Pope's Ghost Writer, Fernandez is Out as University Rector

 (Buenos Aires) The Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina will receive a new rector tomorrow. This ends the term of Monsignor Victor Manuel Fernandez, one of Pope Francis' closest and most controversial confidants. In Rome, many people wonder: What will be his new task?
Victor Manuel Fernandez is widely regarded as the Ghostwriter of Pope Francis and as an alter ego of  his Argentine compatriot on the Pope's throne. The Vaticanist Sandro Magister counts him next to the Jesuit Antonio Spadaro and the Presbyterian Pastor Marcelo Figueroa as the dubious "three musketeers of the Pope"

Bergoglio's Protegé

Cardinal Bergoglio with Victor Manuel Fernandez

On Monday, the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina (UCA) published a press statement announcing a "new rector of the UCA". According to the statement, there was is a "shared time in office agreed between Rector Msgr. Victor Manuel Fernandez and the Grand Chancellor, Cardinal Mario Aurelio Poli." Cardinal Poli is the successor appointed as Archbishop of Buenos Aires by Pope Francis in April 2013. The respective Archbishop of Buenos Aires is automatically also the Grand Chancellor of the University.
 
Victor Manuel Fernandez became Rector of the UCA in 2009. His appointment was a power struggle between the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio, and the Vatican. At the Roman Congregation for Catholic Education there were strong concerns about Fernandez, whose publications did not convince, but raised some doubts. Fernandez's first work from 1995 is entitled  "Heal me through your mouth. The art of kissing." Magister wrote in the summer of 2017:

"It comes as no surprise that Rome, following this book and other equally controversial book productions, vetoed the appointment of Fernandez as Rector of the Catholic University of Argentina."

In 2004 and 2005 he published essays defending situational ethics. The influence of the Papal "eyeball" on Bergoglio would deserve its own investigation.
 
However, Cardinal Bergoglio stubbornly persisted in appointing his confidant as the university rector, thereby defeating Rome, which bowed to the will of the Jesuit "on the periphery".
 
But that was not all: When Bergoglio was elected pope four years later, he took revenge on the Roman opponents in this power struggle. Demonstratively, he appointed Fernandez as one of his first personnel decisions, to Titular Archbishop. At the same time he showed his Roman opponents to the door. A few months after his election, he dismissed nine members of the Education Congregation .
And even more: the Fernandez's personal file from 2009 was the concern of  French Dominican, Curia Archbishop Jean-Louis Bruguès. Msgr. Brugués was secretary of the Congregation for Education at that time, expressing doubts and reservations about the appointment of Fernandez as Rector. Pope Benedict XVI, who valued the Dominican, made him Archivist and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church  in 2012. This office, the "memory" of the Church, is traditionally associated with the cardinalatial dignity. But Brugués has since been denied by a vindictive Franciscan.

The papal ghostwriter

Since Cardinal Bergoglio moved to Rome as Pope Francis, Fernandez also commutes between Buenos Aires and the Vatican. He is considered the real speechwriter of the pope. In fact, in recent years he has spent more time in Rome than in Buenos Aires.
 
As adviser to Pope Francis, Msgr. Fernandez has attracted attention mainly through questionable contributions.
 
Fernandez was part of the editorial team for Amoris laetitia. Complete paragraphs of the particularly controversial eighth chapter, "with which Pope Francis has shaken the Church the most", said Magister in the previous year, are from older writings by Fernandez. Similar text contributions can be found in other papal documents.

Victor Manuel Fernandez, alter ego of Francis

In summer 2017, an essay by the Pope's protégé was published in the journal, Medellín. There, Fernandez let the cat out of the bag, so to speak, spreading what was hitherto vehemently disputed by the papal court: Almost a year and a half after the publication of the post-Synodal letter Amoris laetitia, Fernandez admitted that Pope Francis wanted to and has changed the "discipline" of the Church. So far, from the papal inner-circle, it has been claimed against the critics with emphasis, it changes "nothing."
 

In December 2016, Fernandez dismissed concerns of Catholic theologians, intellectuals, bishops and priests about Amoris laetitia, as that of four cardinals, which he described  as " ultra-Catholic " interjections . After all, the Church is "not a cannon firing safe teachings."
 
On 12 August 2017, in an interview with the Argentine newspaper La Voz del Interior, he spoke of a "new type of organization in the parishes". He called celibacy the mere "norm" of the Church. Criticizing celibacy is linked to the exercise of the responsibilities of a pastor as "power". Therefore, new organizational structures for parishes should be created by transferring "power" to lay people, "men and women". Then it will be less "disturbing"  of the life of the parish that "the priest is celibate", which is then also is "less questioned".

The new rector - and new tasks of the old kind?

New Rector of the UCA, founded in 1958, will be Miguel Angel Schiavone, who has already been confirmed by the Holy See. Tomorrow, March, the doctor and first layman at the head of the university will take office as the sixth rector in the history of the UCA. The official inauguration with an academic celebration will take place on May 9th.
 
Fernandez has said goodbye to the University with the celebration of a Mass.
 
The question is: what new tasks will Fernandez take on?

The "felt" influence of "Tucho", as friends call him, is so great that, after the dismissal of Cardinal Gerhard Müller, he was even rumored to be in consideration as the new Prefect of the Congregation of the Faith.
 
Since he has spent more time in Rome than in Argentina in the past few years to advise Pope Francis and to write for him, more Fernandez must be expected in the Vatican.
 
Officially, it only means that the outgoing rector will support the new rector.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Rorate Coeli / Fratres in Unum / Cope (Screenshots)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG 

If Words Could Kill: Catholic Apologetics Mafia Attacks Faithful Catholics

De Agostini Picture Library via Getty Images

And I say to you, my friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will shew you whom you shall fear: fear ye him, who after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say to you, fear him. 

 

Edit: in the past few days there have been a lot of professed experts among the Apologetics Inc. people (it's more of a cult), the old EWTN crew and even a motorcycle hooligan of a Canon Lawyer (apparently an ex-Satanist), on Judaism and the Catholic Church.  They are now venting their collectivist fury upon anyone they perceive as deviating from the acceptable, progressive orthodoxy on the topic of  Judaism.  The blood lust is palpable.  Could this be the end of Catholic Apologetics?

While those addressing the question of Judaism critically, and fearlessly, are in short supply, there are no shortage of individuals who, not having studied the question very deeply, wish to assume the worst of people who merely believe and know what the Church has taught and lived for centuries.

The current mob within the Church, who are now attacking faithful Catholics, including faithful priests like Father Peter West, do not draw their inspiration from the scriptures, so much as novelties which have been put upon the Church in the last half-century, like the post-Conciliar interpretations of Vatican II. These interpreters, like Cardinal Kasper, Hans Kung, Cardinal Bernardin, were eager to show their zeal for the Jewish nation, even to the point of disparaging Scripture itself. These were the visible agents of a powerful force which imposed a Church-wide institutional disposition, declaring a unilateral peace with the Jewish people. Maybe Catholic hostility was in the past, but Jewish hostility towards Catholics? Certainly, the aforementioned Apologetics Inc. is more than eager to attack!

The Church had opened its door, and ever since it has ever been perilous to express any opinion which might coincide with actual Catholic teaching of the ages, especially not touching on Judaism, which might offend the imposed consensus, no matter how far that consensus and fanaticism on its behalf, falls from the sensus catholicus, love of neighbor, or indeed, the Catholic Faith itself. Nowhere is the auto-lesionistic disease afflicting the Church more evident. Thus it has come to pass that expressing an opinion on Judaism, even the most innocuous and apparently harmless, can lead to heights of rage that will land a man in a lot of hot water with those powers and principalities, like the aforementioned apologetics mafia who are the handmaids of this oppressive arrangement.  In many "civilized" Western countries, it can even mean prison.

In view of this situation, it seems worthwhile to revisit an instructive story.  One lone voice was raised years ago.  The man who raised it was nearly thrown out on the street.  Yet teaching Catholicism on a question touching on the Jews cost him his job as an instructor of Sacred Scripture. It must have been painful for him to make this stand, for teaching was something he loved doing, but we're grateful he did.  He still maintains this notion about the Jews and their Covenant which can
 only be fulfilled in Christ's sacrifice on the cross.

Here is Father Echert's account as it appeared last year, which addressed the same problem which as raised its head again now that Cardinal Kasper and the Sankt Gallen Mafia rule at Santa Marta.  This was taken from AKA Catholic:

The Archdiocese won't allow us to use his official photo.

Less than two years into the new millennium, Moslem terrorists attacked the United States on 9/11, murdering thousands of Americans and sending hundreds of thousands of military troops to wars that would last for years. Among those deployed was a Catholic military chaplain from Minnesota, who was called to active duty from the classroom; this priest was also the Scripture Expert for the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) website.

Critical Observations on Joseph Ratzinger’s Classic Text

Joseph Ratzinger’s Introduction to Christianity

 Father Matthias Gaudron FSSPX

The text was initially submitted as a letter to the editor for Deutsche Tagespost, but unfortunately not published there.

In the German daily post from 23 March 2018, Michael Karger raised the issue of the first publication of Joseph Ratzinger's "Introduction to Christianity". Undoubtedly, this book contains interesting food for thought and is an attempt to re-examine the Catholic faith of a time when the truths of faith were being thrown off as oppressive baggage. Nevertheless, it must be noted that the young Ratzinger was only partially successful with this attempt and there are statements in this book, which must be contradicted. Therefore, it is incomprehensible that Ratzinger has continued to publish this book unaltered as a Prefect of Doctrine and of the Faith and Pope. I pick out four points:

Introduction to Christianity by Joseph Ratzinger

1. The supernaturalism of faith is little expressed in this work. On the contrary, faith and unbelief are put on a level that does not correspond to Catholic doctrine. The believer and the unbeliever share both "in doubt and in faith". No one can "completely dispel doubt, none whatsoever escape faith" (dtv edition, p. 19). It is true that the believer can know temptations against faith and hours of doubt. But his situation is still very different from that of the unbeliever. Thus, for the first time, the existence of God is fundamentally certainly already comprehensible by way of natural reason, as St. Paul teaches in Romans 1 and Vatican I has declared to be dogma. The Catholic faith in divine revelation is then something done by God Himself in man and gives the believer a supernatural certainty. It is the so-called "light of faith", the lumen fidei, which always gives the believer a final certainty through any doubts that may arise, that the faith is true and that one must cling to it. Therefore, there can never be any real reason for the believer to give up the faith, as I Vatican I taught again. Of all this not a word can be found in Ratzinger.

2. An extremely questionable attempt is then made to explain the deity of Christ. For Joseph Ratzinger, Jesus is "the man of the future", the human being who is the least closed in himself and "most relaxed" and thus becomes one with the infinite. It is even said: "If Jesus is the exemplary man in whom the true form of man, the idea of ​​God with him, fully enters the light, then he can not be destined to be but an absolute exception, a curiosity." P. 169). It is one of the modernist methods to caricature traditional doctrine in order to reject this caricature. Of course, Jesus is not a curiosity, but he is an absolute exception, because there is no second person who can claim to be true God and true man. For this reason, the following statement, made in the name of Teilhard de Chardin, is untenable: "Faith sees in Jesus the man in whom, speaking of the biological scheme, the next evolutionary leap is done; the man in whom the breakthrough came from the limited nature of our humanity, from its monadic closure " (p. 194).

3. The descent of Christ into the underworld is thoroughly demythologized. From the catechism of the Catholic Church, this article of faith is explained as follows: "The dead Christ descended to the abode of the dead in his soul, which remained united with his divine person. He opened to the righteous who lived before him, the gates of heaven" (n. 637). There is nothing more in this for Joseph Ratzinger. Rather, for him the phrase means that "Christ has passed through the gate of our last solitude, that he has entered with his passion into this abyss of our abandonment. ... With that, hell is overcome, or more precisely: death, which used to be hell, is no longer " (p. 220).

4. After all, the "resurrection of the flesh" is "no resurrection of the body". There seems to be only some "ultimate connection between matter and spirit" in which the fate of man and the world is completed “ (p. 266). A resurrected body, as the Church has always taught him, does not seem to exist.

These few examples show that the "Introduction to Christianity" is not a work that one can unreservedly recommend to someone who wants to get to know the Catholic faith.

Text: Matthias Gaudron

Image: ZVAB (screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

The Stick for Faithful Catholics, Carrots for Dissidents

Ex-Priest and Chief Director of the site Religion Digital Josè Manuel Vidal gives Pope Francis three bars of Turrón

(Rome) While the Vatican harasses the Spanish news portal InfoVaticana, Pope Francis has found words of praise for another, Spanish news site, for Religion Digital.

The difference?
 

Religion Digital

Religion Digital is an anti-church site founded by ex-priest José Manuel Vidal, whose "line is incompatible with the faith of the Catholic Church and the minimum of ties that a Catholic should unite with his shepherds," says Fr Josè Antonio Fortea described the website on September 2016. Vidal has been engaged in constant attacks against the Church and her doctrine for more than 20 years. The range of anti-church propaganda ranges from a platform for Church opponents to the publication of blasphemous cartoons.
 
InfoVaticana was founded in 2013 by Gabriel Ariza and Fernando Beltrán as a Church-loyal counterweight, so as not to leave Religion Digital the field of information.

The difference?
 
Religion Digital has been reporting since 2013 with enthusiasm about Pope Francis while maintaining the anti-church line.
 
InfoVaticana reports, increasingly critical of certain statements and gestures of Pope Francis, as it continues the course of the defense of Church and doctrine.

 The difference?
 

InfoVaticana

The positions of the two news sites are diametrically opposed. This is evident not only in Spain, but - albeit attenuated - outside the Iberian peninsula. For example, in Rome: The papal house Vaticanista Andrea Tornielli cooperates with Religion Digital, the secret Doyen of the Vatican, Sandro Magister, with InfoVaticana .
 
While Tornielli goes to and fro under Francis in Santa Marta, advises the Pope on media issues, is part of the papal communication strategy, and receives first-hand information from Francis, Magister was stripped of accreditation by the Vatican Press Office due to his critical coverage in 2015 - after more than 30 years years of service. After a few months, he was accredited again. However, the shot in front of the bow was clear.
 
The same applies to InfoVaticana and Religion Digital. Under the governing Pope, it is clearly signaled who is well-liked and who is not.
 

The stick for InfoVaticana, carrots for Religion Digital

The Vatican Secretariat of State has appointed one of the top 10 lavender law firms in the world to initiate litigation against InfoVaticana. The Holy See accuses the news site of wanting to mislead, using the name of the Vatican in order to obtain donations. An absurd name dispute. It would be as if the city of Frankfurt would start a lawsuit against the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, or as if the cities of Zurich and New York were taking action against the Neue Zürcher Zeitung and the New York Times. InfoVaticana utilizes the Vatican in its name because most of the coverage is focused on the Holy See and the Universal Church. There are various media with a comparable name references, which the Vatican Secretariat of State has not up to now.
 
In this detour, the Vatican tells the news site its disapproval, which goes so far as to put pressure on InfoVaticana and harm it. Although the Vatican has denied such an intention, the lawyers have not called back.

Digital Religion in Santa Marta

On Thursday, April 19, José Manuel Vidal, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Religion Digital, accompanied the theologian and former Jesuit Josè Maria Castillo to the Vatican. Castillo turned his back on the Jesuit order in 2007 for reasons of "mental hygiene," having for decades provoked conflicts with the ecclesiastical hierarchy with his heterodox views and his propagation of Marxist liberation theology. Castillo is a permanent columnist at Religion Digital and runs his blog on the news site with the provocative name "theology without censorship."

Josè Manuel Vidal with Pope Francis

Castillo had been invited by Francis to the Pope's morning Mass in Santa Marta. Following this there was an encounter between the ex-Jesuit and the Jesuit on the Pope's throne (see Pope Francis "rehabilitates" Liberation Theologians ). In this context, there was also the encounter between Francis and Vidal, in which the head of the church found remarkably benevolent words for the news portal, as Vidal himself reported on his side:

"I told him what it was about and showed him a color print of Religion Digital and another printout of the front page of Pro Francisco that we've been hosting on our site for three years. Francis put both hands on mine and told me, 'Continue to renew a Church that goes out'.
Then I gave him three bars of Spanish turrón ¹⁾ . "

The encounter between Castillo and Vidal with Pope Francis proves what Cardinal Gerhard Muller, the Prefect of the Roman Congregation of the Doctrine of the Congregation, dismissed by Francis, that there is an "inner connection between the papists of today and the rebels of yesterday," between the great adversaries John Paul II and Benedict XVI," who yesterday "undermined the foundations of theology" and those who today present themselves as great Bergoglio followers.
 
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Religion Digital (Screenshots)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG 

Pope Francis Does the Holy Liturgy

Pope Francis is to ordain 16 deacons to the priesthood on April 22

The Words of Consecration and the Pope

(Rome) The Holy See yesterday published the texts and chants for the Pope's Mass on the 4th Sunday after Easter, which Pope Francis will celebrate on April 22 in St. Peter's Basilica. On this occasion, the head of the Church will consecrate several candidates to the priesthood.

 

The priestly ordinations

Pope Francis will ordain sixteen deacons preparing for the priesthood as priests, sincethe 55th World Day of Prayer is celebrated  at the same time for priestly vocations.
 
Five of them come from the diocesan seminary of the Diocese of Rome. The number reflects the situation of priestly vocations in the Pope's own diocese.
 
The other eleven candidates come from other countries and continents. Six come from the Roman missionary college Redemptoris Mater of the Neocatechumenal Way; four from the Famiglia dei Discepoli (Family of the Disciples) and one from the Opera Don Orione. They come from Croatia, Madagascar, Vietnam, Myanmar, Colombia, San Salvador, Romania, India and Peru. Eleven of them, the five candidates of the diocese and the candidates of the seminary Redemptoris Mater,  are consecrated and incardinated for the diocese of Rome.

 

The words of consecration

According to the announcement, the III. Canon has been chosen. His predecessor Benedict XVI. preferred the Roman canon. [What else is there?] In contrast, Francis varies and also benefits from the new prayers, which were created ex novo only by the liturgical reform of the 60s. Since then, the Anaphora can be said in the vernacular, as will be the case on April 22nd. Benedict XVI. preferred Latin, the language of the Church, and not only at celebrations in the Patriarchal basilicas and in Rome, but also abroad. Conversely, Francis, who also uses the vernacular in St. Peter's Basilica in a solemn Papal Mass and not the Roman Canon.


On April 22, Pope Francis will use the words "for all" to reflect the Latin "pro multis". This contradicts the order of Benedict XVI, who had already prescribed in 2006 binding for the whole world Church as the more appropriate, because closer to the original translation "for many".
The majority of Italian bishops had in prounced for the retention of "for all" in 2010. Benedict XVI. patiently conducted persuasion seemed to bear fruit in early 2013. One of the most persistent opponents, Archbishop Bruno Forte, had assailed Benedict's camp with waving flags defending the "pro multis / for many."

 

The rebels

Shortly thereafter, Benedict XVI. made his  surprising resignation known. Since then, there has been a standstill in the rebellious states. Although at that time the Vatican Recognition of the new version of the Italian translation of the Missale was almost complete, it has not been published until today.

Pro multis

The opponents of Benedict XVI.s mandated translation immediately raised their voices after the election of Pope Francis,  especially in the linguistic areas, including the German one, which had already delayed, denied, and boycotted the order under the German Pope, and therefore the new translations had not yet been printed.
 
Cardinal Karl Lehrmann (Mainz) and Archbishop Alois Kothgasser (Salzburg) complained of Vatican "interference". In April 2013, one month after the election of Pope Francis, the Austrian bishops published a "clarification" that the only admissible translation was "for all" because the only approved German translation of the Missal was that of 1975. The admonition was addressed to the liturgically most sensitive part of the clergy, who began to complain that seven years after Benedict's change, nothing had yet happened.
 
Pope Francis sent out contradictory signals. From them one could read a supposed support of every position and also the opposite. Most appropriately, his attitude is likely to be reflected in a both-and-also, as he showed it in 2015 within a few days at the Mass celebrations in Cuba and in the US. In both countries he celebrated in Spanish. In Cuba, because it is the national language, in the US once for the large number of Spanish-speaking immigrants. In Cuba he used the words of change "for all" (por todos), in the US the words of change "for many" (por muchos).

The same pope, the same Spanish language, and yet such a difference?

The reason is that the English translation of the Missal was already published at that time, and for pro multis that of Benedict XVI. wanted "for many", while the new Spanish translation was not available at that time and in the old formula the pro-multis was still presented as " for all".

 

Everyone after his Façon ...?

In other words, every country and its episcopal conference should decide for themselves. A similar instruction was issued by Francis in September 2017. Shortly before he declared the Liturgy reform of 1969 as "irreversible."
 
His words can be seen at the memorial mass for the deceased cardinals on 3 November 2017 as a confirmation of the position of Benedict XVI. In his sermon , Francis said:

"The 'many who awaken to eternal life are to be understood as the 'many' for whom the blood of Christ was shed. It is the great number of those who, thanks to God's merciful goodness, may experience the reality of eternal life, the perfect victory over death achieved through the resurrection."

But even the Pope does not abide by the law, because in his celebration of April 22, Francis is opposed to the order of Benedict XVI. will say not "many", but "all." An anachronism. The Pope, by virtue of his authority, declares that the words of change are to be pronounced "for many" - that was 2006 -, and 2018, twelve years later, even the Pope does not abide by it, because the responsible Episcopal Conference has not yet re-translated and published the Missal? Absurd.
 
Francis, however, behaves this way and signals that the question is rather unimportant to him. There would be another way. Those whom Benedict XVI, by deferring to Church Latin, which is unique and includes both "for many" and "for all". But for that, Francis, according to Roman insiders, obviously lacks the necessary liturgical sensitivity. In addition, severe prejudices prevent him from consistently considering such a step.

 

Genuflecting

Regardless of this, the Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Pope is adamant that the pamphlets for the consecration should state that the pope "shows the consecrated host to the people and kneels adoringly" and "shows and adores the chalice to the people performing a genuflection."
 
It is well known that the adoring genuflections have not occurred since the election of Pope Francis. As is well known, it should be known that this is due to knee problems. The fact is that neither Pope Francis nor the Vatican Press Office has made a statement in more than five years of this pontificate. And that despite the importance of the question. The assumptions, allegations or even well-intentioned explanations of individual Vaticanists can not replace an official opinion. However, such is not forthcoming, which is why the Pope standing before the Blessed Sacrament will remain an ambivalent picture of this pontificate.
 
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Vatican.va
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG 

Pope Francis is Under Pressure

Pope Francis has rceived Cardinal Sean in audience while a clear demand has come from Chile.

(Santiago de Chile) Twice yesterday, the case of Barros stood front and center: in Rome and in Santiago de Chile. Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati SDB, the Archbishop of Santiago de Chile, opened an extraordinary gathering of the Chilean clergy yesterday. In Rome, the most important critic of Pope Francis was received in audience.
 
The reason is Pope Francis' letter to the Chilean Episcopal Conference. With the letter, the Catholic Church leader responded to the report of his special envoy, Msgr. Charles Scicluna, on the sexual abuse scandal in Chile and around the ex-priest Fernando Karadima. The focus is Bishop Juan Barros Madrid. In spite of serious warnings, Pope Francis made him bishop of the diocese of Osorno in early 2015. Karadima victims and a group of faithful from the diocese of Osorno have since protested against this appointment. They accuse Msgr. Barros  of covering Karadima's crimes.
 
For three years, Pope Francis dismissed any criticism as "defamation" and "instrumentalization" by circles hostile to the Church. Therefore, he refused to speak with Barros critics and listen to them.
  
After Francis maintained this attitude during his visit to Chile last January, the criticism became so strong that he finally had to react. The pope's visit in Chile took place mostly in more remote areas. The Chileans showed demonstrative disinterest. The Karadima case, as the Bishops' Conference noted, severely shook faith in the Church. Nevertheless, Pope Francis saw no reason to change his attitude towards the victims and Bishop Barros. Rather, he explicitly invited him to concelebrate with him publicly. The head of the Church evidently thought of silencing the critics with this gesture of demonstrative confidence in Barros. Instead, Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley OFM Cap of Boston joined the criticism. The cardinal is familiar with the case as President of the Pontifical Child Protection Commission.
 
At the same time, evidence was presented that Pope Francis since the spring of 2015 was informed about the allegations against Msgr. Barros. The pope had claimed otherwise on the return flight to Rome.

 

Course change - or not

 

Ten days after his return from Latin America, therefore, Francis made a course correction to curb the international expansion of criticism of his position. He appointed the Archbishop of Malta, Mgr. Charles Scicluna, Pontifical Special Envoy. Scicluna was commissioned to hear the Barros critics. He should do what Francis had refused to do for three years. In the second half of March, Scicluna presented more than 2,300 pages of reports after hearing more than 60 people in the US and Chile.

Cardinal Ezzati yesterday at the press conference in Santiago de Chile

On April 11, the Vatican Press Office published a letter from Pope Francis to the Chilean bishops. He responded to the Scicluna report and spoke of the "pain and shame" he felt when reading the report.
In parallel, the Chilean Episcopal Conference issued a statement announcing the Pope's contrite attitude to the Chileans in order to restore their shattered confidence. Behind the scenes, the question was not settled.
 
Francis did not mention Bishop Barros in his letter. Rather, he issued an invitation to the bishops to come to Rome to discuss the matter. The bishops were silent in public. However, they knew that Francis was signaling that he would continue to cling to Barros, the stumbling block in public perception.
 
Barros himself had in the past submitted to the pope two resignations, which Francis rejected.  A third request was to have Archbishop Scicluna together with his report at the papal desk. Barros himself denies this.

Clear signals from Cardinal Ezzati to Francis

The fact is that the head of the Chilean Episcopal Conference wants to conclude the Barros case and therefore wants consequences. And not just since today, but already for three years. Francis was then also warned from the ranks of the Episcopal Conference against appointing Barros as Bishop of Osorno. The Pope, however, clings to him steadfastly. More and more often the question arises as to why.
 
Outwardly, the Chilean Episcopal Conference looks to be in good spirits. Yet behind the scenes there is considerable discord that Francis does not want Barros to give up his office.
 
The meeting called by Cardinal Ezzati yesterday in Santiago de Chile appealed to the whole clergy of the country to analyze the letter of Pope Francis. On the one hand, it is about the difficult task of regaining the lost trust among Chileans and, on the other, eliminating the causes. What Cardinal Ezzati imagines, he said very clearly and publicly afterwards. He expects Msgr. Barros to resign:

"I'm not a judge to decide if he's covered up something or not. For the good of the Church, however, he should take a step aside."

At the same time the cardinal tried a difficult balancing act, with which he wanted to protect the reputation of the pope and at the same time wanted to build a bridge to accept the resignation Barros.  
Cardinal Ezzati made it clear at yesterday's press conference that the Pope had to decide on his resignation. So far, Francis has rejected Barros' resignations. Ezzati, President of the Chilean Episcopal Conference from 2010-2016, assured the press that Pope Francis had been "deceived" as far as the information on the Karadima and Barros case was concerned.
 
Will Francis yield to this pressure from the Chilean Episcopal Conference?
 

Audience for Cardinal O'Malley in Rome

Yesterday, an event took place in Rome, even before the clergy meeting had begun in Santiago de Chile, which was likely to be directly linked to Chile.
 

Daily Bulletin: Audience for Cardinal O'Malley

Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley was received in audience by Pope Francis. It was noted in the Vatican's daily bulletin that the cardinal is chairman of the Pontifical Child Protection Commission . Nothing was known about the content of the meeting. However, it is believed that Cardinal O'Malley served as chairman of the Child Protection Commission at Francis and was speaking about the Barros case.
 
The meeting of Chilean bishops with Pope Francis in Rome is expected to take place in the third week of May. Until then, no decisions are likely to be made, as Francis has so far indicated no signs of wanting to change his position on Barros.
 
Has what Cardinal O'Malley said to him yesterday and what Cardinal Ezzati demanded yesterday,  changed his mind?
 
The video with central excerpts from the press conference of Cardinal Ezzati yesterday in Santiago de Chile:
 

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Vatican.va/MiL (Screenshots)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Pope's Two New Teachings: All Are Children of God and Atheists Go to Heaven

(Rome) Pope Francis visited the Roman parish of San Paolo alla Croce a Corviale last Sunday and announced two new teachings there.

The tears of little Emanuele

The neighborhood was built between 1975 and 1984 on the outskirts of Rome. This includes the "Serpentone," a gigantic silo shaped building with 1,200 apartments, built by the Office for Social Housing of the City of Rome. The parish was established in 1977, the church in modern style was consecrated in 1983. In 1985, Pope John Paul II elevated it to the titular church of a cardinal priest, whose owner since 2007 has been Oswald Cardinal Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay.
 
A program point of the visit was an encounter with children of the parish. The pope was asked some questions. Emanuele was also allowed to meet the pope. Only a few months ago, the boy had lost his father. When he stood in front of the microphone, he burst into tears and could not speak.
 
Emanuele wept over his father's death, but more because a deeper pain moved him. Pope Francis waved the child to him and said that Emanuele should just whisper in his ear what moved him. The Pope and the child spoke in this way for a few minutes with the exclusion of the microphones. Only them speaking to each other. Then Emanuele returned to his seat and Francis again took the floor for everyone to hear.

Is the father, though he's an atheist, in heaven?

The pope said that the boy is very worried. Although his father had all his children baptized, he was an atheist. Worried about this, if his atheistic father could not go to heaven, Francis answered.

Pope Francis: Would we only cry like Emanuele if we bear suffering in our hearts like him. He cried for his father and had the courage to do it before us all, because in his heart is the love of the Father. I asked Emanuele for permission to repeat his question publicly, and he gave me his consent. That's why I'm repeating it. "My dad died recently. He was an atheist, but had all four children baptized. He was a good man. Is Dad in heaven? "
How nice that a child says of his father, "He was good." It's a beautiful testimony that this man has given to his children, because his children can say, "He was a good man". It is a beautiful testimony of the Son, who inherited the strength of the Father and also had the courage, had the courage to weep in front of us all. If this man was capable of producing such children, then he was really a good man. He was a good man. This man did not have the gift of faith, he was not a believer, but he had his children baptized. He had a good heart. And he has the doubt that his father, because he was not a believer, is not in heaven. Who says who comes to heaven, that's God. But what is the heart of God to such a father? How is it? What do you all mean? ... God has a father's heart. And with a non-believing father, he was able to baptize the children and give them that bravura to the children, do you think that God would be able to keep him away from him? Do you think so? ... loud, with courage ...

All: No!

Pope Francis: Does God forsake His children?

All: No!

Pope Francis: Does God fail his children when they are good?

All: No!

Pope Francis: Emanuele, that's the answer.  God was certainly proud of your father, because it is much easier to have children baptized, if you are a believer than you are not. And certainly God has liked it a lot. Talk to your father, pray for your father. Thank you, Emanuele, for your courage.

The "beautiful words of the Pope"

The Italian media devoted a lot of space to the event and were delighted. The most important newspaper in Italy, Corriere della Sera headlined:

"Pope Francis in Corviale comforts a child:" Your father, though not believing, is in heaven ".

Even the newspaper Il Foglio wrote of "beautiful words of the Pope".

Pope Francis at the meeting with the children.

Did they all misunderstand the Pope? Francis did not say that the father of the child is in heaven, even though he was an atheist.
 
Or did he?
 
Did Francis in the Roman suburban parish apply his special magic formula of communication, with which everyone understands what he wants to say, without having to say it explicitly?
 
Le Cronache di Papa Francesco did not hear in answer to the boy what most media heard, but a "recognition of atheism".
 
Can the serious question of Emanuele really be answered only from the perspective of a child to be comforted? Even in personal conversation and considering the age of the child, the answer would have been shortened and misleading. However, the Pope publicly responded to which the usual media reports followed, "The Pope said ..."  The answer to a specific child in a specific situation becomes a detached statement from the Pope, which can move people around the world and influence them in their thinking and decisions.
 
Le Cronache wrote on the pope's answer:

"Bergoglio is a Jesuit, which is why he puts it in such a way that it is difficult to pin him down. While accusing the devout Catholics of being 'strict' and having 'an answer to everything', it was on Sunday, and not for the first time, that gave the impression of a quick and pleasing answer to everything at hand. With him, it would probably be impossible to have a serious and clear argument about the doctrine. "

Not a word about purgatory, sin and salvation

Emanuele, the child, asked the head of the Church a legitimate question that has its origin in the love of the Father. It is a thoroughly Catholic question, because the concern is concern for the eternal salvation of the Father. The child showed a very clear consciousness. He knows about the atheism of the Father and knows that it contradicts the love of God. That's why he's worried.
 
Pope Francis began his answer as any good catechist would begin. He consoled the child, starting from what the child knew and could tell about the father. What the Father really thought and did is beyond the knowledge of the Pope. For that reason, he did not answer Emanuele with a "Yes, your father is, though incredulous, in heaven," as the media claims.
 
However, from the brief, straightforward question typical of children, Francis asked a whole series of questions that he addressed indirectly to the audience, turning it in one direction and leading to the answer he wanted to put in his mouth. The first answer was certainly the most important one. It is God who "says" who goes to heaven. But then, with broad questions, he turned the ball back and forth several times, so that in the end there seemed to be no other answer than that, though the Pope had not said that Emanuel's father, though an atheist, must be in heaven.
 
Pope Francis has never spoken of purgatory in his pontificate. That day would have been the opportunity. Just as the Pope can not know whether Emanuele's father is in hell - and to say so, would be inappropriate to a mourning child anyway - he can not know directly, nor imply that Emanuele's father, of whom the little child knew that he denied the existence of God, was in heaven, and that directly.

Consolation at the price of misleading?

The comfort of the bereaved is not only an honorable task, but is one of the works of mercy. But also at the price of weighing it in false hopes or even certainties?
 
The Pope could have asked the child if Holy Mass had been said for the Father. In addition, he could have talked about the Purgatory for the poor souls, where those who are saved but still need to be cleansed to gain access to Heaven. This time can shorten the living by their prayer and the sacrifice of Mass intentions and thereby perform great sacrifices of love for the deceased.
 
The Pope could have spoken about the eternal salvation and the necessary conditions for it. One does not go to heaven because one was a "good person" but because one did not die in the state of mortal sin and of course did not reject, reject or even mock God.
 
The Pope could have talked about the meaning of life. About the first of all questions: why did God create me? To know Him, to worship Him, to obey His commandments, and thereby go to heaven. Francis could and should have said a word about atheism. And so the impression had to arise that under the "good pope" Francis that an atheist also goes to heaven.
 
But whom should such misleading benefit?

"People who are not baptized are not children of God?"

Perhaps another, obviously prepared child question on the same day and at the same meeting helps to gain greater clarity. Carlotta, a young girl, also asked Francis a question.

Carlotta: Ciao Pope Francis! When we receive baptism, we become children of God. And the people who are not baptized are not children of God?
Pope Francis: Carlotta, tell me, I'll ask you the other way around: what do you think? The people who are not baptized are they children of God or are they not children of God? What does your heart tell you?
Carlotta: Yes.
Pope Francis: Yes. Now I'll explain. She answered well, she has a Christian nose! We are all children of God. All all. Even the non-baptized? Yes. Even those who believe in other, distant religions that have idols? Yes, they are children of God. The Mafiosi are children of God? ... you are not sure ... yes, even the mobsters are children of God. They prefer to behave like children of the devil, but they are children of God. All, all are children of God, all. But what is the difference? God created all, loved all, and gave all the conscience in the heart to distinguish good from evil. All humans have that. They know, taking was what is good and healthy; even the people who do not know Jesus, who do not know Christianity, all have it in their soul, because God has put it there. But when you were baptized, the conscience of the Holy Spirit entered and strengthened your allegiance to God, and in that sense you became more daughter of God, because you are the daughter of God like all, but also with the power of the Holy Spirit entering. Do you understand, Carlotta? I ask - everyone should answer - Are all people children of God?
Children: Yes!
Pope Francis: The good people are children of God?
Children: Yes!
Pope Francis: The bad people are children of God?
Children: Yes!
Pope Francis: Yes. The people who do not know Jesus and have others, distant religions, worshipping idols are children of God?
Children: Yes!
Pope Francis: The Mafiosi are children of God?
Children: Yes!
Pope Francis: And we must pray that they will return and truly know God. Now no one should answer, but the heart will answer: Who of you prays for the mobsters to convert? Everyone answers in his heart.
Then when we are baptized: Who comes into our hearts? ...
Volume up!
Children: The Holy Spirit!
Pope Francis: Bravo. The Holy Spirit is coming, and this Holy Spirit is letting us have more children of God. He gives us more power to behave like children of God. That's why Saint Paul has a sentence, and I want you to say that sentence to me. "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit who is in you." Why does he say this sentence? Because a Christian, a baptized person who behaves badly, grieves the Holy Spirit who is in us. The sentence is: "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit who is in you". "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit who is in you." Are we going to say it?
Pope Francis together with the children: "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit that is in you".
Pope Francis: Again!
Pope Francis together with the children: "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit that is in you".
Pope Francis: And we children of God, who through baptism have the Holy Spirit, grieve when we behave badly when we commit a sin, the Holy Spirit who is in us. Thanks Carlotta!

The difference abolished by Francis

Carlotta and her question to the pope

In fact, the apostle Paul, mentioned by Pope Francis, in the New Testament refers only to Christians as the children of God and distinguishes them by the baptism to non-Christians. The latter Paul refers as "servants" and "slaves of sin." All men are creatures of God, but only the baptized are children of God. A clear and easy to understand distinction.
 
The non-Christians are, therefore, not children of God, but Pope Francis twists the ball twice in his hands and behold, all people "all, all", "not only the baptized" are suddenly children of God.
 
What is the difference between the baptized and the baptized? All are children of God, but some, the baptized, are "more children of God." With his snazzy way of speaking, last Sunday the head of the Church actually ruined a central biblical, apostolic, and above all, crystal clear distinction in favor of a blurred, ultimately useless substitute.
 
Why?

The message of Francis is pleasing Eugenio Scalfari

If one did not wish to impute the unawareness and naivety of the Church leader, which does not even seem theoretically conceivable vis-à-vis a Jesuit, then one must accept an intention behind this answer.
 
Already in the first controversial " Video of the Pope " of January 2016, all people (in the video were shown Christians, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists) were declared as "children of God" in a syncretistic infusion. It was therefore not a slip by the pope last Sunday. Therefore the message can not be that through baptism one becomes "even more children of God." The real message that Pope Francis wants to spread is the mistaken assertion that all men are children of God.
 
Taking the answer to Carlotta and the answer to little Emanuele, Pope Francis has said two things:

1. Not only the Christians, but all people, even the followers of any other religions or the Mafiosi, in short, really all are children of God, even if they are not baptized.
2. Even those who are atheists will go to heaven. The main thing is he was a "good person".

This statement corresponds exactly to the thesis that the atheist Eugenio Scalfari wanted Francis so much to hear, and he put it in his mouth recently and at the same time "eliminated" Hell. The Vatican responded with a denial that was not really one. Now we also know why: because Eugenio Scalfari did not reproduce the words of the pope verbatim, but exactly his thinking. Exactly as Scalfari had always said: He vouches for the authenticity of the statements.
 
It was therefore the Vatican, that sprinkled with a denial, a fog of non-denial and prevented the necessary clarifications, or at least made it difficult.
 
Or did they all get it wrong?

The video which shows the entire parish event, starting with the meeting with Carlotta:
 

The section with Emmanuel:

  Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Vatican.va (Screenshots)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG