Live Action News: Ectopic Pregnancy Warrants Abortion

By Corinna Swetz

A pro-life group reputed for its defense of human life has unveiled its true colors about the taking of human life.

Live Action News posted a video titled, "The Pro-Life Reply to: Abortion Can Be Medically Necessary." https://youtu.be/5TmomK2RB2A While feigning to reject the argument that "abortion is medically necessary," they turn around and argue in its defense.

According to Live Action, an abortion is no longer an abortion when it involves an ectopic pregnancy. An ectopic pregnancy is when the newly conceived child upon conception attaches itself somewhere other than the lining of the uterine wall, e.g. the fallopian tubes, posing risk to the child and mother. In such a situation, they view "terminating the pregnancy" (code language for "killing the baby") as "medically necessary" and deny that this is an abortion.

Speaking for Live Action News, neonatologist Dr. Kendra Kolb says: (editor’s notes in brackets)

“Some will also confuse the necessary treatment for an ectopic pregnancy with an abortion…. When a preborn child implants outside the uterus, it is a hostile environment for the baby in which it cannot survive [false, they sometimes survive], and sadly, removing the baby from the fallopian tube or abdominal cavity is necessary, as an ectopic pregnancy will inevitably end in a miscarriage [not true] and may threaten the mother’s life. These situations are devastating, however they are not considered abortions.” [by the pro-abort people, that is]

Nay. Taking the life of the unborn under any circumstances is abortion. And while the Church has no specific teaching on how to deal with ectopic pregnancy, it is very specific on its teaching about abortion, which unfortunately occurs in the course of treating ectopic pregnancy, i.e. the artificial ejection of the living child from the mother’s womb. Several popes have made it clear that there is nothing that can outdo the evil of abortion, and this would include any good that could come about in treating ectopic pregnancy.

Hence the principle of double effect would not apply in this case, since the secondary effect (abortion) is far worse than any good that can be accomplished in treating ectopic pregnancy. 

If in fact doctors know that a pre-born child will die in a miscarriage, then the only moral thing to do is to let the baby die naturally. For only God, the Giver of human life, may take human life. No man may play God. 

However, it can never be said with certainty that an ectopic baby will not survive the pregnancy. The baby could be implanted into the uterus later during pregnancy or otherwise survive by unforeseen or miraculous means, as we have often seen. There is a plethora of documented information showing that ectopic pregnancies have born healthy children from time to time. https://www.lifenews.com/2015/12/28/miracle-twin-babies-survive-rare-ectopic-pregnancy-after-mom-had-her-tubes-removed/

Even so, Live Action insists that babies of ectopic pregnancies need to be removed surgically, yet they deny this is abortion. Kendra says, “Abortion unnecessarily ends the lives of children,” alleging thereby that it is sometimes necessary to end the lives of children. Such “necessary” ending of human life is abortion, and as such, incurs the guilt of murder.

There is a huge moral difference between an ectopic baby dying a natural death via miscarriage and being "terminated" by a doctor removing him or her from the womb. The former is an act of God while the latter is the case of arrogant man playing God.  

This is not to mention that a misdiagnosis of ectopic pregnancy is always possible, since man can err. It isn't rare that doctors make a mistake and erroneously come to the conclusion that their patient has this or that medical condition.

Sadly, these false diagnoses are often deliberate. Doctors will often declare a healthy baby to be ectopic or “brain dead” just to harvest his organs or simply out of a demonic thirst for blood.

The mother needs to realize that if she “terminates her pregnancy” she has committed an abortion, regardless of what the Medical Deities (MDs) or pseudo "pro-life" experts would have her think. Should a woman find herself in this situation, she needs to beg God for the courage to keep her baby and accept the results. At least by doing this, she won't be guilty of blood but can rest in peace, whether or not she or the child survives. 

Even if doctors know the diagnosis is absolutely correct and the baby or mother will absolutely die, the baby still deserves the basic care of remaining in the mother's womb until natural death (miscarriage).

Live Action disagrees. Their rationale opens the door to "pulling the plug" on the terminally ill and denying them basic care on the grounds that "the patient is going to die anyway." With this “ectopic” argument, withdrawal of artificial life support is justified where people are now encouraged to deny it is slow euthanasia, i.e. murder.

Making excuses for abortion and euthanasia has become common these days, even among some “pro-lifers,” but this shouldn’t surprise us. After all, if population-control experts can infiltrate the Vatican today they can certainly infiltrate the pro-life movement. We’re living in perilous times when the agents of darkness have now sown their lethal agenda into every walk of life, so we need to “Watch and pray. For ye know not when the time is." (Mark 13:33) The words of the Apostle Peter especially apply at this time:

“Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

Corinna Swetz is 28 years old. Originally from Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada, she moved to Los Angeles five years ago with the earnest hope of becoming an American citizen. She's a fervent Catholic, enjoys writing, and is a staunch defender of conservative values on the Catholic and political blogosphere. Corinna had authored an exquisite book of poems, Poetic Reflections, which is available on Amazon.

Pope Takes Sides in American Politics Too

Edit: of course the Lügenpresse won’t be complaining about the separation of Church and state or questioning the wisdom of a clergyman interfering in national politics, now, will it?  Thanks Dirk.

[The Hill] Pope Francis on Friday said he was “concerned” about recent political rhetoric, cautioning against nationalism and saying that recent political speeches he’s heard “resemble those of Hitler in 1934.”

“I am concerned because we hear speeches that resemble those of Hitler in 1934,” he told Italian outlet La Stampa. “'Us first. We … We … These are frightening thoughts.”

The pope’s comments come after Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini called for the parliament to be dissolved and asked President Sergio Mattarella to institute snap elections as an attempt to push the country’s government further right politically, The Washington Post reported.

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/456936-pope-francis-cautions-against-nationalism-says-recent-political

AMDG

Jewish Press Engages in Anti-Catholic Bigotry

Edit: imagine the furor if a Catholic called a Jew a pied piper.

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon bring back Dexter Van Zile of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) to discuss a conservative Catholic E. Michael Jones extolling Jew hatred and racism via the internet misleading young millennials.

[Israel National News] Jones has been promoting his dangerous views since the 1980s. The problem is that millennials are biting into Jones' views in droves. Van Zile first encountered Jones and his Jew hatred views in a YouTube interview with another notorious anti-Semite, Owen Benjamin.

Jones has been writing books since the 1970’s, however, his rise to prominence in podcasts, increasingly viewed by millennials, has occurred within the past decade.

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon bring back Dexter Van Zile of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) to discuss a conservative Catholic E. Michael Jones extolling Jew hatred and racism via the internet misleading young millennials.

Jones has been promoting his dangerous views since the 1980s. The problem is that millennials are biting into Jones' views in droves. Van Zile first encountered Jones and his Jew hatred views in a YouTube interview with another notorious anti-Semite, Owen Benjamin.

Jones has been writing books since the 1970’s, however, his rise to prominence in podcasts, increasingly viewed by millennials, has occurred within the past decade.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267143

AMDG

Irish Youth Leader Urged to Resign for Attending Conservative Conference in USA

Tristan Justice 

[The Federalist] An Irish member of the European Parliament is calling on the youth wing leader of the Fine Gael Party to resign this week for attending a conservative conference for students in Washington, D.C.

MEP Maria Walsh, who was recently elected to the European Parliament in May, said she would be requesting for the Young Fine Gael (YFG) to call on the organization’s president, Killian Foley-Walsh, to resign following Foley-Walsh’s attendance at the National Conservative Student Conference last week put on by the Young America’s Foundation.

Walsh’s problem? The conference featured many prominent conservative speakers from the Republican Party who oppose abortion and same-sex marriage and included high-ranking officials in the Trump administration, such as Vice President Mike Pence.

https://thefederalist.com/2019/08/07/irish-leaders-upset-major-party-leader-attending-american-conservative-conference/

AMDG

Archdiocese Fires Sexual Deviant From Staff After 39 Years

Edit: better late than never... I wonder if these kinds of people worry much about their PR? The normal people with children and a future are putting their hard-earned money into building up schools, church communities and pious institutions while  a sexual deviant and blood sucker attorney, can come along and suck all the blood out of them with a strategic lawsuit inspired by a certain Progressive, stateless, group of individuals who have a deep seated hostility to Christendom.

[Metro Weekly] One of two guidance counselors at a Catholic high school who were fired last year after their superiors discovered they were in same-sex relationships is suing her former employer and the Archdiocese of Indianapolis for discrimination.

Lynn Starkey, who worked at Roncalli High School for 39 years, filed suit last week in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana claiming she was discriminated against and subjected to a hostile work environment because of her sexual orientation.

The lawsuit also claims the archdiocese and Roncalli retaliated against her after she filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

https://www.metroweekly.com/2019/08/fired-high-school-guidance-counselor-sues-archdiocese-of-indianapolis-for-discrimination/

AMDG

LifeSiteNews Deplatformed by Evil Apple

Apple News has just banned LifeSite, the world's largest and most-popular pro-life and pro-family news website, from its Apple News platform. 

Without any prior warning, Apple News informed us in an e-mail today: "Your channel has been disabled, and your content has been removed from Apple News."

This unfounded decision seems to be designed to silence LifeSiteNews. But, we will not be silenced, and we are not taking this lightly.

We are URGENTLY calling on our readers and supporters - and on all freedom-loving people - to SIGN THIS PETITION, demanding that Apple reinstate LifeSite's Apple News channel immediately.

https://lifepetitions.com/petition/petition-apple-news-bans-1-pro-life-news-site-without-warning-accuses-it-of-intolerance

AMDG

Pope Strikes Down Traditional Right to Assign Pastors by the Laity in Ischia

Traditional right for the laity to appoint pastors went back to the Middle Ages

Rome (kath.net/KAP) Two communities in Ischia have lost the battle over a traditional say in the assignment of Catholic pastors. According to the local broadcaster Teleischia, Pope Francis suspended a medieval privilege, which allowed the municipal councils of Forio and Casamicciola, before the appointment of a new pastor to submit to the bishop a binding tripartite list.

According to the report, Ischia’s Bishop Pietro Lagnese had declared in April the 700-year-old patronage of citizens invalid. Previously, the priests of the island diocese were almost universally opposed to the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). According to the communities, said  to the broadcaster, their legal support was rejected,  the case was sent to the Roman Congregation of  Clergy and finally with Francis; the latter declared the Lagnese’s decree binding.

Against the decision of the pope, no appeal to a higher authority is possible, "except directly from the Almighty," said Teleischia. According to the broadcaster, the relationship between the political community of Casamicciola and the spiritual shepherd Lagnese was not untroubled even before the recent conflict.

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Bavarian Interior Minister Noticed That Immigrants Are Violent

Joachim Herrmann (CSU): "Obviously, people from other cultures come to us, in whose homeland the non-violence, as we cultivate it, is not so obvious"

Munich (kath.net)
The Bavarian Minister of the Interior Joachim Herrmann has pointed out after the deadly railroad track attack commutes by an Eritrean on an eight-year-old boy in Frankfurt Central Station of the increased risk of violence among migrants. "Now there are obviously people from other cultures who come to us, in whose homeland non-violence, as we cultivate it, is not so self-evident," said the CSU politician to the "Passauer Neue Presse." This must be clearly stated that people come to us who jump to violence much faster. Consequently, they themselves have experienced a significantly higher level of violence than we have. We have an increased risk here, as the crime statistics clearly show. "For Herrmann there is a solution:" Consequence. Consistent action, consistent punishment, if necessary consistent identification. "The CSU politician also calls for a revision of the Dublin Agreement, because in any case not all abide by the rules of the game.

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Freemasons: "Notre Dame Should Be Profaned and Turned Into a Temple of Culture"

France's Masons want to take advantage of the devastating fire of Notre-Dame de Paris to profane the cathedral and benefit the state.

(Paris) The year is 2019. In Cameroon, politics and business are secretly controlled by Freemasonry. In France, Masons are increasing the pressure to take the ruined cathedral of Notre-Dame church and rebuild it into a "secular" cultural temple.

This was decried by the episcopal conference of the country in a public appeal. The first signatory is the chairman of the Episcopal Conference, Msgr. Abraham Boualo Kome, Bishop of Bafang and Apostolic Administrator of Bafia.

The appeal of the bishops expressly includes the request to stop the Lodge Members, Rosicrucians and Sorcerers.

"At this very moment, in some parishes of our diocese, in the parish councils and even in some diocesan bodies, there are more and more people of increasing responsibility belonging to Freemasonry and the Rosicrucians or dedicated to witchcraft. Such a situation requires clarification. " 

The bishops emphasize that they will not only "recall the fundamental lines of the Magisterium" but to "want to impart precise, pastoral directives" over such more or less secret and occult groups, "to faith in Jesus Christ, dead, buried and risen, to proclaim and to fortify."

Freemasonry controls politics and business in Cameroon

Only last July 5, the United Grand Lodge of Cameroon wrote to the Prime Minister of the country with the demand to use their lodge brother Desiré Mama Ndjikam as responsible for the important project of Manoun Lake.

The Freemason Ndjikam already holds numerous influential posts that are heavily used, including Conaroute, the National Road Construction Council.

The bishops are concerned about the increasing influence of the Masons in the African country and the ever-new and always unabashed demands.

The Grand Lodge of Kamerung was formed in 2001 from four lodges which were then combined in the District Grand Lodge of Cameroon under the Grand Lodge of France.

The bishops recall that "the Christian religion is not our invention, but the religion revealed by God Himself to Moses, fulfilled and completed in and by Jesus Christ. Our faith is based on the truths revealed by the Lord. The truths are called dogmas. No Catholic can contradict them without denying his faith. It is about the dogmas of the Most Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, the Resurrection, the Ascension, the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. "

The bishops also affirm that it is strictly forbidden for Catholics to belong to the Rosicrucians and similar groups, as their teachings contradict the truth of the Gospels. The Rosicrucians, according to the bishops for explanation, see no person in God, but only as a kind of spiritual energy, the source of all material vibrations. The path to declared pantheism is not far away.

The bishops call for a solid teaching of the faithful in the truths of faith, which must be free from ambiguity. The reason for this, according to the bishops, is that ignorance is the most common reason that people fall prey to sects and Gnostic associations.

The faithful are called by the bishops to "unceasingly" profess their own faith in Jesus Christ, who died and rose again.

The call of the bishops knows no false compromises. Such a stance is, unfortunately, seldom found among Europe's bishops, which is why they hardly resist the Freemasons any more.

Fire as an excuse to turn Norte-Dame into a temple of culture

Last June 17, the French newspaper L'Opinion published an interview with Jean-Philippe Hubsch, Grand Master of the Great Orient of France, the country's most influential Masonic leader.

In the interview, Hubsch proposes nothing less than to profane the cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris, which on 14 April fell victim to a fire of unknown cause, and to turn it into a public temple of culture.

The quirky lodge brothers in France immediately plunged into activism to raise funds to rebuild the cathedral, which is the country's best known national landmark. The Masons speak of a "gesture of republican solidarity," but do not mean disinterestedness.

The Archbishop's Press Office of the Archdiocese of Paris, and even Archbishop Michel Aupetit of Paris, have personally spoken out since the conflagration to emphasize the Church's indispensable role as a place of worship.

In June, Archbishop Aupetit said in a sermon:

"Separating culture and worship is the result of ignorance or ideology. A culture without cult becomes an unculture. It reveals the abysmal religious ignorance of our contemporaries by excluding the concept of 'divine' and the name of God from the public sphere by invoking a secularism that excludes any visible spiritual dimension."

But the aproned brothers in the Masonic lodges will not let up. The cathedral of Notre-Dame is to be taken from the church and converted into a "secular" [Laicistic] temple of culture. Not cultus, but culture, the motto can be summarized with the small difference of only one letter, which is crucial.

Do you hear about it in the big media?

Were there public voices in the big media supporting the Church in France and in Cameroon?

There is nothing more to be heard.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Corrispondenza Romana
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Infiltration: Sex, Conspiracies, Apparitions and Prophecies Sell Ink

Edit: a reader received this article from a friend who thought it would fit in here. It originally appeared at the blog, The American Proposition, on July 30th.  Communism, Judeo-Freemasonry is, as ever, a serious problem which some people try to downplay for various reasons. I found it hard to continue in light of some assertions in the beginning, but the remainder of his observations about Marshall's apparent Americanism and stepping around the Jewish Problem are noteworthy.  Judeo-Freemasonry is and always has been the problem facing the Church since the Jews killed Christ as they killed prophets of old and continue in their rebellion against God.  Since Vatican II, a cease fire has been declared and the Church has remained largely silent against her enemies with predictable results.  There are a few voices in the wilderness, but Taylor Marshall isn't one of them.

Taylor R. Marshall is well rewarded for keeping disaffected Catholics on the American reservation. Gaining bestseller status on Amazon is a great honor. It also takes skill to be able to identify and push all the hot button items of a target audience just the right way. But then conspiracy stories involving secret societies and sex always sell and they sell bigger when you mix in apparitions, conversations with Satan, and predictions. It’s the same genre that Dan Brown used in The Davinci Code and associated works, it worked there, it works here. Unfortunately, stories don’t help people realize the problem and usually don’t help to solve the problem, and in the case of the Catholic Church, a big part of the problem is America (which equates to rule by the wealthy) and Americanism.

There is no doubt that the Catholic Church is really messed up these days. To Marshall’s credit, he attributes this ongoing mess to the leadership which means the priests and the prelates.   He claims that we got there over the course of about 175 years because of Communists, Masons, and homosexuals, and he tries to support that claim in 224 pages, with a lot fewer footnotes. It is too much with too little that leaves out a whole lot, and leaves much unexplained.  As a result, the book resembles an anthology of well-known stories.

For instance, the Communists are long gone. [Neo-cons like William Kristol, James Burnham, disciples of Leo Strauss and so on, not to mention faculties of most western educational institutions.  Cuba? China? Venezuela? South Africa?  I found it hard to continue at this point, but ok.] The Masons are fading away. [It may be so that established Masonic lodges in the US are declining in membership, but everyone's a Mason in America.] All that remains are the homosexuals, or gays. [They're foot soldiers of a much deeper agenda.] Homosexuals have always existed throughout history but Marshall says that they have somehow been weaponized to destroy the Church. [I would suggest that this is amply obvious when you consider the way in which the Church has not only lost tremendous amounts of credibility since the cultural revolution of 1968 and Vatican II, but has lost a great deal of its real-estate and financial resources due to lawsuits against its protection and promotion of many aberrosexual predator clergy, which is still in place with continued dramatic results.]  That should be enough to ask the question, Who benefits now from this state of affairs in the Church? He starts to crack that case open in Chapter 27 when he mentions a wealthy businessman becoming McCarrick’s patron, and that Francis Cardinal Spellman, or “Nellie” as Marshall says he was called, of New York was a powerful leader of the homosexuals in the Church, but that is as far as he goes ignoring Spellman’s connections with the most powerful Americans of the day. Marshall mentions Bella Dodd for the proposition that nearly 1,100 men were put into the priesthood by the Communists. What he doesn’t bother to follow up on his her statements that the Communist Party in New York had to wait for orders from the Kremlin which in turn waited for orders from people who worked in skyscrapers in New York City.[i] He mentions John Courtney Murray, SJ in passing as a priest working for Augustin Cardinal Bea to write the Declaration of Religious Liberty but ignores Murray’s long association with Henry Luce who was associated with Spellman and also ignores how Murray, who was also a world renown theologian thanks to Luce’s backing, throughout his career elevated the American system of social organization, particularly the First Amendment. And along those lines, John Cardinal Gibbons is mentioned in passing as obtaining permission from Pope Leo XIII to build a Cathedral to the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC while Gibbons’ support of the First Amendment against the encyclicals of Leo XIII is well documented in two biographies of the prelate. [Spellman was thought to be a champion of traditionalism in the 70s at least.]

Cardinal Ortega is Dead -- For 35 Years Castro's Opponent

Cardinal Jaime Ortega of Havana (left) with state and party leader Fidel Castro (1926-2016).

(Havana) Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, retired Archbishop of San Cristobal de la Habana and former Primate of Cuba, died last July 26th. The letter of condolence by Pope Francis was signed - unusual for the currently ruling Church leader - merely by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin.

Cardinal Ortega was born on October 18, 1936, two months older than Pope Francis. The son of a sugarcane plantation worker was allowed to attend a grammar school. After a year at the university, he entered the diocesan seminary. With the help of the French Quebec foreign mission, Ortega studied in Canada for four years, so he did not experience the first years of dictatorship after the 1959 Communist seizure of power. In 1961, the Communists confiscated all 245 Catholic schools in Cuba and banished many priests from the country. Thousands shouted to Castro's execution squads: "Viva Cristo Rey!" (Long live Christ).

In 1964 Ortega returned to Cuba and was ordained a priest of the diocese of Matanzas. In the course of Church persecution, he was also imprisoned in 1966, because of his pastoral work as a chaplain. After his release in 1967, he became a pastor and had to serve a number of parishes often far removed
FRom one another because of the number of priests decimated by the regime.
In 1969 he became a parson of Matanzas and had at the same time to look after another city parish and two churches outside the city.

Jaime Cardinal Ortega (1936-2019)

In 1979, Pope John Paul II appointed him Bishop of Pinar del Rio, only two years later, Archbishop of San Cristobal de la Habana and thus the country's primate. In 1994, the same Pope created him cardinal. As such, he participated in the 2005 and 2013 Conclaves. Then he made no bones about voting for the Archbishop of Buenos Aires. He justified this step with Bergoglio’s speech in the general congregations that preceded the conclave. This speech had impressed him greatly.

Pope Francis left Cardinal Ortega in office until his 80th year, which is rarely the case under the current head of the Church. On April 26, 2016 he was retired as Archbishop of Havana. His weight in the Cuban episcopacy was also made clear by his participation in the Ad Limina visit to Rome in May 2017, although he was retiring.

The situation of the Church in the Communist dictatorship turned out to be very difficult from


1959onwards. On the one hand, the Church was massively weakened. 150 priests were banished to Spain

alone. A serious bloodletting. Today there are about 350 priests in the eleven dioceses of Cuba. Before the revolution it was almost 900.

Raul Castro with Cardinal Ortega

Special attention was given by the Primate to the promotion of priestly vocations. During his time as archbishop of Havana, Mgr. Ortega consecrated a total of 24 priests. The number is modest for such a long term. However, it is remarkable for Cuba, where every pastoral activity encounters state hostility.

The visibility of the Church in public space was wiped out by the Communists. However, unlike other states where "real socialism" reigned, Cuba maintained full diplomatic relations with the Holy See. The Chargé d'Affaires of the Vatican thus became a visible representative of the Church. In addition, there were attempts to replace the Church by the establishment of a schismatic, regimental parallel structure. But when success did not materialize, Fidel Castro contented himself with promoting Christianity and socialism. A serious division of the Church by Marxist left-Catholics could be avoided.


To make matters worse, that Archbishop Francisco Ricardo Oves Fernández of Havana suffered from a nervous condition and in 1980 at the age of 52 years had to be recalled. His successor was Cardinal Ortega, who had the difficult task of managing the balancing act between the primary tasks and the protection of the Church on the one hand, and the fact that the Church became the main reservoir of political dissidents on the other. One of the Catholic critics of the regime was Oswaldo Payá, leader of the Movimiento Cristiano de Liberacion (Christian Liberation Movement), who died on 22 July
2012 in a "very suspicious car accident", according to Swiss journalist Giuseppe Rusconi.

35 years Archbishop of Havana and Primate of Cuba

From the ranks of the political opposition, Cardinal Ortega was therefore reproached for showing too much restraint towards the Communist rulers. He was the "toothless adversary" of Fidel Castro.

Most recently, this criticism was raised in connection with the Pope's visit in 2015, when dissidents already known in advance were arrested and imprisoned for the duration of the papal visit. Even on the sidelines of the official appointments of Francis, there were arrests, as dissidents wanted to draw attention to their fate. Neither Pope Francis nor Cardinal Ortega commented on this, which was also criticized by Oswaldo Payá's widow. Ofelia Acevedo accused the cardinal of a "hostile attitude towards the dissidents and regime critics."

"Pope Francis knows the miserable situation of the Cubans," said the widow, who was received in 2014 by Francis in private audience. The critics of the regime had hoped for a meeting with the Pope, which was not part of his visit to Cuba.

Since 2014, European media have been talking about a "relaxation" between the regime and the Church, which is true at the political level. On the Church side, it was reached by Pope Francis and Cardinal Ortega. For them, however, a price has to be paid. The Vatican is apparently hoping for a "Christian taming" of Communist rulers, who could then remain in power, and perhaps even should. See also: 60 years of Cuban Revolution - and the Vatican celebrates a bit with.

As usual at the death of a Cardinal, the Pope sends a letter of condolence to the diocese. Unlike usual, the condolence telegram was sent to the Archbishop of San Cristobal de la Habana last Saturday on behalf of Pope Francis, but signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin.

The reason is currently unknown.

Requiescat in pace.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Picture: MiL
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Bishop Laise, Defender of the Reverent Reception of Holy Communion Dies

Bishop Juan Rodolfo Laise with Cardinal Robert Sarah.

"We think we can say that the introduction of hand communion and its spread all over the world is the gravest disobedience to papal authority of recent times."

Msgr. Juan Rodolfo Laise wrote these words in the concluding remarks of his book

"Communion in the Hand. Documents and History "(Comunión En la Mano, Documento e Historia, 4th ed.).

 On Facebook, the Press Office of the Diocese of San Luis in Argentina announced that old Bishop Laise died at the age of 93 years at the sanctuary of San Giovanni Rotondo in Italy. There lived the retired bishop for 17 years. Yesterday afternoon he died in the infirmary of the Capuchin Friary.

Msgr. Laise was born on February 22, 1926 in Buenos Aires. As a young man he entered the Capuchin Order. In March 1949 he took the solemn religious vows and received priestly ordination in September of the same year. He then studied both civil and canon law. From 1954 he was a professor of canon law and morality at the Theological Faculty of Villa Elisa in Argentina. After becoming Provincial of the Capuchin Order, Pope Paul VI appointed him Bishop Coadjutor of the diocese of San Luis in 1971. In the same year he became diocesan bishop there. In 2001, Pope John Paul II accepted his resignation for reasons of age.

Msgr. Laise then retired to Italy in the Capuchin Monastery of San Giovanni Rotondo, where saintly Father Pio, also a Capuchin, spent most of his life, died in 1968 and is also buried.

As a great worshiper of the saint, the bishop moved near him. Since then he has worked there as a beloved confessor for pilgrims in Italian and Spanish. At the place of action for Father Pio was where he also wanted to die.

St. Padre Pio (1887-1968)

Bishop Laise is the author of numerous catechetical books and the social doctrine of the Church. He is considered one of the outstanding proponents of the Communion on the tongue, from which he also moved back to the traditional Roman Rite.

In 1997, he dedicated the book mentioned above to the rejected practice of hand-communion, which was translated into several languages ​​and made him known internationally. In his diocese, he was the first diocesan bishop to refuse the hand communion and took back the corresponding dispensation. The prohibition of the hand communion has been keep since then also its two successors upright.
 Every morning at 6 o'clock Bishop Laise celebrated Mass in the traditional Rrite in San Giovanni Rotondo. His confreres resisted a public celebration at the convent. In an interview in 2016 he said:

“Unfortunately, there is no openness to the traditional liturgy among the Capuchins of the Convention, who are generally at a certain age. In contrast, among the young priests who come to visit, there are some who are well-disposed. It would be good if there was a public celebration for the many pilgrims of the place of pilgrimage, and I am sure that the faithful would respond very positively. Time, however, does not seem to be ripe, as far as the superiors are concerned. As for me, pro bono pacis, I celebrate by trying to avoid any tension. "

"The example of the hand communion has made me think"

On the current situation among the priests, he said:

"It is necessary to distinguish between the generations. We experience a positive attitude among the young priests, an attitude that often arises when they get in touch with a priest, thanks to whom they are allowed to discover the traditional Mass. In this way they get access to a spiritual and theological treasure, which until then was unknown to them and which only needs to be explored and shared. The content of the traditional Mass is much richer, much more precise than the modern Mass. The Blessed Virgin, the Holy Archangel Michael, and the holy apostles Peter and Paul are present in all the formations of the extraordinary form, while in the ordinary form they have disappeared completely or almost completely. As long as I celebrated with the new Missal, I always chose the First Eucharistic Prayer, the Roman Canon.” 

He endeavored to assist young priests and seminarians in their quest for holiness. Accordingly, he also kept in touch with the International Seminary of the Society of Saint Peter in Wigratzbad, which he visited personally in 2004.

In 1949 he was still ordained a priest in the traditional form:

"I celebrated itfor 20 years, including my time in Rome, when I studied at the Gregoriana. I also celebrated it during the Bugnini reform, when it betrayed the intention of the Council Fathers - and perhaps Paul VI's. Anyway, the example of the "Handkommunion" makes me pensive, the Paul VI. not wanted, as instructed by the Memoriale Domini, but which was forced by the German and French bishops. " 

Like a legacy he said then:

“I wish that all bishops become aware of the importance of oral communion as a reference to the Holy of Holies, then they will take the same position as the Bishop of Oruro! This is the only way to truly testify to the Lord's Eucharistic Presence through words and deeds. We regret that today it is not the same throughout the Church as Paul VI. in Memoriale Domini has defined that communion should always be received by mouth. Therefore, I am glad that the Bishop of Oruro, the words of Pope Paul VI. reaffirmed. "

In the fall of 2016, Bishop Laise was one of the first signatories to the Lenten Declaration on Church Doctrine on Marriage and the Family, which called on Pope Francis to reaffirm the truths of sacramental marriage.

"How should holy communion be received? Kneeling and in the mouth "

One year ago, exactly one year ago, the bishop and capuchin spoke publicly for the last time. In an interview, he criticized the actions of some German bishops who want to create facts in terms of inter-communion.

"I am strongly against it. How can we share this sacrament with someone who does not share the foundations of the doctrine? We are heading for a confusion. The entry of Luther's statue into the Vatican also surprised me negatively. The Protestants are heretics in every respect, which is why intercommunion is not possible. It is only when the Protestant shares the Catholic faith in an appropriate and accurate way. "

On Holy Communion he said on this occasion:

"When you go to Holy Communion, you have to be aware of what you receive. Instead, in many cases, superficiality prevails. This does not depend on modernity itself, but on the careless climate, which has little inclination for the sacred, and which is a consequence of modernity. This climate, it is regrettable to have to say this, is present not only in everyday life, but unfortunately also in the church. We churchmen are partly responsible. I do not want to bring charges, but from this point of view, the Pope would have to insist more, but it does not. "

When asked how Communion should be received, he admonished:

"Kneeling and in the mouth. The body of Christ whom we receive in the Sacrament is worthy of respect and honor. I repeat: We have also lost the value of sanctity in the forms, and that is a very grave misuse for which Paul VI. bears the guilt that opened the door to these behaviors. After the Second Vatican, the Church began to waver as far as the sacred is concerned."

He also affirmed that so-called remarried divorced people are "absolutely not" allowed to communion.

"Anyone who divorces and enters into a civil union is in a state of grave sin, beyond the grace of God, and can not receive the Sacrament unless he does penance and has a concrete and real resolution to change his life , In this question the Gospel, the Magisterium of the Church and the sacramental order are valid. Nobody has the authority to change it. We are only the administrators of the sacrament, but not the owners. It is therefore true that the concrete danger of relativism exists for the concrete implementation of Amoris laetitia. It would therefore be opportune to clarify how it was demanded with the Dubia.”

Bishop Juan Rodolfo Laise was buried on Tuesday afternoon. The Requiem was celebrated by Msgr. Franco Moscone, the new Archbishop of Manfredonia-Vieste-San Giovanni Rotondo. It took place in the 1959 consecrated pilgrimage church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Our Lady, Help of Christians). Directly adjacent to it is the old 16th-century monastery church with the image of the Blessed Virgin, before which Fr. Pio celebrated Holy Mass offering in the traditional form of the Roman Rite until old age, and  it was also the favorite church of Bishop Laise.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Paix Liturgique
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

The New Franciscans of the Immaculata

(London) On July 5, 2019, the southern English city of Portsmouth was without its knowledge,
 for a brief but important moment, something of the center of the Catholic world. The coastal city is the birthplace of Charles Dickens and was the starting point of the Allied landing in Normandy. It has also been the seat of a bishop since 1882, after over 300 years of prohibition,
the Catholic hierarchy could be rebuilt in England.

Since 2012, appointed by Pope Benedict XVI, Msgr. Philip Anthony Egan heads the diocese with around 250,000 Catholics (eight percent of the population). Bishop Egan consecrated four Franciscans to priests in the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist last July 5 - in the traditional rite.

The brothers of St. Francis of Assisi are former Franciscans of the Immaculata, who were incardinated by Bishop Egan into his diocese of Portsmouth.

The four candidates

The Order of the Franciscans of the Immaculata, founded by Fr. Stefano Maria Manelli, has been suffering a great ordeal since the summer of 2013. The still young order, which looked back to the original charism of the order’s founder, was followed by Pope Benedict XVI. in the Motu proprio Summorum pontificum, and was transformed from a New Mass-religious order to an Old Rite order, since he was committed in his charism to tradition. But he remained subordinate, a complete exception, in the  Roman Congregation of Religious. In pastoral care the Order was bi-ritual, in-house old-ritual. The canonical community, first established in 1990, grew rapidly and received considerable appointments from Europe as well. Towards the end of the pontificate of Benedict XVI, it seemed that the Franciscans of the Immaculata could even become a role model for other new rite-religious orders. It was especially the  young members of other orders were interested in their way.

A few months after the papal change, however, came the turn. The protective hand of Benedict XVI. was replaced by the punitive hand of Francis. In July 2013, the Order's leadership was deposed by the Order's Congregation and the Order was placed under the administration of a Commissar without any reason. This raged in the Order and smashed much of what had been built. With the decree of the Commissar by Rome, the Order had been forbidden to perform the traditional Rite. This left no doubt against whom and what the hard measure was directed. All relevant decisions were declared null and void. Each priest had to apply individually for a special permit if he wanted to continue to celebrate in the traditional Rite. Monasteries were abolished, the internal seminary was closed  and pilgrimage sites and churches entrusted to it were removed from the Order.

Against the founders of the Order and Superior General until the Commissar  came, a slander campaign was carried out, which was also carried out in court. The Commissar embarrassingly failed and reinforced the impression of arbitrary and ideologically motivated persecution. Not only the vocations collapsed, even the friars themselves were urged to leave the Order because the original religious charisma was eliminated. At this point all the harshness became apparent, some even reveal the persecutor’s ugliness. The friars, who reconstituted the Order as an Old Rite order and thereby wanted to submit to the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei (now a division of the Congregation of the Faith), this was denied. The friars, who wanted to leave the Order and ask for release from their vows to found a new order, were forbidden to do so. The then Commissar even threatened Italian bishops who would allow Franciscans of Immaculata in their dioceses admission. The bishop of Albenga-Imperia, who had promoted the Order particularly, gave him three settlements there,
entrusted pilgrimage churches and dared to defend the Order against unjustified persecution, was made emeritus by Pope Francis.

The same happened to a Filipino bishop, who received the former Franciscan Immaculata in his diocese and helped to found a new order there.

Others found refuge in England, which was previously tolerated by Rome, because they live their charism without a stir. Bishop Egan granted a new home to one of the Order's brilliant heads, Father Serafino M. Lanzetta. In 2015, he entrusted him with the parish of St. Mary in Gosport and appointed him pastor. P. Lanzetta made the New-Parish a bi-ritual one. The change that became possible coincided with the death of the first Roman Commissar, Capuchin Fidenzio Volpi.

Fr. Lanzetta enabled the other brothers of his order to settle in Gosport. Thus the exile of the
seminarians, who were in the middle of their studies, came to an end when the storm broke over the Order. A few days ago they were consecrated by Bishop Egan, according to their sensitivity, in the traditional form of the Roman Rite.


In the diocese of Portsmouth the former Franciscans of Immaculata can live. Their community is called the Family of the Immaculate Virgin and Saint Francis. It already has nine priests, brothers and seminarians. So far, two other priests have worked together with Fr. Lanzetta in Gosport, who are now strengthened by the four new priests Fra Philemon, Fra Rosario, Fra Faustinus and Fra Michael. Thus, the number of Mass sites reached can be expanded. Wherever the priests of the new community come, they also bring the traditional Rite and tradition.

In recent years Bishop Egan has been particularly sensitive to the priests and the faithful who are associated with the traditional Rite. In September 2018, he established a personal parish of the traditional Rite in Reading, which he entrusted to the FSPC. In March 2019, he paid a visit to St. Michael's School in Burghclere, which is located in his diocese and run by the Society of Saint Pius X  (FSSPX).


In Gosport, a seed has become a small plant.


Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: MiL / MyAlbum / Saint Marys
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG