[Breitbart] The Vatican’s secret deal with the Chinese government signed on September 22, 2018, has done nothing to improve the religious freedom climate of Chinese Catholics.
Based on the findings of the just-released 2020 Annual Report from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), the situation in China continues to deteriorate for followers of the Roman Catholic faith.
USCIRF is making several “recommendations to enhance the U.S. government’s promotion of freedom of religion or belief abroad in 2020.” In its report, USCIRF recommends 14 countries to the State Department for designation as “countries of particular concern” (CPCs) because their governments engage in or tolerate “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations.”
Grand Master and Prince Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto (1944-2020)
(Rome) On May 1st in Rome, the Grand Master and Prince of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta died. Giacomo Benedetto Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, the lackluster 80th Grand Master of the Order of Malta, was elected just two years ago after severe turbulence. The struggle for the oldest knightly order of the Church is open again.
COLUMBUS, Ohio—State Rep. Nino Vitale’s campaign Facebook account has been down since Friday morning, according to the Champaign County Republican.
Vitale, one of the Ohio House’s most conservative members, said Friday he wasn’t sure exactly what happened with his account and wasn’t given any explanation by Facebook. “They’re so far being helpful and looking into it,” Vitale said of the world’s largest social-media platform.
Leader of the Vatican Congregation for Worship criticizes restrictions on Church life through excessive corona protection measures - "Nobody has the right to stop a priest from giving communion or hearing confession"
Vatican City (kath.net/KAP) Cardinal Robert Sarah, head of the Vatican Congregation of Worship, has criticized restrictions on Church life through excessive corona protective measures. In an interview with the Italian daily "Compass", he said on Saturday: "Nobody has the right to stop a priest from giving Communion or hearing confession." He doesn't think much of online Masses in times of crisis. This leads to a wrong direction, also the priests. "You have to look at God - not at a camera," said the cardinal.
Considerations to distribute the Hosts in the services in plastic bags for hygiene reasons were strictly rejected. "No, no, no - that's absolutely impossible. God deserves respect. You can't put him in a bag." That is "total madness". The Eucharist must be treated with dignity. "We are not in the supermarket," said Sarah, speaking of "absurd" ideas. Holy Communion was not the subject of negotiations.
The fact that public services are currently not possible in many places should not lead to "profane" acts, said the curia cardinal. Despite all the difficulties, every believer still has the opportunity to ask a priest for communion.
Diocese of Regensburg is a great sign of the importance of public services: Dean Jeschner in Eschenbach celebrates the first public Mass shortly after midnight!
Regensburg (kath.net/pm) Already on the night of Monday, May 4th, at 0.05 a.m. Dean Thomas Jeschner will celebrate the first approved Mass with in the parish church of St. Laurentius Eschenbach. This had not been possible since Sunday, March 15th. For seven weeks, services were no longer celebrated with the physical presence of the public and believers. From the moment that this is possible again, it will be carried out immediately.
Dean Jeschner said that the anticipation and joy in the run-up to Mass could be felt enormously, especially among the faithful. "We go into the darkness, in which we felt like we had been sent for weeks, and celebrate our public Mass right here, in the brightly lit church."
The preparations for Mass meet the requirements of the diocese. In particular the dispensing of the Blessed Sacrament is of great importance here, said Dean Jeschner. The organ will be played, singing should be a bit quieter than in earlier times. The believers present will wear masks anyway. What is Pastor Jeschner most looking forward to? "The meeting with the faithful together in the Mass." The question was asked increasingly, Jeschner explains: "When are we going to celebrate Mass again?" The Dean gladly stated that this wish can now be fulfilled again.
Background information about the diocese:
Church fellowship is unthinkable without the celebration of the Eucharist. It is precisely Communion that is the foundation of the community in the first place. Church father Augustine summed it up in the words, which at first glance seem somewhat paradoxical: “Receive what you are!” By taking in the body of Christ in everyone in communion, everyone shares in the one body of Christ.
Last but not least, this is why it is important that services are openly accessible again. Of course, the opening of services is only possible under strict conditions and rules, so that the protection of people continues to be guaranteed. The protection concept of the diocese of Regensburg regulates a lot, but beyond that each parish has to specify the regulations for its own parish area and carry out the measures. You also have to be a bit creative! - Preparations in the parishes
Father Marek, pastor in the parish of Bogenberg, is concerned about the requirement to limit the number of visitors. How should it be possible to simply reject someone? He says. For the services, there will be a folder at the door to control the number of visitors. However, he hopes that ultimately no one will have to be turned away. Over the past few weeks, he has seen that people's longing for the Sacrifice of the Mass is great. The door had to be locked while he was celebrating Mass, otherwise people would have come in and attended the service. In the parish of Bogenberg, the mass has been broadcast on the Internet since Palm Sunday - this was met with an overwhelming response. Around 500 Easter believers tuned in via the Internet. Pilgrimage church on the Bogenberg
In the parish of Herz-Jesu in Selb in the district of Wunsiedel, the churches have already been measured and yellow marking points have been attached. Barriers have been avoided to keep the atmosphere inviting. There is no need for a concept to regulate the number of visitors in Selb. This is a diaspora area - from a Catholic perspective - and worshipers would not exceed the specified maximum numbers. In summer, other visitors could stand on the church square and follow the service through the open church door. Pastor Johann Klier says: “You also have to be a bit creative. It is important that the faithful can come again to the service. ”The first public mass of the parish of Sacred Heart in Selb will take place on May 10th.
The parish of St. Augustine in Viechtach is also well prepared for the reopening of services. Hygiene items such as stands for disinfectants, gloves and masks are already foreseen. Pastor Dr. Werner Konrad has drawn up a draft for specific rules of conduct. The places in the churches are measured. In St. Augustine, too, there will initially be no registration system for the services: "We will try it first," said Pastor Konrad, because due to the special situation, he does not expect so many visitors to the service at first. From a musical point of view, the services are to be increasingly instrumental and with solo singing.
President Donald Trump said Friday he will end federal funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology that some are claiming spawned the coronavirus. At the daily coronavirus task force news conference, the president was asked why the National Institutes of Health would include the Chinese laboratory in a $3.7 million dollar stipend to conduct research. “The Obama administration gave them a grant of $3.7 million. I’ve been hearing about that. We’ve instructed that if any grants are going to that area, we are looking at it literally about an hour ago and also early in the morning,” Trump said. Source Link here...
The great liturgical tradition, which has always accompanied and supported the Church in her history of grace and sin, hears the groaning of individuals and nations in this pandemic crisis, which brings suffering and affliction to those who are sick, and fear, isolation and loneliness to everyone else. The ordinary rhythm of the Lenten and Paschal journey is altered and subverted, in solidarity with our common suffering. We would never have thought, however, that a small but not marginal suffering would also come at the same time through the exercise of ecclesial authority and through the decrees Quo magis e Cum sanctissima,which the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published on 25 March 2020.
It is no surprise that This Congregation should devote its attention to the liturgy. But special and singular is the fact that it modifies the ordines, introduces prefaces and formularies for feasts, and modifies calendars and criteria of precedence. And it does this on a 1962 missal. How is this possible? The Congregation, as is known, in this case moves in the space of an exceptional authority, which dates back 13 years, in accordance with motu proprio Summorum pontificum. But since time is greater than space, what is possible on the regulatory level is not always appropriate. Therefore, it is crucial to engage in critical reflection on the logic of this development.
Time, in fact, has unveiled to us the paradox of a competence on the liturgy being taken away from the Bishops and the Congregation of Worship: this was arranged, in Summorum pontificum, with an intention of solemn pacification and generous reconciliation, but soon it changed into a serious division, a widespread conflict, and became the symbol of a “liturgical rejection” of the Second Vatican Council. The greatest distortion of the initial intentions of the motu proprio can be seen today in those diocesan seminaries where it is expected that the future ministers will be trained at the same time in two different rites: the conciliar rite and the one that denies it. All this reached its most surreal point the day before yesterday, when the two Decrees were released. They mark the culmination of a distortion which is no longer tolerable, and which can be summed up as follows:
- the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith acts as a substitute in exercising competences conferred by the Second Vatican Council on Bishops and the Congregation for Divine Worship;
- it undertakes to elaborate “liturgical variants” of the ordines without having the historical, textual, philological and pastoral competences;
-it seems to ignore, precisely on the dogmatic level, a grave conflict between the lex orandiand the lexcredendi, since it is inevitable that a dual, conflictual ritual form will lead to a significant division in the faith;
- it seems to underestimate the disruptive effect this “exception” will have on the ecclesial level, by immunizing a part of the community from the “school of prayer” that the Second Vatican Council and the liturgical reform have providentially given to the common ecclesial journey.
A “state of exception” is also happening today on the civil level, in its harsh necessity, and this fact allows us greater ecclesial foresight. To return to an ecclesial normality, we must overcome the state of liturgical exception established 13 years ago in another world, with other conditions and with other hopes, by Summorum pontificum. It no longer makes sense to deprive diocesan bishops of their liturgical powers; neither does it make sense to have an Ecclesia Dei Commission(which hasin fact already been suppressed), or a Section of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which take away authority from diocesan Bishops and the Congregation of Divine Worship; it no longer makes sense to enact decrees to “reform” a rite that is closed in the historical past, inert and crystallized, lifeless and without vigor. There can be no resuscitation for it. The double regime is over; the noble intention of SP has waned; the Lefebvrians have raised the barhigher and higher and then run away, insulting the Second Vatican Council and the present pope along with all three of his predecessors. Continuing to nourish a “state of liturgical exception” – one that was born to unite, but does nothing but divide – only leads to the shattering, privatization, and distortion of the worship of the Church. On the basis of these considerations, we resolve together to request that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith immediately withdraw the two decrees of 25/03/2020 and restore all powers concerning the liturgy to the diocesan Bishops and the Congregation for Divine Worship. Obviously, we ask this without prejudice to the powers that this Congregation retains in doctrinal matters.
So let us leave the “state of liturgical exception”. If not now, when?
With best wishes to all colleagues and students, besieged but not conquered in life, during these bitter yet still generous times.
Demons are compelled in certain moments of the Exoricism to tell the truth.
Don Villa reveals his experience with Satan in a video that has been viewed 300,000 times on Youtube alone. At a time when people are turning their backs on the Church because they no longer believe in the Devil at first and no longer believe in God in the next step, Don Villa recalls the reality of the supernatural in a sermon.
Don Villa was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Milan in 1970. Since 2012, he has been one of the twelve exorcists appointed by the Archdiocese. Cardinal Angelo Scola, who was first Patriarch of Venice, was appointed Archbishop of Milan by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011 (he was made emeritus by Pope Francis at the age of 75 in 2017). Right at the beginning of his term in Milan, he doubled the number of exorcists.
Until his vocation, Don Villa was the pastor of a small Lombard town of 20,000 inhabitants. There he still looks after the two parishes and at the same time acts as an exorcist in the spiritual struggle against the devil.
"It is a spiritual struggle against the devil. It's not for the faint-hearted.'
Demand for exorcisms is growing sharply. In Italy alone, they have tripled in the past decade. The Devil's instruments are "vulgarity, threat and violence". At certain moments of exorcism, however, the Devil is compelled to tell the truth. In these moments he had to reveal the "catechism" of God. This is hardly surprising, because this was already the case in the encounter between the Devil and Jesus, the first exorcist.
"Exorcism was an essential part of His public ministry: Jesus' encounters with demons, the temptation by the devil, His power to cast out demons and resist the Devil are reported in the Gospels."
Demons are sometimes the only witnesses who publicly acknowledge the Messiah in Jesus because they are forced to reveal the truth. At the beginning of the Gospel of Mark, in a synagogue, an unclean spirit who is in a man shouts at Jesus with the words:
"What do we have to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to ruin us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God" (Mk 1:24).
Jesus commanded him to leave the man;
"The unclean spirit dragged the man back and forth, and left him with a loud cry" (Mk 1:26)
The demons were afraid of Jesus, according to Don Villa, because they knew that He had power.
Exorcism changes the lives of the possessed or the resettled, but Don Villa describes how the revelations of demons have also changed his own life. In exorcism, a direct confrontation of the demon with the exorcist often happens. He tries to attack and expose the priest in his human weakness.
Thus a demon testified:
"You (priests) are in a hurry when you celebrate Mass. You lift up the piece of bread and immediately go down again because you are in a hurry, because you have more important things to do."
These are harrowing words, says Don Villa, which are a reminder to him as to every priest. The Devil has revealed things that make it impossible for him to celebrate the Mass "as before".
So many books have been written about the liturgy, the exorcist says, and yet there is still a problem. Pope Benedict XVI also addressed it in his recent book "From the Depth of the Heart" when he said that the daily celebration of the Eucharist presupposes a permanent service to God, and that the center of this ministry and thus of priestly life is the Eucharist. According to the Devil, this privileged sacramental relationship between the priesthood and Holy Mass is increasingly underestimated.
It is not an exaggeration, says Don Villa, to say that "the Mass is no longer appreciated".
"We all think that by going to Mass, we give something to God. But it is the sacrifice of Christ, who erases our sins.
When we receive Communion, we receive the body of Christ, who, before the gastric juices decompose, is in us for 8-10 minutes. Do you understand what that means? At this time we are Jesus Tabernacles ... And yet we forget to say thanks to Him before and after the Mass. In the past, people worshipped during this time, including the priests. Today you make a commotion and on to community."
The devil also attacks the priests from another flank:
"You do not understand that Mary, His Mother, and the angels, when you celebrate Mass, are gathered around the altar."
This is how it is, confirms Don Villa, but how rarely are we aware that "at every Mass the whole heaven gathers around the altar".
Don Villa also sees this as the reason why many young people, even if they come from Catholic families and were involved in the parish, do not go to Mass at some point on the grounds that "it doesn't give me anything any more". If the Mass is celebrated with the due reverence, "our thirst will be quenched."
"If God is not served sincerely and reverently, and the holy sacrifice of mass is devalued, we will lose the majesty of God."
"Ironically, at a time when the Church seems to be in permanent confusion, the devil knows what we need: Holy Mass," Patricia Gooding-Williams said in her article on Don Ambrogio Villa for La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana (NBQ).
Text: Giuseppe Nardi Picture: Youtube (Screenshot) Video: Cooperatores Veritatis
Edit: it would be interesting to see how the Adult film maker, Michael Voris addresses Milo's endorsement of pederasty. Voris is so smitten with Milo, he gives him a pass on the pederasty.
Could it be just a bad editorial choice, or is it that Voris is trying to slyly promote degeneracy, but still, isn't child sexual abuse the line you wouldn't want to cross? Milo clearly crosses it in an Interview with the Drunken Peasants, but he also does it at Rogan (Which is a linguistic cesspool, but also touches briefly on Hollywood's aberrosexual pederast problem.) Why didn't Voris encourage Milo to out his abuser? What do you expect from a man who contracted a gay marriage and continuously refers to his "black husband"?
Lust darkens the mind and makes these important distinctions hard to see and E. Michael Jones was certainly onto something here... Milo gives his explanation for his glib comments about sex-abuse and support of pederasty at 7:00.
It's interesting to look at the comment section of all the naive fans of CM who are willing to give him a pass.
Edit: Opus Dei can always deny knowledge of Voris since they don’t have any direct contact with them, as is usual. It’s all so cloak and dagger with them. [Gabriel Sieben] Before I start – I am not a theologian, a book writer, a YouTube commentator, or anyone special within the Catholic media sphere. However, if you have been following traditional Catholic media for a while, you will almost certainly seen arguments about the SSPX, their legitimacy, and its various (supposed) scandals. The disagreement has divided many popular “Trad Inc.” commentators, and there are now questions as to whether those fermenting the divide have financial interests. Here’s a quick recap:
Edit: another piece of information from Voris not-so-past and Ryan
You Gotta Be Kidding Me: Church Militant ruthlessly goes after SSPX for taking in Fr. McLucas, but Voris’ parish priest, Perrone, literally founded and ran a massive fraudulent non-profit that sheltered countless abuser priests.
[Barnhardt] Folks, the issue here is the RAGING hypocrisy. Yeah, this HAS to be called out.
Bear in mind, the whistle-blower in the case was Opus Bono Sacerdotii‘s co-founder’s daughter, Mary Rose Maher.
Fr. Perrone of Assumption Grotto in Detroit was the second co-founder.
Read this piece. It is horrific.
If Church Militant and Voris don’t fess up to this wild hypocrisy and projection and apologize to the SSPX bigly and publicly, this should be their demise. [The article she links to has been deleted, so I offer this one instead which shows how the founders of Opus Bono Sacerdoti were found guilty by the Attorney General of misusing funds. Even the Irish Press picked it up..]
This is just awful..
A title like this would have been more prudent at America Magazine.
Edit: Christine Niles has a habit of engaging in shoddy reporting especially when she wants to let loose her hostility to the SSPX, as was the case with Father McLucas whom she accused of being a sexual predator. It's not just unethical to do what CM is doing, it's legally perilous and deeply imprudent. Is this the best Opus Dei can do?
On April 22, 2020, the website Church Militant published a story against the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) with the inflammatory title, “SSPX—Sympathetic to Perverts.” The story, among other things, purports to expose a culture of coverups regarding sexual abuse and immorality within the Society. This is false, and the SSPX calls on Church Militant to withdraw this slanderous piece of yellow journalism. ~ US District of the Society of Saint Pius X
Edit: In a last-ditch gambit to capture the kind of hoopla against the Catholic Church incited by the Boston Globe's hit piece against the Catholic Church, SPOTLIGHT, Michael Voris' Church Militant and ,Christine Niles, are on the attack against hated Society of Saint Pius X. (We note there really isn't a similar expose forthcoming against the Democratic Party and the Educational-Media Complex, exposing the profound connections existing between the US political system and progressive elites in Catholic circles by either Voris or the Globe, but this is all a diversion.) After watching Frank Walker's video last night, and noticing Voris' histrionic gay meltdown on Canon212, it seemed opportune to take note of some things.
The Society of Saint Pius X has responded. Just for the record, especially since it seems people are confused on this point, the Society has publicly admitted that it has had problems with gay sex predators in its ranks and had even been consulting with the CDF to address the problem. I'm sure some of us remember Father Carlos Urrutigoity. As recently as 2018, we helped air a story by Swedish TV involving two priests who'd been dismissed from the Society and who had found refuge with Bishop Williamson's "SSPX Resistance". So no, the entire SSPX does not promote and defend Sex Abuse as Niles and Voris would have it.
This is a real loser for CM TV. We've always defended Michael and to a lesser extent Christine in the past, but we will enjoy watching them be sued for libel, as Comrade Stalin asks on twitter:
We once thought Michael Voris was generally above these kinds of tactics, but this is beyond the pale and demonstrates what I found hard to hear from E. Michael Jones in the past, that Michael Voris' sexual predilection leads him to make very bad decisions. It's especially disgusting that he's teaming up with self-promoting narcissist, "Holy Rod" Dreher, as Canon212 calls him.
Interestingly, we've been reminded of Randy Engel's piece on Voris and revisit it here. It's also critical of E. Michael Jones and all roads lead back to Opus Dei. And Chris Ferrara on Voris' tizzy, here. Is there a civil war in OD?
Then there's this piece which addresses Voris' 180 degree turn on behalf of Opus Dei, here by Doctor John Smythe.
As if the timing weren't perfect enough, Bergoglio is building consensus to shut down the Universal Indult (Which plays into the notion that the Society will be the purveyor of Tradition under Francis, btw.)
(Menzingen) In the Priestly Fraternityof St. Pius X (FSSPX) there is a considerable staff castle move. The release of Father Franz Schmidberger, second superior general of the Society from 1982 to 1994, from his office as Rector at the seminary of Zaitzkofen has already been reported. He is retiring. But it is not the only personnel change. Father Davide Pagliarani, the fourth Superior General since the summer of 2018, made major reshuffles during his term of office for the first time.
The departures
Bishop Bernard Fellay, the third Superior General until 2018, leaves the General House in Menzingen and moves to the Seminary of St. Thomas Aquinas in the USA.
Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, suffering from ill health, is being referred to the Seminary of St. Pius X in Ecene as a retreat.
Fr. Christian Thouvenot, until now Secretary General of the General House, becomes a professor at the seminary in Ecene.
Fr. Franz Schmidberger, until now Rector at the Seminary of the Heart of Jesus in Zaitzkofen, moves to the district of Germany.
Fr. Jürgen Wegner, until now district superior of the DISTRICT USA, moves to the district of Austria.
Fr. Philippe Brunet, until now Superior of the Autonomous House of Spain-Portugal, becomes professor at the Seminary U.L.F. and co-saviour of La Reja in Argentina.
Fr. Mario Trejo, previously district superior of the District of South America, moves to another assignment in the District of South America.
Fr. Daniel Couture, previously district superior of the District of Canada, becomes Prior of the contemplative House of Notre-Dame de Montgardin in France.
Fr. Pierre-Marie Laurenon, previously Prior of the contemplative house of Notre-Dame de Montgardin, moves to the district of France.
The Promoted
Fr. Jorge Amozurrutia, previously district superior of the District of Mexico, becomes Superior of the Autonomous House of Spain-Portugal.
Fr. Pascal Schreiber, until now District Superior of the District of Switzerland, becomes Rector at the Seminary Of The Heart of Jesus in Zaitzkofen.
Fr. Daniel Themann, previously Rector at the Holy Cross Seminary in Australia, becomes District Superior of the District of Australia.
Fr. John Fullerton, previously District Superior of the District of Australia, becomes District Superior of the District of the United States.
The New
Fr. Foucauld Le Roux becomes the new Secretary General of the General House.
Father Thibaud Favre becomes district superior of the district of Switzerland.
Fr. Robert MacPherson becomes Regens at the Seminary of the Holy Cross in Australia.
Father Pierre Mouroux becomes district superior of the District of Mexico.
P. Joaquin Cortés becomes district superior of the District of South America.
Fr. David Sherry becomes district superior of the District of Canada.
According to the traditional Internet newspaper Riposte Catholique, the line that follows the motto: "Outside the Society there is no salvation" has been strengthened.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi Picture: fsspx.org (Screenshot)
