Gaia Instead of the Cross --- Praying to Mother Earth?

 (Paris) A "Christian Ecological meeting"  took place from 28-30th August  in the city of Saint Etienne,  diocesan seat of the French Diocese, whose subjects revolved around the earth and the Eco-Encyclical  Laudato Si  by Pope Francis.   The event was organized by  the Diocese of Saint Etienne, the church newspaper La Vie, the Catholic establishment Service National Famille et Societé and the French Bishops' Conference.  The central theme was "Ecological Repentance," said Riposte Catholique.

Socialism was prominent around the  "Ecological Gathering:"  the former Minister  and current  President of the party Rassemblement citoyen-Cap21, a party reestablishment of Socialists, Greens and left-wing liberals of 2014 for "ecology, humanism and participatory democracy"; Jo Spiegel, Mayor of Kingersheim in Alsace and President of the Metropolitan Region Rhin-Rhone; Benoit Leclair, Vice President of the Rhone-Alpes region, and energy and climate change spokesman of the French countryside; or the militant eco-activist and left globalization opponent Genevieve Azam, who was the meeting's head.

Group dynamics, prominence and left critique of globalization

Bishop Lebrun

The program looked like a nostalgic celebration of  '68: there were endless teach-ins in many circles of chairs, collages, painting, crafts, group dynamic "processes", interreligious elements, much left critique of globalization for a "new world". The central word, "Ecological Repentance", was taken from Pope Francis' Eco Encyclical.

On Sunday, August 30,  as part of  the "Ecological Assembly" a Holy Mass which included liturgically  foreign elements. In addition to  Bishop Dominique Lebrun, several priests took part.   Instead of the cross a home-made globe was plaed in the center, around which all gathered in  a circle, including bishop and priests. Bishop Dominique Lebrun stood with Mitre, Crosier and chasuble, as well as  priests with chasubles, around the globe.The priest pictured right is holding a missal to hand.

Was Gaia, Mother Earth worshiped on Sunday, August 30 in Saint Etienne?  Was this dubious liturgy Bishop Lebrun's parting gift to the diocese of St. Etienne? 

Bishop Lebrun was appointed by Pope Francis archbishop of Rouen and Primate of Normandy last 10 July. The Diocese of Saint Etienne is currently  vacant.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Riposte Catholique

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

ink to Katholisches...

AMDG

Islamists Hunt for Proselytes on St. Peter's Square

Islamic State at St. Peter's Square

Edit: nature abhors a vacuum.  If Catholics scorn proselytism, the Muslims don't.

(Rome) Two women covered from head to toe, and three young bearded men.

They defy the hot midday heat and the sultry air. For a good quarter of an hour they posed for pictures against the backdrop of magnificent facade of St. Peter's Basilica and the mighty dome of St. Peter.

An Islamic family, who, like thousands of tourists every day  mad a commemorative photo, on vacation.

It's an increasingly frequent image that one gets to see in Rome at St. Peter's Square. An image that was completely uncommon a few years ago.

More and more Muslims to St. Peter's in Rome

There is a long way between these innocuous images and when a bearded man was photographed on St. Peter's Square with the black banner of the Islamic State (IS). Or the photo montages with the black flag waving on the dome of St. Peter, published on the internet for the  propaganda purposes of the Islamic State (IS). The Islamists are in the center of Christianity. Images that went around the world and triggered some shudder.

If you stroll through the most visited streets around St. Peter's Square, the Borgo Pio about Borgo Vittorio to Borgo Sant'Angelo, you may find that the many Muslims there, including the particularly strict Salafists and Wahhabis, has become customary, allowed to behold St. Peter's.

The waiters of the restaurants and trattorias that have the safest view of the  bustling throng, confirm it. They come not only as tourists. Some seem like spies, and harbingers of things to come. In the neighborhoods around the Vatican, more and more Muslims are settled. Here and there, are businesses opened that are run by Bengalis, Pakistanis, Tunisians or else a Muslim, next to a kebab shop are bags, towels ...

Victory sign in front of St. Peter's Basilica - "You Want Allah?"

In the weekly supplement Venerdì of the daily newspaper La Repubblica,  Vaticanist Filippo Di Giacomo has written an article: "There is an Increasingly Stronger Presence of Islamic Prayer around St. Peter", about which he reported on the increase of Muslims in Rome and in the streets around the Vatican.

Di Giacomo also reported that it is increasingly frequented by groups of men in oriental sack clothes and beards that take selfies before St. Peter's Basilica. With one hand they hold their smartphone, with the other hand they make a victory sign. The gesture is in need of interpretation, the first thought in any case is not necessarily reassuring.

Di Giacomo especially described the bearded men who ask tourists and locals alike in the streets and squares around   St Peter's: "Do you want Allah? Do you like Allah? "

While the Vatican discusses,  the Vatican neighborhood has the largest Islamic density

From 9 clock in the morning Muslims recruit for Islam in the shadow of the dome of St. Peter every day. They hold the Quran in the air and carry hanging poster boards for Allah and Islam. This appearance is now  frequently seen in many European cities. From Hamburg to Cologne, Stuttgart and Zurich, from Vienna to Berlin they "decorate" the cityscape  in German-speaking countries.

Also in Rome bearded men invite the Moslems to pray to Allah. There is no shortage of larger and smaller to the smallest prayer rooms, sometimes even the backyard of a business  run by Islamic immigrants. Also in the Borghi around the Vatican, they are in existence  and there will always be more.

While their Islamist peers in the Middle East and Africa are hunting down Christians, raping them, driving them into exile, murdering, the  Islamists engage unmolested in prosylitism in St. Peter's Square.

"While the Vatican is  discussing, the Vatican neighborhood already has the largest concentration of Islamic prayer rooms of Rome," said Di Giacomo.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Messa in Latino

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

AMDG

The Third World War Has Already Begun -- And It is Being Waged Against the Church

The Third World War Already
 is Taking Place -- Against the Catholic
Church

(Rome) The financial expert and banker Ettore Gotti Tedeschi was President of the Vatican Bank IOR from 2009 to 2012. During his presidency, incisive reforms to increase transparency were made. Through it was through an opaque machination that he lost his job but was rehabilitated by the judiciary.

Today he writes commentaries on current world events for the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano and the business newspaper Il Sole-24Ore.

In the Catholic online daily Nuova Bussola Quotidianahe on September 1st, he published an essay on the battle between Church and Gnosticism.

,

The Third World War has already broken out - against the Church

Ettore Gotti Tedeschi -

Recently, all seem - the Catholic world with included - anxious to avoid a supposedly predictable Third World War, triggered by religious fundamentalism, nationalism, racism and forms of discrimination, that globalism which has dramatically accelerated terrorism.

To avoid it (instead of developing strategies to address these problems and to solve them) it seems to have agreed instead to identify the first "cause" of this danger in what Gnosticism had always wanted to destroy: in the Christian faith.

With regard to  catholicity, the action focused initially on two issues: the relativity of human dignity and of religious dogmas.

The Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Then they appear to have tried to persuade of a reasonable advance in ecumenism for an already multicultural and multi-religious world, trying to make you think that the truth emerges from dialogue.

Then they seem to have tried to persuade the Church to recognize the infallibility of personal conscience and reduce its of moral authority.

To as it seems decided, would have us believe that the moral misery is a result of economic misery.

The Church is encouraged to separate itself from her possessions and to distribute them and abandon evangelization.

This is justified rationally: evangelization is inconsistent with the multi-religious and multi-cultural historical reality, depriving neighbor of his freedom and dangerously harming the cultures of other peoples.

It seems they have decided to let the immigration process to accelerate...

And to explain it is necessary, useful and compelling  (to close the population gab to make more cultural diversity...).

Meanwhile, the inexorable process is evident throughout the "civilized" world to impose "civilized" conformist laws  on the moral vision and the moral behavior (the origin of the conflict).

The Church is encouraged (and seems itself to encourage), to deal with comforting, and educate less.

It is far more serious that the whole world should  accept the "ecological" program as a world religion that unites all nations of the earth.

With all due respect: there are fears that a third world war is breaking out or has already broken

Jesus on a ruined Calvary 

and is being defeated  by the Gnosis of the 21st century that has overwhelmed Christendom?

It appears namely that Gnosis has defeated evangelization.

There is at this point a consideration to make:

We Catholics have always thought that God writes history and that this story is the eternal conflict between Gnosticism and Revelation.

We have always thought that the trained conscience recognizes what is good and evil, and determines the meaning of our lives and our actions; for Christianity has always influenced history in this way, although Gnosis has always stood in its way, and that it has always tried to eradicate this "sense".

I would ask the reader but to consider something else. In the history of the past 2000 years to make it, a, like ours, global spread, which in its line of argumentation is "absurd"  (remember: founded on the incarnation of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, founded on the resurrection! ) where neither the logic applies nor could reason (sic et simpliciter), nor on the lie, nor on mere hope, nor coercion and conquest: How could one not believe that history is directly written by God through his  grace?

Now we no longer believe that?

But we go one step further. Those who accept Christianity, there can not engage it by striving for power (those who have tried, have lost) nor looking for pleasure, success, etc. Those who have embraced Christianity, knew, indeed according to their estate, that they must separate from the world, knew that they must renounce it and carry the cross.

So how could you think that Christianity alone would, without God, have survived and written history under these conditions?

But why do we fear these times, these challenges, the new persecutions and dangers of today?

History was written thanks to the effort to make known the truth.

This effort succeeded only as long as that which "was worldly, was subordinated to the otherworldly."

Today, in order to tackle the issues mentioned above, the consequences of globalization are (to simplify), demanded more than ever, to affirm  truth in order to create a truly global society which is based on  real human rights and not just on an unsustainable accumulation of cultures without anything that  really unites them.

Therefore Gnosticism suggests that all unite in a form of "pseudo-religious" and Malthusian environmentalism.

Do we want to allow this?

Burning Church (Marie Sanctuary of Muxia, Spain)

The history of mankind is understood, in understanding the role of the Church, because only the church can express and restore the meaning and order of creation. [!]

If this should not happen, our historical epoch will become sterile and even harmful for our children and descendants, we would leave them a totally different legacy than just leaving them a damaged environment  ... much worse: We would leave them a damaged morality, a damaged culture. Do we understand that?

If the church is no longer teacher, original sin explodes in thought and action of man.

When the church leaves the conscience of man freely infected by the motives of the alleged dominant cultures and fashions,  man goes astray.

If the church does not evangelize, it deprives people of the right to know Christ.

History can not be written with the Gnostic and nihilistic disorder.

One can not simply limit  himself to observing and to expressing opinions that are requested by the prevailing culture. One can not limit himself to consolation rather than to instruct, rather than calling to prayer and to confirm and give the sacraments.

It is also written in the encyclical Lumen Fidei. This is how the reins of history are taken in hand again.

Above all, we must not be afraid.

What's good for the wolves, can not be good for the lambs.

Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
image NBQ / MiL
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

Inexplicable Censorship -- Vatican Publisher Presents Transcript of Proceedings on Emperor Constantine the Great

In Hoc Signo Vinces - censorship in the Vatican against Constantine the Great

(Rome) "The impudence of those who are obviously moved, to the detriment of the truth by an ideological schema, is always worrying," said Corrrispondenza Romana.  During proceedings at the Vatican publishing house,  the conference transcript about the Emperor Constantine the Great and the Constantinian Shift has recently appeared. It's a transcript with curious surprises, revealing an alarming censorship.

From the 18th-21st April 2012 on  the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, an international meeting of historians took place on the figure of Emperor Constantine the Great. The meeting had been initiated by the reigning President until 2009 of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, Cardinal Walter Brandmüller. Renowned speakers discussed  key issues that ranged from the conversion of the emperor, to the relationship between Christians and the Roman Empire, and Constantine's vision before the decisive  victory of October 28th, 312.

Speech by Professor de Mattei disappears

Recently, the Vatican publishing house will publish the title "Constantine the Great.  On the Roots of Europe,"  as the conference's volume and which will be presented  in the Augustinianum in Rome. Among the "most important experts in the field", as the acting President of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences writes, there was also the  historian Roberto de Mattei, who illustrated in a highly regarded paper, the "archetypal significance of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge." The presentation by Professor de Mattei is, however, gone. It is not found in the conference proceedings in which the papers were published. De Mattei was also not invited to the presentation of the volume, which can be assessed as an additional personal rebuff by the publisher.

"How is such an inexplicable censorship possible?" asked Corrispondenza Romana. To many it may have caused some upset  that Professor de Mattei regarded the Vision of Constantine, with its luminous signs in form of a cross on the sun with the words "In Hoc Signo Vinces," as genuine.   In a time in which even Catholic theological faculties of priest-professors deny the authenticity of the miracles of Jesus, "because they are  scientifically impossible,"  someone may have felt provoked.

Vision and Victory of Constantine of "Archetypal Meaning"

Constantine the Great

The upset stomach of many must have grown, as de Mattei pointed out that in the vision of the emperor and its consequences  became a model for the following centuries, can be seen, and therefore taken up by Saint Pius X which he testified in the Apostolic Exhortation Universi christifidelibus, with which he announced the Constantinian Jubilee in commemoration of the historic event announced on 8 March 1913:

"At that time the Church Militant finally obtained the first of those triumphs which was relieved from previous epochs of all kinds of persecutions and stood ready on that day in the company of the human race for ever greater deeds."

What is significant to the battle of Saxa Rubra as  "military and political triumph," says Professor de Mattei in his speech, is "not separate from the wonderful intuition of Constantine." He continues: "Christ himself called on Constantine and his legions to fight on His behalf. Thus, He established the principle that it is lawful to fight on behalf of God, when the cause is just and the war is declared a holy war. The battle of 28 October proved not only the legality of Christians to serve in the army, but was declared instinctu divinitatis the first holy war of the Christian era."

"In Hoc Signo Vinces" means not only "internal victory over sin, but also public, armed victory"

So the motto "In Hoc Signo Vinces," the "Signum Crucis, binds the symbol of the cross to a victory that is not only the inner victory over the disordered passions and sin, but also a public, armed, military victory."

Although these statements by Professor de Mattei were covered in detail by the sources, they seem not to have fit the picture of someone in the Vatican, whether the Pontifical Committee for Historical Research, the Vatican publishing house or even someone in a high position. To invite a speaker as a designated expert to a meeting and then to dismiss his paper without any justification, without even mentioning the name of the speaker, is not only a personal affront, and not just a violation of all intellectual and academic practice, but pure censorship. It's a manipulation behind which hides a falsification of history.

Corrispondenza Romana provides the additional question: "Who is afraid of Constantine the Great?"

Second Lecture also Disappears

Proceedings

It was not only de Mattei's lecture which has disappeared. But  the presentation by Professor Gianluigi Falchi from the Lateran University also can not be found in the conference proceedings. Professor Falchi talked about freedom of religion and the baptism of Constantine. In this case, there was no "plausible" explanation either,  as the historian had died in the meantime and thus his text could no longer see the printing. However,  a complete eradication is still not justified. Propriety entirely demands the publication of  papers in such cases with a note.

The case of Professor de Mattei, however, offers no "plausible" explanation.  Therefore, there remains only the assumption that the contents of the lecture were not in fitting with the picture of that hasty distancing from the "Constantinian shift" matches in which to practice numerous church representatives.

When emerged from the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, as the chairman of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, the French Premonstratensian Bernard Ardura, writes in his foreword to the conference proceedings, really a "new world" and a Europe "in which the values ​​of human dignity, freedom of conscience, freedom of religion and freedom of worship flourished ", it is difficult to understand that all this is depressed at the same time in connection with this meeting through censorship with feet that just wanted to emphasize these principles.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Corrispondenza Romana

Feast of Pope Saint Pius X: Bane of Modernists

Have raised up a chosen man from My people; with My holy oil I have anointed him, that My hand may help him and My arm strengthen him. Ps. 88:2. The mercies of the Lord I will sing forever; through all generations my tongue shall proclaim Your faithfulness. [Latin Mass Propers]

Image: wikicommons

SSPX Gratefully Thanks the Supreme Pontiff for "His Fatherly Gesture"

(Rome / Menzingen) The Society of St. Pius X has thanked Pope Francis for the "fatherly gesture" with which he decreed that the absolution of sins by a priest of the SSPX during the Holy Year of mercy can be received "validly and licitly."

The General House, founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre SSPX, published a corresponding communiqué. Meanwhile, contacts between the General Council of the Society and the competent authorities of the Holy See continue in looking for a solution that allows for full communion and the canonical recognition of the Society.

Communiqué of the General House of the SSPX to the Pope's Letter

The communiqué of the General House of the Society of St. Pius X to the Pope's letter Francis on the occasion of the approaching Holy Year in full text:

"The Society of St. Pius X has heard through the press, the dispositions of Pope Francis on the occasion of the coming Holy Year.

"In the last section of his letter, which he addressed to  Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, the Holy Father writes: '[I] determine [...] In the meantime, in its own disposal, that those who during the Holy Year of Mercy receive the sacrament of reconciliation with the priests of the Fraternity of St. Pius X,  will receive valid and licit absolution of their sins achieve.'

"The Fraternity expresses its gratitude to the Supreme Pontiff for his fatherly gesture.  In the administration of the sacrament of penance we have always relied and with complete certainty, in the extraordinary jurisdiction, as asserted by the Normae generales of the Canon Law. On the occasion of this Jubilee Year, Pope Francis wants that all the faithful who wish to confess to the priests of the Fraternity of St. Pius X, can do so without any concern.

This year, the priests of the Fraternity of St. Pius X will return in their hearts, with renewed generosity to their posts as confessors.  The example of the tireless efforts of  St. Vianney has been given to all priests to follow.

Menzingen, the September 1, 2015

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Vatican Insider

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholishes...

AMDG

Piero Marini Appointed as New President of Liturgy Commission for Eastern Churches

Msgr. Piero Marini is the New President
of the Special Commission for the
Liturgy of Oriental Churches

(Rome) Pope Francis renewed the composition of the Special Commission for the Liturgy of the Congregation for Eastern Churches. The new President  he has appointed is Archbishop Curia Piero Marini, the former master of ceremonies of Pope John Paul II.

Msgr. Piero Marini was not confirmed in this post by Pope Benedict XVI.. He was replaced by Msgr. Guido Marini, who in spite of the concurrence of the same name, has a different liturgical sensibility. Piero Marini is a student of Curial Archbishop, Annibale Bugnini, the creator of radical liturgical reform of 1969. Guido Marini, however, is a disciple of Cardinal Giuseppe Siri, archbishop of Genoa, whom Pope Pius XII. had considered his "natural" successor.

Archbishop Piero Marini, who had customized unusual, colorful vestment creations for John Paul II.,  repeatedly expressed himself disparaging over the attempts and efforts to recover the sacredness of the sacred liturgy by the German Pope. Instead of new acquisitions, the German Pope took advantage of the pre-conciliar vestments of his predecessors, to also be a signal of continuity in the Church also about the Council  (St. Francis of Assisi Instead of Annibale Bugnini -. Benedict XVI Exhorts Bishops to Respect Liturgy).

About the choice of Francis as Pope Piero Marini commented, saying that now the "stuffy air" at the Vatican has come to an end and you could "again breathe fresh air"  (Ex Master of Ceremonies Piero Marini: Under Francis "breathes fresh air after marshy, stuffy air "). Msgr. Piero Marini is one of the prelates, who has an advocated an opening towards  homosexuals  (three cardinals, two archbishops and Vatican Spokesman for Compromise with Homosexuals? - What Does Pope Francis Do? ).

The Special Committee is now composed as follows:

• Archbishop Piero Marini,  President
• Andrew McLean Cummings, secretary
• Father Tedros Abraha OFM Cap.
• Father Cesare Giraudo SJ
• Father Thomas D. Pott OSB
• Archimandrite Manuel Nin OSB
• Father Rinaldo Iacopino SM

So far, the liturgy of the Eastern Church has been untouched by  the liturgical reform of the Vinentian Annibale Bugnini.  That could change now. Curial Archbishop Piero Marini is proud of his heritage as a Bugnini student. The Maronite rite could  be especially affected by corresponding changes.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Wikicommons

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Pope Invokes New Evangelization to Encourage the Society for Saint Pius X For Jubilee of Mercy

Edit: does Bishop Athanasius Schneider have the Pope's ear? Apparently so, since he has heard many good things about the Society, and that Bishop Schneider was visitor.

Apparently, "all are welcome".  Here is the text:

To My Venerable Brother Archbishop Rino Fisichella President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization

With the approach of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy I would like to focus on several points which I believe require attention to enable the celebration of the Holy Year to be for all believers a true moment of encounter with the mercy of God. It is indeed my wish that the Jubilee be a living experience of the closeness of the Father, whose tenderness is almost tangible, so that the faith of every believer may be strengthened and thus testimony to it be ever more effective. 

My thought first of all goes to all the faithful who, whether in individual Dioceses or as pilgrims to Rome, will experience the grace of the Jubilee. I wish that the Jubilee Indulgence may reach each one as a genuine experience of God’s mercy, which comes to meet each person in the Face of the Father who welcomes and forgives, forgetting completely the sin committed. To experience and obtain the Indulgence, the faithful are called to make a brief pilgrimage to the Holy Door, open in every Cathedral or in the churches designated by the Diocesan Bishop, and in the four Papal Basilicas in Rome, as a sign of the deep desire for true conversion. Likewise, I dispose that the Indulgence may be obtained in the Shrines in which the Door of Mercy is open and in the churches which traditionally are identified as Jubilee Churches. It is important that this moment be linked, first and foremost, to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and to the celebration of the Holy Eucharist with a reflection on mercy. It will be necessary to accompany these celebrations with the profession of faith and with prayer for me and for the intentions that I bear in my heart for the good of the Church and of the entire world. 

Additionally, I am thinking of those for whom, for various reasons, it will be impossible to enter the Holy Door, particularly the sick and people who are elderly and alone, often confined to the home. For them it will be of great help to live their sickness and suffering as an experience of closeness to the Lord who in the mystery of his Passion, death and Resurrection indicates the royal road which gives meaning to pain and loneliness. Living with faith and joyful hope this moment of trial, receiving communion or attending Holy Mass and community prayer, even through the various means of communication, will be for them the means of obtaining the Jubilee Indulgence. My thoughts also turn to those incarcerated, whose freedom is limited. The Jubilee Year has always constituted an opportunity for great amnesty, which is intended to include the many people who, despite deserving punishment, have become conscious of the injustice they worked and sincerely wish to re-enter society and make their honest contribution to it. May they all be touched in a tangible way by the mercy of the Father who wants to be close to those who have the greatest need of his forgiveness. They may obtain the Indulgence in the chapels of the prisons. May the gesture of directing their thought and prayer to the Father each time they cross the threshold of their cell signify for them their passage through the Holy Door, because the mercy of God is able to transform hearts, and is also able to transform bars into an experience of freedom. 

I have asked the Church in this Jubilee Year to rediscover the richness encompassed by the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. The experience of mercy, indeed, becomes visible in the witness of concrete signs as Jesus himself taught us. Each time that one of the faithful personally performs one or more of these actions, he or she shall surely obtain the Jubilee Indulgence. Hence the commitment to live by mercy so as to obtain the grace of complete and exhaustive forgiveness by the power of the love of the Father who excludes no one. The Jubilee Indulgence is thus full, the fruit of the very event which is to be celebrated and experienced with faith, hope and charity. 

Furthermore, the Jubilee Indulgence can also be obtained for the deceased. We are bound to them by the witness of faith and charity that they have left us. Thus, as we remember them in the Eucharistic celebration, thus we can, in the great mystery of the Communion of Saints, pray for them, that the merciful Face of the Father free them of every remnant of fault and strongly embrace them in the unending beatitude. 

One of the serious problems of our time is clearly the changed relationship with respect to life. A widespread and insensitive mentality has led to the loss of the proper personal and social sensitivity to welcome new life. The tragedy of abortion is experienced by some with a superficial awareness, as if not realizing the extreme harm that such an act entails. Many others, on the other hand, although experiencing this moment as a defeat, believe that they have no other option. I think in particular of all the women who have resorted to abortion. I am well aware of the pressure that has led them to this decision. I know that it is an existential and moral ordeal. I have met so many women who bear in their heart the scar of this agonizing and painful decision. What has happened is profoundly unjust; yet only understanding the truth of it can enable one not to lose hope. The forgiveness of God cannot be denied to one who has repented, especially when that person approaches the Sacrament of Confession with a sincere heart in order to obtain reconciliation with the Father. For this reason too, I have decided, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, to concede to all priests for the Jubilee Year the discretion to absolve of the sin of abortion those who have procured it and who, with contrite heart, seek forgiveness for it. May priests fulfil this great task by expressing words of genuine welcome combined with a reflection that explains the gravity of the sin committed, besides indicating a path of authentic conversion by which to obtain the true and generous forgiveness of the Father who renews all with his presence. 

A final consideration concerns those faithful who for various reasons choose to attend churches officiated by priests of the Fraternity of St Pius X. This Jubilee Year of Mercy excludes no one. From various quarters, several Brother Bishops have told me of their good faith and sacramental practice, combined however with an uneasy situation from the pastoral standpoint. I trust that in the near future solutions may be found to recover full communion with the priests and superiors of the Fraternity. In the meantime, motivated by the need to respond to the good of these faithful, through my own disposition, I establish that those who during the Holy Year of Mercy approach these priests of the Fraternity of St Pius X to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation shall validly and licitly receive the absolution of their sins. 

Trusting in the intercession of the Mother of Mercy, I entrust the preparations for this Extraordinary Jubilee Year to her protection. 

From the Vatican, 1 September 2015

Where the Apostle Peter Celebrated His First Holy Mass in Europe

San Piero a Grado: Where Petrus Celebrated
His First Holy Mass in Europe

(Rome) in the Basilica of San Piero a Grado is the place where, according to tradition,   the apostle Peter celebrated his first Holy Mass in Europe in  year 44.  The first Basilica consecrated by the Vicar of Jesus Christ is not Peter's Basilica  located  in the better-known Adriatic town of Grado, but in a small unknown village in the city of Pisa in Tuscany.

Grado is located one kilometer from the River Arno southwest of Pisa. At that time   the main branch of the Arno flowed here into the Tyrrhenian Sea. Today, the site is located just six kilometers from the sea. In the port of Grado, according to the oldest local tradition, is where St. Peter landed, as he wanted to get on a ship from Palestine to Rome. That was in the year 44 AD. In that year, therefore, the celebration of his first sacrifice of the mass in Europe took place.

Early Christian Church

There are proven traces of churches from early Christian times. The oldest excavated church dates from the 4th century. It stands on the older foundations of the old port facility. The second church was in built in the 6th / 7th century, probably after a fire.

The present basilica was built in the 10th century and was rebuilt and expanded in the next 200 years. The church has the shape of a three-aisled basilica except with the particularity that   east and west facades end with apses. The reason for this is likely to be the severe damage to the original west facade, perhaps by the Arno's flood. Because of the destruction,  the nave was shortened by twelve meters. The entrance has been on the north side since then.

Ancient column and marble top -  the improvised altar, on which Petrus celebrated 

Altar of St. Peter (center)

The church was,  so the tradition, built exactly on the spot where the Prince of the Apostles had celebrated the first Mass on an improvised altar. While the hitherto most important archaeological excavations of an ancient Roman pillar 1955-1965 were discovered with a marble slab on it. This was around the altar of the early Christian basilica. The column and slab are kept in the Basilica.

In the sanctuary is a ciborium located above the altar since the 14th century.   During the excavations it was discovered that the ciborium is exactly above the altar of the early Christian  and Lombard churches.

The excavations offer  by the obvious significance of the altar location and at the same time, the unusual altar, is evidence for the authenticity of Petrus-Tradition. This is also the unusual for a small village, given the size of the church building, which necessitated the  use of the valuable materials, underline the importance of the cult place.

Pope portraits - Older than Those in St. Paul Outside the Walls

The Popes of the first Christian millennium: older than the portraits in St. Paul Outside the Walls

In 1300, on the occasion of the first Holy Year proclaimed   by Pope Bonfatius VIII.,  the powerful Lombard family of Gaetani gave the painter Deodato Orlandi from Lucca a commission to decorate the appropriate areas of the entire central nave with a fresco cycle.

The extensive work consists of three superimposed image series and has recently been restored. In the bottom row there are the portraits of all the popes of the first Christian millennium, the apostle Peter to John XVII., who reigned in the year 1003.  Pope portraits can also be found in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome with the difference that those of  of San Piero a Grado are older.

The middle  frescoes depict the life of the Apostle Peter, including his voyage to Italy; plus scenes from the lives of other saints, including the Apostle Paul and Saint Pope Silvester I. The top row of images show the heavenly city of Jerusalem from whose windows peer angels and saints.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Wikicommons / San Piero a Grado (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

Benedict XVI Celebrates Mass with the Ratzinger Schülerkreis

Celebration formed the conclusion of the traditional meeting of the Ratzinger Schülerkreis- Schönborn is the spiritual leader of the circle

Vatican City (kath.net/KAP) Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI. celebrated Mass with his students . The celebration on Sunday in the church of the Campo Teutonico next to St. Peter's Basilica was the conclusion of the traditional meeting of the Ratzinger student circle. Theologians had since Thursday met at Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence of the site south of Rome. The theme was "How to speak of God - The crisis of faith in Europe". The Spiritual Director was the Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, who together with Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council, concelebrated at the Mass with Benedict XVI.

After the Eucharistic celebration, the emeritus pope consecrated the lecture hall, "Aula Benedict XVI - Joseph Ratzinger." According to Vatican Radio, he said: "Bless this auditorium at Campo Teutonico, fill all with love and justice, who will gather here. Grant that everything that happens in this auditorium, will be for the spiritual growth of your Church."

In his acceptance speech, the Rector of the house, Hans Peter Fischer, mentioned inauguration of the "the Rome library Joseph Ratzinger" expected in a few weeks. The joint project of the housed in the Collegio Teutonico, Goerres society and the Priest Colleges as well as the Pope Benedict Institute in Regensburg will be inaugurated on 18 November with a lecture by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi on the topic "From the Bible to the library: Benedict XVI and the culture of word."

Following the blessing of the new auditorium, which was attended by the entire student circle. Pope Benedict XVI. individually greeted the around forty participants, including the head of Ratzinger student circle, Professor Stefan Horn.

Link...

Doesn't Pope Francis Brag About How Catholic He Is?

But what about people who are allowed to spread confusion and also insist they are Catholic, still breaking their own rules, yet criticize others in the "faith communities" for not being humble enough or truly Catholic? From NCR:

Pope Francis has strongly criticized Catholics who brag that they are perfect followers of the church's teachings but then criticize or speak ill of others in their faith communities, saying they cause scandal and even offer a "counter-witness" to Jesus.

"We all know in our communities, in our parishes, in our neighborhoods how much hurt they do the church, and give scandal, those persons that call themselves 'Very Catholic,'" the pontiff said Sunday.

"They go often to church, but after, in their daily life, ignore the family, speak ill of others, and so on," he continued. "This is that which Jesus condemns because this is a Christian 'counter-witness.'"

Francis was speaking Sunday in an off-the-cuff moment during his weekly Angelus address in St. Peter's Square, which focused on one of Jesus' teachings about the role of the proscribed laws of the faith of his time.

The Gospel for the day, taken from Mark, sees Jesus questioned by Pharisees about why his disciples did not follow Jewish law regarding the cleansing of hands before eating. Jesus calls the Pharisees hypocrites, quoting the prophet Isaiah and saying they honor God with their lips but not their hearts.

http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/francis-catholics-who-judge-criticize-offer-counter-witness-jesus

Did Pope Francis Really Encourage Lesbian Author Who Has Written "Gender" Children's Books: "Keep Going"?

Edit: there was another book disseminated by an Argentine publisher, featuring the pope involving these themes, which the Vatican also distanced itself from, apparently.

(Rome) Two lesbian authors of "gender" books provided a letter from the Vatican Secretary of State for discussion, which was submitted on behalf of Pope Francis. The lesbians advertised this saying that the pope had "encouraged" the to "keep going."  The headline of Corriere della Sera (online edition) was on Friday: "Pope Francis Writes the Author of Gender-books: 'Keep going. '"

A denial from the Vatican came, in this case, as soon as possible. Together with Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi SJ,   Vatican spokesman Vice Father Ciro  Benedettini CP clarified: "The Pope has not encouraged the gender theory".

Rapid correction by the Press Office of the Vatican

The full text of the statement by the Deputy Vatican spokesman Benedettini, as published by the Holy See Press Office:

On answering journalists' questions the deputy director of the Press Office of the Holy See made ​​the following statement today from the morning: 

In reply to a polite and respectful letter by Francesca Pradi to the Holy Father, the Secretariat of State has acknowledged its receipt in a simple and pastoral style and clarified in following, that this is a question of a private reply and it was therefore not intended for publication (which was unfortunately done).
In no way does the letter from the Secretariat of State wish to endorse practices and teachings   that do not match with the Gospel, but expressed desires for "to bear ever more fruit for activity in the service of  generations of the young and the spread of authentic human and Christian values."
The blessing of the Pope at the end of the letter applies to the person and does  not portend  any eventual teachings, that do not correspond with the doctrine of the Church, as the Holy Father has emphasized on several occasions in recent years. An exploitation of the contents of the letter is therefore totally inappropriate.

Aberrosexual author sent the Pope her books

Francesca Pradis Aberrosexual animals, which do not exist in reality

This past June 19 Francesca Pradi had written to the Pope, and also sent him 30 of her books. In the letter she complained to have been attacked in the past year and a half by "homophobes", claiming that some Catholic organizations  insisted that she writes books  with content that does not exist in reality. Pradi is with her aberrosexual partner, Maria Silvia Fiengo, the founder of the children's book publishing house "Lo Stampatello" and the author of numerous "gender" children's books advertised as children for  "homosexuality".

Pradi's publications are on the list of books that could be removed from the Mayor of Venice, kindergartens and schools of the lagoon city.

Answer by the State Secretariat - "I was surprised and touched"

Pradi received from the Vatican Secretariat of State a letter of reply on behalf of the Pope, which is signed by the Assessor, Peter Brian Wells. The author made ​​the response public by claiming that Pope Francis had encouraged them in their actions, to "continue". She had been "surprised" and "touched" by  the words of the Pope, to spread to the gender ideology, so went Pradi's interpretation willingly supported and given by the Corriere della Sera. 

The State Secretariat explained within a few hours by its press-service, that this  had  been a  merely routine letter of reply. Indeed, Assessor Wells  signs 60,000 such letters in one year. It had been a standard response of ten lines. To want to derive from that letter, a support and encouragement for the gender ideology, is totally inadmissible.

Pope Francis spoke repeatedly about the gender theory. On the 15th of April at the general audience he said most clearly: "The elimination of the distinction is the problem, not the solution".

What the Press Office makes clear and what not

Correction of the Vatican Press Office

The Press Office of the Vatican made ​​clear the fact that the gender theory does not agree with the teaching of the Church and could not be supported by Catholics, which contradicts the teachings of the Church.  "One important clarification," said Traditio Catholica.

The Press Office also clarified that the words "keep going" were not used in the Vatican reply, but was fictitious from the lesbian author. In addition, the papal blessing is directed to the person and not some doctrine  in force.

The press office did not deny the existence of the letter, but gave the contents a different reading. But why is a "gender" author even supposed to "actively bear more fruit," although they had sent their books and were thus incompatible with Catholic doctrine, the ideological orientation would have been easy to verify. Is there anyone at the State Secretariat  to routinely respond or "routine"?

"The suggestion that the 'authentic human and Christian values ​​will be disseminated ' are laudable, creates the context but, at best, of an ambiguity. Likewise, it may be that the blessing of the person was not their ideology, but the person is a whole. They can not be separated from their ideas. That's like saying, 'I bless xy, but not the ideology that he represents'. That seems a sophism." said Traditio Catholica.

Venice mayor is the new object of hatred of the aberrosexual lobby

In a time in which there is no day on which the aberrosexual-associations do not invent a new "enemy" it wants to bring down; in a time in which the homo lobby, like a horde of beatniks that interject, as aggressive as it is exhibitionist  in its intolerant message, levity is in dealing with the gender theory and their representatives is a luxury that the Catholic Church and all people of goodwill can not afford. This has not altered anything, that the instrumentalization of the pope is obviously not against the Church, but against the mayor of Venice.

The studied architect and entrepreneur, Luigi Brugnaro has been Mayor of Venice since June 14, 2015. After 22 years, he managed to take the mayor's chair from  political left. The Conservatives have clear ideas about Gay Pride ("Carnival"), and gender ideology, which were sponsored by his leftist predecessors with zeal. One of Bugnaro's  first acts was to remove from the libraries of schools and kindergartens all books in which the gender ideology is represented. Since then he is a preferred object of hatred of the "gay" lobby.

Pradis gay penguins and their defiant phrase

The removal of the books also includes Publications by Francesca Pradi, including the richly illustrated story of two gay penguins, they are-- naturally-- male, adopt an orphaned baby penguin.

After rectification by the Vatican, Francesca Pradi took a quick turn. In one of the statements she's been  spreading around, it now reads:

"Pope Francis has not written to me, 'Keep Going'. His answer is not an opening towards homosexual parental families. But it's certainly a change of tone. He gives us the respect back that we deserve, as individuals and as families."

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Riscossa Christiana / Amazon (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG