Jaques de Molay -- Exactly 700 Years Ago Today the Last Grand Master of the Templars was Burned

(Paris) exactly 700 years ago, on 18 March 1314, Jacques de Molay was burned in Paris at the stake as a heretic.  Jacob of Molay was the twenty-third and last Grand Master of the Knights Templar. The Order of Christ pauperes commilitones templique Salomonici Hierosalemitanis , the "poor comrades of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem" was created in 1118 in the wake of the Crusades and united for the first time the ideals of chivalry with those of monasticism. For their motto, the Templars chose the psalm verse " Non nobis Domine, non nobis, sed tuo da gloriam nomini! (Not to us, O' Lord, not to us but to thy name give glory). "

The monk Knights were one of the most efficient, most legendary though to this day, the most controversial phenomena of Church history. The Muslims had already ruled the Holy Land for centuries.  As Christian pilgrims could no longer freely visit the holy places and learned of the destruction of the Holy Places, they prepared for the liberation of that area, which until the early seventh Century had belonged to the Eastern Roman Empire. However, Eastern Rome was too weak to defend themselves against the thronging Islamic armies. Initial impetus for the Crusades was a cry for help from Eastern Rome after the defeat of Byzantium by the Seljuks. A cry for help, which did not remain unheard in the West. In addition, the population of the Holy Land was still Christian at that time  to a considerable extent.

Military Hospitaller Order linked Chivalry and Monasticism

The protection of pilgrims was the first and primary objective of the Order. Even before, the Templars were Hospitallers, who took in  the pilgrims. Their vulnerability before Islamic attacks necessitated a whole new form of organization to arise, which took over its own military protection even in the Knights Templar. It was a form of organization, which was then followed by other orders, such as the older Order of St. John (Malta) and the Teutonic Order . The order won by numerous foundations and by a gallant alignment rapidly developed  through   an assembly of the Christian elite of Europe.  Its  military actions were carried out with more or less success.

From Europe to the Holy Land, it built a well-organized network of offices and hospices, to ensure protection and care of the departure of Christian pilgrims to the Holy Places. There were also organizational structures in Europe,  the costs  for the management of the Order’s properties, which significantly increased the hospice network and offices in the Holy Land, including the standing army were disputed. The headquarters of the Order was in Paris.

Protection of the Holy Land and Reconquista

In addition to the Holy Land, the Order also took part in the Reconquista, taking the Iberian Peninsula back from the Muslims. The main countries of the Knights Templar were contemporary France and England. Heartland was there then-border area between France and the Holy Roman Empire. Even Jacob of Molay was from this area. He was born was around 1244 in the Free County of Burgundy, which at that time did not yet belong to France, but the Reich. The chapter of the Crusader States  fell after 200 years of cost and supply shortage  under the blows of the Islamic troops. The Templars held until September 1302 with their final stronghold, a small island off the Syrian coast.

The high point of the Order of Knights of the Holy Land was the end of the 13th Century. The Hospitallers and the German Teutonic Order had developed territorial establishments  (Cyprus, Rhodes, Prussia, the Baltic countries) and it found new tasks.

Philip IV of France and the Threat of State Bankruptcy

The end of the powerful Templar Order, he was ultimately also fatal. France's King Philip IV the Fair (1285-1314) stood under the threat of  bankruptcy. Through the proclamation of a Crusade with simultaneous elimination of the Templar Order, he could make use of their assets and restore the state budget. A system of  thievery, which should apply to the foundation of Territorial States throughout history again and again. In contrast to the Church, the Order, however, was an armed force. So they  were battle-tested against the Muslims were so naively disposed to their opponents at home. The Papacy was weakened and fell into increasingly direct dependence of the French King. Since 1309, the Popes lived for several decades in the Avignon exile.

Weak Pope and Charges of Heresy

King Philip IV was successor,   Pope Clement V (1305-1314), a personal friend, who wanted to initiate the  approval of a trial of the Templars. In 1307  Philip IV of France was to arrest all Templars that could be taken down without resistance. The Order was then to have been put on trial for heresy. Even today, it seems to breathtaking to read the contrived indictment of the Order. The confessions were the  basis on which the conviction took place,  which were extorted by torture. Grand Master Molay confessed at the end of October 1307 after severe torture. On the 24th of December, however, in December of the same year he recanted his confession and implored his innocence. A position that he would not leave. Efforts  of Clement V to save the Order in any form, failed. Too weak to resist the king, he finally convened a council at Vienne, after 1310, Philip IV had begun in France with the demonstrative, public burning of Templars. The Pope put to death no Templar in his worldly dominion, which should underline that the oppression of the Order was originated by the King of France. The Council condemned  the Order in 1312  in a sensational trial. In the struggle between the papal and royal power, the Pope was subject and had to save his own authority, to some extent,  the Order was “put to the sword." Dante Alighieri put him in Hell for his "Divine Comedy."

Abolition of the Order - Molay Closing Words “Before God and the World"

With the bull Vox in excelso Clement V dissolved the order on 22 March 1312. After the Council, many brave knights of the Order recanted their forced confessions and protested their innocence. Thus  they were  burned as unrepentant heretics. . On 18 March 1314  Grand Master Jaques de Molay discussed  the judgment. At the end of the trial Molay then once and again reaffirmed with a loud voice, "before God and the world," his innocence and his unbroken loyalty to the Catholic Faith: "On the threshold of death, where even the slightest lie weighs heavy, I confess in face of heaven and earth, that I have committed a great sin against me and mine, and made ​​me  bitterly guilty of death  because  to save my life and to escape the excesses of torture, especially by flattering words of the king and the Pope, I was enticed to witness against my Orders and myself. But now, even though I know what fate awaits me, I will not lie to the old pile and by explaining that the order was always orthodox and pure of iniquities, I renounce happily  my life. " ¹ On the evening of the same day,   Jacob de Molay  and the Master of the Order of Normandy on the Île de la Cité in Paris, the small island in the Seine, on which also stood the Cathedral of Notre-Dame du Paris, was  burned. A small plaque commemorates the scandalous miscarriage of justice.

The stigma and the unresolved legacy of the Templars

Other Masters of the Order remained imprisoned until their death. Alone on the Iberian Peninsula, where the Order in the Reconquista had done faithful service, there were acquittals. In Aragon in 1316 and in Portugal in 1319, the King founded the Order of Montesa and the Order of the Knights of Christ , in which the Knights Templar from all over Europe, as long as they were able to escape the persecution, gained admission and they were revealed to be Templars also in the symbolism, like the red cross of the Order. Both of the orders no longer exist today.

The failure of secular and ecclesiastical authority found  its visible peak in the execution Molay. It stands as an unrecognized flaw in Church history until today. It’s one reason why the Church never allowed the restoration of the Templars. While the Order of Malta and the Teutonic Order, to name the most famous, continuously persisted and therefore even today have their place in the Church, the Church rejects the renewal or restoration of the Templars. Completely without justification, Freemasonry competes with the legacy of the Knights Templar   in the anti-ecclesiastical sense. One more reason why the word Templar has long occupied a negative tone  in Catholic circles. In 2007, the Holy See,  made the acts of the trial of the Templars accessible. The study of documents confirmed the assumption that it was a legal scandal greatest magnitude.

Today, there are a number of recognized lay organizations, which rely on the tradition of the Knights Templar, without being able to claim to be successors.  Alongside this, however, there are also a variety of non-recognized associations which are aligned, in some cases, as anti-Catholic, Masonic or even Satanic.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Wikicommons

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches…

AMGD

“In Order to Understand the ‘Aggiornamento’, One Must Dig Deeply.” -- All of the Journals of John XXIII. to be Published

(Rome) Pope John XXIII. (1958-1963) who after years of silence is getting  new attention. This has led to the coincidence of two events: 50 years of Vatican II and the election of Pope Francis, whom some associate significantly with the counciliar Pope. These include the former secretary of Pope Roncalli, Monsignor Loris Capovilla,  who received his cardinal’s hat  from Pope Francis.  Cardinal Capovilla claimed recently that Pope Francis had originally even wanted to be called John XXIV.  This is a version that is doubted in Rome, but fits well in a particular image.

The elevation of the 93 year old Capovilla to cardinal as well as the wonderfully  loose canonization of John XXIII. next 27 April is regarded as Church policy efforts to satisfy those on the "progressive" side of the Church.  The pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI are particularly criticized  as a "restoration attempt.”  Monsignor Capovilla is devoted to his literary work, especially the life and work of Pope Roncalli and in this context the Second Vatican Council .

Church Political Rehabilitation of the Conciliar Spirit against "Restoration"

The common canonization of Pope John Paul II  and the Conciliar Pope,  makes for less of a  "happy medium"  but the thwarting of  the canonization of the Polish Pope, whose process was so far advanced with the recognition of a miracle would have caused too much irritation with a delay.

In view of the unexpected canonization of John XXIII. the new and complete edition of all the diaries of Pope Roncalli has now been published. Copies of the annotated and edited edition will receive a selection of major libraries and all the Apostolic Nunciature of the world.

In order to understand the "secret" of "aggiornamento", one must dig "very low" in his life

John XXIII. left numerous personal records, including especially his appointment calendars, diaries and notes.Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro, then Archbishop of Bologna, and one of the progressive spokesman for the council said that one to the "secret" John XXIII., That is his program of " aggiornamento to understand "the Church," very low "in its life before he became Pope "dig" should.

Last Saturday, a ten-volume new work was presented at the named after the council Pope hall of the Curia of Bergamo, collecting diaries and diary Roncalli since his youth. The publication was printed in an edition of 300 copies and will be distributed to selected individuals and libraries. Nunciatures at all, the most prestigious libraries and certain libraries in symbolic places such as Tübingen and Louvain, Hiroshima and Nagasaki

"School of Bologna" is Responsible

The publication was carried out by the Foundation Giovanni XXIII of Bergamo, the Diocese of Bergamo and the Institute of Religious Sciences of Bologna, is related  school of Bologna is related to a progressive interpretation of the Council.  The head of the school of Bologna, the Church Historian Alberto Melloni then also will be one of the speakers at the presentation. The Republic of Italy promoted the publication as a contribution to "national heritage".

The ten volumes are primarily based on the archives of the School of Bologna, the Holy See, the postulation for the canonization process and now headed by Cardinal Capovilla. When presenting, smaller excerpts were presented, including a diary during his time as nuncio in Turkey (1935-1944) about the Turkish people:

"I love them in Jesus crucified and it is painful that Christians speak so ill about them and thus prove how little the gospel has penetrated into their souls. I love them, because the part of my office is, as a father, as a shepherd and as Apostolic Delegate: I love them because I believe they are called to salvation. I know that the spirit of many of my Western Catholic children is against me. But this has neither disturbed me nor discouraged me "(entry of 27 July 1936).

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Wikicommons

Medjugorje 206 Tour Group Continues Intransigent Disobedience, Montanist Celebrity from Steubenville Ohio Endorses

Edit: never mind that there are Magisterial proclamations against this site, forbidding Catholics from attending pilgrimages.  Never mind that it's heartily endorsed by the Vienna Cardinal, no less, who ignored the local ordinary's admonitions to stay away.  There's money to be made!  We've been made aware of this that a famous EWTN celebrity convert who continues to endorse Medjugorje through the 206 Tour Group,  both of whom are  ignoring Church teaching.  This is a point by point description of the situation which we've not edited in the slightest from ME.

1.) In 1996, the secretary of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith(CDF) wrote: Official pilgrimages to Medjugorje, understood as a place of authentic Marian apparitions, are not permitted to be organized either on the parish or on the diocesan level, because that would be in contradiction to what the Bishops of former Yugoslavia affirmed in their fore mentioned Declaration.
So while pilgrimages to Medjugorje are permitted, they could not be organized by Church bodies (parishes, dioceses) with the understanding that Medjugorje is “a place of authentic Marian apparitions.”
2.) In late October 2014, Cardinal Muller of the CDF issued a letter stating that priests AND the lay faithful "are not permitted to participate in meetings, conferences or public celebrations during which the credibility of such 'apparitions' would be taken for granted." That obviously includes pilgrimages which encourage belief in the apparitions.
Source: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/14-things-to-know-and-share-about-the-new-letter-on-medjugorje#ixzz2wEv13pCW3.) A group called "206 Tours" specializes in providing Catholics with pilgrimages to Catholic holy sites. In a January 18th Facebook update, 206 Tours clearly stated that they will continue to promote Medjugorje pilgrimages despite the CDF letter.
Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151990018948392&set=a.173253568391.123395.139209248391&type=1&theater4. Enter Dr. Scott Hahn of EWTN/Franciscan University fame. Dr. Hahn is paid by 206 Tours to help lead pilgrimages. This is evident through a simple Google search or a perusal of the 206 Tours Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/206-Tours/1392092483915. My concern is that, because 206 Tours caters to so many Catholic customers and makes its money off of Catholic holy places, it is unethical for this group to defy the Church on this matter, and it is therefore also unethical for Dr. Hahn to help promote and lend an appearance of legitimacy to this group.

EWTN contact information:

5817 Old Leeds Rd. Irondale, AL 35210-2164
 Canada mail: EWTN PO Box 157 Station A Etobicoke, Ontario, M9C 4V2
Phone: 205-271-2900

Benedict XVI. Prays --- And Formulates an Opposing Position

Edit: the most revealing, cutting  comment was quoted by Sandro Magister and not present in this piece:

"John Paul II did not ask for applause, nor did he ever look around in concern at how his decisions would be received. He acted on the basis of his faith and convictions, and he was also ready to take fire. The courage of the truth is to my eyes one of the main criteria of holiness."

(Vatican)   Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. prays, but he also gives advice," says Vatican expert Sandro Magister. And he does it more often. While the reigning Pope Francis called upon and  hailed, the Emeritus Pope raises his predecessor John Paul II. A fine but meaningful action. Benedict XVI. is it not primarily about the person of the Polish pope, who had called him to Rome and his pontificate, which he helped to shape from the background, but rather it is related  to the Magisterium, particularly realling the Encyclical Veritatis splendor , and the Declaration Dominus Iesus , two documents Benedict XVI. as a contrast and corrective to current developments.Veritatis Splendor was co-authored by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, in his capacity as prefect of the CDF. It raises the absolute claim of fundamental moral truths. Dominus Iesus is a document of the CDF, which was, however, contrary to conflicting claims, approved in full by  John Paul II. The Polish Pope also, said Benedict, had no fear, "as to how his decisions would be taken."  Recent references can be called to mind.

Cardinal Kasper Warned of the "Shadow Pope" - Francis Publicly Called For This

Cardinal Walter Kasper, the spokesman of a fundamental attack on the sacrament of marriage, the sacrament of confession and religious anthropology,  found sharp words for Benedict during  the sedevacant between the resignation and the election of  Francis. With words that were directed against the resigning Pope, he warned against interfering in the election of his successor and his pontificate. It is Pope Francis, in his Ash Wednesday interview in Corriere della Sera who exhorted Benedict XVI. to take an active role in the Church. Also the course as part of an unprecedented development in the history of the Church. "The Pope Emeritus   is not a museum piece. He is an institution," said Pope Francis and much more, including the request,  "that it would be better if he saw people went out and would participate in the life of the Church."

"No sooner said than done," says Master. "A few days later, a book was published with a text of Benedict XVI. Not about any text, but an assessment of his predecessor John Paul II ."  A real public opinion, not only of the person, but also the crucial basic lines of this memorable pontificate," said Master. With emphasis, which can not but be read, because it is as a pointed comparison to  the current situation of the Church and thus the reigning Pope.

Four Major Encyclicals and Two Key Documents

The text contains a number of significant points. One of them is that of liberation theology, which has gained new relevance in the Vatican. But two other points are important. The first digit refers to the most important encyclicals of John Paul II Of the fourteen encyclicals   Benedict XVI. singles out five.

Redemptor hominis from 1979, where John Paul II, "offers his personal summary of the Christian faith", and today "this is a great help to those,who are in the search,' says Benedict.

Redemptoris missio of 1987,   "which emphasizes the importance of the permanent mission of the Church's mission" .

Evangelium vitae of 1995, which "develops one of the fundamental themes of the entire pontificate of John Paul II: the inviolable dignity of human life, from the first moment of conception," said Benedict.

Fides et ratio of 1998, which " "offers a new vision of the relationship between the Christian faith and philosophical reason."".

"Veritatis Splendor" against Pragmatic Morality Without Good and Evil

 Benedict XVI.  devote  a few lines of comments to these  four encyclicals. Then he mentioned a fifth encyclical, which he dedicated, in contrast to the other, a lot of space, and thus the weighting still underlines.

This is the Encyclical Veritatis Splendor on some fundamental questions of the Church's moral teaching in 1993.  Perhaps the least recognized encyclical of John Paul II it  is considered by Benedict XVI. which the Church relies on in Her  current position as the most important legacy of the Polish pontificate. "The Encyclical on moral issues took long years of maturation and remains unchanged from actuality," says Benedict XVI.:

"The Second Vatican Council was in contrast to the prevailing orientation of moral theology to natural was that  Catholic moral teaching about Jesus and His message, had a biblical foundation.  However, this was only rudimentarily attempted for only a short time. Then, the opinion prevailed that the Bible did not have its own proclamation to morality, but refers only to moral models whose validity varies from case to case. Morality is a matter of reason and not of faith, it was said. So on the one hand   the sense of natural law as a foundation for morality disappeared, without any Christian idea taking its place. And since you still could see a Christological morality neither a metaphysical basis, they  resorted back to pragmatic solutions: on a morality that is based on the principle of a balancing of interests, in which there is no longer truly the  bad and the truly good, but only more, what is the point of view of efficiency, better or worse. The great task that John Paul II was presented with in that encyclical was, again to track down and expose and a metaphysical foundation in anthropology thus a Christian concretization in the new image of man from the Scriptures. "

Because of its prominence, of the utmost importance Benedict XVI recommends.  people of today to read and study this encyclical again, and think about.

"Dominus Iesus" and the Essential Elements of the Catholic Faith

The second point concerns the Declaration Dominus Iesus on the uniqueness and universality of redemption of Jesus Christ and the Church in 2000. "Dominus Iesus summarizes completely the essential elements of the Catholic faith." Dominus Iesus was the most criticized doctrinal document of the Polish pontificate and indeed outside and inside the Church. And yet it is, says Benedict XVI., together with Veritatis splendor,   two of the outstanding and important documents of the pontificate of John Paul II. Not only that, he recommends both documents to the Church today as a guide.

In order to undermine the significance  of Dominus Iesus, opponents attempted to attribute it solely to opponents of  the then Prefect of faith. The opposite was the case. Benedict XVI. emphasized in the book now published, that had been complete agreement between him and John Paul II. as to its contents as well as what the timing and the need to publish were concerned.   Pope Emeritus describes this previously unknown background:

"Because of the vortex, which had originated around Dominus Iesus, Pope John Paul II told me that he intended to unambiguously defend the document during the Angelus.
He asked me to draw up a text for the Angelus, which was waterproof, so to speak, and alllowed no other  interpretation. It should be made ​​clear in an unambiguous way that he approved of the document without ifs and buts. 

Therefore, I prepared a short speech, but would not it be too forward and tried with clarity but without express hardness. After he read it, the Pope said to me: "Is this really clear enough? 'I said yes. 

Anyone familiar with the theologians, is not surprised that there were still those who claimed afterwards that the Pope had cautiously distanced himself from  this document. "

Just how indigestible the  Declaration Dominus Iesus was for parts of the Church, was demonstrated   in February 2010 in a statement by Cardinal Kasper. On the edge of a meeting of the Papal Council for Promoting Christian Unity, he turned to Vatican Radio following question:

Vatican Radio: "You stated in your opening remarks that mistakes have been made with the publication of the document 'Dominus Iesus'  according to ecumenical partners. What did you mean? "

Cardinal Kasper: "I will not say that there is doctrinal error, since this document reflects   Catholic doctrine, but that there are problems with some formulations that are not easily accessible to our partners."

Today, Cardinal Kasper seems to have more weight in the Church than ever before. Benedict XVI. formulated in various places an opposite position, publicly and privately. So he wrote, as Curial Archbishop Georg Gänswein announced in a ZDF interview, a four-page critique of the interview of Pope Francis in the Jesuit magazine Civilta Cattolica .

The judgment of Benedict XVI.  about the person of John Paul II  he summarizes in his article a statement, in which he expresses admiration for the "courage", "with which he fulfilled his task in a truly difficult time. John Paul II was not expecting applause and also did not look worried about how his decisions could be taken. He acted out of his faith and his beliefs and was also willing to suffer criticism for it."

Years ago, Joseph Ratzinger coined the phrase on the exercise of the papal office:

"A pope who would not be criticized today would have missed his task in this time."

The book, in which the new text of Benedict XVI. has appeared: . "On the Side of John Paul II Told by His Friends and Associates", with an exclusive contribution of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, ed. From Wlodzimierz Redzioch, Edizioni Ares, Milan, 2014, pp. 236, € 15,90.

Text: Settimo Cielo / Giuseppe Nardi
image: CR / NBQ
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...

AMGD

Belgium's "Next Strike": Euthanasia Without Application

(Brussels) Euthanasia, "this was the second strike, but the third will follow immediately." The new euthanasia law just went into effect  that allows the euthanasia of children and of the mentally ill in Belgium without age limit, on their request. But the death ideologues have claimed  that to achieve this objective the next "expansion" is already at hand.

On 23 September 2002  Belgium's  first euthanasia law came into force. "Only" those who are not mentally, ill adults should be euthanized having expressed their request, and been tested.  Critics have warned for years that the reality is quite different and people will be cheerfully euthanized by the law.

Phased Disinhibition of Killing

Nevertheless, Parliament voted last 13 February, recently reading an extension of the law to minors and the mentally ill. Critics thought, however, that both groups were not in a position to make such a far-reaching and definitive decision and were therefore expressly excluded in order to prevent abuse. But a large majority of Belgian MPs consider it logical and conceivable that a two year old child is able to make decisions, that a two year old is in any way capable of making a request for euthanasia of their own free will. In fact,  this majority tacitly accepted that third parties could  decide on the killing of wards.

Romanian Monarchists Call For Demonstrations

Romanians are being called  Via the Internet to go on the road and call emphatically for the restoration of the monarchy:

On Saturday, 5th April 2014 4:30 pm  Romanians, regardless of their political beliefs again will gather with monarchic flags and portraits of members of the royal family to march for a KING in several cities across the country!

The march is organized by  the National Alliance for the Restoration of the Monarchy (ANRM). This will be the second march of the alliance, after the first of 10 November 2013 ( Corona reported in issue 122 ).

Applications on the Facebook page Marsul Regal - Monarhia pentru Viitor .

Poster for the big demonstration in April

The protesters will march through the streets with three demands for the government and Parliament:

- Re-acquisition of the right to choose  the form of government - monarchy or republic 

- Restore the monarchical flag of the country  (ie, the true flag of Romania, as it existed before the Soviet invasion of 1944)

- Celebration of the 10th of May of independence and sovereignty as a national holiday (as it was until 1947) 


Link to Corona Monarchie Blog...

Benedict XVI. Penned a Critique of Francis Interview

(Rome) Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI wrote an extensive critical commentary on the controversial interview of Pope Francis in the Jesuit magazine Civiltà Cattolic a 19 September 2013.

This was disclosed by his personal secretary and Prefect of the Papal Household, Archbishop George Gänswein  in the context of a broadcast on ZDF on the first anniversary of the election of Pope Francis. Four pages include the critical remarks to that controversial interview. Pope Francis explained himself at the time to the criticism that he is not taking a position on abortion and "gay marriage": "We can not always deal with the issue of abortion, homosexual marriage, and birth control methods. That can not be."  Among the enthusiastic omissions   regarding atheist Eugenio Scalfari about personal conscience as the autonomy of conscience, he stated affirmatively: "Listening to the conscience and  obeying it actually means to choose a thing known in the face of good or evil. And from this decision it depends on whether our actions are good or evil."

When Francis. gave to Benedict XVI the copy of the Jesuit magazine, the interview was already published.  Benedict underwent  a critical  analysis of the interview to a critical and transmitted to his successor the desired criticism "Pope to Pope," a total of four pages with "interesting" comments. What criticism Benedict XVI. directed to the interview, isn't  known to Archbishop Gänswein "naturally".

Archbishop George Gänswein told ZDF television interview:

"When Father Spadaro had then given the first copy of the interview booklet to  Pope Francis, Pope Francis had then given it back and said that you should now bring this to Pope Benedict, and you will see the first page after the table of contents is empty because Pope Benedict should write in anything he has in criticism when he reads it, and then pass on to me or back to me, which I then returned, sorry, I then brought it to Pope Benedict, so now I had only to repeat what Pope Francis had said, so you see Holy Father, here is a blank page, and here is a space for all   considerations, suggestions and  criticisms  and then I will return the packet back to Pope Francis. Three days later he says to me, here I have 4 pages, of course not by hand, but now dictated to sister in a letter and please give this letter to Pope Francis. He has done his homework. So then he says he has read it and has accommodated his  successor's request and had confirmed in fact, yes we say so, some considerations and also made some comments on certain statements or on specific issues, which he means  that,    perhaps what he would have said something elsewhere in addition.  Of course I will not say what, but it was interesting."

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: UCCR

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmai.com

Link to Katholisches....

AMGD

Pro Missa Tridentina: Traditional Latin Mass in Germany is Growing

Edit: here's an excerpt from an article on Regina Magazine interviewing Monika Rheinschitt of Pro Missa Tridentina.

Monika Rheinschmitt is a trained computer scientist. These days, however, she keeps a weather eye on some numbers she couldn’t have imagined in her university days — developments in Catholicism and the growth of the Latin Mass in the German-speaking world.

Monika is the Stuttgart-based Director of Pro Missa Tridentina, one of the most active organizations on the planet to practically support the Latin Mass. Since 1990 she has been the editor and publisher of a traditional newsletter, in 2010 upgraded to the magazine “Dominus vobiscum”, which is published twice a year and avidly read in Germany, Alsace, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, Belgium and the Netherlands.

An Interview with Monika Rheinschmitt of Pro Missa Tridentina in Germany

Hers is not an easy job, not the least because in these countries the Latin Mass faces an unimaginable uphill battle. In Germany and its neighboring lands, secular attitudes range from indifferent to hostile about the idea of religion itself. Within the Church, both traditional teachings and the traditional rite are often suppressed, ignored or ridiculed in ways that might astonish outsiders.

Even though the numbers of Mass-goers and Catholics continue to drop precipitously in these countries, there seems to be little awareness on the part of Church leadership of the significant power of the Extraordinary Form to attract converts and indeed to bring Catholics home again. (For more about the German church see here.)

Against this background, the gains that the Latin Mass has made are a testimony to the true grit of Catholics, laity and clergy alike. In this exclusive interview withRegina Magazine, Monika gives us a view into her world.

Q. Tell us about Pro Missa Tridentina. When was it founded, and by whom?
Pro Missa Tridentina was founded in Stuttgart in Spring 1990 as an association of  laypeople dedicated to the care of the Traditional Latin Rite of the Catholic Mass. We work to promote this “Vetus Ordo” by supporting Catholic laity who wish to be able to assist at this beautiful rite. That includes the organization of trainings for priests, altar servers and choirs as well as practical help finding locations for the Mass – and from writing letters to the local bishop to preparing the first celebration of a Traditional Latin Mass.

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Pope Francis: "The Roman Curia is the Labor Union of the Faithful"

(Rome) After the end of the Spiritual Exercises for the Roman Curia, Pope Francis returned to the Vatican. In the morning he thanked the retreat preacher Don Angelo De Donati before leaving: "We return with  good seed back home. God will send the rain. "

A few minutes before 11:30 clock the tour bus arrived with Pope Francis and the collaborators of the Roman Curia back to the Vatican again. In recent days they had been participating in the Casa Divin Maestro  in Ariccia on Ignatian Spiritual Exercises.

At 9 o'clock the retreat had ended with the Closing Statement by Don Angelo De Donati, the retreat director. De Donati is a priest of the Diocese of Rome. He leads a spiritual retreat house and the smallest parish in Rome with barely 100 souls.

When Pope Francis thanked the preacher, he referred to himself and the 82 participating cardinals and bishops as a "labor union of the Faithful". "I thank you because you were the sower, and you can, you can! Because you throw here and there without noticing or at least you pretend you do not notice it, but you hit the mark, they come to the core, you hit the mark. Thanks for that. And I ask you to continue to pray for this labor union of the faithful. We are all sinners, but we all want to follow Jesus even more, without losing hope in the promises and without losing humor. Thank you. We now return with  good seed back home, the seed of the Word of God. The Lord will send rain and grow these seeds. He will grow and bear fruit. Let us thank the Lord for the seeds and for the rain, He sends. But we also want to thank the sower."

Today, the Pontifical House preacher Father Raniero Cantalamessa held the first Lenten sermon in the chapel Redemptoris Mater of the Apostolic Palace. The theme of the Lenten sermons in 2014 reads: "On the shoulders of giants. The great truths of our faith in the Latin Church Fathers."   The next four sermons are always held in the coming Fridays of the 21st and 28th of February and the 4th and 11th of March.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Una Fides

Trans:  Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com 

Link to Katholisches....

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Concubinage a Serious Problem With Liberal Clergy in German Areas

Father Gerhard Wagner

(Linz) The situation of the Catholic Church in the German areas,  its weakness in the public debate, trends toward  self-dissolution  and a willingness to oppose the zeitgeist of political correctness and thus succumb to   powers in politics and society,  is only understood by he who understands the clergy. In addition to many loyal and faithful priests and religious, there is a lot of mediocrity, and many "Liberal" priests.  "hearthless priests," said Austrian Priest Gerhard Maria Wagner. And he knows what he's talking about because his home diocese of Linz is the prototype of a progressive diocese.

The Diocese of Linz and Stymying of an Auxiliary Bishop

With a doctorate in dogmatic in 2009 he had been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI. as Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Linz. The "hearthless priests in our diocese have a say," said Wagner, have been understandably not thrilled and blew a storm. A campaign was organized quickly  thanks to a willing media who are always there when it goes against the Catholic Church and a "conservative" church representatives. For some weeks the  contrived indignation was mimed, and firmly supported by full-time officials and many laymen. It was an alliance of the status quo, which as far as possible didn't want any alterations to the liberal laissez-faire situation in the diocese, including the Governor (Chief Minister), a teacher of religion and therefore employees of the diocese, which were  not generally for moderation, but felt particularly called to weighty agitating against the appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Rome. Finally, where would you go, when there is a pious priest who would also be  bishop and does get serious with the faith.

"The Hearthless Priests in Our Diocese Say"

The "hearthless priests" feared that an auxiliary bishop and likely future diocesan Bishop Wagner would put an end to their  traffic with concubines. The campaign was successful, the Austrian cardinal in Rome intervened and made pleas for expediency in the face of an impending upheaval of the  "People of the Church", Rome buckled and demanded obedience of Wagner. Wagner obeyed and offered the renunciation of an office which he had not even begun. Rome could send the request for resignation assuming generosity without losing face. The "peace" in the village was restored. What remains are the "hearthless priests, who call the shots."

The 54 year old Father John Teufl, Franciscans and Parish Provisor of St. Georgen in Attergau lived together with a "friend" for several years. Whoever did something about it, to come to him and talk to him,  he informs the parish for three years.  This is how  loosely some take their disobedience. Who wants to play the grouch. The parishioners know what is asked of them nowadays. You are of course thrilled to be "politically correct". Since Friday last week, the priest has been "submerged".  With his triangular relationship, it is not surprising that the police received three missing person's reports: from the parish, the diocese of Linz and the concubine who is described in the media as a  "partner" or "friend".

Msgr. Umberto Begnigni and the Anti-Modernist Battle of the Sodalitium Pianum

(Rome) 80 years ago,  in  grand isolation, Monsignor Umberto Benigni (1862-1934) died.  He was one of the spokesmen of  Catholic anti-Modernism under Pope Saint Pius X (1903-1914) in Rome.  To recall  the Church in this form is apparently increasingly important to remember in times like ours, which is characterized, no doubt, with a new explosion of those tendencies and fallacies that  Umberto Benigni fought a hundred years ago.

In the hope that there will soon be a biography as detailed  as possible which  throws light on these Roman prelates, a few biographical notes should be made in the meantime be made about this rare type of the Catholic clergy. A priest who has been both criticized by the non-Catholic historians, as well as by Catholic historians, in fact, he is but little known.

On the occasion of the beatification (1951) and then the canonization (1954) of Pope Pius X by  Pope Pius XII. there was a particular concern, criticism of the former Patriarch of Venice was noisy, especially  in his fight against Modernism. The Sacred Congregation of Rites, from  which emerged the 1969  Congregation for the Causes of Saints,, the Franciscan Ferdinando Antonelli (1896-1993), who was later to become  Cardinal,  would reveal  the actions of Pius X. as repressive and especially those generated by  Msgr. Umberto Benigni and his Sodalitium Pianum.  The Sodalitium was a Catholic association for the support of the Holy See in the fight against Modernism in theology, politics and society.  Father Antonelli''s study, as Disquisitio  became known, was in the volumes of the positions published for the canonization of Pius X.. This is where  the essential elements of the life and work of Monsignor Benigni can be found.

Journalistic Representatives of Catholic Social Teaching

Umberto Benigni was born on 30 Born March 1862 in Perugia, central Italy near Assisi. At that time, Bishop Gioacchino Pecci, was bishop of the city, in 1878 he was elected Pope as Leo XIII. The future pope had always had such a great appreciation for the priest from his former episcopal city, that he made ​​him his secretary after his ordination in (1884)  at the age of only 22 years. Don Benigni's  a truly diverse and extraordinary personality as was already evident in his youth. He developed numerous activities  in his hometown.  In 1892 he founded the first Catholic weekly newspaper of Sociology. This " Rassegna sociale "(Social Survey), later it was renamed the Biblioteca perodica, geared to the Magisterium of the Popes from the syllabus up to Rerum Novarum . In 1893 he was on the editorial board of the Catholic newspaper " Eco d'Italia "(Echo of Italy) in Genoa.

"Papist" and "Reactionary"

After that he went to Rome at the request of Leo XIII. After a period of studies and research in Germany (the polyglot Benigni followed the press from half of Europe), he graduated to  the Vatican Library graduated, he was in 1901 in the  editor of the " Voce della Verità "(Voice of Truth ) in the capital of Catholicism, one of the main newspapers, which was decried among opponents as "papist" and "reactionary."

From 1902 to 1907 he published a historical, academic journal called "Miscellanea di Storia ecclesiastica" (Human Interest from Church History). From 1906 he was appointed Under-Secretary of the Secretary, and elevated Cardinal in 1907 on the recommendation of Curial Archbishop Pietro Gasparri, the Secretary of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs. From 1914 to 1930 he was Cardinal Secretary of State and the predecessor in this office by Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII.

Corrispondenza Romana versus Civiltà Cattolica

1907, in the year of the decree Lamentabili , the first time the term modernism came into use, as well as was the case in the encyclical Pascendi dominici gregis, Msgr Benigni called a press agency to life under the name Romana Corrispondenza.  According to Father Antonelli it encompassed   the new Catholic news agency "in the world by various correspondents and friends  of Benigni,  messages were collected to observe up close the ideological, political and social movements that might interest the Church and Its activities."  Today, the news agency is mistaken for a secret society, which the Sodalitium never was.  The Corrispondenza Romana acted in public. It saw itself primarily as a counterpart to the Roman Jesuit journal Civiltà Cattolica , whose modernist sympathies were fought.

Teaching as Church Historian

In addition to his tireless efforts as a journalist, Msgr Benigni also had other passions, which were invariably in the service of truth and the Church. These included his teaching and historical-theological research. In addition to his ceaseless struggle against the enemies of the Church, even those who claimed to be false friends, Msgr Benigni unfolded a long study in Church History at various Roman universities, thus at the Urban in Saint Apollinare , at the Pontifical Roman Seminary and the Accademia dei Nobili Ecclesiastici (the Diplomatic Academy of the Holy See).

Seven Volume "Social History of the Church"

His past publications are of great value. For example, his outstanding Storia sociale della Chiesa (Social History of the Church) in seven large volumes (the first appeared in 1907, the last in 1933 a year before his death). It is a systematic work in the style of two other Church historians, the History of the Popes by Ludwig von Pastor (1854-1928) and the Manual of Universal Church History by Joseph Cardinal Hergenrother (1824-1890), the successor of Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman, Office of the Cardinal Proto Deacon. Monsignor Benigni's work remained unfinished upon his death. However, the present seven volumes show an excellent informed scientist with the ability to offer an original and stimulating overall view. The modern reader may occasionally be astonished at his language, perhaps even find it strange, sometimes to violent polemics as well for biting humor. A language that is due to the cultural struggle in which he was active during his life on the front line.

Sodalitium Pianum, Observation of Modernists and Their Writings

The activity, however,  brought him as many enemies outside, but also within the Church, connected with the Sodalitium Pianum. The Sodalitium Pianum , named after Saint Pope Pius V, was born in 1909 and was finally dissolved in 1921 under Pope Benedict XV. It was founded "to be a foremost religious  defense against internal enemies (modernism, etc.)" ... "with the full consent, not to say of Pius X himself" in the archives of the Vatican, there are numerous documents for the approval and goodwill of the Sodalitium Pianum by St. Pius X and Cardinal De Lai Gaetano (1853-1928) who led the Holy Consistorial (now the Congregation for Bishops ). Pius X gave to Msgr Benigni every year from his personal box 1,000 lire for his actions and his  public engagement.

The Sodalitium Pianum was initially based at the Secretariat of State, where Msgr Benigni served as Under Secretary. A canonical recognition did not happen by the action of the then Cardinal Secretary of State for reasons of expediency, however, this is why Monsignor Benigni   left off from the Secretariat of State and established in 1911 and gave up his post as Under Secretary. His successor in that office was the future Pope Pius XII., Eugenio Pacelli. Pope Pius X created for Benigni  especially on this occasion the title and rank of eighth  acting Apostolic protonotary , although traditionally it was only seven. He was indeed blocked for a bishop, but Msgr Benigni won with apparent papal benevolence. Pope Francis abolished the title of Apostolic Protonotary  in January 2014.

The Sodalitium would enter according to the original request of Msgr Benigni, a kind secular institute in the service of the Pope and the Holy See to enter into  the fight against the disastrous influence of Modernism and of Freemasonry on society and culture. Above all, it was the endeavor of Msgr Benigni, to repel the influence of these sects within the Catholic Church.  The Sodalitium consisted of a Council in Rome, headed by Monsignor Benigni and groups connected him   ( Peter Conferences ) and priests. In its little more than ten years of existence, the  Sodalitium counted never more than one hundred people, including priests and lay people in the various countries of Europe.

Benigni, Object of Hatred for Modernists Within and Outside the Church

Nevertheless, this tiny association was the most implacable  enemy of the Modernists, such as the French priest and theologian Alfred Loisy (1857-1940), who was excommunicated in 1908 because of his refusal to submit to the Church's teaching,  and died as a pantheist. Or the Italian priest and theologian Romolo Murri (1870-1944), who entered as a hitherto Catholic Leftists, was  for reconciling Catholic Faith and Communism. Because of his refusal to submit to the Church's teaching, he was suspended in 1907 and in 1909 excommunicated when he got himself elected to the Italian Parliament and joined the radical Left. After the First World War, he became a fascist, but was an anti-Fascist when the fascist regime regulated the relationship between the Church and State with the Lateran Treaty in 1929. 

More resistance than from the open Modernists was what   Monsignor Benigni learned that within the Church were the semi-modernists, who had even risen inside to the level of  Cardinal. With the support of St. Pius X and the Cardinals De Lai, the Cardinal Secretary of State and then Prefect of the Holy Office Raphael Merry del Val, the Dutch Redemptorist Wilhelmus Marinus van Rossum and others, however, he was able to hold a few years. To be exact, until the death of Pius X in 1914,  the newly elected Pope Benedict XV. dissolved the association on the outbreak of the First World War. However, the following year saw the need for its restoration. 1921 was the final dissolution because of "changed circumstances".

Attempt to Prevent the Canonization of Pius X.

Pope Pius XII had never known  Msgr Benigni personally, was influenced by the polyphonic choir, who wanted to prevent the canonization of Pius X, in particular by Msgr Benigni was drawn as the dark shadows spread over his pontificate in the blackest colors, but not led astray.  There were all the numerous crypto-Modernists that could or would not come into the open until several years later, who were against the canonization, but there even high prelates who considered this step an "inopportune moment."  As the reigning Pope would not tolerate direct attacks against Pius X, his opponents fired upon  Monsignor Benigni, which was outlined as the worst obscurantist and anti-Semite, to thwart the elevation to the altars. It seems inconceivable that a canonization of Pope Giuseppe Sarto had taken place  in the period 1958 to 1978. [He was beatified in 1951 and canonized in 1954.]

"The Roman Catholic is Entirely Counter-Revolutionary"

The attitude and objectives of the Sodalitium Pianum is in his program summarized from 1911 contains 18 articles. In Article One it states:

"We are integral Roman Catholics. As the word readily implies, accept the Roman Catholic integral teaching and the order of the Holy Roman Catholic Church and the directives of the Holy See and all resulting legal consequences fully for the individual and society. He is papal, clerical, anti-modernist, anti-Liberal, anti-sectarian. It is therefore entirely counter-revolutionary because he is not only an enemy of the Jacobin Revolution and sectarian radicalism, but also the religious and social Liberalism. "

The news agency that  was founded several years ago, Corrispondenza Romana by historian Roberto de Mattei, has no direct connection with the establishment of Msgr Benigni. The use of the same name indicates, however, that the new Corrispondenza Romana has the defense of the Catholic faith and the Catholic Church and the fight against Modernism as its goal.

Text: Corrispondenza Romana / Giuseppe Nardi
image: Corrispondenza Romana

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

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