Refugee Crisis as Swan Song --- Pope Francis Begs Forgiveness of Refugees in New Video Message

Pope Francis and the undistinguished questions of refugees

Edit: rather than calling for a Crusade, he wants to let them into the gates.

(Rome) Pope Francis asks the refugees in a video message "for pardon" that "we" had "too often" not included them.

The video message was released today in Rome. It was created for the 35th anniversary of the  Jesuit run refugee center, Centro Astalli in Rome. Pope Francis admiringly recalled  the controversial Superior General of the Jesuits, Father Pedro Arrupe, whom Pope John Paul II. had ousted in 1981  because of progressive aberrations in the Order. 

Francis lists a number of reasons that cause people to flee and thus would be conferred the status of "refugee" would confer, who would require "to share bread,  house and life." It's an explosive range to justify the worldwide mass migrations.

The video message was delivered by Pope Francis extempore. It is tied with the Lampedusa gestures with Pope Francis' continued visits to the island of Lampedusa (Italy), of Ciudad Juarez (Mexico) and the island of Lesbos (Greece). This includes his appeal of 5 September 2015: " Take all, good and bad ." It's an appeal by Pope Francis that brought complaints about a lack of distinction between the various individuals, whether Islamist, murderer, thief, and so forth..

The video message in English:

Dearest refugees, dear volunteers and full-time employees and friends of the Centre Astalli.

This year, the charity of Centro Astalli has been committed to the refugees in Italy for 35 years. ¹

It's an activity that was mainly achieved as one nation, and that is beautiful and true.

I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was a stranger.

Each of you refugees who came knocking on our doors, was met by  the face of God,  the flesh of Christ.Your experience of suffering and hope reminds us that we are all strangers and pilgrims on this earth, taken in by someone generous and without merit.

Those of you who fled from their own country because of oppression, of war,  from pollution and desertification, the nature of injustice or unfair distribution of the planet's resources, is a brother,  with whom to share bread, house and life.

Too often we have not adopted you. Forgive us the walling off and the indifference of our societies, who fear that change of life and mentality that requires your presence.

Treated like a piece of a problem, a cost: you are, on the other hand, a gift. You are the witness of how our gracious and merciful God can transform evil and injustice, under which you are suffering, to a good for all. Each of you can be a bridge to bring the distant peoples together. This makes an encounter between different cultures and religions possible, a way to rediscover our common humanity.

And you made me welcome. I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

Yes, the center Astalli is a concrete and daily example of the prophetic vision of Father Pedro Arrupe. ^2 [Ugh]

It was his swan song in a refugee center in Asia. ³

Thank you all, men and women religious and lay people, volunteers and paid staff. I encourage you to keep going. 35 years of age is only the beginning of a path which is increasingly necessary, the only way for a reconciled coexistence.

Always be witnesses of the beauty, the beauty of the encounter. Help our society to hear the voice of the refugees, Go your way bravely beside them. Accompany them and let yourself be guided by them. The refugees know the paths that lead to peace because they know the acrid smell of war.

footnotes:

1. The Centro Astalli of Rome is part of the Jesuit Refugee Service founded in 1980. [ ]
2. The Basque Pedro Arrupe (1907-1991) 1965 was elected the 28th Superior General of the Jesuits. Because of his progressive stance, Pope John Paul II. personally attacked him in the interests of the Order and disempowered Arrupe, who then suffered a stroke. John Paul II then appointed a papal delegate, later Cardinal Paolo Dezza SJ. [ ]
3. The word "swan song" of Pedro Arrupe was used Pope Francis already on 14 November 2015 in a speech to members of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS). The idea for the foundation of JRS came to Father Arrupe while visiting a refugee center in Southeast Asia. On his return to Rome he suffered a stroke. This was described as Arrupe's  "swan song" by Pope Francis in 2015, which  he described as the "icon", which he apparently meant as a  kind of spiritual testament. [ ]

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Videobotschaft CTV/vatican.va (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com



Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

Central Committee of German Muslims Compares AfD to Nazis -- Vatican Radio Agrees

(Rome) Without a critical explanatory note and without giving the attacked AfD the opportunity to make a statement in its defense, Radio Vatican yesterday made the following  folllowing report with the accompanying photo: It shows the "solidarity" over which a very pleased  Aiman Mazyek of the Zentralrat der Muslime in Deutschland (Central Committee of Muslims in Germany) stands with  Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel, Bundespräsident Joachim Gauck und Vizekanzler Sigmar Gabriel after the Islamic attack against the weekly magazine  Charlie Hebdo. This is explained what the official Church in Germany thinks about the  AfD , and who it prefers as a partner in discussion.

D: Zentralrat der Muslime compares  AfD with NSDAP

The President of the  Zentralrats der Muslime in Deutschland has compared the politically right wing  AfD with the NSDAP. In an interview with the NDR, Aiman Mazyek said on Monday, that it is the "first time since  Hitler-Deutschland", that there has been a party that has discredited an entire religious community. And continued saying that the AfD also  existentially threatens.  The Die Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) swims on a wave of Islamophobia. This has become adopted in recent years and is even partly a topic of discussion in respectable circles. The  AfD has tried to intensify this atmosphere. "That isn't an anti-Islamic course, that is an anti-Democratic course," said Mazyek.

Text: Andreas Becker
Bild: Radio Vatikan (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Bishops and Priests Stage Race Around "Communion for Everybody"

(Rome) To  emulate the Pope is in itself laudable, but not always appropriate. In some parts of the Catholic Church there is a race among priests and bishops which has begun as to who will be the first - to give Communion to divorced and remarried - on behalf of the Pope.

Cardinal Schönborn may lay claim to this unusual  primacy for himself. He was the first who already, at the launch of the Post-Synodal Exhortation Amoris laetitia,  announced that the world Church merely accept what he had been practicing already for "15 years"  in his archdiocese. He must have acted as a rather secretive practice because he was one of Ratzinger's students,  who  never ceased being criticized in the notoriously in "progressive" and "conservatively" divided church in Austria by the "conservative" side.

Similarly of Schönborn of Vienna  the church newspaper of the northern Italian Diocese of Bergamo also reports, that a Church praxis has been born of "local handicrafts." In other words, what had already been conceived on the spot without approval and against Rome, now receives official Roman blessing.  Msgr. Alberto Carrara, priest, editor of the church newspaper and even the author of the editorial, raised his glass to toast the fact that at last it could be done "in the light of the sun," which previously had to be practiced in the dark.

Amoris laetitia makes that part of the church show its the true face, which had apparently been well camouflaged in the past. This outcropping reveals how many have, half-heartedly or not, imparted and defended the doctrine of the Church. Rather, they have promoted it with their hidden parallel magisterium those who with receptive attitudes towards the Church to adapt the teaching to the current wishes of the people.

What is astonishing is the speed with which the "prophets" of a "new church" have come to light, pushing their idea that goes back long before the current pontificate.

Pope says "Yes and Period" and appears annoyed by journalists

On the flight back from Lesbos, Pope Francis was asked for the first time to  answer  the question whether the divorced and remarried are now to be admitted to communion or not: "Yes, and period". This is how he could respond, said the Pope, but it would be too short a response. He referred therefore to Cardinal Schönborn and his idea of Amoris Laetitia. There it is, in addition to the description given by Pope, a  summary of response the longer version.

When another journalist inquired, Pope Francis was a bit annoyed and criticized the media. This would reduce the double-synod to a referendum on Communion for divorced and remarried. Considering the ecclesial reality, the Pope would have all the more reason to be upset with priests and bishops, who aren't quick enough to sound their willingness give Communion to divorced and remarried  (and who knows what else ).

Finally, it was Pope Francis, who had convened the Synod and Cardinal Kasper is to have provided direction for remarried divorcees, and not the media. Everything comes to admission to the sacraments and the doctrine of the sacrament of marriage, the Eucharist and the sacrament of penance has happened and is happening, is homemade. The media has so little to do.

"Proud they've been doing it  for 40 years"

Shortly after the release of Amoris laetitia a priest active in Rome. Giovanni Cereti, gave an interview to the newspaper Quotidiano Nazionale. He stated emphatically  with pride that he has been giving the divorced and remarried Communion for 40 years. Don Cereti belongs to the circle of Old-68ers, who presented even then the book on "Divorce, Remarriage and Penance in the Early Church,"  which was reissued in advance of the second Synod of Bishops in 2015, in order to support the position of  "communion for all." 

In the Philippines  the same goes for  the Bishops' Conference. "Charity can not wait," they explained to the faithful of the archipelago. It would be followed by "concrete guidance" by the bishops. Until then, "bishops and priests are already prepared to open their welcome arms towards those who've kept away from church out of a sense of guilt and feelings of shame.  The laity have to do the same. "

As said, the Pope should rather be annoyed over his closest associates, who pressed at every opportunity the question of Communion for divorced and remarried   for two years to journalists. Since it is difficult to believe that the closest of the Pope's confidants have done so against the will of the pope, the papal words against journalists have less to do with his response to the Communion question, but now that outbreak has happened, the pope no longer want to be bothered with it. In short,  everything necessary has been said and the progressives have understood the message. When one speaks  for too long on details, then the last "conservatives" could still get the idea to go behind the scenes and throw light on  the operation, which took place under his eyes, but did not recognize his  transfigured view of the papacy, and unintentionally supported the pope's justifications. 

How certain clergy deal with the Sacraments

The above-mentioned Msgr. Carraro expressed surprise that his article caused such a fuss. In his reply, he reported on his discussions with divorced and remarried. It is worthwhile to reproduce his description, in order to understand the significance  certain clergy attaches the sacraments.

I met people who had entered into a new marriage many times. With them I had something like this conversation: "Your marriage, the first which failed, is indissoluble. This is written in the Gospel. You have not managed to live it to the last detail: to live as a united flesh is no easy matter. I know this because many I speak to  do not separate, and so to live a whole  lifetime is hard."
" It was he, however, who has run away with his secretary ... " she answered me. "But living together had become a hell."  "We would have been forced to do the whole life as if ..." I listened. Often tears flowed.
I continued: You are protesting because the Church excludes from the sacraments. If you give to that the Church has some decision making problems with this Gospel in its hand? Look at you. You can live your faith without confession and  without communion, you are a Christian, you're all Christian in every respect.
"Excuse me, why do you persist then so much on the Eucharist?" I listened. I could not answer, because I myself made ​​this objection, which the Church,  as I was seen as its  official representative at this moment. I felt like two parts, both accused and accuser.
I continued: "But, according to me, you can also opt to receive Communion. I give you absolution.This does not mean that the problem is solved. It remains in limbo. It's just outside my conscience as a priest, it seems to me that I can not tell you that you are sentenced for life. You take the responsibility to ask the absolution, I take the responsibility to give it to you. And then we wait with confidence."
After I give them absolution, I always felt extremely quiet. I always thought: If I'm going to hell, then at least not because of these absolutions. Maybe I'm being immodest, but it seems to me that my Church has been vindicated in the end.

Downside of outings : Hunt for faithful priests

The "outing" of priests and bishops, who "always" gave public adulterers communion  or wanted to give it, is only one side of the coin. The other side is the hunting, which has now been opened against those priests and bishops, who oppose this "opening". The framework is already established: A priest holding a sermon, a catechesis or a marriage preparation seminar and someone starts to complain about  the "backward-looking" and "ruthless" ideas of the priest with reference to Pope Francis. The priest will demonstrate and defend the doctrine of the Church and therefore stand as an "enemy" of the Pope. Because whatever he says, he will raise the impression in his opponent  or must allow that it is  possible  from this that he thus claims, that the Pope is not Catholic. Is it possible to defend the Catholic doctrine against the Pope? It is possible, yes, but also a very difficult task. Aside from that, journalists who will give the "suffering of (the priest) discriminated" a fair hearing are few. The priest will be lynched by the media in no time. His own bishop will  let him down quickly in many cases. 

The experience of Father Maurizio Vismara, vicar of the Diocese of Pistoia Montemurlo, is already in the making. In a preparation for First Communion, usually a family event, the Chaplain told the parents that he could not give them Communion, who are in an irregular situations. One of those present felt insulted and the case ended up in the media. The daily newspaper Il Tirreno gave him an entire page, in which the priest was attacked who had dared to call to memory the doctrine of the Church,  because the "mature" Catholic knows only rights but no duties, at least none that he does not want to know.

And the next target is the priest celibacy?

"That's just a taste. In the coming months we will live to see everything. And maybe even the official announcement of the next target: priestly celibacy. Maybe it is just an unattainable ideal, which is too heavy a yoke for many priests?" said Riccardo Cascioli, the editor of the Catholic Internet newspaper Nuova Bussola Quotidiana .

Schönborns gradualism theory would,  if applied to celibacy, just mean that while everyone should strive for the ideal, it is not given to everyone to achieve the ideal in the same rate and to the same extent. Therefore, various levels reached would need to be recognized and appreciated. Or this, then, might be the justification for lifting the celibacy priest.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi 
Image: Sant'Alessandro (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vvekron99@homtmail.com

Link to Katholishes...

AMDG

Opus Dei Archbishop Makes Big Concession to Gender Ideology

Edit: the age of Mahony, alas, is still very much with us, despite the appointment of a Neoconservative Opus Dei Bishop. As if the liturgy and music weren't ugly enough. Is a Cardinal's hat from Pope Bergoglio really worth the loss of your immortal soul? Here's the video from Joseph Sciambra.
 

The Double Standard Continues -- C8 Kasperian Cardinals in Lap of Luxury Get a Pass -- German Tax-Church Dominates World Church

Edit:  Since Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone is again in the news about his "luxurious" living quarters with which Pope Bergoglio, from his entire floor in a four star hotel, was once furious, we thought it would be a good idea to remind people about Cardinal Marx's luxurious lifestyle, whether he's driving in a BMW 730Ld with 258 PS. In comparison to Marx's palace villa in Rome, Cardinal Bertone's expenditure is around 300,000 Euros for his apartment sounds rather modest, but you wouldn't know that from most of the English language coverage, again, such as the Daily Beast, which has nothing but praise for the Pope's "humble" living quarters. 

Cardinal Marx certainly isn't the only one in the German Bishops' Conference with such lavish accomodations, including a 10 million euro villa in Rome and a rennovation project that far outspent the disgraced Bishop Tebarstz-van Elst's project, but then, he's been entrusted to the Pope's fabulous C9.

Yes, the following article is about three years old and nothing much has been done about Marx's lavish lifestyle.  We expect that the corrupt German Tax-Church enjoys a great deal of approval far and wide.  What does that say about the malignancy of those who hail these men as worthy prelates?  We still don't understand how Cardinal Zollitsch was able to get away with trying to push Tebartz-van Elst to suicide.... Of course, the German Church does continue to bleed members who are opting out of paying for the Church-Tax. Apparently, the burial and convalescent home coverage which is covered by this aren't enough of an enticement.

This is also something to think about with respect to the Kasperians lording it over the rest of the Church.

The article is from Welt.de:

A noble rococo palace in Munich's old town is the recent home of Archbishop Marx. The restoration of the magnificent building has cost 8.7 million euros - paid mostly by Bavaria.

 The official residence of the archbishops of Munich and Freising in rococo palace Holnstein in Munich is now ready after years of restoration. The edifice, built by court architect François de Cuvilliés was renovated in 2008 for 8.7 euros.

One of the showpieces is a restored ceiling fresco by the painter and plasterer Johann Baptist Zimmermann in the historic staircase. had succeeded in consuming work, largely to enable the painting of allegorical figures of Justitia (right) and Pax (Peace) back to its original state, said the head of the Department of Art at the Archdiocese, Norbert Jocher. The Munich Archbishop Cardinal Reinhard Marx did not participate in the tour.

Chandeliers, tiled stoves, dressers

The house is one of the few Baroque mansions that have survived almost intact. In several rooms an old chandelier was also mounted in light Murano glass. Valuable too are the two baroque ornamental ceramics, but they are not just decorative.

In addition, some furniture such as dressers were erected in the 18th century. Several paintings, including two works by Zimmermann, were donated by the Freisinger Museum from its storage.

Archbishops Immortalized in Paintings

Another new feature is the gallery of the archbishops. The contemporary Düsseldorf painter Thomas Jessen immortalized in paintings the dignitaries who have resided in the Palais, from Lothar Anselm Freiherr von Gebsattel (archbishop from 1821 to 1846) on to Pope Benedict XVI. up to the current Archbishop Cardinal Reinhard Marx.

Otherwise offices, representative reception rooms, guest rooms and a chapel are housed, with an altar from the 18th century in the structure. Marx also has his office here and a service apartment with roof terrace.

Church paid around 2.2 million euros

Financing of the work was largely by Bavaria, to which the Palace belongs. Around 2.2 million euros were contributed by the Church. With the renovation, many structural damage had to be removed, including dry rot. Since last March, Archbishop Marx has lived in a newly refurbished residential and commercial seat.

Elector Albrecht had the palace erected from 1733 to 1737 for his illegitimate son, Franz Ludwig Graf von Holnstein. Since 1821 it has been the residential and official residence of the archbishops of Munich and Freising.

dpa / ah

Action Item: Ban Father Dwight Longenecker From the Internet

Edit: we tend to stay away from the Alinskyite tactics of your Patheos and established bloggers who love to launch hetz-campaigns against people, usually real Catholics, that make them feel bad or threaten their modernist safe spaces.

Father Dwight Longenecker is such a blogger.  Here he is on his Facebook account attacking Catholics for saying what is actually true, that Pope Bergoglio has not only "changed" Catholic doctrine, but actually admitted to changing doctrine. Longenecker portrayed people who believed what was actually true as paranoid, delusional, etc...

Longenecker stuck his neck out a few weeks ago when he libelously said that traditionalist (aka real) Catholics were prone to violence.  When Christopher Ferrara wrote an online and private request for Longenecker's retraction, apparently, Longenecker made a sarcastic apology.  Like a dog back to his vomit.

Why does EWTN hire such evil men to work for them?

We're not very hopeful, but requests for this priest's dismissal, punishment and the like can be made here. At the very least, we believe he should be banned from the internet like the blameless Father Altier was about 10 years ago when he opposed sex education in Catholic schools.

Dwight Longenecker c/o Our Lady of the Rosary Church 3710 Augusta Road Greenville, SC, 29604 ph. (864) 422 1648


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

 Contact Click for Printable Listings Priest Personnel Charleston Deanery Phone: 843-261-0421 Personnel Rev. Msgr. Ronald R. Cellini VF, VP Vicar for Priests 843-261-0540 Deacon Lawrence Roberts Coordinator lroberts@catholic-doc.org 843-261-0542

Pope: For an Answer on "Amoris Laetitiae" Read Cardinal Schönborn's Synopsis

Francis expressed himself in another "flying press conference" not only on "Amoris laetitiae" but also on the Syrian refugee families who came along with him, sealing off of Europe and the meeting with Bernie Sanders

 Vatican City (kath.net/KAP) Pope Francis appealed to journalists that when reporting on his  Apostolic Letter "Amoris laetitita" they should also read the synopsis that Cardinal Christoph Schönborn had given at the press conference at the Vatican.  When asked by a journalist at the "flying press conference" on the flight from Lesbos to Rome on Saturday afternoon, if the document on the subject of marriage and family opened "new opportunities for the divorced and remarried," the Pope said "I could already say yes, but that would be too short a response. If you read the introduction by Cardinal Schönborn, who is a great theologian, to the text, then you have the answer," said Francis, [Apparently, Pope Francis said "I can say yes.  Period," in the Italian, "Io posso dire sì. Punto.."] according to Vatican Radio. Besides questions about "Amoris laetitiae" the journalists wanted to talk about the Arab refugees traveling in the Airbus - three Syrian families - the sealing off of Europe and the meeting with Bernie Sanders.

The Pope said that he was still moved in the wake of his visit to the refugee camp Moria in Lesbos: He had "to cry" about the encounters he experienced. Francis showed reporters pictures the children had painted and presented to him: "What the kids want is peace? Because they are suffering." On one of the pictures a weeping sun can be seen: "If even the sun were able to cry," said Francis, "then it would do us some good to shed. I would also invite the arms dealers to spend a day there in the camp." That would be "healing" for them.

In terms of the twelve traveling Syrian refugees who are Muslims, the pope insisted that it was "a purely humanitarian matter" and not to connect "any political speculation." The idea had come up a week ago with some of his colleagues in the Vatican, "and I accepted this immediately." He had "seen that it was the Holy Spirit who was speaking." The action was coordinated with the Greek and Italian authorities.

Francis quoted Mother Teresa: "It may be that this is just a drop in the sea, but the sea is not the same because of these drops." When selecting the refugees to take to Rome, he had "not made a choice between Christians and Muslims," ​​Francis said. "These three families had their papers in order and could get it. There were two Christian families on the list, but their papers were not in order. So no privilege." The twelve refugees he wished to take care of in the Vatican, were "all God's children".

On European refugee policy the Pope said: "I understand the people who feel a certain fear. I understand that we have great responsibility in receiving a great responsibility, and one of the aspects is how to integrate these people." He also reiterated that he considered walls as "no solution" and that bridges lead further. "We need to build bridges, but intelligently, with dialogue and integration." Europe must "urgently address their admissions policy, integration, growth, jobs and economic reforms."

All these points are "bridges" that reach into the future. "Europe must now return to find the ability to integrate, which it always had." That some "people born and raised in Europe," the "sons or grandsons of migrants", had committed the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels had, which shows in this view, "that there has been no integration policy."

On his decision to meet with the democratic US -Präsidentschaftskandidaten Bernie Sanders, Francis said that he met and greeted Sanders in the morning when he had left the residence of Santa Mart where he lives on an entire floor. The Marxist Pro-Abortion Sanders came to address Congress on the social encyclical "Centesimus Annus" in Rome.

"It was a simple greeting, nothign more. That's called manners, not meddling in politics. If someone thinks that a welcome is the same as mixing in politics, I recommend him a psychiatrist," said Francis word for word.

Another journalist asked about "Amoris laetitia," namely, why Francis had been hiding the subject of sacraments for the divorced and remarried in a footnote? The Pope explained that he had done so, "because it was already in Evangelii Gaudium," the programmatic Apostolic Letter of 2013. By "One of the last Popes" - Benedict XVI. was meant - "Has, as he once spoke of the council, there have actually been two of the Second Vatican Council, one of the Council of the media," said Francis about the totally different weights of certain issues.

So it will not probably not be registered, "that the the Communion is not the main problem of the family and Church." "We have a declining birth rate, at which one can only cry, lack of jobs and salaries, so Mom and Dad both have to work, and the children grow up alone. These are the big problems," Francis said.

Edit: and as usual, you're welcome LSNs.

Cardinal Lehmann of Mainz to Resign

Edit: hie was among the conspirators against Pope Benedict XVI who also illegally conspired (latae sententiae, anyone?) to get Pope Francis elected according to a gloating Austen Ivoreigh.

Roman Catholic Diocese of Mainz: There was little doubt that Pope Francis would accept Lehmann's obligatory request to resign his diocese of Mainz.

Mainz (kath.net/KNA) After almost 33 years, Cardinal Karl Lehmann takes leave of his post as bishop of Mainz. There was little doubt that Pope Francis would accept Lehman's mandatory resignation from the Diocese of Mainz on Friday. Thus the chair of the Diocese of Mainz will be vacant on the day after Lehmann's 80th birthday on May 16 on.

The Diocese reported that an official decision will only be published as a rule, on the date of the resignation according to the Roman custom. Lehmann himself had repeatedly stated in recent years that all officials in the Catholic Church, with the exception of the Pope, should finish at on their 80th year. That is an iron law.

On October 2nd, 1983 Lehmann had been consecrated in Mainz Cathedral Bishop and introduced in his episcopate. for over 20 years - 1987 to 2008 - he was President of the German Bishops' Conference. In February 2001, Pope John Paul II. elevated him to cardinal.

The cardinal is considered as a bridge builder and man of dialogue. He is a cosmopolitan, life-affirming Christianity and for ecumenical openness. He enjoys the highest reputation in the Protestant church, in politics, economy, science and culture. Among the numerous awards Lehmann has received include several honorary doctorates and the Federal Cross of Merit with Star and Sash. He is a winner of the Karl Barth Prize and the Romano Guardini Prize as well as the "Order for Combating Deadly Seriousness". He is also an honorary citizen of Mainz and honorary member of the football club FSV Mainz 05.

Lehmann, born on 16 May 1936 in Swabian Sigmaringen, was an assistant of 1984 died renowned theologian Karl Rahner. As a professor of theology, he taught first in Mainz and later in Freiburg, before he became Bishop of Mainz at 47 years. At that time he was the youngest Catholic bishop in Germany. His episcopal motto is "State in fide" (Stand firm in your faith).

As a member of the College of Cardinals, Lehmann took part in the conclave in April 2005 from which Pope Benedict XVI. emerged, and the conclave in March 2013, which elected his successor Pope Francis.

According to the official, but not confirmed counting, Lehmann is the 102nd Bishop of Mainz. He certainly is the 87th successor of the famously "Apostle of the Germans" St. Boniface, who was Bishop of Mainz from 746-754. Lehmann's 80th birthday will be celebrated on May 16 and so on Whit Monday, with a service in the cathedral and a ceremony in the nearby Rheingoldhalle. (C) 2016 CBA Catholic News Agency. All rights reserved. Photo Cardinal Lehmann (c) Roman Catholic Diocese of Mainz

Today's Gospel

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother and his mother's sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen. 

When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. 

After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own. 

http://dailygospel.org/M/AM/

The Trevi Fountain in Rome is Colored Red "For the Blood of Christian Martyrs"

(Rome) This coming April 29, the famous Trevi Fountain in Rome will turn red as "the blood of Christian martyrs". This action seeks to raise awareness of the plight of persecuted Christians in different states.

The initiative for action comes from the Catholic aid charity Kirche in Not. Meanwhile, numerous Catholic organizations have joined the effort.

ACN published a short video to announce the action.The pictures show the horrors of the persecution of Christians. Pope Francis can  be heard in the original sound with the words:

"Our brothers shed their blood just because they are Christians."

The Trevi Fountain is the largest fountain in Rome and one of the most famous in the world. It is regarded as one of the main attractions of the Eternal City.

In 1640 the contract was issued by Pope Urban VII. for drilling the well  to Gian Lorenzo Bernini, but it was only begun in 1732.

After an extensive and thorough restoration,  the fountain was reopened five months ago.

Among visitors to Rome, it is customary to throw a coin into the fountain, which guarantees a return to the city. The coins are fished out once every year by the City Council, most recently since the restoration work began in 2013. From this point forward, this money goes to Caritas. In 2013 there were 1.2 million euros.

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Amoris Laetitia: Pope Francis Has Proposed a "New Form of Application" of Ecclesiastical Doctrine

(Rome) Is the Spanish Episcopal Conference forging the path that the whole Church will soon be using to follow the Apostolic Letter Amoris Laetitia? Yesterday  Archbishop Carlos Osoro of Madrid, the deputy president of the Spanish Bishops' Conference held a press conference yesterday. He was accompanied by the rector of the seminary of his archdiocese, a professor of the Pontifical University of Salamanca, José María Gil Tamayo, Secretary General of the Episcopal Conference and two Jesuits who played an important role.

Ambiguities of "Amoris Laetitia" bring Archbishop of Madrid to embarrassment 

One wants to "value" the Exhortation of Pope Francis explained Archbishop Osoro the reason for the press conference. In this, however, it became clear that there is considerable unrest among clergy since Amoris Laetitia and there are numerous requests from priests asking how  they would have to act now.

After 55 minutes of the theoretical explanations involving the controversial aspects of Amoris Laetitia, there was ​​a detour, then came the first question from journalists and it was aimed immediately on the ambiguities in the papal document.  How do you respond to the "possible paradox" that a priest could grant the divorced and remarried communion and another does not.

It was one question that brought Archbishop Osoro and the others present to clear embarrassment. No one wanted to answer the question until finally the Jesuit Pablo Guerrero, pastoral theologian at the Pontifical University of Comillas, gave an answer that none of the others present contradicted, not even Archbishop Osoro.

"That would have put this decision at the discretion of the priest. But this is not the case. The Pope has asked in a clear exercise of synodality and communion with the entire College of Bishops of the Church Pastors of each diocese, to appoint the priests of his diocese a number of general and equal criteria in order to avoid arbitrary judgments. No priest should feel as if he is the owner of the word of God," Father Guerrero.

"New Style of the Magisterium" not divided into "good" and "bad"

All participants of the press conference stressed that the Church's teaching "does not change". Pope Francis had  proposed to the bishops, however, "a new form of application" of this doctrine. The papal letter "recommends," said Father Julio Martinez, Rector of the Pontifical University of Comillas and the second Jesuit at the conference table, not to divide the world into "Pure and Impure" and not in "good and bad".

"The full recognition of the Magisterium is not inconsistent with an internal Church debate. We are facing a new style of  Magisterium. It is about the harmonious coexistence between salvation and morality in order not to fall into a religious rigor."

With this the Spanish Episcopal Conference seems to acknowledge the softening of the indissolubility of marriage.  Because with the aforementioned "universal and equal criteria" that should be given to the priests in guiding, implicitly recognizing that there are situations in which the indissoluble marriage is still dissoluble. At the same time, the Episcopal Conference is trying to prevent anarchic situation  that according to Amoris Laetitia, every priest could decide at their own discretion. The Episcopal Conference is expected to draw the question of "general and identical criteria" for the clergy itself.

"Tactical finesse" of the Pope?

Prior to the publication of the post-synodal letter was, depending on the position, the worry or the hope was cherished that Pope Francis could adopt a general rule that it would accept the divorced and remarried to communion so that recognizes the divorced and remarried and lifts the indissolubility of sacramental marriage. That would have been guilty of heresy in the eyes of the defenders of the marriage sacrament. He did nothing of the sort  and everything else. The "tactical finesse" ( Secretum meum mihi ), as now emphasized by proponents and critics, lies precisely in the absence of a general rule. Thus Francis has introduced no new rule, but even more has not confirmed the existing traditional rule. He proves to be a "door opener", without being challenged on it.

In "pursuit of synodality" as the Jesuit Guerrero put it at the press conference in Madrid,  Francis put the iron in the fire by the convening of the Synod of Bishops on Marriage and Family. With Amoris Laetitia he is pushing the now-hot iron to the bishops, which specifically, since their introduction by the Second Vatican Council, is what Episcopal Conferences are meant to do. Through the unrest  borne into the church, among the faithful and the clergy, the bishops are obliged to adopt this general rule, to which the Pope has renounced.

The question is shifted to 130 Episcopal Conferences and 3,000 Dioceses

Pope Francis has burst the door open so that every Episcopal Conference and every diocesan bishop may adopt criteria to allow divorced and remarried to communion. The traditional doctrine must now be confirmed individually by each Episcopal Conference and every diocesan bishop. The probability that there will be at least only one Episcopal Conference or a bishop who softens the indissolubility of sacramental marriage is based on approximately 130 global Episcopal Conferences and Synods of Bishops and nearly 3,000 dioceses is quite likely. In any case, a question valid for the unity of the entire world Church is a question to be answered a hundred times.

The Spanish Episcopal Conference feels the actual or even perceived pressure of the faithful and priests. Uncertainties caused by Amoris Laetitia were palpable at the press conference in Madrid. Neither has it been consistently reaffirmed if the indissolubility of marriage actually means indissolubility, neither has it been affirmed that this logically leads to a categorical no to admission to the sacraments public adulterers, as it has always taught the Church.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Religion Confidencial (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Edit: just a small point of disagreement.  This has been ongoing for a long time since the Episcopal Conferences were put into effect, and the tragic results in terms of the implementation of the Bugnigine Missal are clear for anyone to see who cares to. It reminds us of Father Malachi Martin's explanation of the "superforce" as that diabolical grip on the Church, freezing even some of the most fervent defenders of the Church into general inaction and lassitude.

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

"In This Respect There is an Explosive Power in Them" -- Amoris Laetitia and Schönborn's "Disobedience"

Baldisseri and Schönborn

"Farewell to the Magisterium"

(Vienna) The Catholic theologian and director of the left-liberal, and management of the  Austrian daily newspaper. Der Standard, Wolfgang Bergmann, identified the key to Amoris Laetitia yesterday in the ORF broadcast "Praxis - Religion and Society" (ORF-focus "Mother Earth"). He explains this by that which does not exist in the document, namely, the "Farewell to the Magisterium" and therefore to normative standards.

Bergmann is considered to be a "Church insider." He formerly headed the public relations of the Austrian Caritas and was communications director of the Archdiocese of Vienna. He was, until 1999. a close collaborator of Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna.

Amoris Laetitia was presented by Cardinal Schönborn not only on behalf of the Pope to the world, but has also contributed his handwriting in some cases. The first section of the controversial eighth chapter begins with the "gradualness", a keyword that  Schönborn coined in the first Synod of Bishops, 2014. Accordingly, there are no irregular situations in relationships between two people, but only a gradation in the realization of the marriage "ideal". It's a concept that has already been criticized at the time criticized as a relativistic dissolution of marriage sacrament, but it still found its way into an official papal document.

"Roman theology has come to the end"

According to Bergmann there has only been "very minimal progress" by Amoris Laetitia. However, the positive side is a "farewell to the Magisterium" initiated by Pope Francis.  The pope has written, "preaching, lyrically, citing writers, he is pedagogical-psychological [Some might say pedantic and deliberately insulting.], but theological only a few places."  But there is a reason, says Bergmann: "The Roman theology has come to the end."

Pope Francis had "opened the door for the sacraments" to public adulterers, Bergmann speaks of divorced and remarried, though in "only in two footnotes," and thus in a "hidden form".

Then Bergmann reported on the "Vienna Praxis." Cardinal Schönborn had been engaged in this praxis "for 15 years" even as he presented Amoris Laetitia at the press conference and thus even refuted  the reputation he's had so far - albeit with a decreasing tendency - the attributed Image of a "Conservative". [Nobody ever believed that once they got to know what he really was.]

"Schönborn has lived in disobedience here"

In the Archdiocese of Vienna, it had long been a practice given by Cardinal Schönborn, says Bergmann, "which was actually against the line of Rome, which Schönborn has lived in disobedience here," which could lead "to the blessing of remarried divorced couples."  "To that extent, this practice is now legitimized by Rome."

This also shows "that it is a very good to be a time disobedient, because one can be obtain later through praxis. This can perhaps now be extrapolated to other topics, including the blessing of homosexual couples. In this respect there is an explosive power in them." The "Vienna Praxis" would also include homosexual relationships.

Bergmann sees also in Amoris Laetitia a conscious "renunciation of power" by the Pope.  "In fact, exerts Pope Francis has engaged in a renunciation of power." This "renunciation of power" by its displacement to the local Churches must now, however, be specific and be exhausted, not only in announcements and "encouragement" but to prevent  a later reversal,  so says the Standard's manager.

Text: Martha Burger Weinzl
Image: Vatican.va/OR (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekon99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG