Cardinal Burke Defends Himself Against "Slander" -- Whoever Wants to Understand What Happens in the Vatican Must Read Between the Lines, Must Look Behind the Curtains

Cardinal Burke with the Knights Malta

(Rome) Cardinal Raymond Burke, a brilliant jurist and the highest judge of the Holy See until the end of 2014, is a patient man with a great deal of suffering. But he can not just stand by for everything. Anyone who currently wants to understand what is happening in the Vatican and in the Church must listen carefully, look behind the scenes, read between the lines and, above all, question what the "information disinformation channels" are rumoring in the Vatican,  says Marco Tosatti. In other words, anyone who wants to see through this, is called to be an observer. This is exhausting but necessary in the service of the Church.

In November 2014 Pope Francis dismissed him, away from the Vatican, to become Cardinal Patronus of the Order of Malta, to which he only said of this humiliation, where the Pope says to go, I go. When Pope Francis sent him to Guam, he said he did not see it as exile.

Cardinal Burke does not want to be the scapegoat

However, he does not want to be a scapegoat for the dirty laundry of others in the Order of Malta. In the Order, which is at the same time a sovereign state in international law, a severe power struggle had spread in December / January. With Vatican support, the first rank of the professed knights was in fact deprived of power by some members of the second class. Burke, the jurist, had to stand idly by to the legally unclean activity. The best laws are only as much in effect  as people are found to ensure their compliance. In the Vatican, the Constitution was overthrown. Interpretation?

Journalists approaching the "magical circle" around Pope Francis, as Tosatti commented, gave the astonished public a certain reading of the events in the Order that had little to do with reality. Cardinal Burke did not speak, did not correct this. He was the Pope's ambassador to the Order. Ambassadors do not have to express their opinion, but to speak publicly only in the interest of their client.

The power struggle in the Order of Malta

Finally the letter became known to Burke on 1 December 2016 by Pope Francis. A letter containing clear instructions for action against certain power centers in the Order. As the Ambassador of the Pope, Burke also held on to the wasps' nest. He could not know this. The Cardinal Secretary suddenly interfered, stood up against him, and declared that with the Pope's letter everything had been quite different and misunderstood.

The Knight of the Second Estate, Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager, as Major Chancellor in the Order, had been deposed by the Grand Master of the Order and reinstated by the Vatican, with Papal authority. The centuries-old hierarchical structures in the Order had been overridden by a papal fiat. Scarcely again in office, and now as the real ruler in the Order, Boeselager entered the press at the beginning of February, declaring that he no longer had any use for Cardinal Burke in the Order. A few days later, the Vatican sent the Cardinal to the South Seas, far from Rome.

"I regard this as libel"

Boeselager's attack was too brazen for the Cardinal. He came to the public to clarify that he had never called for the resignation of Boeselager. The accusation was piquantly repeated by Ludwig Hoffmann of Rumerstein, an Austrian knight, ie, a member of the old guard. Hoffmann von Rumerstein, according to the Order's Constitution, heads the Order until the election of a new Grand Master, but he has only to say as much about Vatican interference as the Vatican will allow. The unilateral representation of a certain Fronde has found numerous adepts, followers, and naive followers.

After Cardinal Burke's speech, Cardinal Burke then became clear: the assertion that he and not Grand Master Fra Matthew Festing had demanded Boeselager's head, "I regard as defamation." Grandmaster Festing, the subordinate in the internal power struggle, returned on January 24 after a conversation with Pope Francis, disappointed and unnerved. Hoffmann von Rumerstein may have thought of using the viewpoint of the Order's new representation in this critical situation. After all, the professed knights, like him, have to reckon with the fact that Pope Francis completely deprives them of power. The papal announcements to "reform" the Order were felt as a threat by parts of the Order.

"Anyone who allows distribution of contraception should also take responsibility for it"

After a reconstruction of the facts, the resignation request to Boeselager was not planned at all. Grandmaster Festing, with the written request of the Pope of December 1, wanted to create clarity. To this end, he invited Boeselager on 6 December and confronted him with allegations which had come to light independently by means of two investigation reports. It was only when the Grand Chancellor showed himself inscrutable that the confrontation escalated. The Grand Master demanded Boeselager's resignation. When this refused, Festing dismissed him. The rest is known .

Cardinal Burke on the clash of 6 December:

"I had no authority to demand the resignation of the Grand Chancellor. I have merely pointed out that a person consciously admitting the distribution of contraception in the works of the Order should also assume responsibility for it. The Grand Master then asked the Grand Chancellor to resign, which he refused. Then the Grand Master proceeded to his dismissal without me being involved in any way. "

Now the Pope had sent him to Guam to conduct proceedings against an emeritus archbishop. He sees this as a task, not as an exile from Rome.

"The Pope has never personally spoken to me about this mission."

Two operations and the proven information disinformation channels

The actual nomination was made by the Congregation for the Congo. Marco Tosatti wrote:

"In fact, in this rather mournful story two different, interrelated operations can be distinguished. The first operation concerns internal power struggles in the Maltese Order, which are probably also about money. It is unfortunate that the figure of the Pope was so obviously involved in this operation: he was the one who forced the Grand Master to retreat. We do not know what means he used to do."

Another aspect, according to Tosatti,

"...is the intervention of the Vatican Secretariat of State: It is known that the family of the Grand Chancellor who has been deposed and been rejoined after the Anschluss of the Order, by the Vatican has excellent relations with the Terza Loggia [Third floor, Secretary of State]; But they have substituted him for the task of spiritual renewal of the order ... "

The Swiss journalist Giuseppe Rusconi spoke of the Anschluss, referring to the "Anschluss" of Austria to the German Reich in 1938, in order to say that at the end of January, the Vatican was doing the same with the Maltese Order. The "Terza Loggia" means the third floor in the Apostolic Palace and is synonymous to say that the Boeselager family has "excellent relations" with the Pope.

Tosatti continues:

"The second operation, on the other hand, appears to be an opportunistic action. There is an opportunity to attack, discredit Burke, who is a nuisance in other areas, and, at the same time, to confuse the real maneuvers by smoke candles. It is enough to make the rumors that  [Burke] is guilty of all the guilt, friendships, informational channels ... Always this Burke! How much patience can the Pope muster with him! ... "

If you want to understand what is happening in the Vatican and in the Church, you must take the trouble to read between the lines, to look behind the scenes, and to look closely at who says what and what he says, especially when it is supposedly neutral, "in the newspaper stands".

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Photo: Ordine di Malta Sicilia (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

After the Priestly Society, Daneels' Protege Also Casts Out Communities of Jerusalem

The Communities of Jerusalem Leave Belgium (photo of their establishment
in Great St. Martin Church in Cologne)

(Brussels) An icy wind is blowing now under the new Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels. After throwing out the Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles from his diocese, the Communities of the Brothers and Sisters of Jerusalem must now pack their bags.

Jozef De Kesel was appointed Archbishop of Brussels and Primate of Belgium at the end of 2015 by Pope Francis. His appointment ended a five-year-old plan begun by Pope Benedict XVI. in an attempt to correct the progressive course of the Belgian Church. With the appointment of De Kesel, the old squad of Cardinal Godfried Danneels returned. De Kesel had already been Danneel's chosen successor in 2010. In November 2016 De Kesel was elevated to the rank of Cardinal by Francis. A dignity denied to his predecessor, Léonard.

Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles

De Kesel's predecessor and Danneel's successor, Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard had brought the Fraternité des Saints Apetres / Broederschap van de Saint Apostles of the French priest, Michel-Marie Zanotti, into the country. The Society took over the care of two parishes in the Brussels region and founded a seminary. Archbishop Léonard insisted on this parallel priestly training, hoping to train a new clergy.  Three years after the foundation, 21 young men were already preparing for the priesthood. The new foundation was "too successful," as it was described behind the scenes. De Kesel, only a few months in office, blocked the priestly seminary and threw the priestly brotherhood "from solidarity with France's bishops" out of his archdiocese. At the same time, he made sure that they were not included in any other Belgian diocese. "France also needs priests", was the well-founded reasoning.

In reality, De Kesel strives to make a tabula rasa of the "restorative" phase of his predecessor. The Church understanding of the Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles was "miles" away from that Danneels, as it was said in Brussels. The traditional priesthood of the Society and the numerous priestly confreres, which were attracted to the Society were considered undesirable in progressive circles. De Kesel himself promoted the abolition of priestly celibacy shortly after his inauguration.

Brothers and Sisters of the Communities of Jerusalem

Now the brothers and sisters of the Communities of Jerusalem must also pack their bags. The Fraternités Monastiques de Jérusalem 2001, founded in France in 1975, were brought to Brussels by Cardinal Danneels. The monastic communities have two offices in Rome in Trinità dei Monti and in San Sebastiano al Palatino. Their charism is, among other things, to live in monastic isolation in the midst of large cities. Communities have been settled in the famous abbey of Mont Saint Michel in Normandy and also the abbey with the famous cathedral of St. Mary Magdalene of Vezelay. In the German-speaking world, there are branches in Greater St. Martin in Cologne and in Strasbourg.

The Belgian branch is located in Saint-Gilles, Flemish Sint Gillis, in the Brussels region, a highly multicultural area with social problems. In the parish there are adult catechumenates, numerous missionary and apostolic initiatives, bible circles and a community of Eucharistic worship.

The reason for the expulsion is in this case: reform of the pastoral units. Churches are abandoned and parishes are united. The Sint-Gilliskerk is to become the center of a larger pastoral unit, but the presence of the monastic communities, although they have revitalized the parish, is no longer desired.

Their Presence Not Desired by the Archdiocese

At the suggestion of the Archdiocese, the Community agreed to seek a new place of action. "We have complete confidence and are ready to work together," quotes Nuova Bussola Quotidiana (NBQ) Soeur Violaine and Frere Jean-Christophe, who are responsible for the Brussels branch. A new site has also been found, but the Archdiocese is only prepared to issue a guarantee for two years. This is too little for a community. When the community pressed for a longer time, the Archdiocese was opposed. After a discussion with the Archbishop and the delegates for consecrated life, "we have decided to withdraw," as the two leaders of the communities write. There was no room left.

The explanation bears a bitter undertone, which makes the disappointment of being forced out of the archdiocese after fifteen years. The leaders ask for prayer: "The future belongs to God. If He wants our Communities to return to Brussels one day, we will be very pleased."

The ouster of the Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles and now of the monastic Communities of Jerusalem raises questions. Can an archdiocese like Brussels afford to set aside two of its most fruitful communities?

"These are episodes that show that the Church in Brussels, or at least some of its high-ranking representatives, has a tendency to self-mutilation and an urge to centralize power," NBQ said.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Wikicommons

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Vigil for John Vennari

Edit: John Vennari has just announced on his Facebook that he doesn't have long to live.

Vatican Wants to Protect Image of the Pope

Edit: they're just begging for people to do something.

(Vatican Radio) The Secretariat of State of the Holy See issued a press release on Wednesday, detailing the steps being taken to protect the image of the Holy Father. Below, please find the full text of the communiqué, in unofficial English translation.

***************************

The Secretariat of State, among its tasks, has also that of protecting the image of the Holy Father, so that his message can reach the faithful intact and that his person not be exploited.

It is in view of these same purposes, that the Secretary of State protects the symbols and coats of arms of the Holy See, through appropriate regulatory instruments provided for on an international level.

In order to make its protective action more effective with respect to stated purposes, and to halt situations of illegality that arise, the Secretariat of State will effect systematic surveillance activities apt to monitor the ways in which the image of the Holy Father and the coats of arms of the Holy See are used, [and] if necessary intervene with appropriate action.

Socialists Want to Change Iconic Heldenplatz to Something More Democratic and Therefore Demoralizing

Edit: socialists despise heros.

VIENNA. The city of Vienna is positively inclined to a possible renaming of the Heldenplatz. [Hero's Square] The proposal of Austria's Minister of Culture Thomas Drozda (SPÖ) is "interesting and worthy of discussion", said the office of Culture Councilor Andreas Mailath-Pokorny (SPÖ)  on Monday to the news agency APA.

It is useful to devote a special place to the Republic of Austria on the occasion of the Jubilee 2018. In 1918 Austria had abolished the monarchy and declared the country a democratic republic.

Minister of Culture Drozda had previously criticized the current name and expressed his opinion that the Heldenplatz would be renamed. As examples he suggested "place of the republic" or "place of democracy". This seemed more appropriate to him "than the historical, yet uncomfortable current variant," he told the press on Sunday.

Resistance came from the coalition partner. ÖVP chief and vice-chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner who wrote on Twitter that " Heldenplatz belongs to Austria."

The Heldenplatz had experienced good and bad times and was a fixed part of Austrian history. "It should remain, I see no reason for a renaming."

The Heldenplatz is located in front of the Hofburg [Imperial Palace] in Vienna and has born its name since 1878. It is where  the two equestrian statues of Archduke Charles and Prince Eugene stand. (Krk)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

An Italian Court Finds Muslims Who Tortured and Drowned Christians Guilty of Religious Hatred

A court in Palermo imposes 18 years of imprisonment because in 2015 Muslims apparently had thrown 12 Christians into the sea on their flight across the Mediterranean Sea - the judges regarded religious hatred as an aggravating circumstance

Palermo (kath.net) An Italian court last week condemned six migrants to 18 years imprisonment because they had thrown twelve Christians into the sea in April of 2015. The judges considered religious hatred as an aggravating circumstance. A defendant was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for torture, and others charged were released. Italian and Austrian media, including the daily newspaper "Der Standard", published in Vienna, reported on a report from the APA press agency.

Christian and Muslim refugees had dared to flee across the Mediterranean, and religious disputes arose on the ship: Christians had been compelled to pray to Allah. Muslim migrants are said to have beaten twelve Christians from Nigeria and Ghana and thrown them overboard.

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Cardinal Refused Masonic Grandmaster Church Funeral

(Abidjan) This news has been concealed in Europe. Cardinal Jean-Pierre Kutwa, the Archbishop of Abidjan, denied the Honorary Grandmaster  and founder of the Grand Lodge of the Ivory Coast, Clotaire Magloire Coffie, an ecclesiastical funeral. Coffie had been killed in a traffic accident this January 29th.

His sudden death has shaken the economy and politics of the West African country. Freemasonry is also influential on the Ivory Coast. Alassane Quattara, Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso, and that of Gabon, Ali Bongo Odimba, were among the first to be included in the condolence book. In the Congo, Gabon and Sierra Leone, there is no prospect of a higher position in the state without initiation in the lodge.

The funeral ceremonies, in addition to a Masonic "farewell", which was not publicly announced, also foresaw an ecclesiastical funeral with a Requiem Mass on February 12th. So it had been announced from Coffie's circle.

Despite massive pressure, Cardinal Kutwa refuses Church funeral

In spite of massive political pressure on him, Cardinal Kutwa has denied the Grand Master an ecclesiastical funeral. The archbishop of Abidjan remained firm, recalling that Catholic faith and Freemasonry were incompatible. Cardinal Kutwa also instructed Msgr. Ziad Sacre, head of the Catholic, Lebanese mission of the country, not to undertake an ecclesiastical funeral for Michel Georges Ghorayeb. The Lebanese Ghorayeb, a Freemason  like Coffie, had been killed together with him in the traffic accident.

Coffie was called "Le Papa" by the Freemasons. "Le Papa et un autre frère, Michel Ghorayeb, sont morts" (The father and another brother, Michel Ghorayeb, are dead), Jeune Afrique reported on 31 January, citing the Grand Lodge of the Ivory Coast.

It was the Greek Orthodox priest of Abidjan who finally agreed to perform the religious rite on 6 February as part of a vigil.

Incompatibility: Fellowship automatically leads to excommunication

The incompatibility between the secret bond of the Lodges and the Catholic Church was confirmed by Pope Clement XII. in the dogmatic bull In Eminenti of 28 April 1738. Since then, Catholics know that they merit the punishment of the excommunication latae sententiae when they join a lodge.

The founding of the Grand-Lodge of London in June 1717 is considered the "birth-hour" of Freemasonry around the world. All other lodges invoke this grand lodge. 300 years later,
nothing of what Pope Clement XII. in his bull has been altered. On 26 November 1983, the Catholic Church finally confirmed the condemnation of Freemasonry. The Declaration of the Congregation for the Congregation of the Faith, headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, took place with the express approval of Pope John Paul II. It stated that the negative judgment of the Church on Freemasonry was "unchanged". Literally it means:

"The negative judgment of the Church on Masonic associations thus remains unchanged because their principles have always been regarded as incompatible with the doctrine of the Church, and therefore, their membership in them is prohibited. The faithful who are members of the Masonic associations are, therefore, in the state of serious sin, and can not receive Holy Communion."

"Those who put pressure on Cardinal Kutwa to persuade him to allow an ecclesiastical burial for the Grand Master, despite the condemnation, may have been accustomed to dealing with a spineless clergy ready to bend, eager to please. But not all, thanks to Providence, are this way. There are Church leaders who continue to take the Catechism seriously and, above all, say no, when the sacraments and especially the Eucharist are at stake," said Mauro Faverzani of Corrispondenza Romana.

Great influence of the lodges on the policies of several African states

The funeral ceremonies for the influential Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the Ivory Coast lasted several days from the 6th to the 10th of February, and were strikingly similar to the protocol for the corresponding celebrations at the death of a head of state. A large number of politicians had appeared, including the country's Minister of Security, Hamed Bakayoko, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the Ivory Coast, who had been in office since 2015, and Alain Donwahi, the Grand Master of the Province of the Grand Center. Also present were Vice President Daniel Kablan Duncan, Minister of Economic Affairs Bruno Koné, former Prime Minister Jeannot Ahoussou Kouadio, Chairman of the Economic and Environmental Council, Charles Koffi Diby, and former Prime Minister Henriette Konan Bedié.

They presented themselves to Cardinal Kutwa. Jean-Pierre Kutwa, ordained a priest in 1971, was appointed Archbishop of Gagnoa in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. In 2006 Pope Benedict XVI appealed to him to take the archbishop's See of Abidjan. In February 2014, Pope Francis Francis raised him to the rank of Cardinal.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: MiL (Screenshot)
Trans: vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Schönborn: the Cross Should Make the World Fairer

Viennese Cardinal in "Today" -column: If the cross in the courtroom, classroom and hospitals is not for change, it is merely an ineffective piece of culture

Vienna (kath.net/KAP) According to Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Cross has important functions in public space. "The cross should change something, make the world more equitable, otherwise it is an ineffective piece of culture," the Viennese Archbishop said in his Friday column of the free newspaper "Heute" in the current cross-debate. The symbol of Christians should not be seen as a "jewel in a cultural museum," but rather as a reminder.

In the courtroom, according to Schönborn, "it should remind the judges that God expects them to be righteous and not partisan," and that "the poor and defenseless are to be treated just as well as the rich and powerful." In the school, the cross calls to mind "that children are not bullied, that teachers should support the weak." In the hospitals, the cross shows "that the suffering man has his dignity, even if he is destitute."

The Cardinal has been at a distance from the current cross-debate, which was triggered by the discussion about head coverings and burkas. Some would call for "ideological neutrality" in public space and wanted to "ban or even ban anything that recalls a religion." Others have described the cross - but not the Burka - as part of the culture. "This discussion is a dead end," says Schönborn.

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Pope Francis Writes Forward to Sex-Abuse Victim's Book

Freiburg i.Ü., 14.2.17 (kath.ch) For four years Freiburg resident, Daniel Pittet was raped as an altar boy by a priest. The 58-year-old father wrote a book about it. He describes to cath.ch the long path from abuse victim to the abuse book.

Maurice Page

"On August 15, 1971, at the age of twelve, I forgave the priest who raped me before I was out of his clutches," says Daniel Pittet in conversation with cath.ch. "It was the forgiveness of a child, sure. But on that day I heard him preaching about the Mother of God. People dried their tears with handkerchiefs. I knew I should be raped by Father Joël Allaz after the Mass. This was almost like a 'liturgy'. I said to myself, 'He is a priest, and what he says is right. There is another man in him, a creep, a pig. I made my accounting. I forgave him.'

The conversation takes place at the kitchen table. The former altar boy in Freiburg Cathedral recalls: "I have prayed to the Mother of God and to Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus (Thérèse of Lisieux, editor) to take me away from this man. I have cried streams, filled bathtubs. It took some time, however, before I was transferred to the St. Paul sisters, where my great aunt lived, who decided that I should not go to that Father Joel."

«I remain a fragile man»

Actually, Pittet does not want to return to the past, "because I was built on this. Who would I be today if I had not experienced this? I'm sure I would not be better. I have suffered a lot. I have learned modesty. The enthusiasm that I had as a child, I still have. I founded a family. I would not have found a better way, even if I am mentally and physically quite damaged. I remain a fragile man, but I know that what I am saying is true. I also know that certain people in the Church will be horrified. But you have to make a clean slate."

But you have to make a clean slate

Pittet comes from a broken family. The father left them when the boy was four years old. "When I told my grandmother and my mother that I was going to a Capuchin in the nearby cloister, they were very proud. They were glad to see that he took me up and brought me back. I have never dared to tell them anything. My mother had asked the priest to give me sexual education classes."

«Such facts break a family»

The priest regularly raped  boys from 1968 to 1972. "The most beautiful photo of my childhood comes from Father Joël. He published it in their magazine 'Foyers' and added a text that was full of ambiguous allusions. At school, the teachers noticed that something was wrong, but this led this to the death of my grandmother and the problems in the family after the departure of my father. I was also with a psychiatrist who did not find anything or say anything. He never addressed me on sexual matters. Either he hadn't done his job or then he assumed that a judge would never have believed me. Such facts leave a family broken. So no one dares to talk about it."

He took 'difficult' guys up there with him

«This is for me»

The Capuchin Joël Allaz was a person highly esteemed in Freiburg. "One of the brothers witnessed a rape and asked the priest to leave me alone. He told me not to come any more. Father Joël, however, chuckled him off with the words 'Shut up.' He was only a brother and probably did not dare to interfere."

"He was good, even very good, in the 'professional' field. When the matter became public, I had many problems with people who knew him. In the Order, he enjoyed much autonomy and did not have to account to anyone, both in pastoral care and finance. In La Roche (in the Friborg Voralpen, the editor) he rented a chalet from a women's religious order. There he took 'difficult' guys with him. He knew very well how he could make up children who suffered, and of those whom he thought: "This one is for me."

Happy years in Einsiedeln

Three years after Daniel Pittet had been freed from the priest's grip, the latter disappeared from his memory. The young man went to Einsiedeln where he was "protected as in a cocoon" in the abbey. Retrospectively, Pittet referred to this time as "four years of happiness for my reconstruction." He appreciated the spiritual life and worship. The past had disappeared from consciousness. "Father Joël was wearing the robe of the Capuchins, I that of the Benedictines. I was never aware that we were alike in any way."

But I wanted the capuchin leave children alone

Pittet worked as a novice in a regional hospital. When he was 22 years old, a woman who had suffered a traffic accident died in his arms. Pittet suffered from a severe inflammation of the brain [meningitis?]. He went back to civilian life and said good-bye to his career in the Order.

Faith or Non-Faith?

"I had to decide whether I wanted to keep faith or not. I followed the advice of Cardinal Charles Journet, for whom I had been a altar server: if you are suffering, then go nine times to Bourguillon (a place of pilgrimage to Marienwall near Freiburg, the editor.). OnAt the ninth time I met a girl in the chapel who was crying. I entrusted her to the Mother of God and had chosen to believe."

In Freiburg, Pittet joined the prayer movement of the Prayer Apostolate and became its president. Under his leadership in Freiburg, the Catholic meetings "Praying and giving testimony," which are directed primarily to church youth. In this context, he encountered other victims of abuse. In 1989, he came upon a victim of Father Joël. "It was like waking up. I fell into a trance. My whole story came back to the surface. "

Like a hot potato returned

Pittet did not want to swallow it anymore and contacted the official (judge) of the diocesan section of the diocese of Lausanne-Geneva-Freiburg, Jean-Claude Périsset, later Vatican diplomat and nuncio in Germany. This gave him faith. He confronted the Capuchin himself. Joel Allaz acknowledged the deeds. "At that time I was the only applicant." He received a paper confirming the facts. "But I wanted the Capuchin to leave children alone." He was transferred to France. "They told me he was going to be treated and that I should not take care any longer about the matter. Whatever I did."

First contacts with the media

The matter rested until 2002, when Daniel Pittet discovered that the Capuchin was still "active" in Grenoble, France. "The diocese had indeed returned Father Joel to the Capuchins like a hot potato, and the Provincial has sent him elsewhere."

The media became aware of the matter. A friend of the journalist contacted Daniel Pittet and asked if he knew anything. "I'm not quite sure, but there is me." The passage into the media relieved the victim, he gave anonymous information. But there were also people who suggested that he should keep his mouth shut. This led him to a depression. He was ill for several months.

Encounter with Francis

The well-known French homeless priest and longtime friend, Guy Gilbert, advised him to write a book, and made contact with his publishing house "Philippe Rey". With the help of the Freiburg author Micheline Repond, the book came about. The last impulse to publication was given by Pope Francis. Pittet met the Pope during the time of origin of his book , "Loving is Giving Everything."  Francis had asked him where his enthusiasm came from. During the conversation, I said: "I was raped by a priest for four years, when he took me in his arms" the Pope responded, "This is extraordinary." 

Francis wanted to know more and asked if the priest was still alive? "Yes." The Pope asked him to give witness to this in a book. Pittet promised to bring an Italian translation of the already existing manuscript to Rome. "I asked him to write a foreword. He did not answer me clearly but promised that we would meet again." The Pope wrote this preface.

When I saw him, it hurt

Victims challenge perpetrators

Pittet also considered that his "tormentor" could express himself in the book. He wanted to say to him, "Thanks to you, I was in shit. It must be for you too. You must be able to talk about your suffering." West Moravian bishop Charles Morerod sought the priest. In the afterward to the book, the bishop reported on the encounter.

Pittet continues: "When I read the story (of the priest, editor), I said to myself," That is terrible. I had even more sympathy with him."n There was also a meeting between the two in the monastery. "When I saw him, it hurt me, for it strengthened me in what I had been thinking for forty years: he was a perverse, sick pedophile." He spoke as an egoist only of himself and his suffering. He had no word for the victims.

It needs a preface from the Pope so that he will be excluded from the priesthood

He was convinced that he would end up in hell. "I replied," You are not the only one who has done terrible things. When you confess and the priest forgives you, we will meet again in heaven. It was as if I'd betrayed him with a 'trick' to go to heaven. I'm glad I could tell him that."

Open questions

Daniel Pittet is pleased today that he is supported by good persons, his wife, a close friend and also by priests and religious. He could now be "completely free" behind the book.

The diocese today takes the situation very seriously, but must go even more to the victims, who see him as a "flag carrier". The abuse of children is still not taken seriously anywhere. Thus the Pope had told him: "Pedophiles in Italy? That does not exist." Pittet hopes that his book will draw more people's attention to the problem.

There are unfortunately some drops of bitterness. The Capuchins have released Joël Allaz of all positions and pastoral tasks. But he was not excluded from the Order. Pittet: "It is presumably because of the preface by the Pope that he is excluded from the priesthood. But if he were not in the monastery, he would have resumed of his nature, or would have been killed." (Cath.ch / Translation to German from French: Georges Scherrer)

The book "Mon Père, je vous pardonne" by Daniel Pittet has been published by French publisher "Edition Philippe Rey". On request, the publisher declared that it was necessary to check whether a German-language translation would be given, but "assumes it".

Edit: the story was also covered in CNA, kind of a puff piece.  They don't go into Francis' own congtroversial statement, or that the priest himself is unrepentant and still in the order.

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

The "Anti-Francis" Video About Which the New York Times Complained

Edit: since when does a non-Catholic at an anti-Catholic paper presume to speak with such authority about things Catholic?  Did Pope Francis make Jason Horowitz a Cardinal in pectore?

(Washington) What of the video "against Pope Francis" reported in the New York Times last February 7?

At that time, the New York Times published a detailed article by Jason Horowitz, who launched an attack series against Cardinal Burke and extended the anti-Trump struggle for the White House to the Catholic Church.

Horowitz mentioned in the article a video, which was spread on Youtube against Pope Francis, while he described the author of it as a rigid, self-described traditionalist "fundamentalist" and - probably not unintentionally - inspired by the Islamic state (IS) and its crude propaganda videos.

The video was neither published nor linked to by Horowitz. We publish it so that everyone can get a picture for themselves.

Photo: New York Times
Link Katholisches...
AMDG

Panorama: "Francis Fears a Schism in the Church"

 (Rome) "The Pope fears a schism in the Church" is the headline of an article in the today's edition of the Italian weekly magazine Panorama . "A ghost goes around in the rooms of the Vatican palace and poisons the pope," says Panorama editor Orazio La Rocca.

Tthe pope's worry about a possible schism robs him of sleep. The statement is not presented as a play on words or a mere hypothesis, as was recently claimed, that Francis had declared "self-critically" to the "smallest circle" that he could not exclude himself as the pope in the history who would divide the Church. Walter Mayr reported in the weekly Der Spiegel, just before Christmas. Mayr made the following quotation to the Pope:

"It is not to be ruled out that I may go down in history as the one that divided the Catholic Church."

La Rocca now wrote in Panorama:

"Without discounting the reforms of the papal dicasteries and beginning an inclusive work of purification in the shadows of the dome of St. Peter's for which, however, he has had to count on resistance and criticism, even those who contributed to his election. Francis continues to do this, even giving no weight to them in public. The Holy Father, one wonders at the Curia, fears that this criticism could split the church in the long run. His greatest concern is to keep the Catholics together and to avert any danger of schism. Worries and fears are heard in the Vatican, which have begun in the wake of public initiatives by some cardinals, for example, the famous open letter in which Cardinals Burke, Caffarra, Müller [sic] and Meisner asked for a 'clarification' from the Pope in Doubts (Dubia), which, according to them, had arisen through the admission of remarried divorced to Communion. Doubts, which the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Congregation of the Faith, Gerhard Ludwig Müller, too, has adopted, has spoken in an alarming interview of 'Dangers' for traditional teaching. More or less veiled objections to which Francis, after months of silence, indirectly responded by giving his placet to the most criticized part by the conservative cardinals, namely the Communion for the remarried divorced, and the publication of a study of a canonical nature of cohabitation."

Issue 4000 of Civiltà Cattolica - Audience with the Pope

La Rocca is creating a simple black-and-white painting: there is the good pope, who is concerned about the church, there are the evil "conservative" cardinals who do not seem to matter. In his hapless reading his research is so inaccurate that he mistook Cardinal Müller for Cardinal Brandmüller among the four signatories of Dubia . It's a proof of how little the author has dealt with the internal Church discussion in the past months. What is firmly established by the article is that the concerns of the four cardinals mentioned are not taken seriously by La Rocca or by Pope Francis. Obviously, the ideologically defined role for La Rocca is so clear that it can be meshed into every (ecclesiastical) story.

All in all, La Rocca's portrayal appears to be unimportant. If Pope Francis were indeed concerned about a possible schism, he would have every opportunity to reply at any time to the Dubia of the four Cardinals, Brandmüller, Burke, Caffarra, and Meisner. Or to invite these cardinals at least to have a conversation. Instead, he uses his energy to evade their questions for months, to send Cardinal Burke to Guam, and to let his closest collaborators publicly denounce the four cardinals. Taking the concerns of others seriously, should look different. If the Pope were to take seriously the concerns of the numerous appellants who had turned to him with appeals to Amoris laetitia, he would not have to worry about possible tendencies to splitting. Since he has not done this and still does not want to do it, La Rocca's report on the concerns of the pope is also unbelievable.

On the 9th of February, the Corriere della Sera published a preface of the discussion that Pope Francis had on the 25th of November 2016 with the General Superiors of 140 men of the order. The complete inscription, made by Father Antonio Spadaro, was published on 11th February in the jubilee edition of the Roman Jesuit publication, Civiltà Cattolica. According to the inscription, Pope Francis then said among other things, that in the administration of the Church there was also a "healthy menefreghismo", or a "healthy indifference".

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Panorama / Civiltà Cattolica (Screenshots)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholilsches...
AMDG

Munich Priest Speaks of the "Natural Disobedience" of the Priest

Controversial Munich priest Schießler praises the DBK statement "free decision of conscience" for the remarried divorced and now calls for the "blessing of homosexual people", Catholic-Evangelical liturgy and abolition of priestly celibacy

Munich (kath.net) The German bishops have written "a word for renewed marriage and family pastoral in the light of Amoris Laetitia,"  the "individual, personal and free conscience of the person concerned" ... "finally!" Praised the Munich priest Rainer Maria Schießler in a guest commentary in the "Zeit" - entitled  "Christ & Welt". Then he went on to explain that the Church was "far from the end of this path." It is important to see, to formulate and to put into practice "many things: the blessing of homosexual people who simply have to realize that they are not capable of a heterosexual partnership; The communion with our evangelical sisters and brothers, because it is not about equality, but about the unity that we already possess in Christ; Or the free choice of life for all those who also aspire to the higher, that is, the priestly ministry, in the Church, because the priestly proclamation of the gospel can also be entrusted with good faith, even in people who live in a loving relationship."

In addition, Schießler warned "of a verbal disarmament in the tone". This was addressed to those whom he described as "the ultra-conservatives in our Church." Supposedly, they would speak of the "Communion of adultery." But those who were "concerned with statements of a Communion of adultery or other conceptions" would not "just injure men," but "inflict a considerable harm on the Eucharist". For "the Eucharist community of Jesus of Nazareth is not a body of perfects, as we would like to see. They are the unsaved, the broken, who have just been given a new (higher) life perspective through the communion with Christ."

At last, Schießler wrote in "Christus & Welt", "this ruthless rejection of the seeker is no longer valid," "finally the individual believer decides, in his own personal freedom, what he is called to." According to Schießler  "the former reward and punishment mentality on this subject" had nothing to do with the Church of a Jesus of Nazareth, who deliberately sought the failed and the stranded."

Schießler is incardinated in the Archdiocese of Munich as a pastor, TV personality and author of the bestseller "Himmel - Herrgott - Sakrament: auftreten statt austreten. [Heaven - Lord God - Sacrament: encounter instead of leaving.] He openly acknowledgesy "Gunda", who has been at his side for 20 years. According to his self-understanding, he does not violate his promise of celibacy, because "the sexual act is definitely excluded", but "tenderness" is "important", kath.net has reported. In other respects, too, he tends to be a media-active celebrity. For example, he had aroused anger when, in the summer of 2011, he built a beer table in front of the altar steps of his church and demonstratively enjoyed a liter of beer during an interview with "Munich.TV" (photo above), kath.net has reported. He once even expressed the wish to make a restaurant with a beer garden from a side chapel of St. Maximilian.

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Raimundo Lull's Novel of 1284 About the Resignation of a Pope and "Perfect Charity"

Raimundo Lull and his novel Banquerna about a hermit, who becomes elected to the papacy
and resigns after realizing reforms.

The Servant of God Raimundo Lull (1232-1316), Franciscan and universal scholar who was from Mallorca. In addition to numerous other writings, he wrote the novel, Libre de Evast e Blanquerna, commonly known as Blanquerna, between 1283/1284. He portrays the life of the main character of the same name and is the first great literary work in Catalan.

Blanquerna is a figure of a deep and rich spiritual life and representative of an organic reform of the Church. Lull describes the seven deadly sins on the basis of the main character. Blanquerna decides, after a life that also makes him experience marriage and the birth of a son, to lead the hermit's existence.  Although he longs to be withdrawn, he soon becomes the abbot of a monastic community and eventually even becomes a pope. His pontificate is uneasy because he is subjected to hostility. He reorganizes the Roman Curia and reforms it from the ground in the right faith. He then declares his resignation and withdraws to his hermit's life.

The parallels to Pope Celestine V (1209-1296) are unmistakable. However, Celestine was elected pope ten years after Blanquerna's writing. Celestine's pontificate lasted only a few months, in order to overcome the stagnation in the election of the pope by mutually paralyzing parties. As soon as this had happened, he announced his resignation to the Cardinals to prepare for the election of a successor. As a precaution, he honorably left to prevent the danger of a schism in the church, since there can only be one pope. Celestine, who before his election was pope hermit and abbot, was already venerated as a saint during his lifetime.

There is another analogy in the office of Pope Benedict XVI. In February 2013 Brother  Amado Trujillo Cano, Vicar General of the Regulated Tertiary of St. Francis (TOR), wrote the corresponding description in Lull's novel Blanquerna.

Pope Blanquerna felt the desire to devote himself to a hermit's life, a passion that had accompanied him since he had decided to follow his vocation. This desire was always greater when he assumed new ecclesiastical responsibility and realized important and significant reforms not only for the Church, but also for the whole society.

Now that he had gathered with all the cardinals in a secret consistory, he proposed the creation of a ministry (in the etymological word of service) of prayer, whose leader was to devote himself to contemplative life in order to ask the Lord to give the excellent State of the Papacy and the Roman Curia, which had been achieved by the reform. When the Cardinals heard his suggestion, and his request to accept his renunciation from the papacy and to undertake with this new prayer, they tried to persuade him by all sorts of arguments. Blanquerna answered them with the request that they should have mercy on him. It was only because of this emphatic request that the Cardinals finally accepted his resignation, which pleased Blanquerna very much, because he could thus realize his heartfelt desire to devote himself entirely to contemplation in a hermit's life. He asked the Cardinals for their blessing and thanked them for their support. Then he immediately retired to the life of a hermit. The cardinals then elected the cardinal "Laudamus te" as pope.

The intended aim of Blanquernas's vocation calls in some way the path of the sanctification of Walter Map, who was a member of the Commission on the Third Lateran Council (1179) to examine the teachings of the Waldensians. He resisted the pauperistic path propagated by the new religious groups, which he regarded as false, for he observed that, while waiting for the papal confirmation, they humbled themselves, but when they were obtained, quickly abandoned their original resolutions, as soon as the call of their holiness brought them gifts and privileges. For Walter Map the unmistakable sign of holiness was the perfecta caritas, which was personified by three hermits who distinguished themselves by leticia perfectae caritatis, which was opposed to the hypocrites' tristes.

\On February 22, an exhibition on Raimund Lull will be opened in Rome in the crypt of the Basilica of St. Anthony (Via Merulana 124). The exhibition emtitled Raimundus Lullus, Christianus Arabicus - The meeting between cultures has been organized by the Pontifical University Antonianum in collaboration with the European Institute of the Mediterranean of the University of La Sapienza.

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