Fight Against Human Trafficking, Fight for Gender-Ideology -- From One the Vatican Distances Itself, the Other Not

2014: Bishop Sorondo With Andrew Forrest (2.v.I.) at
the Founding of the Global Freedom Network in Vatican

(Rome) The Vatican has ended its cooperation in the Global Freedom Network. One of the new influential men in the Vatican, the Argentine Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo no longer sits on the board of the network against human trafficking and forced labor. The backgrounds for the withdrawal are unclear. The clear step has astonished because  the distancing  publicly and urgently demanded by Catholics had not occurred till now.

"We will not be exploited," said Vatican Insider citing Msgr.Sorondo, Secretary of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences. The statement surprised: Global Freedom Network was founded on March 17, 2014 as a joint venture between the Foundation Walk Free of Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest and the Holy See. At that time Pope Francis signed at the Vatican to found this interfaith network against human trafficking and forced labor, in which there were also prominent personalities of other world religions involved. The Pope's confidant, Sorondo has sat on the board of Global Freedom Network sine, which aims to sensitize the religious communities of the world against the "new forms of slavery" such as "prostitution, forced labor, organ trafficking, and trafficking in human beings". Other objectives include "promoting fair and ethical trade ', assistance to victims and survivors, pressure on governments and parliaments to raise public awareness and fund-raising for the implementation of  objectives.

Last December, representatives of different religions gathered with Pope Francis at the Vatican, including Justin Welby, the Anglican Bishop of Canterbury, as well as the representatives of Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. Global Freedom Network bad invited them to sign a joint declaration to end "modern slavery" in a media intensive event. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sent a message of greeting for support.

Distancing Because of "Simplistic" perspective?

Global Freedom Network against human trafficking and forced labor

Andrew Forrest operates iron ore mines in Australia, with which he made his billion-dollar fortune. His group is one in the northwest of the country with 88,000 square kilometers, an area the size of Austria.

On July 26, charges against him were raised in Australia: "We have someone who has a lot of money, has access to global power, who can really something happen, but if his understanding of the problem is so superficial, so undemanding, then  this power, these funds will not used as they should," Anne Gallagher said in the Australian ABC television.

The Australian lawyer, Gallagher was called in 2012 the "world's leading legal expert on human trafficking" by the US State Department. In 1987 she completed her studies in Law, made ​​her court internship and acquired in 1991 a Master in International Law. From 1992-2003 she worked as a UN official and as such was 1998-2002 consultant of Mary Robinson, the High Commissioner of the United Nations for Human Rights (UNHCHR).Since 2003, self-employed, Gallagher has been working under the State aid program AusAID Australian Development and External Adviser of the United Nations. A woman who, although hardly any citizens know her, carries weight at the international level of decisions.

Forrest is Australia's largest private donor to charitable causes. The accusation of Gallagher against him remains very vague, yet her criticism is unusual.  The alleged simplistic view of a party is usually not a reason for a disjointed public criticism or even the termination of cooperation.

Crisis  Forrest's Companies Fuels Criticism

Anne Gallagher's criticism in the public television of Australia

Forrest's company has experienced heavy losses in recent years. The declining revenues are also coupled with its foundations because charitable donations plummeted. There is criticism that Gallagher has allowed the troubled company to plunge deeper into crisis. The market reacted sensitively.

According Curial Archbishop Sorondo, the Holy See had already withdrawn "some time ago" from the network."Forrest has every right to make money, but not to use the Pope for it," said the Argentine Curia Bishop, without making any further details on this distancing. Both Gallagher and Sorondo are not clear what is alleged the Australian entrepreneur Forrest has done to fuel the crisis of his company (Gallagher) and terminate the cooperation (Sorondo).

Sorondo no longer appears on the board of Global Freedom Network. He put expressly  noted that this was in any case never convened during his membership.

Msgr. Sorondo is regarded as an "organizer" of rapprochement between the UN and the Catholic Church when it comes to the fight against manmade global warming. Sorondo had organized, prior to the publication of the Eco-Encyclical Laudato Si a meeting at the Vatican, which was opened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. A few days ago he received 70 leftist mayors and other politicians in the Vatican to discuss the fight against man-made global warming and new forms of slavery.

Despite Promotion of Gender Ideology in the Name of Pope Francis There's no Distancing

Pope Francis Poses for Children's Book Series, Which Disseminates Gender-Ideology to Young Children 

The distancing of Global Freedom Network , shows that the narrow circle around Pope Francis knows how to be sensitive, and knows how to draw a clear line and make it known publicly. Although the reasons for this distancing are unclear, it is done. No distancing  from a children's book series which will appear in the name of Pope Francis  for  gender ideology. The Foundation Scholas Occurrentes, a worldwide network of schools was established on the initiative of Pope Francis in August 2013 at the Vatican. The Argentine newspaper Clarín have been publishing since spring 2015 in cooperation with the Pope Foundation in Spanish, the children's book series, "With Francis at my side." The children's stories, which are now widely circulated in Spain, advertise homosexuality, transexuality and "new family forms"  on behalf of the Pope. The children's book series is promoted with the image of Pope Francis, it was photographed at the Vatican.

The driving force behind the establishment of the foundation Scholas Occurrentes was also the Argentine Archbishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo. The establishment took place in a ballroom  run by Sorondo's Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Both Scholas Occurrentes and the Vatican wash their hands in innocence. Nobody wants to have known something or anything to do with the contents of the children's book series. A distancing has not taken place until today, although the book series coincides with Pope Francis' image, stabbing Catholic initiatives in the back with the portrait, trying to clarify the aims of  gender ideology and roll back their influence.

The newspaper publisher  Clarín continues, meanwhile, negotiations with other newspaper publishers to translate the children's books into other languages ​​and spread them to other countries.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Global Freedom Network / ABC / OR (screenshots)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Cardinal Burke to Celebrate Immemorial Mass of All Ages at Dissident Basilica

Edit: this is positive news, but perhaps not the way one would hope for, but certainly unexpected.

Cardinal Burke is going to celebrate the Immemorial Mass of All Ages at one of the worst dissident aberrosexual parishes in North America.

Will he have to reconsecrate due to the sacrilege of the Basilica Block Party, and the presence of artwork by an advocate for sexual deviancy? Stay tuned.

Date: September 19, 2015
Time: 10:00 a.m.

Location: Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis Minnesota

http://tuitiofidei.blogspot.com/2015/05/cardinal-burke-to-celebrate-mass-in.html?m=1

http://badgercatholic.blogspot.com/2015/05/cardinal-burke-to-celebrate-mass-in.html?m=1

Roman Curia: Term Limits to Five Years?

Five Year Term Limits for the Curia

(Rome) In these days there is talk in the Roman Curia much about possible reform, which "could have a really radical effect", says the Vatican expert Marco Tosatti in the daily newspaper La Stampa.

The reform envisages the idea to limit the period of service of Officials of the Roman Curia to five years. An extension of a maximum ten years could be granted in exceptional cases.

Officials are called priests, whether in congregations or councils, do the bulk of the work in the Roman Curia in the various dicasteries. In the secular sphere you would speak of the officials in the administration.

A priest from Munich, Paris, La Paz or New York, who will be appointed to the Roman Curia to Rome, would in future return to his home diocese after five years. The regulation should apply to all institutions of the Holy See, excluding the Diplomatic Service. The diplomats will continue to follow the traditional career model.

Weakening of the Curia - the diplomats win?

Service in the Diplomatic Academy, the oldest in the world, begins with the cursus honorum of candidates, the way, which at the end, will be Apostolic Nuncio and titular archbishop after about 16 or 17 years of service.

The idea, according to the critics, would weaken the central institutions for the management of the universal Church. The church would be robbed  of the expertise, skills and experience of officials. No secular authority would engage in such self-enfeebling. Politicians come and go, but the civil service is quietly the backbone of any state administration.

The idea is justified by the intention of limiting "careerism";  with limiting pastoral duties of priests who should not  be held too long by administrative work; with the ability to integrate more priests from various dioceses in the management of the universal Church. This does not convince outside of Santa Marta. Outside  there is the idea, should it be really final, that this is regarded as a further blow by Pope Francis against the Roman Curia.

Some speak of an "old" anti-Roman reflex, which comes into fruition with this idea. A reflex, which under Pope Francis  leaves only the diplomatic corps, which is already the big winner of the change in Popes  from 2013, as the big winner. Should the reform idea to be implemented, the diplomat would automatically  form the actual backbone of the world Church in Rome within a short time.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Google (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

For Consultor of the Pope The Celebration of the Eucharist is "Magical, Not Religious"

The "erotic Buddhist" Pablo d'Ors a heretic

(Rome / Madrid) The writer, a Catholic priest and "erotic Buddhist" Pablo d'Ors from Spain has been a consultant since 1 July 2014, Adviser, for the Pontifical Council for Culture at the Vatican (see Pontifical Cultural Council for Women priests -? The "Erotic Buddhist" that Francis made ​​the Consultant ). His appointment  has already caused amazement. Now  Msgr. Jose Rico Paves, the auxiliary bishop of Getafe in Madrid,  has accused Pablo d'Ors who wrote an essay in an article published on June 26  of a "Wealth of Doctrinal Heresies". The  President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, just appeared in the headlines because of his active participation in the Pachamama cult, a Pagan Mother Earth Cult .

The essay by Pablo d'Ors appeared in the Spanish magazine Vida Nueva (New Life) with the subtitle "A dedicated voice in the Church." The Consultant maintains therein that the actions in the Eucharistic celebration are "fundamentally magical and not religious." Pablo d'Ors: "The sacraments of the Church mean nothing to the vast majority, to those who belong to it,  as good as nothing. A character whose meaning they do not understand, it's not a sign, but magic. The Christian rites and symbols have degenerated to, for the majority of believers, pure magic."  Words and gestures to "be carried out automatically and in an irrational manner, do not connect with the transcendent," said the Spaniard, whom Pope Francis has made ​​a consultant.

"Our Masses Remind Me of the Absurd Theater of Beckett"

He continued: "I maintain that much is fundamentally magical and non-religious from the behavior of the priests and the laity during the Eucharistic celebration. Can you imagine that the apostles knelt before the bread or picked up crumbs after Jesus?"

Therefore, "Our Masses remind me of the absurd theater of Beckett," said d'Ors. "For example, take the Eucharist, whose symbols are the bread and wine. The bread is of course commonplace, soft and nutritious. That the bread is a symbol of God means that God is an everyday occurrence, that God is soft and that God is nutritious. If the symbol of bread is broken, distributed and consumed as a sign or sacrament, that means not only giving, consciousness of other bread, but to make himself the food for the needs of others. The same applies to the wine [...] But why should we use it to keep the Eucharist in a tabernacle? Have we not said that it is the true sign and to share it? The proof that our mentality is magical, if we think that God is more in a box than outside. But this is ... is absurd! "

Statements by Pablo d'Ors "Full Doctrinal Heresies"

Bishop Rico Paves responded with a paper, in which he condemned the text by Pablo d'Ors as "full doctrinal heresies".The views expressed by D'Ors would have "dramatic consequences for the Christian life". Pablo d'Ors was a priest, who "does not believe in the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist and makes fun of the worship and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and His constant presence in the tabernacle of the Church".

Bishop Rico Paves also expresses its concern because the author of these heresies is a "Consultor of the Pontifical Council for Culture." The Bishop sees in "the doctrinal confusion by d'Ors, a faith problem". The auxiliary bishop writes: "Why did he not even mention the word faith? He thinks that one can understand the sacraments without faith."  Also: "How can it be that 50 years after publication of the encyclical Fidei Msyterium by Pope Paul VI. the misconceptions rejected at the same time about the Eucharist and the sacraments are represented?"

Pablo d'Ors is incardinated in the Archdiocese of Madrid. Will he suspended from his priesthood, to which he has publicly turned his back? Will  he be released as a Vatican dicastery Consultant?

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: InfoVaticana

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

"Via discretionis": New "Solutions" for the Synod of Bishops -- Communion "Only at Easter"

(Rome) The Pontifical Family Council headed by Curial Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia  organized last February and March, a three-day international seminar behind closed doors on the question of remarried divorcees. Many invited theologians defended the sacrament of marriage. The seminar should, so say Roman voices, especially provide a platform for a certain thesis: the "Via discretionis", a refined and concretized variant of the Kasper-proposal.

The event took place in view of the forthcoming Synod of Bishops in October and was Top Secret. The theme was "Family and Church. An inextricable link." As it says in the conference proceedings, which has now been released by the Vatican publishing.

International Seminar Behind Closed Doors

At the seminar, no bishops were invited, only "experts". The focus was on the controversial topics of the Synod. The opinions of the speakers were  very heterogeneous. Many defended the indissolubility of marriage.

The left-leaning daily La Repubblica , the only newspaper that Pope Francis reads daily, unfailingly  fished out a  paper that is close to Cardinal Kasper's "New Mercy." The key words are "heal wounds", and "diminish suffering," of those who "have failed". This corresponds quite, so La Repubblica ,  with  "Pope Francis' desire for completion of the extraordinary session of the Synod in last October, calling to find concrete solutions to many difficulties and countless challenges that  families have to face.''

The proposals of the Paglia seminar "While committed to nothing," says the newspaper, "but to show the will of some theologians, that nothing can remain on the pastoral level, as it is". It's to make  "possible a new beginning for the divorced and remarried."

Via discretionis: symbiosis of the theses of Xavier Lacroix and Paul De Clerck

Proceedings "Family and Church"

The proposal is to introduce a "Via discretionis." This involves  a symbiosis of the texts by the theologians Xavier Lacroix and Paul De Clerck. Lacroix in favor of the admission to communion, but not for the recognition of the second marriage. De Clerck also represents the recognition of the second marriage after the model of the Orthodox Church.

The Via discretionis provides that each diocese should appoint a priest who only cares for the divorced and remarried. If necessary, these priests could be supported by a "team of experts". Its mission is to examine the intentions of the couple and to request the reasons that they are asking for re-admission to communion. The priest has first to consider the nullity of marriage and to refer the couple to the Church court. Because, according to the thesis, the cause of many separations is that marriages are in fact invalid. If the path of invalidity  is not possible, the authorized priest leads the couple to begin a penitential journey. It will not be short and will consist of several stages. "The motive is understanding what led to the failure of the marriage; be conscious of having betrayed a commandment of God; to go on in reconciliation with their own past,"  says a direct quote from the conference proceedings.

"In Some Cases Admission to Communion only at Easter"

This way "would also require a public character of penance to show the general consciousness of Christians, that the reconciliation of man whose marriage has broken down, means no frivolity of the Church in provision for the interpretation  of the Gospel, but  will  concretely  prove the actual obedience to this provision." In concrete terms,  the re-admission to the sacraments could "be full or partial." In some cases, admission to the Eucharist could be limited to a one-time annual Communion at Easter.

For the problem of how second marriages could be recognized, there was also a proposal. Most were in agreement that it could  not be called a sacrament in a second marriage. The sacrament of marriage remains unique. This could recognize  "the high human and spiritual value of the new union." Exactly what Cardinal Kasper has written: Where the faith today and the love at work and penance for the guilt for the failure of the first marriage are felt, it will also have a second marriage as  part of the spiritual dimension of Church life.

 La Repubblica : "Sure, in October the Synod has the last word and then the Pope. There are now at least within the Vatican Walls   new solutions which are on   terms of a Church of acceptance and puts  mercy in black and white on paper."

The Authors of the "New Solutions"

Xavier Lacroix and Paul De Clerck

The Belgian liturgist Paul De Clerck, born in 1939, is a priest of the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels. He was from 1970-1998 director of the Centre d'études et théologiques pastoral de Bruxelles. De Clerck is professor emeritus of the Institut supérieur de Liturgy at the Catholic University of Paris. From 1986-2001 he was Director of the Institute.

The French moral theologian Xavier Lacroix, born in 1947, has taught ethics and moral theology since 1986 at the Université catholique de Lyon . From 1986-1994 he was director of the Institut des sciences de la famille at the Faculty of Theology, which he was dean from 1997 to 2003. From 1987-2004 he was a member of the National Council for Family Pastoral. Lacroix is an advisor of the French Bishops' Conference and the Pontifical Family Council in matters of family. Since 2008 he has belonged at the proposal of the President, to the 39 head National Ethics Council of France.

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the organizer of the international seminar has  been noted mainly for statements encouraging the recognition of homosexuality since 2013. When his ticket was stamped for the Community of Sant'Egidio  by the Roman Curia, he left his diocese of Terni with a debt of 24 million euros.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Mil / UCL / ISL (screenshots)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Catholic Chapel in Antarctica Closed

The Catholic chapel in Antarctica is closed.

The National Science Foundation, the group behind the US Antarctic Programme, has asked the New Zealand diocese to cut a decades-old link to the ice.

A Protestant chaplain from the US Military and a Catholic priest from Christchurch had been posted at Antarctica for 57 consecutive summers, staying from October until February.

One of the reasons for the withdrawal was a decline in church-going, the diocese said.

Father Dan Doyle, who first went to Antarctica 40 years ago, said attendance at the Chapel of the Snows at McMurdo had been in steady decline, as had the number of residents using the chaplaincy. This is because the number of Americans has shrunk owing to budgetary cuts.

The Church had once offered religious services, personal counselling and support for as many as 2000 men and women stationed at McMurdo and Amundsen-Scott Stations and Scott Base.

The peak population was now about 1200 – a sharp fall from even 10 years ago.

Doyle said the call for religious services at the bases had also changed. When he first went to the ice in the mid 1970s, a ham radio was a vital link to the outside world, whereas now the staff could easily keep in touch by internet and email.


http://i.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/70494649/catholic-priests-to-leave-antarctica-because-of-decline-in-churchgoing

Bistro or Mosque? A Discussion With Uncertain Outcome -- Imam Proposes Occupying Christian Churches in France

Franciscan allows Muslims to pray facing Mecca, so
that Christians children, "learn how a man prays in Islam."

(Paris) The imam of the Great Mosque of Paris, Dalil Boubakeur said it frankly: "The currently existing mosques are not enough. Their number must reflect the faithful of our religion." And as the construction of new mosques costs and it is not always easy to obtain building permits, why not take advantage of the many vacant Catholic churches standing around in the country of Franceg you?

"This is a sensitive issue, but why not?" Boubakeur wrote in his book "An Open Letter to the French".  Previously, the father of Algerian Boubakeur was imam of the Great Mosque of Paris. The family derives its descent from Abu Bakr, the first caliph after Muhammad's death.

Ultimately, says the Imam, who was the President of the Islamic umbrella organization, Conseil Francais du Musulman, from  2003 - 2008 and 2013 - 2015 (Muslim Cultural Advisory of France), founded by the French Ministry of Culture,  there is a model already, which could be applied large-scale nationwide. In Clermont-Ferrand, the chapel of the Good Shepherd was left to the Muslim community for free for more than 30 years. Ultimately, "it's the same God", as the local superiors stressed.

After criticism the Imam Pulled Back

Given the immediate and above all unexpected protests, Boubakeur backtracked, claiming that he was  misrepresented, he had never asked for like.

The editor of the French magazine La Vie, Jean-Pierre Denis commented a few days ago, ironically: "I was surprised by just how I must confess that the media have taken this lie, although  these ideas appear in black and white on pages 270 / wrote down 271 of his book."

While the media willingly accepted  Boubakeur's lie, there is a reaction from the people: More than 40,000 French people already signed the petition, launched a few days ago: "Stay away from my church."

Among the first signatories there are 25 politicians of the Gaullist right and some intellectuals. Even ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy supports the call.

A survey reported by the Washington Post, emphasized that 80 percent of supporters of Sarkozy's UMP party reject the proposal of the would-be  Mosque transfer.

Among the supporters of the National Front (FN) it is as high as 83 percent.

But even among the voters of the ruling Socialist Party (PS), the enemies of the Boubakeur proposal with 58 percent are clearly in the majority.

Catholic Church itself split on  this issue

Dalil Boubakeur: Convert vacant churches into mosques

Unforeseeable was the split on this issue within the Catholic Church.

Various bishops responded immediately with sharp tones on the proposal and kept them up. 

The traditional friendly bishop of Frejus and Toulon, Msgr. Dominique Rey, whose diocese is one of the best placed of France, took the first position.  Without further adieu,  he called Boubakeurs foray as an "insult to our collective memory",  describing the proposal as an attack on "our culture and our roots." Bishop Rey made ​​it clear that "the Churches are neither interchangeable nor omnicultic."

Along the same lines followed Bishop Stanislas Lalanne of Pontoise: "I am absolutely against the idea, that churches could be sold to Muslims and converted into mosques. I understand the need to have places for prayer, but the proposal of Boubakeur is the wrong answer. "

However, some dissenting voices were heard. 

Msgr. Michel Dubost, the head of the Department of Religious Affairs of the French Bishops' Conference made ​​it known that it would preferable for him to have  the unused churches as mosques instead of bars and restaurants.

Dubost criticized the petition by stating, "to preserve the church from this fate" the best way is to "participate regularly in the Mass.".

"Churches are sacred places, they can not be used for other purposes"

Opposition came from Bishop Lalanne, who is also member of the Standing Council of the Bishops' Conference: "The churches are holy places. Even if they are not open every day to the faithful, they can not be used for other purposes that are not an expression of the Christian faith. We must not play with the symbols. These places are the memory of generations and generations of believers who have visited to pray," said the bishop.

It is noteworthy that Dalil Boubakeur is by no means an Islamist but is a representative of a "Euro Islam" or "liberal Islam". The imams of the Boubakeur family come from a Sufi tradition. In his interfaith efforts,  his proposals  and his dialogue with the state, Christians, Jews, and also with the Dalai Lama, he seamlessly blends into the secular state doctrine of France. From the Muslim side he is accused of being, as was his father, a Freemason. Evidence can be only so much that he was already a guest of honor in Masonic lodges, in 2002 in Loge Aequitas of the Grand Orient of France, whose roots are in France and Algeria.

Messa in Latino makes Boubakeur a  suggestion: "Our proposal is: Every church that is to meant to be made ​​to the mosque, should be given to a community of tradition. The fruit will not fail. "

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Mil / Riposte catholique

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Black Angel -- Priest Posing Nude to Promote Rock Album Relieved of His Duties by Archbishop

(Madrid) In 1970  the American composer George Crumb of the electrically amplified string quartet Black Angels, published Thirteen Images from the Dark Country .The album cover of that recording appears to have encouraged a priest of the Archdiocese of Zaragoza. The musician priest was photographed naked with tatoo, electric guitar and angel wings.

"Whether the image shows penchant for exhibitionism, for extravagance, because it is something with their heads or simply arises only from carelessness, I can not say.  I mean, however, that a priest should not pose nude,"  said Francisco Fernandez de la Cigoña on InfoVaticana . "Least of all should he play with the appearance of a Dark Angels. Black Angels are plenty. They are the enemies of the priesthood and every righteous soul. "

Archbishop Vicente Jimenez Zamora discharged the priest after the scandal from his pastoral duties. "A pause for reflection is appropriate", said the archdiocese.

Rocking priest apologizes: "It is my desire to faithfully serve the Church"

Javi Sanchez, the rockingest of the Spanish archdiocese's priests, apologized now for his self-promotion. "I am aware that I have done damage, not only for the archdiocese, but for the whole Church." The strange image was made in order to promote his latest music production.

There was a discussion with the archbishop who discharged Sanchez "for the spiritual peace of the faithful" from his duties. Sanchez thanked the archbishop for his "fraternal correction" and apologized in an act of humility. "I apologize for the damage that I've done and reiterate that it is my desire to serve faithfully the Church."

The scandal became known through an interview of the rocking priest with the newspaper Heraldo de Aragon last July 13 in which the image of half-naked priest was published. "It's a representation in which light and shadow are unclear, blurred," said de la Cigoña.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: InfoVaticana

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to katholisches...

AMDG

Christian Syria: Love in the Ruins

Marriage in Ruined Church in Homs

(Damascus) destruction and new beginnings are close together for the Christians in the Syrian city of Homs, as the images of a Christian wedding in the ruined Church of St. George show.

The attempt to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad and his Alawites has laid Homs  in ruins. The third largest city in Syria to the west of the country, near the border with Lebanon, it is located in the fertile valley of the Orontes, as the river was called in ancient times. Today it is called the Nahr al-Asi.

In 2011 the Sunni made Homs a stronghold of anti-Assad protest. In 2012, however, it became apparent that hiding under the blanket of allegedly "pro-Western" and "democratic" rebels, were Islamist groups. In April 2012 it was announced that the Farouq Brigade of the Christians of Homs had to exact the Muslim jizya poll tax. In May 2014. Homs was recaptured by government troops.

Christian community alive even after almost 2000 years

Homs wedding in the ruined Church of St. George

The images of a Christian wedding in the ruins of the Church of St. George show the horrifying extent of the destruction. It is at the same time also an expression of a new beginning and to show that the Christian community of the city is alive even after almost 2000 years.

The ancient Emesa, this is the name Homs had in the time of Jesus, was one of the first Christian communities and was a bishop's seat after the second century seat. From the Diocletian persecution 303-305, the first bishop is also known by name. In 609 the Persians conquered Homs and destroyed the churches. In 628  the Christian reconstruction started. Weakened by the Persians, Byzantine Syria fell prey to the Muslims in 637. In 1785 Muslims and Greek, Syrian and Armenian Christians were still balanced in Homs. In 1907  a third of the population was Christian. Before the outbreak of war, Homs counted,  with its suburbs, around one million inhabitants. Of these, 60 percent  were Sunni, 20 percent Alawite and 15 percent Christian. In some districts like Fairouzeh and Zaidal  Christians represented a majority with  60 percent and more. Not far from Homs, several Christian villages are among Maalula, where almost all the inhabitants are Christians and where even Aramaic, the language of Jesus, is spoken. 

See the slide show...

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

The Martyrium of Oriental Christians and Europe's Loss of Identity

In the Midst of the Old City in Jerusalem is a
Memorial to Christians Murdered by Muslims

(Jerusalem) While little is seen and read in the Western mainstream media   about the fate of the persecuted and murdered Christians in the Middle East and North Africa,  the Coptic Orthodox Church has set an example in the middle of Jerusalem. At the 6th Station of the Via Dolorosa, the way of the Passion of Jesus Christ to Golgotha, there is  a big banner which laments the murder of Coptic Christians by the Islamic State of (IS).

Europe wants to help, offering a rather helpless and naive image. An irresponsible "welcoming culture" appeals to a  voluntary solution for the serious problems of the country. The attacks in Madrid, London, Brussels, Paris and Graz speak for themselves. The reason is that Europe through the progressive de-Christianization of its own identity is no longer clear. It has never been clearer than in the case of boundless immigration, that there is no longer a Europe without Christianity.  A de-christianized Europe is like a shapeless toy ball without identity  at the mercy of ideologies and non-European forces. The ideological upheavals of the 20th century were the forerunners of this truth. At that time they paid a psychic price, now physical.

In contrast to the externally colorful,  but internally, increasingly colorless Europeans, the Christians of Egypt and the Middle East know who they are, what history they have, and they are aware of their position. The Christians of Europe could learn a lot from them in terms of Islam and its relationship to Islam. In Europe, the Christians of the Levant are largely ignored, to maintain an equally wrong as much as romanticized, embossed in the German-speaking world with a  Karl May image. In this misconception,  the Arab world is only Muslim. At best, there is still room for Yazidis and of course since 1948 for the Jews of Israel.

Whether the Western view of the Middle East is now appreciated the Islamic or has the Jewish-Muslim conflict in focus, the Oriental Christians play hardly any role for Europe.  A form of haughty self-denial, as is also expressed in the indiscriminate opening of borders, while identifying  illegal mass immigration as a "humanitarian emergency" of "refugees."

Veneto's President Luca Zaia said just a few days ago, that at least two thirds of the "refugees" who are pushing daily into Europe are not refugees. At the same time the Italian police arrested several Muslims, sometimes living many years  in the country, who are accused of having recruited Islamists for jihad and recruiting new terrorists. This is a reality as it manifests itself in all European countries. The difference in the best case, is with what emphasis the opinion-forming media downplays or hides this reality.

That the persecuted Christians in the Middle East do not belong to the precious immigrants of the "welcome cultures" and that they are the same key media who report little about the fate of Christians in the Middle East, completing the vicious circle.

Text: Andreas Becker

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

(Camouflaged) Franciscans at Spiritual Exercises

Franciscans at Spiritual Exercises 

(Madrid) In the shadow of the great Franciscan religious innovator, mystic and preacher of repentance, Peter of Alcantara (1499-1562) spiritual exercises for members of the Franciscan order took place in Arenas de San Pedro.The well-known Catholic journalist Francisco Fernandez de la Cigoña on InfoVaticana published a photo.

"The group of Franciscans is not numerous, but few are better than none. After all, the brothers who wear the habit, compared with those who have passed on their habit, is a slight majority. The two youngest among the brothers wear it anyway. About  a brother's shorts I am silent. With a minimum of respect for his status, he would have at least made it to   the back row. The older brothers, the more they seem to seek camouflage. The Franciscans once differed between shod and unshod brothers. Today they differ between Franciscans who are recognizable as such, and camouflaged Franciscans," said de la Cigoña.

Vocation crisis: Six Provinces Joined to One Province 

The Franciscans are from the Province of the Immaculate Concepcion, which has arisen due to the vocation shortage a few years ago from the merger of six provinces and one custody.

The Franciscan in the chasuble shows that the retreatants, as they appear, have just a Mass.

Peter de Alcantara reformed the Spanish branch of the Franciscan order and founded a new branch of the Strict Observance. He himself lived in the strictest asceticism. As confessor he was at the side of Emperor Charles V  when he abdicated and retired to a Hieronymite in Extremadura. Although the most powerful man in the world, he laid down the imperial crown, as he had recognized with the Peace of Augsburg, that he had failed in his role as Emperor to  preserve the unity of the Faith of the Holy Roman Empire. Peter de Alcantara was at an advanced age, also the spiritual advisor of St. Teresa of Avila. In 1622 he was beatified by Pope Gregory XV.  and canonized in 1669 by  Pope Clement IX. canonized.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: InfoVaticana

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Imprecatory Psalm 108

Deus, laudem meam. David in the person of Christ, prayeth against his persecutors; more especially the traitor Judas: foretelling and approving his just punishment for his obstinacy in sin and final impenitence.

[1] Unto the end, a psalm for David. [2] O God, be not thou silent in my praise: for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful man is opened against me. [3] They have spoken against me with deceitful tongues; and they have compassed me about with words of hatred; and have fought against me without cause. [4] Instead of making me a return of love, they detracted me: but I gave myself to prayer. [5] And they repaid me evil for good: and hatred for my love.

[6] Set thou the sinner over him: and may the devil stand at his right hand. [7] When he is judged, may he go out condemned; and may his prayer be turned to sin. [8] May his days be few: and his bishopric let another take. [9] May his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. [10] Let his children be carried about vagabonds, and beg; and let them be cast out of their dwellings.

[6] Set thou the sinner over him: Give to the devil, that arch-sinner, power over him: let him enter into him, and possess him. The imprecations, contained in the thirty verses of this psalm, are opposed to the thirty pieces of silver for which Judas betrayed our Lord; and are to be taken as prophetic denunciations of the evils that should befall the traitor and his accomplices the Jews; and not properly as curses.

[11] May the usurer search all his substance: and let strangers plunder his labours. [12] May there be none to help him: nor none to pity his fatherless offspring. [13] May his posterity be cut off; in one generation may his name be blotted out. [14] May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered in the sight of the Lord: and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. [15] May they be before the Lord continually, and let the memory of them perish from the earth:

[16] because he remembered not to shew mercy, [17] But persecuted the poor man and the beggar; and the broken in heart, to put him to death. [18] And he loved cursing, and it shall come unto him: and he would not have blessing, and it shall be far from him. And he put on cursing, like a garment: and it went in like water into his entrails, and like oil in his bones. [19]May it be unto him like a garment which covereth him; and like a girdle with which he is girded continually. [20] This is the work of them who detract me before the Lord; and who speak evils against my soul.

[21] But thou, O Lord, do with me for thy name' s sake: because thy mercy is sweet. Do thou deliver me, [22] for I am poor and needy, and my heart is troubled within me. [23] I am taken away like the shadow when it declineth: and I am shaken off as locusts. [24] My knees are weakened through fasting: and my flesh is changed for oil. [25] And I am become a reproach to them: they saw me and they shaked their heads,

[24] For oil: Propter oleum. The meaning is, my flesh is changed, being perfectly emaciated and dried up, as having lost all its oil or fatness.

[26] Help me, O Lord my God; save me according to thy mercy. [27] And let them know that this is thy hand: and that thou, O Lord, hast done it. [28] They will curse and thou will bless: let them that rise up against me be confounded: but thy servant shall rejoice. [29] Let them that detract me be clothed with shame: and let them be covered with the their confusion as with a double cloak. [30] I will give great thanks to the Lord with my mouth: and in the midst of many I will praise him.

[31] Because he hath stood at the right hand of the poor, to save my soul from persecutors.



http://www.drbo.org/x/d?b=drb&bk=21&ch=108&l=17#x

Synod: Curial Bishop Laffitte Remains in His Position

(Rome) Curia Bishop Jean Laffitte remains, at least for the time being, the secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Family . His appointment last July 4 by Pope Francis to Prelate of the Sovereign Order of Malta sparked speculation about his dismissal in the family council.

"Good news," said the well-known Catholic Spanish blogger Francisco Fernandez de la Cigoña with good wire to Vatican sources. The personnel decision  before the "decisive Synod of Bishops on the family," said Riposte Catholique, "is not meaningless."

As secretary Msgr. Laffitte holds the second most important office in the pontifical "Family Affairs". The Frenchman Laffitte belogns to the Emmanuel Community , and is considered a serious defender of the marriage sacrament. The same can not be said of his immediate superior Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia.

The Italian Paglia belongs to  the Community of Sant'Egidio. He has fallen, since Benedict XVI., announcing his resignatio, into  homophilic statements, as on June 25 at the press conference to present the World Meeting of Families, which takes place  in September in Philadelphia (USA). With a "slick set" ( Riscossa Cristiana )   the Vatican's "Family Minister" signaled an acceptance of homosexuality (see Before the synod: Family Minister "Flashes" Homophilic signals - Vice is Maltese Prelate ).

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Riposte Catholique

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Vocations Crisis: Decline of the Diocesan Clergy -- Growth of Tradition

(Paris) In many areas in  secularized Europe a veritable spiritual desertification is taking place. Emblematic of this is the crisis of vocations in France. The figures speak for themselves: in 1966, France had 4,536 seminarians. A few years later, in 1975, their number had plummeted to 1,297. The decline had slowed, but it continued. In 1996, there were 1,103 seminarians. It was followed by another slump: in 2005 there were only 784. In 2011 they   finally achieved with 710 seminarians, the lowest since the time of the French Revolution.

If mathematics is not an opinion, the results since 1966 show a decline of 84 percent. "This is the result  of the modernist theologians turning to promote that with which they have destroyed the sense of the supernatural. The figures are of such clarity that they might bring even  ,modern' theologians to blush and should let them fall forever into a penitential silence. Anyway, they require no further comment," said the traditional  blogger Cordialiter .

What is needed is a serious analysis of a catastrophic situation. "Numbers are neither traditionalist nor modernist. They are facts that we need to take note of,"  says Cordialiter.

The situation in France is dramatic. In foreseeable next few years, there will be even fewer active priests.The average age of priests is in these dioceses is already at 75 years.

Key to the vocation crisis is ignored in the dioceses

"The situation is seriously dramatic. It is not a reason to sit back, but there is also no reason to despair," said Cordialiter. Within the vocation crisis, opposing trends can be observed. While the diocesan clergy almost threatens to go  extinct,  the orders and communities of the Old Rite are growing. The vocations that are growing  today, lead  young mento where the faith, the liturgy, the faithful to Christ,  Scripture and Tradition are taken seriously.

"The hope is that more seminaries will be opened, where it is makes ​​possible an even greater number of tradition-bound young men to strive for the Catholic priesthood. It is the holy priests, who will who will model their vocations." 

Where the Sacred Liturgy is celebrated reverently and worthily, where the teaching of Christ is faithfully proclaimed and the order of the Church is respected, there even today can be found vocations. These flourishing oases in the desert, the communities of tradition, some ancient monasteries and several new institutions should all come to the attention of Church leaders, for in them is hidden the key to overcome the crisis of vocations.

Astonishingly, the diocesan church leaders prove sluggish, disinterested or even hostile. "The dilemma is that the way to overcome the crisis of vocations is in front of everyone, but many - and I speak only of those who are responsible -. are looking pointedly away." One has the impression that they want no improvement. The reasons are complex and go deeper. It is not only "convenience" or "world adaptedness", but in many cases it is about a "different theology". In order to avoid having to address this  question, they would prefer to put up with the decline of priestly vocations. 

"The diocesan bishops are responsible for how they respond in their diocese to the vocation crisis, whether the good example is ignored or is imitated. They will be held accountable for it. Regardless of this  the dissolution of the diocesan clergy progresses and it is only a matter of time before the ordinations of  tradition exceed that the Novus Ordo, at least in France," said Cordialiter .

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: FSSP

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Erosion of the German Church -- Gäswein: "Shepherds Must Not Make Decisions Based on Media Applause"

Flashmob in Rio... Reduced to Ridicule

(Rome / Berlin) The Catholic Church in Germany has experienced a record number of almost 218,000 leaving the church last year. 39,000 more than the year before.

More even than in 2010, when the German Church was shaken by the sexual abuse scandal of minors and was under massive public pressure.

The figures highlight a sideshow: Between 2005 and 2013 Pope Benedict XVI was  annually blamed, if there wasn't  a merely  local "culprit", who could share the blame, like  Bishop Krenn in Austria or the bishops Mixa and Tebartz-van Elst in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Church Exit Numbers Were Instrumentalized Against Benedict XVI. - Since silence

"Controversial actions of Pope Benedict XVI. were to blame"  the "like exclusion of homosexuals ", "lack of equality for women"  or the "lifting of the excommunication for Lefebvrian bishops"  which was said, for example in 2010 by the Austrian pastoral theologian Paul Zulehner (Vienna) and Episcopal Vicar Willi Vieböck (Linz). But there has never been when all things are considered, more leaving the Church than under Pope Francis. Since then there is an awkward silence until the  among the wordy Church representatives and the media. Their "interpretations" are subsequently exposed as a church-political instrumentalisation.

In the Federal Republic of Germany, Church membership is directly coupled to tax aspect. The recognized denominations demand and  are payed the so-called "church tax", which is calculated and charged by the state  and sent to the churches.

Church-tax Secures Influence

The money supply is enormous. In 2011 alone, took the Catholic Church in Germany took in about 5.8 billion euros.

With 1.3 million employees, the Catholic Church is  the second largest employer in Germany next to   the public sector. The largest private company, Siemens, employs just over 400,000 employees.

With the bulging coffers, the German Church exerts considerable influence in the Third World.

Majority of the German Bishops Want to Change the Doctrine of the Church

Some commentators, such as the American George Weigel, writing of the growing erosion process, in addition to financial reasons, describes the tendency of most of the German bishops to trying to change the doctrine of the Church.

This includes marriage and sexual morality, especially the doctrine of the right to access the sacrament of marriage and the Eucharist. Concretely it  applies to the recognition of  second marriages and the admission of remarried divorcees to communion. It is exactly these issues that the Synod of Bishops will address this October.

What Curial Archbishop Geogr Gänswein Says

"It is interesting to hear what Curia Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Prefect of the Papal Household and private secretary of Pope Benedict XVI. has to say in a far more extensive interview," said Marco Tosatti. Interview by Jaume Figa i Vaello for the Catalan and Spanish website +1 Sumant Hostories of the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya .

Question: Some of these issues come from your native Germany. Why?

Archbishop Gänswein: Yes. It is true that not all the errors come from there, but the point in question is provided as follows: 20 years ago John Paul II  rejected, after a long and laborious negotiation,  that divorced and remarried would have access to communion.. We can not simply go and change things established in our Magisterium.

Question: Why do some shepherds want that  which is not possible?

Archbishop Gänswein: I do not know. Maybe they give in to the Zeitgeist, perhaps they can be  led by  the applause of the people, which is made by the media ... to be critical of the mass media, is certainly less enjoyable. A shepherd must not decide on the basis of whether the media applauds or not. The benchmark is the Gospel, the Faith, sound doctrine, Tradition.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Mil

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches....

AMDG