800 Years of the Portiuncula-Indulgence -- Pope Francis Will Visit the Chapel in Assisi on August 4th

(Rome) Pope Francis will visit the Portiuncula Chapel in Assisi this coming August 4th. This is how the chapel of Santa Maria degli Angeli is popularly known in the plain below Assisi. The occasion of the papal visit is the 800th anniversary of the granting of so-called Portiuncula indulgence by Pope Honorius III. in 1216.

The Portiuncula indulgence, the so-called "Forgiveness of Assisi", can be received by visiting the chapel in Assisi or in the world by visiting a Franciscan church. The expansion of  indulgences had been granted in 1480 by Pope Sixtus IV.. In addition to this condition, the usual conditions apply for obtaining a plenary indulgence.

Any baptized Christian who is not excommunicated and is not  in the state of grave sin at the time of receiving the Indulgence, will win it if he's disposed and within the prescribed time and in the manner provided by the Church, meets the five conditions:

• sacramental confession,
• resolute turning from sin,
• Communion,
• Prayer for the intentions of the Pope.

The fifth condition is to visit the Portiuncula or another Franciscan church.

Portiuncula dates back to the 4th century

The Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels was built in the 4th century by hermits and passed in the 6th century to the possession of St. Benedict of Nursia. Saint Francis of Assisi again rebuilt the dilapidated chapel early in the 13th century. For a basket of fish as a payment of interest, it was rented to him  by the abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Monte Subasio.

Portiuncula chapel of St. Francis of Assisi

In his last six years of life, St. Francis of Assisi, from whom all Franciscan orders go back, meanwhile called a meeting of the Friars Minor at Pentecost at the chapel. He died in the chapel on October 3, 1226.

In 16/17th  century the Basilica of Santa Marta degli Ageli was built at the behest of Pope Saint Pius V around the chapel, one of the largest churches of Christendom.

Pope Francis will visit the chapel in connection with the Jubilee of mercy as a "simple pilgrim," as Vatican Radio reported.

According to tradition, the Benedictine monastery of Monte Subasio, which presented the Portiuncula to St. Francis of Assisi, goes back to St. Benedict of Nursia. The oldest surviving document dates from 1051.  An excavated crypt reveals the existence of a community of monks from the 7/8th centuruies.

In 1860 the monastery, like all monasteries in Italy,  was abolished, falling victim to the new, Masonic Kingdom Italy. Only in 1945 were the remains of the Abbey in Assisi taken over again by the Benedictines of St. Peter  and partly rebuilt. Due to severe damage from the earthquake of 1997, it had to be abandoned again by the monks. Restoration works are underway.

Subiaso is the house mountain of Assisi. The monastery dominates the town and the valley.

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

Coptic Nun Killed -- Local Police Say "Stray Bullet"

Coptic Christians continue to suffer Islamic persecution.

(Cairo) Yesterday, July 5, a Coptic nun was shot dead in Egypt.

The police called it a "tragic accident".  It currently not being treated as a crime. The nun was accidentally caught in a shootout between two rival clans. An stray bullet  killed the nun, says Fides .

The Orthodox nun Athanasia was, along with two sisters and a driver, on the way back from Cairo in the monastery Mar Girgis in Alexandria. In al-Khatatba, a bullet suddenly  struck one of the Women Religious in the vehicle. Sister Athanasia was killed on the spot.

The first reports reported an anti-Christian attack.The investigating police of Guizeh denied this, however, describing the shooting between two local Muslim clans as the reason for the "accidental" death of the nun.

Sister Athanasia +

Burned Christian houses

On June 24, several Christian homes had been burned in al-Baeda in Alexandria. A Muslim mob had gathered after Friday prayers in front of the house of Christian Naim Aziz because the false rumor was spread among Muslims, that the house may be converted into a church. The Muslims shouted the slogan: "Under no circumstances will there be a church here." To be sure, deeds followed their  words, and and they burned down the house of a Christian and a few other Christian homes for good measure.

The Church of the Christians of al-Baeda, is located  six kilometers in the neighboring town.

murdered Coptic priest

Father Raphael Moussa +

The Christians of Egypt have been experiencing a new wave of Islamic violence for months. Last Thursday a Coptic Orthodox priest was murdered on the Sinai Peninsula belonging to Egypt. The priest Raphael Moussa was 46 years old. After the Holy Mass, which he celebrated in the Mar Girgis Church of the city of El-Arish in the north of the peninsula, he was killed in the parking lot in front of the church by a targeted shot. The murder was claimed by the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS).

El-Arish is located on the Mediterranean coast, with nearly 150,000 inhabitants, it is the largest city in the Sinai. The city, is where in 1118, Baduin I., the first king of Jerusalem, died during Crusader period, and was besieged and occupied in 1799 by Napoleon, and made the headlines recently because of organ trafficking. Bedouin tribes kidnap African migrants and remove their organs, which are sold to hospitals. This has been confirmed by the German government.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Wikicommons / Coptictoday / Fides (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

Bishop Fellay Says Talks Will Continue With Rome and Requests 50,000,000 Acts of Penance

(Zaitzkofen) The Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X confirmed last Saturday that the talks with Rome are to continue, and announced a new Rosary crusade. It should serve the spiritual preparation for the centennial commemoration of the apparitions of Fatima in 1917, which will take place in the coming year.

The Rosary Crusade was announced at the ordinations in Zaitzkofen. It will be held until August 22, 2017 from 15 August 2016th

The prayer of the Rosary should be connected to acts of penance. Bishop Fellay spoke of "50 million acts of penance". More details will soon be announced.

Zaitzkofen, in the Regensburg Diocese, is the seminary of the SSPX for the German-speaking  and adjacent areas. On July 2, Bishop Fellay ordained there three new priests.

In his homily, the Superior General confirmed that the talks between the SSPX and the Vatican will continue. Bishop Fellay explained that the salvation of souls is the ultimate goal of the Catholic Church and thus also of the Fraternity. That objective is "higher" than a canonical recognition of the Fraternity.

But nothing is more important than the Catholic faith and the unconditional acceptance of this belief for the salvation of souls. "Without [Catholic] faith no one can be saved," Bishop Fellay said, as he made serious allegations against the ecclesiastical authorities: "Since the council, the defense and the propagation of the faith became something of secondary importance."

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

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New Allegations Against Papal Foundation Scholas Occurentes

(Buenos Aires / Rome) In Argentina there are new allegations against the foundation founded by Pope Francis Scholas Ocurrentes. Construction work on a building for the foundation by the government of ex-President Cristina Kirchner (2007-2015) had made available the equivalent of around 900,000 euros  in 2014, although not even half completed, it should have been completed according to plan. The ownership of the respective property is also unclear.

The directors of the Foundation were in negotiations with the new government of President Mauricio Macri to find an alternate location.

Meeting with the Pope sweepstakes

The new allegations have been made by the very popular Argentinian television journalist, Jorge Lantana. Lantana reported on the close link between the Foundation's activities with high functionaries of the left Peronist Kirchner government, which would have directly affected the campaign 2014/2015.

In the review is also a sweepstakes by Foundation sponsors who offfered a personal meeting with Francis. The Latanas report is entitled "In the Name of the Father" and ended with the question whether Pope Francis knew about all the processes.

In June, media coverage of the Foundation had caused a sensation because Pope Francis had rejected a governmental donation of a million dollars to Schola Occurrentes, the refusal was interpreted as an unfriendly gesture and confirmation that Pope Francis would reject the election of Macris. Pope Francis had quite openly desired the election of the opposition left Peronist candidate instead of  Macris.

Argentine Cabinet chief Marcos Pena has subsequently denied reports of a disagreement between the Pope and President Mauricio Macri. The rejection of the money allegedly for purely formal reasons, because Francis prefers donations from private funds rather than a grant from the state budget, is hardly credible in Rome.

Since autumn 2015 "Pious Foundation of Pontifical Right"

Scholas Occurrentes was established at the initiative of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, then archbishop of Buenos Aires, and then the foundation was raised by Pope Francis after his election as pope to a Pontifical Foundation, based at the Vatican. Since then it has been located at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, whose Chancellor, Curial Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, is one of the closest confidants Pope.

The Foundation supports educational projects for disadvantaged children and young people in 82 countries and the dialogue of cultures and religions. They are controversial not only for some aspects of business practices, but their political preferences in Argentina. Another contentious issue is the educational orientation.

Foundation promotes education "without Christianity", but with gender ideology

What the official Catholic media do not report: the first scandal Scholas Occurentes had already taken place in early May, 2015. The unofficial Catholic news agency InfoVaticana revealed that the Pontifical Foundation advertises on behalf of Francis and with the image of the Pope among children, for gender ideology. The case was officially ignored, by the homophilic mainstream media.

Beginning in June 2016 after Vatican expert Sandro Magister wrote, describing the orientation of the Pontifical Foundation as an "educational revolution". Scholas Occurrentes was a dubious pet project of the Pope: There they are pursuing an education "without Christianity", but with gender ideology.

http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1351308?eng=y

Text: Giuseppe Nardi

Picture: OR (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Pope Francis' Spectacular Interview: Was Benedict XVI. "The Problem" of the Church?

Pope Francis on "Ultraconservatives" and the "Problem" of
Benedict XVI.

(Rome / Buenos Aires) A spectacular newspaper interview with Pope Francis was published on Sunday in which the Pope uses an unusual dialectic. Is the Catholic Church leader to understand that his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, was a "problem" for the Church?" Indicates Francis in addition that "ultraconservative" Church representatives, according to context meaning the defender of Catholic marriage and morality and the Discipline of the Sacraments, actually "beheaded" include?

Newspaper interviews as a new papal "magisterium"

With his first interview that was published in the leftist daily on October 2013 by La Repubblica, Pope Francis revolutionized the communication policy of the papacy. The atheist from a Masonic Lodge, Eugenio Scalfari, gave it the title: "The Pope: 'Thus, I Will Change the Church'". With Francis a new communication strategy of a pope was introduced. For Pope Francis, interviews are part of the Magisterium: "All the time I submit declarations, keep preaching, and that is teaching," he said in December 2014 in his first interview with a Latin American newspaper, the Argentine La Nacion.

With his recent interview, which was published in Argentina yesterday, again by the daily newspaper La Nacion, Pope Francis continued with his special "magisterium".

The interview has an Argentina focus and addressed recent polemics in the Pope's home country. The Pope has been accused of having a disturbed relationship, since December 2015 with incumbent President Macri. The pope had supported the left-Peronist rival candidate in the election campaign.

The interview was meant to smooth the waves, hence the title: "I have no problem with Macri. He is a noble man. "

The Pope and the "Ultraconservatives", "I want an open Church. They say no to everything "

However, some questions concern the entire Church. So the Pope was asked by Joaquin Morales Solá how he gets along "with the ultra-conservatives in the Church."

The tendentious exaggeration of the term "ultra-conservatives", as it is known by left journalists, was neither corrected nor rejected by the Pope. The Pope responded by implicitly adopting it. In his own words about the "Ultraconservatives":

"They do their job and I do mine. I want an open, understanding Church that accompanies the injured families. They say no to everything. I follow my path, without looking to the left and right. I don't want to behead anybody. That's what I never liked. I repeat: I do not support the conflict.' With a broad smile he concludes: 'nails are pulled by making upward pressure. Or one puts them quietly to the side when they reach retirement age.'"

Astonishingly, Pope Francis made a direct connection between "Ultraconservatives" and "heads." He said he's never "chopped off anyone's head" because that still doesn't appeal to him. At the same time, the Church leader actually suggested that "ultra-conservatives" were actually "beheaded." And by that the Pope does not mean any special marginal groups, but apparently, high-ranking employees of the Roman Curia.

Resignation of Benedict XVI. "Has made all the problems of the church visible"

Another question from the interview which took place on the June 28th relates to the health of Benedict. Pope Francis confirmed his reply that there actually was no compelling health reason for the resignation:

"He has problems in moving, but his head and his memory are perfectly intact."

Simultaneously Francis presented, however, that the resignation was clearly Pope Benedict XVI's "last act of government." Recently, there were discussions after a lecture by Curial Archbishop Georg Gänswein about a type of dual papal authority in an "almost common" exercise of the papacy by an "active" and a "contemplative" Pope.

Pope Francis said of Pope Benedict XVI. for La Nacion: "He was a revolutionary. In the meeting with the cardinals just before the conclave of May 2013, he told us that one of us will be the next pope, and he did not know his name. His behavior was impeccable. His resignation made visible all of the problems of the Church. His resignation had nothing to do with the personal. It was a governmental action, his last governmental action."

Pope Benedict XVI. a "revolutionary"? The statement made with the excessively used word "revolution" which seems to be meant as a compliment, but is rather outlandish in characterizing the German pope.

On the other hand, the statement, Pope Benedict XVI. has "made visible all the problems of the Church" with his resignation is truly noteworthy. In connection with the next statement, his resignation had "nothing to do with anything personal," but was a "governmental action", Pope Francis himself opens the floodgates to new speculation that Benedict XVI. may have been pressured to vacate the Chair of Peter in order to eliminate "all the problems of the Church."

Does Pope Francis himself adopt the opinion as it was represented in 2012 by the late Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini? He even demanded the resignation of Benedict XVI. shortly before his death, because he saw in the German pope a "problem" for the Church, rather even, "the problem."
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: La Nacion (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

Eponymous Flower Right Again: Register Confirms What We Were Saying All Along

Edit: as usual we were right, or at least we had better, more credible sources, and we bothered to care and not have a hysterical meltdown, or show our confirmation bias. Maybe you prefer to get your news from the Catholic Snooze Network, or demi-Catholic sources like Crux.

[Edward Pentin, NCR] Archbishop Guido Pozzo, the Vatican’s point-man for regularizing the Society of St. Pius X, has reaffirmed that the Society is continuing dialogue with the Holy See.

In an interview with Vatican Radio's Italian edition on Friday, the Secretary for the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" said a statement the Society issued last week was not a step back from dialogue, nor did the priestly fraternity say anything new about its view of the current situation in the Church.

But he made clear that although the Society said in its statement that canonical recognition is not a priority, for the Vatican it is an “essential condition” if the SSPX is to come into “full ecclesiastical communion” with the Holy See.

Sources told the Register last week that the Synod on the Family and other confusing signals from Rome led to the Society's statement, but that the SSPX still very much hopes for regularization.

Link to Dredgister...

In Memoriam: Otto Habsburg Passed Away Today

Edit: if you have a hard life, filled with failures, everything going wrong, it's sometimes valuable to think on the lives of great men who may have failed in the eyes of the world, but have succeeded in keeping the faith till their deaths.  Here's to all the failures, those that have failed and kept the faith, and those who've failed and are in need of it, no matter how great or lowly.   Here's an essay by Charles Coulombe at Taki Magazine:

[Takimag] The San Fernando Valley in the 1970s was a very dull place. Hot and dusty, filled with lackluster architectural construction thrown together during the postwar housing boom, it was the last place I wanted to be.

Back in those far-off days, the LA Archdiocese’s paper, The Tidings, ran a column by the Archduke Otto von Habsburg, son of Austria-Hungary’s last Emperor-King.

My family was historically minded, and my upbringing gave me a hatred of the French Revolution and a love of the Habsburgs, Bourbons, and Stuarts. In high school in the 1970s, I became a monarchist. In the LA Central Library lurked such volumes as The Purple or the Red, Kings Without Thrones, and Monarchs-in-Waiting. I resolved to write to the Archduke Otto concerning issues political and religious. Off my note went into the post.

Please share this article by using the link below. When you cut and paste an article, Taki's Magazine misses out on traffic, and our writers don't get paid for their work. Email editors@takimag.com to buy additional rights. http://takimag.com/article/death_of_an_imperial_pen_pal/print#ixzz4DSCCSshF

Should Feybriel, Mincent, Rick R, etc... Comment?

Edit: I will continue to delete every single one of his score or so of comments he lovingly contributes every week, to make racial slurs, untrue slanders and creepy suggestions as well as plainly untrue statements about faithful Catholics and the clergy who serve them.

I often delete off-topic comments or comments that advocate violence of any kind and sometimes anonymous comments just out of hand.  I'd prefer to make the comments section at least somewhat readable and am wondering, anyway, what people think, if they care.


Be sure to vote one way or another. I'll take that and all the comments into consideration. Mincent is a clearing house of Bologna School bromides and platitudes. While I do think they should be addressed, some of his comments are quite nasty, although some commenters seem to delight in responding colorfully to him.

Pope Francis Won't be "Tied Down by Ultraconservatives"?

Edit: another staged "interview" wholly manufactured by a leftist journalist?  Here's what old liberal Crux has to say. He does give Catholics a lot of credit, and himself too much... If this is really what he said.

Allegedly saying Pope Benedict is a "revolutionary".

He's also trying to stage manage accusations back home that he was implicated in the so-called "Dirty War".

ROME-Pope Francis has vowed in a new interview that he won’t be slowed down by resistance from “ultra-conservatives” in the Church who “say no to everything,” insisting, “I’m going ahead without looking over my shoulder.”

The pontiff also suggested he has no intention of launching a crackdown on the opposition, saying, “I don’t cut off heads. That was never my style. I’ve never liked doing that.” [Yes you do, and you probably enjoy it, too.]

Weary of rumors that continue to circulate in his home country, Francis also told one of Argentina’s most respected journalists that there is no rift between him and the recently elected government of Mauricio Macri. [Another lie.]

“Don’t look for reasons [for conflict],” he said. “There’s no historical motive for saying that I have a problem with Macri.”

The June 28 conversation was with journalist Joaquín Morales Solá, who writes for La Nacion in Argentina. It was Morales who used the word “ultra-conservative” to describe internal resistance to the pope, and Francis said he “rejects conflict” with them.

“They do their job, and I do mine,” the pope said.

“I want a Church that is open, understanding, that accompanies wounded families,” he said. “They say no to everything. I go ahead, without looking over my shoulder.” [No mention of salvation of souls?]

Yet with what Morales described as a “wide smile,” the pontiff continued: “Nails are removed by applying pressure to the top … or, you set them aside to rest when the age of retirement arrives.”

The “nails” reference is often heard in Rome, used to refer to prelates who, having been bad administrators in their diocese - not criminally so, but simply inefficient - get appointed to a Vatican office. The suggestion appeared to be that Francis is slowly getting rid of people he perceives as problems, in many cases by waiting for them to reach the normal retirement age and then appointing someone else.

Another question was about emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, who Francis said has “problems moving, but his head and his memory are intact, perfect.”

The pope says that his predecessor was a “revolutionary,” of “unmatched generosity.”

“His resignation made all the problems of the Church clear,” Francis said. “It had nothing to do with personal things. It was an act of government, his last act of government.”

On the subject of Macri, which constituted the bulk of the interview, Francis said he has no problem with the president.

“I don’t like conflicts,” the pontiff said. “I’m tired of repeating this.”

Francis said that he had only one run-in with Macri during the six years the two worked together in Buenos Aires, one as archbishop and the other as mayor.

“Only once in a long time,” he said. “The average is very low.”

Newspapers from those six years address two possible points of conflict, but only one with a direct role by Bergoglio, in 2009: Argentina’s first gay marriage. It took place in Buenos Aires almost a year before the country legally approved gay marriage.

The wedding became possible because the couple found a judge in Macri’s city who ruled that Argentina’s civil code was “unconstitutional” because it didn’t allow for same-sex marriage.

The future pope released a statement saying the union “sets a serious precedent in the legislative history of our country and throughout Latin America.”

According to the statement, Bergoglio and his six auxiliary bishops, who also signed it, regretted that Macri hadn’t allowed for the “completely illegal ruling” to be appealed, which could have opened the door to a deeper debate on a matter of “such transcendence.”

“Affirming the heterosexuality of marriage is not discrimination, but to begin from an objective fact that is its foundation,” the bishops said.

Morales Sola writes that the pope knows of the alleged “coldness” between himself and Macri, and insists throughout the conversation that he doesn’t know where those rumors originate.

“We had some other problems, which we spoke about privately and which we resolved privately. And the two of us always respected the privacy agreement,” Francis said.

Another issue Morales Sola delves into is the pope’s decision to welcome to the Vatican Hebe de Bonafini, the founder of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo movement, a divisive figure in Argentina who’s been openly critical of Bergoglio and the Catholic Church.

“Even a friend sent me a letter criticizing me for this,” Francis said.

“It was an act of forgiveness,” he said. “She asked for forgiveness and I didn’t deny her it. I don’t deny it to anyone.”

“She is a woman who had two of her children killed,” he said. “I bend over, kneel down in front of such suffering. I don’t care what she said about me. And I know she’s said horrible things in the past.”

Communion for All, Even for Protestants

Edit: For the record.

In addition to the divorced and remarried, for Luther’s followers as well there are those who are giving the go-ahead for the Eucharist. Here is how “La Civiltà Cattolica” interprets the pope’s enigmatic words on intercommunion.

by Sandro Magister

ROME, July 1, 2016 – In his way, after encouraging communion for the divorced and remarried, in that it “is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak,” Pope Francis is now also encouraging Protestants and Catholics to receive communion together at their respective Masses.

He is doing so, as always, in a discursive, allusive way, not definitional, leaving the ultimate decision to the individual conscience.

Still emblematic is the answer he gave on November 15, 2015, on a visit to the Christuskirche, the church of the Lutherans in Rome (see photo), to a Protestant who asked him if she could receive communion together with her Catholic husband.

The answer from Francis was a stupefying pinwheel of yes, no, I don’t know, you figure it out. Which it is indispensable to reread in its entirety, in the official transcription:

“Thank you, Ma’am. Regarding the question on sharing the Lord’s Supper, it is not easy for me to answer you, especially in front of a theologian like Cardinal Kasper! I’m afraid! I think the Lord gave us [the answer] when he gave us this command: 'Do this in memory of me'. And when we share in, remember and emulate the Lord’s Supper, we do the same thing that the Lord Jesus did. And the Lord’s Supper will be, the final banquet will there be in the New Jerusalem, but this will be the last. Instead on the journey, I wonder – and I don’t know how to answer, but I am making your question my own – I ask myself: “Is sharing the Lord’s Supper the end of a journey or is it the viaticum for walking together? I leave the question to the theologians, to those who understand. It is true that in a certain sense sharing is saying that there are no differences between us, that we have the same doctrine – I underline the word, a difficult word to understand – but I ask myself: don’t we have the same Baptism? And if we have the same Baptism, we have to walk together. You are a witness to an even profound journey because it is a conjugal journey, truly a family journey, of human love and of shared faith. We have the same Baptism. When you feel you are a sinner – I too feel I am quite a sinner – when your husband feels he is a sinner, you go before the Lord and ask forgiveness; your husband does the same and goes to the priest and requests absolution. They are ways of keeping Baptism alive. When you pray together, that Baptism grows, it becomes strong; when you teach your children who Jesus is, why Jesus came, what Jesus did, you do the same, whether in Lutheran or Catholic terms, but it is the same. The question: and the Supper? There are questions to which only if one is honest with oneself and with the few theological lights that I have, one must respond the same, you see. 'This is my Body, this is my Blood', said the Lord, 'do this in memory of me', and this is a viaticum which helps us to journey. I had a great friendship with an Episcopalian bishop, 48 years old, married with two children, and he had this concern: a Catholic wife, Catholic children, and he a bishop. He accompanied his wife and children to Mass on Sundays and then went to worship with his community. It was a step of participating in the Lord’s Supper. Then he passed on, the Lord called him, a just man. I respond to your question only with a question: how can I participate with my husband, so that the Lord’s Supper may accompany me on my path? It is a problem to which each person must respond. A pastor friend of mine said to me: 'We believe that the Lord is present there. He is present. You believe that the Lord is present. So what is the difference?' – 'Well, there are explanations, interpretations…'. Life is greater than explanations and interpretations. Always refer to Baptism: “One faith, one baptism, one Lord”, as Paul tells us, and take the outcome from there. I would never dare give permission to do this because I do not have the authority. One Baptism, one Lord, one faith. Speak with the Lord and go forward. I do not dare say more.”

Link to Chiesa... AMDG

Cardinal Napier Slams Cardinal Marx: "Political Correctness is the Main Heresy of Today"

Update: he quickly backpedaled when Skojek tweeted him and returned to his 2004 self.

The Archbishop of Durban rejects Cardinal Marx's claim, the Church should apologize to homosexuals and regard same-sex unions positively.

Durban (kath.net/LSN/jg) With a pithy remark Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, Archbishop of Durban (South Africa), rejected Cardinal Reinhard Marx's demand that the Church should ask for the "forgiveness of homosexuals."

Cardinal Marx had said at a conference in Dublin, that the Catholic Church had "till a very short time ago" had a "very negative" disposition toward homosexual people. This is allegedly "scandalous and horrible". The Archbishop of Munich and Freising had demanded that the Church should apologize to homosexuals.

A same-sex partnership can not be "worthless" if it has continued over a number of years and both partners are faithful to each other. The Church must "respect" the decisions of people and it is for the state to recognize homosexual unions and giving them similar rights as married couples, Marx had said.

The of Nigerian Pro-Lifer Obianuju Ekeocha had twitted the report by the Irish Times about Cardinal Marx. Cardinal Napier then responded via Twitter: "God help us! Next, we should apologize that we call adultery a sin! Political Correctness is the main heresy today!"

Link to Kath.net...

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Edit: We wonder if he's changed since recent years, as he was in 2004, very much in denial of the problem of aberrosexual clergy in his own conference and hostile to the Latin Mass, from Christian Order.  Vox Cantor also noted a twitter slapdown.  Perhaps he has been revising himself and revisiting the Gospels?

AMDG

Priestly Ordinations in France 2016: A New Low Point

Priestly Ordinations in 2016 in Traditional Rite:
FSSP, Bordeaux

Amand Timmermans

The ordinations in France take place mostly around June, near the Feast of St.. Peter and Paul (June 29)  who are regarded as two pillars of the Holy Church.

The Bishops' Conference of France (CEF) announced a few days ago that about a hundred new priests this year were consecrated for the Catholic Church: 79 diocesan for pastoral ministry - a little more than 2015 (68), but less than in 2014, where 82 diocesan ordinations already hit an absolute low for some centuries.

Particularly sad is the low ordination number of religious priests, whether connected to an order or a new community: one expects about twenty.

For comparison: in 2016 the Episcopal Conference expects about 100 ordinations; in 2015 there were around 120, in 2014 to around 140; 2002 was around 200.

The decline in vocations has seriously strained the age pyramid.

The number of priests in France has almost halved in the last twenty years: from 29,000 (diocesan and religious priests together) in 1995 to about 15,000 in the year 2015.

10,000 of them are older than 65 years, 7,000 are more than 75 years old.

It is estimated that every year about 800 French priests die.

This means that the number of priests will be halved again within less than 15 years. In the long term about 3,000-4,000 priests are expected in France.

The ordinations are distributed very irregularly over the diocese: the Archdiocese of Paris with 11 ordinations is, of course, in the lead; However, it is closely followed by the dioceses of Vannes (7) and Fréjus-Toulon (6), the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bordeaux (5) and four in Lucon en Vendée, Saint-Denis and Versailles. There are also five ordinations of the Communauté Saint-Martin in Évron (Mayenne). This priestly community was once in talks to take over the monastery abandoned by Benedictines, Abbey Weingarten (Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart). The project was of course very quickly discarded because of the expected "lack of acculturation".

The other dioceses in western France follow the sad country trend: two new priests in Quimper, one each in Bayeux, in Rennes, Nantes and in Laval.

In the diocese of Coutances, Séez, Saint-Brieux, Angers and Le Mans there are no ordinations this year.

Ordinations in traditional rite 2016: Institute of the Good Shepherd, Bordeaux

It is striking that there are those diocese best known as traditional friendly diocese, have the most vocations: Fréjus-Toulon, Vannes, Lucon and  the more conservative communities such as the Communauté de Saint-Martin in Évron (Mayenne).

In addition,  the communities of tradition are brought in, including the Fraternity of St. Peter , the Institute of the Good Shepherd (Institute of the Good Shepherd) and the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, whose new priests are to be ordained in the traditional form of the Roman Rite.

"The seminarians reflect the sociology of practicing Catholics."

This dynamic development as pleasing also, at the moment is rather limited; and it will not be enough to reverse the negative trend.

This slight optimistic situation seems not to be of interest to Church leadership anyway. In particular, there is no re-evaluation of recent modernist practice up for debate.

Some Catholic journalists are of a mind that only a complete zero would be reached before it can lead to profound reforms.

As the Belgian example shows that is very doubtful:

The number of priestly ordinations had fallen to zero in the four northern Belgian dioceses (except Bruges) years ago without  bringing any reaction from Cardinal Danneels.

At the same time, Danneels issued a decree by which the Flemish seminarians who were studying in neighboring countries (diocese 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands), - in spite of the shortage of priests returning to northern Belgium, was banned. The Dutch were incidentally very grateful for these Flemish priest exiles.

Danneels' successor, Archbishop DeKesel, is acting in the same spirit.

Although there is a shortage of priests in Belgium and particularly in Brussels, with the pending closure of churches in the coming autumn, Dekesel has expelled the Priestly Fraternity of the Holy Apostle established by his predecessor, Archbishop Msgr. Léonard, in Brussels  (with currently seven priests and 21 seminarians) on 30 June 2016 from the Archdiocese, ​​on the grounds that the majority are French.

They don't just want bankruptcy, they  want naked, yes a stark naked collapse.

Text: Amand Timmermans (adapted from an article on www.belgicato.hautetfort.com v 06.25.2016.)
Picture: IBP / FSSP (screenshots)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

"Shock Statement" by Bishop Fellay? -- Rome: Talks With SSPX Will Continue After the Summer

Internet site of the Belgian Bishops' Conference Reported a
"Shock Statement" by Bishop Fellay, but in Rome the situation is
being downplayed

(Rome / Menzingen) The publication yesterday of a press release by the Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X led the media to various speculations.  It's the case especially for official media: the more dismissive the attitudes towards the SSPX the more hysterical the reporting. In the Vatican, however, one who is directly involved has downplayed this and strove for reassurance.

From the Church media, who are less than friendly to the SSPX, criticism of Pope Francis was placed in the foreground, for example, by the [very aberrosexual] German section of Vatican Radio. The Internet platform Cathobel of the Belgian Bishops' Conference, which is comparable to Katholisch.de of the German Bishops Conference, even reported a "shock statement" by the Superior General.

This was made with respect to  the following sentence:

"In the great and painful confusion that prevails currently in the Church, the proclamation of Catholic doctrine requires the opposition to errors which - fatally favored by a large number of shepherds, and even the Pope himself -  have penetrated even into her heart"

Other media stressed the statement that the acquisition of a canonical recognition was "not" the primary objective. Thus, the media's tenor is that the SSPX had  "slammed the door  in the face" of Rome and "slammed the door to Rome."

However, the Superior General of the SSPX had also said that this, as a "Catholic work", is a "right" of [official] recognition. 

Archbishop Pozzo: my critique is probably the "quite controversial" Post-Synodal Letter Amoris laetitia

A very different reaction took place in Rome with Curial Archbishop Guido Pozzo.  As secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, it is he who is among those who are directly involved in the talks between the Holy See and the Society founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

Curial Archbishop Guido Pozzo

Msgr. Pozzo sees the declaration as no cause for alarm. The allegations of the SSPX are largely "already known". The Curial Archbishop also expressed his [own] conviction that is sharply critical of Pope Francis referring to  the Post-Synodal Letter Amoris laetitia, particularly on the issue of remarried divorcees that indeed is "quite controversial."

With regard to canonical recognition, so Pozzo, to  the French-speaking news agency I.Media, Bishop Fellay has only brought a "wait and see" attitude.

The declaration is therefore not to be considered as "negative act", which  the French daily La Croix also printed, citing Msgr.Pozzo. However, you'll realize that an imminent solution to the problems is not to be expected.

According I.Media and the Internet platform cath.ch of the Swiss Bishops' Conference,  talks between Rome and the SSPX will continue after the summer.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Cathobel / Vatican Insider (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

Society -- Vatican - Signals of Approach by Both Sides, But no Decision

Priestly Ordination of SSPX in Zaitzkofen

(Menzingen / Rome) Recently, the signals, which seemed to indicate that the talks between the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X and the Holy See have reached  an understanding. The superiors of the SSPX have met since last weekend to exchange ideas. It should also consider the talks with Rome. They also didn't come to any concrete decisions. The conversation with Rome will continue.

"The aim" of  the SSPX "consists mainly in the formation of priests", according to an official statement of the Superior General of the SSPX, Bishop Bernard Fellay. This is "an essential condition for the renewal of the Church and the restoration of society".

Specifically, the positioning is defined in four points, the canonical recognition is "not" identified as the priority target, because the Brotherhood "as a Catholic work" has a "claim" to this.

The Catholic Church is ruled by a "great and painful confusion", which is encouraged by a "large number of shepherds", "up to the pope himself."

Subsequently, the four points in the text.

1. 1. In the great and painful confusion that currently reigns in the Church, the proclamation of Catholic doctrine requires the denunciation of errors that have made their way into it and are unfortunately encouraged by a large number of pastors, including the Pope himself.

2. The Society of Saint Pius X, in the present state of grave necessity which gives it the right and duty to administer spiritual aid to the souls that turn to it, does not seek primarily a canonical recognition, to which it has a right as a Catholic work. It has only one desire: faithfully to bring the light of the bi-millennial Tradition which shows the only route to follow in this age of darkness in which the cult of man replaces the worship of God, in society as in the Church.

3. The “restoration of all things in Christ” intended by Saint Pius X, following Saint Paul (cf. Ep.h 1:10), cannot happen without the support of a Pope who concretely favors the return to Sacred Tradition. While waiting for that blessed day, the Society of Saint Pius X intends to redouble its efforts to establish and to spread, with the means that Divine Providence gives to it, the social reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

4. The Society of Saint Pius X prays and does penance for the Pope, that he might have the strength to proclaim Catholic faith and morals in their entirety. In this way he will hasten the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary that we earnestly desire as we approach the centennial of the apparitions in Fatima.

Subsequently, the communiqué of the Superior General as an audio file in French

The current state of talks with Rome was described by Bishop Fellay recently in the June 12 National Catholic Register published interview.  June 29th Register. [Pentin thinks it's off.]

He said at the time:

"With the new Pope, Pope Francis, we have now entered a new phase, a new situation, which is very interesting, but even more confusing indeed. I call it a paradoxical situation, because - if one wants to say so - it just aggravate the problems, which we condemn, in the Church. At the same time begin, especially in Rome, some voices are loud and acknowledging that something must be done. "

The recently signals were emitted by both sides, nevertheless, that gave rise to suspicions that a canonical recognition of the Fraternity could be imminent by Rome.

Signal of the SSPX

On June 21, the published Salzburger Nachrichten an interview with the Superior General of the SSPX, Bishop Bernard Fellay. Here the bishop sent remarkable signals in Rome: "No bishop shall be entitled to participate rise to the leadership of the Church, if he is not with the Pope and under the Pope." Likewise Bishop Fellay said, the SSPX "has always recognized the primacy of the Pope" and "did not want a separation from Rome for anything in the world."

The valid but illicit episcopal ordinations of 1988, was responded to by  Rome with excommunication, said the General Superior,  that the founder of the Brotherhood, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre,  that the consecrations might have "appeared from the outside" as "an act of disobedience,"  yet they were, however, seen as a "self-defense". Therefore, says Fellay, for the SSPX to affirm: "We are not schismatics, we are not separated from the Church."

Here, the SSPX and the reigning Pope and his immediate circle are not close. Both sides have made no bones about it in the past three years.

Signal of Regensburg Bishop Voderholzer

On June 22, Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg made a public statement on this year's ordinations by the SSPX in Zaitzkofen. It is in his diocese where  the international seminary of the Fraternity for the German-speaking countries and Central Europe resides. Bishop Voderholzer designated in the ordinations of the SSPX as "harmless". He signaled the fact that the ordinations are officially "tolerated".

In the past, there was a different sound. The incumbent Cardinal Prefect of the CDF, Gerhard Müller had criticized the annual ordinations as Bishop of Regensburg and Voderholzer's predecessor, as an "act of schism" and "provocation".

Since then, things have changed.

Signals from Rome

In early May the Catholic Internet newspaper Nuova Bussola Quotidiana wrote that Rome and the SSPX  that things " have never been so close."  It's an assessment that seemed to find indirect confirmation in May in reports from the German media, including the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitungand and the Spiegel , whose evident intention of it seemed to be to torpedo any agreement.

On April 1,  Bishop Fellay surprised the public when he was  received by Pope Francis. The conversation was "good," it was said, coming from both sides. As the Bishop reported a few days later in a sermon, the Pope had recognized the SSPX without limitation as "Catholic" and encouraged the Society  to establish a seminary in Italy.

Curial Archbishop Guido Pozzo, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei , who is responsible for the traditional communities, had told the SSPX that it could proceed without problems on this year's ordinations. The Ecclesia Dei Commission reports directly to Cardinal Müller. It can therefore be assumed that the new course is also represented in its meaning.

2012 has been agreement already within reach

In 2012 the reconciliation between Rome and the Fraternity seemed well within close reach. The Superior General Fellay had then traveled to Rome in June in the conviction that they had reached an agreement that would lead to canonical recognition of the SSPX.  At the last moment the agreement fell apart, for reasons still not exactly clarified: a chronicle of events .

Since then, there  is still the persistent rumor, that this "failure" of the multi-year discussions had ripened  Benedict XVI's intention to resign. He had been barely elected pope in 2005, and invited Hans Küng from the modernist side and Bishop Fellay of the traditionalist side for a personal interview to Rome. While he had no further steps with Küng, he began detailed theological talks with the SSPX.

Under Pope Benedict XVI. the SSPX was asked to the sign a "Doctrinal Preamble" that was highly controversial in the Society. It was sometimes even regarded as an affront because it demanded much more than was demanded from other Catholics as a commitment.

In September 2014 Cardinal Müller began the talks new

While after the failure in 2012 began a standstill, an unexpected sign of relaxation followed two years later by Pope Francis. It was initiated by Cardinal Prefect Müller, the end of September 2014. Bishop Fellay was received in Rome, wherewith the talks were resumed, although parallel, a confidant of the Pope to the faithful who receive the sacraments at the SSPX priests, even threatened with excommunication .

Late 2014 and early 2015 endowed Cardinal Walter Brandmüller and Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider from institutions of SSPX visits. Then Rome recommended the recognition of the community founded in 1970, " as it is ".

There has since been no more talk of a doctrinal preamble. In autumn 2015 Rome presented the Society a new proposal. Since then it has been in question.

"Expression of will of the Pope" with personal prelature

Last February Curia Archbishop Pozzo stressed, however, that "the clear expression of will of the Pope was to promote the canonical recognition of the SSPX".

Unchanged are the offer of Rome, the SSPX in the event of an agreement, to be canonically recognized in the form of a personal prelature. It's an offer that is certainly recognized by the SSPX as generous.

So far only Opus Dei has this legal form which ensures the community the greatest possible autonomy and independence from local bishops. With a bishop at the head of a personal prelature it has, unlike the other religious orders and communities, its own bishop.

The Opus Dei was recognized with the status of  a personal prelature in 1982. Since 1994, Msgr. Javier Echevarria is the only prelate of a  personal prelature in  the Catholic Church. He is quite thoroughly opposed to the recognition of the SSPX  as the second personal prelature.

According to Vatican legal experts commissioned by Pope Francis working on the offer for canonical establishment, the SSPX should - reportedly - be granted even more rights  than the Opus Dei has currently.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Seminary of the Sacred Heart (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG