Father Michael.

"In Magadan to have a child,  sometimes means the loss of everything.  Some mothers don’t even  literally have a roof over their head. "There are about fifteen women, mostly young girls who are currently supported each month by Father Michael. "For the unborn child, we give where necessary, up to three years of financial aid. But anyone, whoever comes, receives support from us,” said the Catholic religious. "We have so far rescued 65 children, of whom we know for sure. We have accepted many newborns and infants because they had health problems. And we have helped many mothers to build a life. Our program here is great, which is always newly present to me when I see these kids play and laugh. I love them all."

"The More People Who Love God and Glorify Him, the More Graces He Bestows"

The parish also has a small apartment in which to live for a shorter or longer period of time for giving birth and new mothers. There are several doctors around who know the American priest in the meantime, to help him in his apostolate of life by treating mothers and children for free. Father Michael recommends that all pregnant women come as soon as possible to receive an ultrasound. "To see the child, and no matter how small it is, makes it a reality. And to hear his heart beat, creates a very strong bond, which immediately awakens the maternal instinct. Or a simple gesture, like shopping for baby dresses can help to understand that here there already grows a new life, an independent life, a new man with his face, his eyes, his mouth and his smile. And that it is her child, the child of that woman. Many of them have never even had  a mother figure at her side, which is indispensable in order to learn to be a mother. "

Through the efforts  of the Church and of Father Michael Magadan is being transformed from a place of death  into a place of life. "I believe this is because the number of believers is growing. The more people believe and glorify God, the greater the love of life and the more grace is to be offered. Because God is love and life. "

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: tempos / Wikicommons

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches….

AMGD