Grandmaster of the Grand Orient: "We Are Transparent Just Like Pope Francis"

The New Cathedral of the Diocese of Crèteil (Paris): "A
Cathedral for the World of Today"

(Rome) Freemasonry "has reached its all-time high," and this has been achieved recently, said the Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy, '''thanks' to a part of the Church, which does not speak the spiritual language of the Church," said Traditio Catholica .  Traditio Catholica began an article about Freemasonry today with these words. A small, shorthand note, which stains a connection  from the Villa Vascello, the seat of the Grand Orient in Rome, to  the new cathedral of Créteil, near Paris.

"The question of the relationship of Church and Loge is still an issue, because who among the university-educated or in a certain position does not have a relative or a friend who attended a Masonic lodge?" says Traditio Catholica .

What influence did and has Freemasonry on important decisions in the world and Church?

There are also unresolved questions to which there may never be a real answer. About the question, "What influence has the Freemasonry in the last 250 years on certain political decisions of individual states and peoples, but also of world-historical importance." The issue concerns not only politics, but also the Church.

"In Church circles a long litany has been heard: In the Church this or that does not fit: The culprit is Freemasonry! Inside the Church is this and that has happened: The culprit is Freemasonry!"

"Intrigue and conspire do the lodge brothers still," against this or that cardinal or against this or that religious? Or hear that about a dark past?

Freemasonry should not be a welcome "scapegoat" for its own fault or even "relieve clergy and laity in a cheap way of their own responsibilities."

Fact is that Freemasonry changed strategy and tactics over time, and has adapted to the prevailing political power relations, "their fight against the Church, the revelation of God and to the truth about man but has never been given up."

Those who stand in the dark

Freemasons of the Grand Orient of Italy

What has remained constant is their actions out of the darkness. The aproned brothers show up today openly in some areas. They show themselves but only what they want. "They will not show their hand." Not even in France, where they are highly  officially invited on record to the palaces of power and asked for their opinion. "The positions  they are taking on specific issues, they also make publicly known. But what influence they exert in these questions on a decision remains hidden.  It starts already with the unanswerable question of who belongs among the deputies of Parliament and members of a government to a Loge, perhaps even the head of state himself." The same is true of media owners and media professionals.

"The lodges rarely sought direct confrontation with the Church." With careful aim,  they have only fought  in some Latin countries of Europe and Latin America, and even then only if they held the power of the state firmly in their hand, as in France, Italy and Mexico.

Church and the French Revolution - Who makes common cause with the Jacobins?

"A   face to face struggle today is also no longer necessary, as a part of the Church has taken their views and hardly is able to define a substantive difference."

The French Revolution was the great landmark, which the lodges have rammed into the earth of world history. The question of the relationship between Church and French Revolution is synonymous with the question of the relationship between Church and lodge. The influence of the lodges can be seen from the answer to the question to what extent the Jacobin ideas of this revolution are accepted or not. One can confidently say that they form the doctrine of the current world.

"The Church opposes the anti-Christian ideas and does so even today. But for Catholics, and especially religious leaders a litmus test applies: How do I keep it  within the French Revolution?"

At all times there were parts of the church who were inclined towards the secular power. "Power is attractive, power is threatening. The reasons are many. The Church therefore had to endure tough fights to preserve  inner freedom and not as a state Church, namely equipped with privileges to must be subservient to those in power.

"How many divisions has the Pope?" - Cardinal Martini's poisoned legacy

Carlo Maria Cardinal Martini: "Church is 200 years behind the times"

"The policy of appeasement  is affected by sympathizers of secular ideologies, profiteers, but also the great multitude who are afraid of  conflict. The secular power is always stronger than the Church by worldly standards, not only in the sense of the equally rhetorical as much as cynical question of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, "How many divisions has the Pope?" That was 1945 in Yalta and it wasn't, believe it or not, about anything less than the determination of the post-war order by the victors. "

So, there have been since the days of the revolution parts of the church,  "which want to come to terms with the Jacobins." The ideologically attuned  even consider it the crucial question per se for the future of the Church. The Arrangement was so important to this part of the Church  that the  Archbishop of Milan, deceased in 2012, and Cardinal of the Roman Church, Carlo Maria Martini, in his last interview left his "spiritual testament." Literally the cardinal told the Corriere della Sera : "The Church is 200 years behind the times" and meant that she had not taken part in the development initiated by the French revolution.  Cardinal Martini had made ​​his decision and encouraged other Catholics in it to do the same.   A step, which he even called upon the Church, to bring it up once more into 'harmony' with the world. A poisoned legacy."

Some Catholics would agonize their brains over "whether this or that Church officials were  Freemasons or not." In fact, there were quite a few aproned clerics in the history. Already years before the outbreak of the revolution in Paris in the Benedictine Abbey of Melk, the Austrian Escorial, an active Masonic Lodge. The Convention was divided: there were monks and masons. The former, of course, did not know who were the latter. Overall, the number of Church lodge brothers had  remained modest at all times.

The  sociologist of religion Massimo Introvigne, an expert on Freemasonry, gave a key to probatively difficult questions of how to recognize the mason. Since membership is subject to strict secrecy and the Loge brothers have had rich experience of it after 300 years, it is crucial to ask then, who represents Masonic positions and who does not. Whether aproned Freemasons or unaproned (unofficial) the spirit in any case. You know  whose side they're on.

Grand Master of the Grand Orient, "We are as transparent as Pope Francis"

Stefano Bisi, Grand Master of the Grand Orient

In an interview in March 2014, shortly after his election as Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy,  the journalist Stefano Bisi, said about the Masons: "We are as transparent as Pope Francis." It was "hard to believe", but "many young" would "knock on the door of the temple", because they "also  need spirituality today."

Bisi was asked why anyone should feel the need today to become Freemasons. His answer: "Perhaps because there is a need to regain some spiritual values. I am aware that it is difficult for a profane to believe, but when we go to work in the lodge, we enter a house, put on an apron and pulling on gloves, ignite three candles and speak one after another. One speaks, the others listen. In a world in which you have to shout in order to be heard, this is a revolutionary thing. Where that happens otherwise?I n my opinion, people need spirituality, even today."

He continued: "In the lodge you will find everything a little, that's the best part: entrepreneurs, employees, students ... In the lodge we are all equal. Whether one comes from a family with Masonic tradition or not, just like me. "

Grandmaster: Highest Level of Members Achieved - "We are working for the good of humanity"

Villa Vascello, seat of the Grand Orient in Roma

For two weeks, the Grand Orient of Italy has put up a new website. "We have modernized ourselves," said Grandmaster Bisi a few days ago . The Grand Orient of Italy is the largest Masonic organization on the Apennine Peninsula. "We have more than 22,500 brothers, this stands as the highest ever in our history." An ascending trend. In just the first three months of 2015 have been placed 800 membership applications. We had 40 percent more than the average for the past ten years. "These are respectable figures," because one can not simply apply at the lodges for membership. Membership applications were presented only after a "long way" by other brothers.

Although the Grand Orient has no Facebook page, it already twitters. "Even with 140 attacks one can be introduced to the knowledge of the free masons," said Bisi, because: "The real Freemasonry is not forged in  dark intrigues, but is working for the good of humanity." The Grand Master also said that the Grand Orient has "never" been a secret organization.

The Grand Orient  celebrated on 19 September in the Villa Il Vascello, in the Roman Janiculum, the autumn equinox.  On the hill is also an equestrian statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi. The lodge brothers have erected a bronze monument of their Grandmaster and do not forget to look at him with a commanding gesture toward St. Peter's Basilica. This was, after the destruction of the Papal States in 1870, the celebration of the Lodge's triumph over the Church.

The sinister entrance to Villa Vascello

With the equinox the lodges return to their work after the summer break. But above all, is celebrated the destruction of the Papal States and the conquest of Rome   by Italian troops the following day. A few years ago the head of a  noble family loyal to Rome handed the papal flag that flew on the Porta Pia and an ancestor had obtained it in time to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. It was kept in the family until they solemnly presented it to Benedict XVI.  

Grandmaster Bisi  also layed a wreath in 2015  at Porta Pia  to commemorate the conquest of the city from the Pope which "was fundamental for the civilized development of our country" in his opinion. After more than 1,300 years,  the papal domination of the country  had emerged from a period of popular exile.

The Grand Orient also celebrates the 750th anniversary of Dante Alighieri on this occasion. The greatest poet of Italy had nothing to do with the lodges, but was a member of the imperial party of his time. This anti-papal attitude makes him a sympathetic figure for the lodge brothers.

Créteil: "A cathedral for the world of today"

"Planetary" church with hidden object game. Where is a tabernacle?What recognizable Christian symbols you find?

An addendum: The picture shows the new top of Notre Dame Cathedral of the Diocese of Créteil, a suffragan of Paris. "Une cathédrale pour le monde présent," is the self-congratulation of its "creator". It is to be dedicated  next September. "In France there are currently  Gothic and neo-Gothic churches being abandoned by the Masonic government," said Traditio Catholica, because the number of believers  is falling, the buildings are dilapidated and in any case usually belong to the state.

"Does Freemasonry need to fight a Church that can build such houses of worship, like the new Cathedral of Creteil, where verticality is turned upside down? Hardly," said Traditio Catholica. Nothing in this architecture leads up to God.Instead, the priest stands down as an entertainer, clearly visible to the entire audience in the stands.

"It is this Church style of Créteil, of San Giovanni Rotondo, from Fatima, where those Catholics, clergy and laity, who have embraced the humanistic teachings of Freemasonry  and accordingly consistently  scourge and humiliate the cultic and cultural singularity of 'their' Church. In any case,  kneeling before God is neither intended nor desired in Créteil. There is not a tabernacle in the nave and in general Christian symbols are not to be found.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Traditio Catholica / Linkiesta / GOI (screenshots)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

What Happened to 15,000 NATO Trained Libyans? Some Fight for ISIS Others For Al-Qaeda

(Tripoli) in 2014  it was still said "NATO is welcome in Libya."  2013/2014 have been included and educated 15,000 Libyan soldiers have been trained in NATO countries. Observers did not expect among them either a new Rommel or Napoleon.  But perhaps  some have wished that the recruits would completely dissolve into nothingness, so that today there would no trace of them?

Nobody knows today where the 15,000 soldiers trained to  NATO standards  have gone, so in any case the claim, they have remained. According training program, there are 2,000 men in Britain, 2,000 men in Italy, 3,000 in Turkey and 8,000 men from the United States who were trained in Bulgaria. The cost of 600 million dollars is to be assumed  by the Libyan government under Ali Zeidan.

The government and the Prime Minister Zeidan broke and fled the jihadists to Europe. Since then, there are two governments in Libya. One controls the west, the other to the east of the country. Situated on the Mediterranean an  Islamic state has been established, the  Emirate of Libya. The south is held by clans, and no one knows who they support precisely.  Anyway, Libya has not paid 600 million for training troops, at least not Italy, as the Washington Post reported.

Training chaos, indiscipline and asylum applications

On closer inspection it turns out that the training programs were canceled partially. Of  those Libyans sent to Britain one third soon had to be sent back for indiscipline, violence and sexual abuse. Others sought asylum in London, in order not to have to return to Libya. So you might not have not imagined. Of the 3,000 men who came to Turkey, more than half took off before the end of the training. Italy was the first country to start with the Operation Cohort  training program. The 80th Regiment was located in Cassino. The barracks were specially remodeled to meet the Muslim customs, with own prayer rooms and facilities for the ritual ablutions, the menu had been already modified accordingly.

The program failed but all the same reasons: lack of discipline, low motivation, lack of coordination with the military leadership in Tripoli. Although there were constantly sent new middlemen who came and went, they proved to be unreliable and incapable. Officially there is little information on the part of NATO. Unofficially it is said in Europe this is  a failure of the United States. The flop of the training program for Libya "once again demonstrates the inability of the US government to control the development of the Arab Spring, fanned by Washington. The biggest flop is trying to train  allied armies and militias in the Arab States, so they can take the place of western units to combat  Islamic jihadists and terrorists,"  cites Il Timone a high NATO officer, who requested anonymity.

"Realistic possibility" that some joined the Islamists

American sources blame for the failure on internal disunity in Libya. In fact, the conflict between secularists and Islamists led to split the country into two parts, and allowed the Islamic state (IS) in Libya to take root. Some of them who went to Great Britain, Italy, Bulgaria and Turkey Libyans were unsuitable. Nevertheless, several thousand men have undergone military training according to  high NATO standards. "We wonder where these men are," said the NATO officer.There was the "realistic possibility" that at least part of them joined the Islamists.

Already in Afghanistan, the Taliban have infiltrated the formation of a pro-Western police and army. In some cases, hadthe goal of murdering the Western instructors. Between 2011 and 2014 more than one hundred of them were killed. In other cases, after a good training and arming of the Taliban. "Then we [NATO] are  surprised that police units with weapons and vehicles "Made in US"  go over to the Taliban."

In Mali three out of four US-trained units have defected to al-Qaeda

The new army of the post-Saddam Hussein era that had been trained by US instructors, dissolved in the attack of the Islamic State (IS) one year ago. In Mali in 2012 three out of four U.S.-trained and equipped anti-terrorist battalions defected to al-Qaeda. And the fourth battalion attempted a coup against the government of Bamako. In Syria, the US has already trained several waves of "moderate" rebels since 2011. The result was always the same . The majority fought for jihad. As Washington could no longer cover up and turned off the tap of donations, the  "moderate" rebels became Islamist militias.

A few days ago 60 "moderate" Syrian rebels of the recent training  program  went over to the Al-Qaeda fighters of Al-Nusrah Front. Remarkably, the same forces opposed to the Air Force attack on the Al-Qaeda positions. "With the gigantic military power which the US has, the start of the new offensive is just embarrassing," said Charles Lister, an expert on Syrian rebels at Brookings Doha Center for the British Guardian .

CIA report admits failure -  It is hampered I'm finding the cause 

A CIA report acknowledged in recent months a failure of the Washington-led training programs. The US military sees the cause in a "too Western" orientation of the training program, which was not suitable for Arab and African armies.

When asked whether the training of Libyan officers and soldiers really was a flop, the aforementioned NATO officers said: "Guaranteed. And not just in Libya. We train Arab armies and militias, so they fight instead of us. But these  fight against us and we have new armies and militias trained, so that they now fight the armies and militias that we trained yesterday. And this repeats itself. "

The question remains, what happened to the thousands of Libyan recruits. Hundreds remained in Europe and have filled  the "army" of "refugees" and asylum seekers. "A general overview is missing. Through individual details, however, one can draw conclusions. Some of the returnees had joined tribal militias. Part are fighting in Libya with the IS-emirate. And some have gone directly from Turkey to Syria and Iraq and have connected there with al-Qaeda or the Islamic State," said the NATO officer.

The Christians of the Middle East since 2011 have raised allegations that the civil war has been unleashed by the US and its Middle East allies. The persecuted Christians are convinced that the US supports their tormentors. Perhaps their torturers were trained by Western instructors?

Text: Andreas Becker
Image: Il Timone

Msgr. Athanasius Schneider: "Society of St. Pius Should be Recognized, Just as They Are"

(Rome) Msgr. Athanasius Schneider, Bishop of Astana, has suggested in an interview with the Catholic Spanish site Adelante la Fe, that the Holy See is close to recognizing  the Society of St. Pius X.. Bishop Schneider said: There is "no reason to deny the priests and faithful of the Priestly Fraternity of an official canonical recognition".

The auxiliary bishop visited  the seminaries of the SSPX in the United States and France in the Spring. Adelante la Fe asked him whether there are "prospects for a speedy reconciliation" and what is the main obstacle to such.

Schneider said: "The Holy See asked me to visit the two seminaries of the SSPX to perform with a group of theologians of the Society and His Excellency, Bishop Fellay, a debate on a particular theological problem. This showed me that the SSPX is not an insignificant ecclesial reality for the Holy See, but should be taken seriously. I have gotten a very good impression during my visits. I was able to observe in two seminaries a healthy theological, spiritual and human reality. The spirit of the sentire cum ecclesia of the SSPX was obvious as they welcomed me as envoy of the Holy See with real respect and great warmth. In both seminaries, I was glad to see the images of Francis, the currently reigning Pope, at the entrance."

Next the Bishop said: "The singing of the traditional prayer for the Pope ("Oremus pro pontifice nostro Francisco ...) during the solemn exposition of the Blessed Sacrament was moving. To my knowledge, there are no grounds to refuse the priests and faithful of the SSPX official canonical recognition, therefore, they should be accepted as they are."

"Vatican II on both sides overvalued and overstimated"

In his reply, Mgr Schneider also addressed the Second Vatican Council: "I think that the question of Vatican II is to be considered not as aconditio sine qua non, as it was an assembly whose purpose and character primarily was pastoral. Parts of the Council statements reflect the circumstances of the time and therefore have only temporary validity, [emphasis ours] as is customary for just disciplinary and pastoral documents. If we look at the matter from the perspective of two thousand years of church history, we can see that an overvaluation and overestimate a pastoral reality of the Church is present as the Second Vatican Council by  both sides (of the Holy See and the SSPX).
The SSPX believes it celebrates a living and moral life as demanded by the highest moral life and Magisterium  as the Church has done for centuries around the world, and they recognize the legitimacy of the Pope and the diocesan bishops praying publicly for them, they recognize the validity of the sacraments according to the typical edition of the new liturgical books, that should be enough for a canonical recognition of the SSPX by the Holy See. Otherwise, the oft-repeated pastoral and ecumenical openness of the present Church would lose its objective credibility, and raise the story someday  of accusations against the Church authorities of today, because they have imposed on  brothers a greater   load than necessary (Acts 15:28), which is the opposite of what is the pastoral method of the Apostles.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Adelante la Fe

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches....

AMDG

Pope Names New Personal Physician --- Fabrizio Soccorsi Will Accompany Him to Cuba

Next foreign trip to Cuba (Francis with Raul Castro in photo).
His new personal physician Fabrizio Soccorsi will
accompany him.

(Rome) Professor Fabrizio Soccorsi, former chief physician  of hepatology at the Roman San Camillo Hospital and advisor to the Department of Health and Hygiene of the Governorate of Vatican City was named by Pope Francis to be his new personal physician. This was announced by the Holy See Press Office.

Fabrizio Soccorsi was born on 2 February 1942 in Rome. After completing his studies in medicine and surgery in 1968 at the University La Sapienza  he began an extensive activity as a physician and lecturer. He was chief hepatologist and director of the Department of Liver Diseases, Digestive System and Nutrition and the Department of Internal Medicine at the San Camillo Hospital in Rome

Soccorsi has published hundreds of scientific papers. He was peritus of the medical advisory board of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. In late July, Pope Francis had separated  the former personal physician from his position.

Predecessor remains personal physician of Benedict XVI.

Professor Eneo Polisca remains President of the Medical Advisory Board of the Congregation of Saints and continues as personal physician of Benedict XVI.

Last week, Pope Francis appointed the endocrinologist Professor Alfredo Pontecorvi from the Gemelli University Hospital as the new director of the Department of Health and Hygiene of the Vatican City. Thus, the two offices of the papal physician and the Vatican health director are no longer united in one person.  Before Eneo Polisca held this  office,  for more than 30 years before it was Renato Buzzonetti for 30 years, who  also served four popes, Paul VI., John Paul I, John Paul II. Benedict XVI. 

Soccorsi will accompany Pope Francis on his future foreign trips. His first foreign assignment will be the pastoral visit of the Pope in Cuba and in the United States. He will be accompanying the pope also with the anesthesiologist Giampiero Vetturini, who was already number two under Polisca in terms of health of the Pope.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Christian News

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to katholisches...

AMDG

Nablus: Father of 18 Year Old Girl Killed in Arson Attack Succumbs to Burns

Photo of 18 Month Old Child Killed in the Fire

(Jersualem) On Saturday morning, the father of an 18 month old child has died, who herself was killed as a result of the arson attack by Jewish settlers in Nablus. The 32-year-old man died as a result of the severe burns he had suffered the attack. In critical condition are his wife and first-born child of four years.

On July 31st, the House of the  Dawabsha family had been set in fire in Duma near Nablus by Jewish settlers in the occupied territories. The younger child in the family died instantly in the flames (see Palestinian child dies in attack by Jewish settlers in Nablus ). The parents and the elder son were taken to hospital with serious burns.The father, Saad Dawabsha has now succumbed to serious injuries. He suffered second-degree burns all over his body. The condition of his wife and four year old son is still critical.

According to witnesses, Jewish settlers threw firebombs against the family home. On house walls were the slogans "revenge" and "Long live the Messiah."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack as "terrorist".

Text: Asianews / Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Asianews

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Francis, the Remarried Divorced and the Media

Pope Francis: General Audience of 5 August, 2015

(Rome) The Pope, who makes the difference. Does he make a difference? That question was raised to Francis not for the first time since August 5, but yet one time more.

Two days ago, Pope Francis addressed the divorced and remarried in his catechesis at the general audience. Actually, he repeated almost verbatim what Pope John Paul II said in his 1981 Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio, which was released a year after the Synod of Bishops on the family in 1980. But only almost.

Pope Francis announced the double-Synod of Bishops on the family of 2014/2015,  by pointing out the Synod from 1980 had not dealt with all the challenges that marriage and family are facing today.

Pope John Paul II on November 22, 1981:

"Together with the Synod, I would like to exhort the shepherds and the whole community of believers to  cordially assist the divorced in solicitous love, so that they do not consider themselves separated from the Church, since they can participate as baptized persons in their lives, and are even obliged to. They should be encouraged to listen to the Word of God, to participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, to pray regularly, to support the community in their works of charity and initiatives to promote justice, to educate their children in the Christian faith and to cultivate the spirit and the works of penance  in order to call down God's grace from day to day. The Church is to pray for them, encourage them, to show them as a compassionate mother and so strengthen them in faith and in hope."

Pope Francis said on August 5, 2015:

"These people are not excommunicated: You are not excommunicated! And are absolutely not to be treated as such: You are always a part of the Church. [...] I earnestly call upon pastors and the whole community of the faithful to help the divorced, and with solicitous care to make sure that they do not consider themselves as separated from the Church, for as baptized persons they can, and indeed must, share in her life.”

Identical statements with some differences

The two statements are almost identical with a few differences. "Francis exchanged a word and remained silent to a certain point," said the Vatican expert Sandro Magister.

Instead of the words "not separated" from the Church, Francis said that the divorced and remarried are "not excommunicated."

Pope John Paul II continued in Familiaris Consortio with the words: "However, the Church reaffirms its argument based on the Scriptures  in practice not to allow divorced and remarried to the Eucharistic banquet. They can not be authorized because their state of life and their living conditions are in contradiction to that objective covenant of love between Christ and the Church, which the Eucharist makes visible and present. In addition, there is a special reason of pastoral nature: admitting such people to the Eucharist would cause errors and confusion among the faithful concerning the Church's teaching on the indissolubility of marriage."

While John Paul II. clearly affirmed that divorced and remarried are not admitted to Communion, Francis remained silent on this point.

The silence makes (calculated or not?) the difference

The Argentine canon lawyer José Durant Mendioroz confirmed in his analysis of the papal speech that Francis gave  on August 5, just to the constant teaching of the Roman Church (to see Durant Mendioroz Synod of Bishops - An Argentine Lawyer shows the Pope on What's Going On )

In any case the omission makes the big difference. The silence made for a "media bomb". Mass media claimed that the Pope had cancelled the excommunication of the divorced and remarried  and approved allowing them to receive sacramental Communion.

Once again the question of the "hermeneutics" of the Pope's words will be raised: How are statements of the Pope to be interpreted? On the return flight from Paraguay to Rome Francis introduced the journalists themselves to the "hermeneutics" of his words  (see "Beatification" Marxist Jesuits by Pope Francis ). A real clarification wasn't forthcoming. So the question remains affirmed whether the media reaction was a calculated effect or not.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Mil
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

It Should Have Been the Largest Bloodbath of Christians -- Jihadist Shoots Himself in the Foot

Massacre of Christians Prevented in France

(Paris) He wanted to inflict the biggest massacre on Christians in France. The attack was held on Sunday,  April 19. Sid Ahmed Ghlam stood ready, armed with a Kalashnikov to penetrate during the Sunday Mass in the Catholic Church of Villejuif. His goal: to kill hundreds of Christians. Then the jihadist accidentally shot  himself in the foot ...

On April 19,  an emergency call center was contacted.  A man asked for help. "I'm outdoors. I've been shot in the foot," the duty officer in the emergency center carefully asked for a clarification:  "Shot in the foot! With a gun? "

Bombers had Chosen Two Churches in Villejuif Near Paris

It is hard to imagine what would happen to would not undermine the Islamic terrorists Sid Ahmed Ghlam the misfortune.The 24 year old Muslim Sid Ahmed Ghlam comes from Algeria and was planning on that Sunday, April 19, 2015 to storm  the Catholic church Sainte Therese of Villejuif in Val de Marne south of Paris. He had two chosen among the churches of Villejuif, Saint Therese and Saint Cyr-Sainte Julitte. He wanted to cause a bloodbath like the Islamist militia Boko Haram in Nigeria and al-Shabaab in Kenya. Wanted, with the difference that Sid Ahmed Ghlam would wreak carnage in the middle of Europe and therefore attract a lot more attention. He named his assassination target even after his arrest.

Three months after the "prevented" assassination   the daily newspaper Le Monde reported the background.

As Sid Ahmed Ghlam was brought bleeding from an ambulance to the hospital, arrived and police. Then it happened in quick succession. The police followed the trail of blood and went to his car. In the vehicle they found a Kalashnikov, two pistols, a bulletproof vest and written evidence of a planned assassination, including accurate location information to the two churches of Villejuif.

Murder of young mother Aurelie Chatelain

He is accused of the murder of 32 year old Aurelie Chatelain, mother of a five year-old daughter. Chatelain had been shot and then set on fire in her car. When the police found the charred body, initially a robbery was suspected.  Meanwhile, the investigators believe that Chatelain had to die because Ghlam mistook her for a police officer in plain clothes.

Ghlam claims meanwhile, to have nothing to do with the murder of Chatelain. He confirmed that an attack had been planned at the church, but wanted another person present at the scene to commit,  which was prevented. He had suffered the gunshot wound.

When the police carried out a house search at the home  address of Ghlam, they found three Kalashnikovs and other bulletproof vests. Who had armed him? According to Le Monde, Sid Ahmed Ghlam was "remote controlled from Syria" to the last detail. His direct contact man was a French citizen of Toulouse, who had converted to Islam and has joined the battle of the Islamic State (IS) in 2014 in Syria. Previously, he was incarcerated in France five years in prison for supporting terrorism. Ghlam also maintained contacts with Mohammed Merah,  Islamic terrorist, who committed three separate attacks in Toulouse and Montauban on March 2012 in which three French soldiers, a Jewish rabbi, whose two children and the daughter of the Jewish headmaster were killed. Another soldier survived, seriously injured, as well as a 17 year old Jewish student. On March 22, the Islamist bomber was located ​​and killed.

Islamist network in Europe: contacts with assassins of Paris, Toulouse, Montauban and Nice

2013/2014 Ghlam lived in Reims. His apartment was only a few meters away from that of  Saïd Kouachi, one of the two bombers to the editors of Charlie Hebdo.

In addition to handlers in the Middle East  three additional personas have helped Sid Ghlam in opbtaining  the arsenal.  One of them, Rabah R., is known  to the French secret service as an "old acquaintance". Several times he was questioned in connection with the Islamic terrorism. The other two men were not yet known to the security forces. As it turned out, they were close to Moussa Coulibaly who had attacked three French soldiers last February in Nice, and had contacts with a Moroccan jihadist group.

In the home of Sid Ahmed Ghlam the police discovered documents proving connections to other people in the Islamist network. Sid Ahmed Ghlam is just one of the ticking time bombs who is preparing, under  the protection of Europe's legal and social order, a  cathartic terror act. The attack on the church in Villejuif should have caused many more deaths than the assassination of the editor of the satirical leftist weekly Charlie Hebdo. At the church selected by Ghlam, 300 people participate in Holy Mass every Sunday.

In  2001, he came for the first time with his family to France. In 2003 he returned to Algeria. After finishing school, he moved in 2010 in the wake of "family reunification," all the way to France.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Tempi

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Lombardi's Clarification on the "Mouth of Truth"

The famous photo of Jorge Mario Bergoglio:
the young man behind him is his Press Speaker, Federico Wals

(Rome) Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi SJ responded with a letter to Vaticanist Sandro Magister  on his using  Lombardi's statements in the August issue of National Geographic about Pope Francis. Statements that show a very different pope, other than that which is generally celebrated (see The "Mouth of Truth" - Vatican Spokesman Lombardi on Pope Francis " ).

The text of Father Lombardi's letter with its "clarifications"  are an "interesting and enlightening enrichment" of the article, says Magister.

Dear Dr. Magister,

Referring to your article, which reproduces some of my statements that have been published in the report on Pope Francis from National Geographic, I would like to make some clarifications.

To be honest, I was a little surprised at the approach of the National Geographic. We have been standing for them for months for their pictures, and apart from a first conversation a few months ago, in which they explained what they wanted to do, they've never asked me anything about the Pope. Now, however, they are using quite extensively what Federico Wals reported about me, a person who is located in Buenos Aires and I have seen only briefly many years ago [the picture shows Wals behind the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires, whose press secretary he was, note, Sandro Magister].

A - "confused" - jocular remark I might have said with a smile at some point (if I had said anything) was certainly always accompanied by reflections on the learning phase that I went through, as it happened, as I   should myself behave in the new situation, about which I would say at the same time that it was an extremely interesting situation that marked an extraordinarily positive dynamic.

Pope Francis in National Geographic

In addition, for example, is what I said about the nature of the two popes at specific audiences, I would say, was not balanced. It is true that I have spoken always and without problems, in different places, on this difference, but always so that I emphasized the exceptional "Charisma" in the encounter of Francis with other people and his interest in this is distinguished in the conversation while the Secretary of State is left to the deepening of specific and technical issues.

Finally, the remark about the relation between the  Secretariat of State and the Economic Secretariat, since the latter was constituted only recently and relations were only to be defined (there were no statutes, etc.), is something I would obviously  talk differently  about   today. Although I speak of "spontaneity" in connection with Pope Francis,  I do not mean a lack of reflection, but rather the honest and transparent expression of an inner attitude.

In short, I do not feel very comfortable when a visitor a long time ago from Buenos Aires, Wals, when words said to him are picked up by an editor of National Geographic and brought to an audience, and moreover also by you. But patience, as it happens sometimes, is not completely understood.

Sincerely

Federico Lombardi

Introduction / translation: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Settimo Cielo

The Hidden Catholics of Tibet

A nomad in Tibet

(Hong Kong)  "In the middle of Tibet, in areas away from the main roads, which are often accessible only by foot, Tibetan Catholics have preserved their faith, even though they no longer have a priest for more than 50 years." The Vatican expert Marco Tosatti is concerned in an article with the destiny of a forgotten Catholic community on the "roof of the world." Tibet, from a European perspective, is a land of mystery and unfulfilled longings, known mainly because of the Himalayas with the highest mountain peaks in the world and the seemingly mysterious Lamaist Buddhism. But Tibet also has a Christian history that is as old as the Buddhist.

Buddhism arrived in the 6th century to Tibet for the first time and started there in the centuries that followed spread. Christianity arrived at the same time, so 1,500 years ago for the first time in the barren highlands, as the historian of religion Philip Jenkins confirms. It was the Church of the East of the Nestorian Christians who brought the gospel even then to China. In 780 Timothy, the Catholicos of the Church of the East, wrote as "the Holy Spirit has anointed a metropolitan for the Turks in those days, and we are preparing the ordination of another for the Tibetans."

Catholic Villages in the Himalayas - Secret Catholics in Japan

The plant of the Christian mission was pulled over the past fifteen hundred years in China and in Tibet again and again by political upheaval. The situation today of Tibetan Catholics in their survival in the isolation recalls that of the Japanese Catholics who survived almost 300 years from the 16th to 19th centuries in the underground, and without a priest, completely hidden.

The existence of hidden Tibetan Catholics became famous recently by the French travel writer Constantin de Slizewicz who has  lived in the PRC for several years. In Les peuples oubliés du Tibet (The Forgotten People of Tibet), he reports on the middle location in the Himalayan village Baihanluo. It can be reached by mule tracks only on foot or in the saddle of a pack animal. In Baihanluo is a church in the middle of Tibet. It is made ​​of wood and dates from the late 19th century. It was built by Catholic missionaries of Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris (MEP). The Society of  Foreign Missions of Paris  was one of the 17th century missionary orders, to whom the evangelization of Tibet had been entrusted. The French Indochina missionaries followed the course of the valleys up out into the highlands of Tibet and founded "Persian Missions", as Mission offices in particularly dangerous and wild areas were described.

In 1949  the Communist Party came to rule  China, which was soon followed by the invasion of Tibet. As already several times in China and Tibet's history all foreign missionaries were expelled or murdered by the new rulers. The local Christians had to submit  and usually renounce their faith, if they wanted to stay alive. The Communists did not act differently.

The secret hope that one day the priests will come back

The Catholic Church of Bainhanluo

"The churches were closed or converted into  storehouses or schools. The Christians had no right  to carry religious articles. They were threatened with the arrest," writes de Slizewicz. Those who had a leadership role among Christians, was persecuted and interned in concentration camps called laogai, where they had to perform forced labor.

Some areas that are particularly isolated and were far away from the political centers, escaped the wave of persecution. Some remote villages even preserved their own churches. Catholics no longer have their priests. In this regard, the Communists had done a great job with their hunt. For half a century the Catholics persevered without priests.  They gather in their churches for prayer, as taught to them by the French missionaries and long for the times when they had a priest.

Despite the severe persecution, the Catholic faith has survived in the rural population in the underground. And in spite of the radical break that the communist regime imposed upon Catholics 50 years ago, by taking  all their priests from them, "the Tibetans felt drawn closer to  God" as de Slizewicz reported. "They have dedicated their lives to the faith. These Tibetans converted to Catholicism do not do it as half-baked. In nearly 50 years without a priest and sacraments, they have not forgotten a word of what they were taught by the missionaries in the last century." And they hope that one day a priest will come back to them.

They maintain the graves of the missionaries - In the nativity scene are a yak and mule

A Catholic Church in Tibetan Yunnan

In the most remote villages they cultivate with devotion the tombs of the first French missionaries, they have never ceased to pray, celebrate Easter and Christmas, the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Instead ox and ass they put a Yak and a female mule in the nativity scene. Thus they  have not forgotten the Latin and pray the Our Father in the Church language of Rome.

In Baihanluo which is situated in the midst of the highest mountains in the world on a ledge,  among the 400-500 people  in the Catholic village community of de Slizewicz  there still lives a vivid memory of Brother Zacharias, a catechist and lay missionary from the people of the Lahu, who live in the mountains of Yunnan  and speak a Sino-Tibetan language.  Zacharias was in his mid-40s when the Communists took power. Before the persecution he fled to Nationalist China, then Formosa, now Taiwan. When he retired, he wanted to return and resume his job as a catechist at their homeland. He slipped in to the hidden Catholics of Tibet, among whom he taught and died ten years ago at the age of one hundred years. "Zacharias was in all the churches pouring holy water from Lourdes in the water," said the residents. Lourdes and the Marian apparitions  were well known among them. "If someone fell ill, he was given a drop of it, and three days later he was well again."

In addition to the hidden villages of Catholics there are is also a vibrant underground Church in Tibet 

Tibetan Catholics at Communion

In the outlying churches the damp books left behind by French missionaries are still carried. Among them are prayer books in the Tibetan language, which were printed in the late 19th century in Hong Kong.  The mountain Catholics are supsicious of  the outside world. Even with the underground Church loyal to Rome in the more developed areas of Tibet they have no contact.

As Deng Xiaoping, Mao's successor granted opening in the state and party leadership,  previously destroyed churches were rebuilt in some places, as in Zhongding, a more accessible valley of Tibet. There  Annet Génestier buried, a French missionary of the Puy de Dome, is buried, who died in 1937 in Zhongding. Catholics maintain his fife as a souvenir of his arduous missionary journeys through Tibet. Today there is the 39-year-old Chinese priest Francis Han Sheng.  Because of state paternalism, all Catholics in the regime are forced to obey the  Patriotic Association, there are besides  the hidden Catholic villages in Tibet, also a lively underground Church true to Rome. Since of the Chinese occupation of Tibet,  Catholic association close to the regime is irrelevant in the highlands.

Francis Hang Sheng says that there are more than 10,000 Catholics in Tibet. There is a lack especially of priests and resources. He supervises 16 churches in the area, celebrates  Holy Mass,  offers the sacraments and  strengthens the faithful.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Vatican Insider / Robert Hutchinson / China Daily News (screenshots)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches....

AMDG

Father Lombardi Calls Pope's Public Statements, "Confusing"

Edit: Sandro Magister has commented on an interview which appeared in National Geographic, of the Pope's mouthpiece, Father Lombardi, wherein the Vatican's Press Secretary confides some interesting views about the Holy Father's style, describing it as "confusing".

Father Lombardi also demystifies Pope Francis’s strategy in the field of geopolitics.

He makes the comparison between what Benedict XVI would tell him after a meeting with this or that world leader, to allow him to summarize the contents of the conversation in a statement, and what Pope Francis tells him today:
“It was incredible. Benedict was so clear. He would say: ‘We have spoken about these things, I agree with these points, I would argue against these other points, the objective of our next meeting will be this’ – two minutes and I’m totally clear about what the contents were. With Francis: ‘This is a wise man; he has had these interesting experiences.’ Diplomacy for Francis is not so much about strategy but instead: ‘I have met this person, we now have a personal relation, let us now do good for the people and for the Church.’”

Father Lombardi later writes Sandro Magister asking for a retraction. [Later]

 H/t: Katholisches... AMDG

Famed Shaolin Temple Surrounded by Charges of Scandal

Beijing (AsiaNews) – China’s controversial Buddhist monk, who earned himself the nickname of “CEO monk” after being accused of running the Shaolin Temple like a business, has been accused by a former monk of fathering illegitimate children, stealing monastery funds for his lover, acting with little religious disposition and showing no spirituality.

The monastery has denied all the allegations and has reported Shi Zhengyi (meaning, "interpreting justice" in Chinese) to the police for "fabricated and malicious insults and libel,” according to a statement on its website. However, many want the authorities to investigate the affair.

Shi Zhengyi posted allegations online saying that Shi was an “embezzler and womaniser” with illegitimate children, that he had been kicked out of the monastery in the late 1980s following accusations of theft made by his own master.

Asianews.it...

"No Compromises of the Church's Teaching" -- Cardinal Müller on the Bishops' Synod, SSPX, Medjugorje and Liberation Theology

(Rome) There will be "no compromise of the Church's teaching" in the Bishops' Synod this autumn. This was affirmed  by Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the prefect of the CDF. It is meant to seek pastoral ways to better integrate people in difficult situations in the community. While there is, says the Cardinal, no "substantial news" regarding  the SSPX, there would be a decision to Medjugorje in the fall.  Katholisch.de, the media portal of the German Bishops' Conference published an  an interview with the Cardinal.

Renewal and Deepening of  Marriage Preparation Necessary

Overlooking the Synod of Bishops on marriage and family  the German cardinal stressed that the Church must help "the people, even Catholics, ...to re-understand what the point is to marry and so, also publicly, to bind a person." While the discussion is so far turned mainly to the "failure" of marriages, Cardinal Müller stressed the need for "a renewal and deepening" of marriage preparation.

The cardinal also confirmed that the "ordinary general assembly" of the CDF will deal this "autumn" with Medjugorje: "The opinion of the Congregation will be  submitted  to the Holy Father for a further decision."

Various encounters with SSPX , "which should enhance mutual trust"

When asked whether the "unification efforts were suspended or postponed," since "recently" the  Priestly Society of St. Pius X had "become noticeably quiet," said Cardinal Müller that there was  "no substantial news in this issue." "The Holy Father wants us to keep at it: with 'determination and patience.'" In the "recent months", there were "encounters of various kinds, which should enhance mutual trust." "A prerequisite for a full reconciliation" said the Cardinal again, "is the signing of a doctrinal preamble, to ensure full compliance in the essential matters of faith." The Prefect's response   suggests that this singing the Preamble of 2012 is not required..

The recent trip to Latin America by Pope Francis has shown "that the Church must use an authentic liberation theology." He, Müller, has worked "for many years in accordance with the instruction of the Congregation" which the Marxist liberation theology was condemned in the 1980s, "for such a theology that is not aligned ideologically, but interested in the good of man and society." The election of Pope Francis on the Chair of Peter is "providential" because the majority of Catholics today live in Latin America. "Pope Francis has strengthened the believers  on his journey from the Gospel and encouraged and called the peoples there to  a peaceful and equitable coexistence. This is an order of the day," said Müller.

"I have Totally Committed my Life in Fidelity to the Pope"

When asked about his statement, there is a need to " theologically restructure" the pontificate of Pope Francis, the cardinal affirmed that "the specific task of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. . It has to promote the faith and morals throughout the Catholic Church on behalf of the Pope and protect his personal relationship with the reigning pope." Cardinal Müller said: "Personally,  I have totally committed my entire life in loyalty to the Pope."

Addressing eco-Encyclical Laudato Si, Müller said, that he is "very grateful for the encyclical" to the Pope. The document had a "very strong social-ethical component" and leads from "the tradition of the social encyclicals."  It "seems" to him that the Pope  proposed, "to open the eyes of all people of good will to the problem of environmental and human ecology and promote dialogue with each other  at all levels."

About the controversial issues is the allowance of remarried divorcees to Communion and the acceptance of homosexuality, with which the Synod of Bishops will deal next October, Cardinal Müller said: "Here the Synod faces the challenge to find pastoral ways of greater integration in the community, without compromising the Word of Jesus and the Church's teaching based on it. The family is irreplaceable importance for the future of the Church and of society. "

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: katholisch.de (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

When a Bishop Cites Uncomfortable Passages from the Old Testament

Bishop Huonder has published his presentation at the "Joy of Faith" Congress - presentation of the bishop as a video on kathTube

Fulda (kath.net)  The Bishop of Chur Vitus Huonder has published an opinion on the distorted media reports on Monday that arose during his lecture at the congress "Joy of Faith" last Friday: Kath.net documented the opinion of the Bishop of Chur from today: I am sorry if my 50  minute lecture in Fulda on 2 August 2015 which deals with the biblical basis for marriage and family, was occasionally understood as a reduction of homosexual people in the media. It was not meant for that. I quoted in the  the lecture several uncomfortable passages from the Old Testament that affect generally the marriage, sexuality or family.

I want to clarify that I have no desire to in any way diminish homosexual people with the presentation, whose main theme is the marriage from a Christian perspective,  and that I, when it comes to homosexuality, quote what is in the Catechism of the Catholic Church also in the annotations Lecture:  

2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, [Cf.Gen 19, 1-29; Rom 1.24 to 27; 1 Cor 6,10; 1 Tim 1,10.]141  That the Church tradition has always declared that "the homosexual acts are wrong in themselves" (CDF, ​​explanation. "Persona humana" 8). They violate the natural law, because the transmission of life is excluded the sexual. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity.  They should not approved in any case.


 2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

These words from the Catechism are the basis of the pastoral charity also towards people sensitive to homosexuality  who I have emphasized in the lecture in Fulda and in the unity of faith, apply to all of our Church pastors.

 Presentation of the Bishop of Fulda in video

Link to kath.net...
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG