Pope Francis invites Christians to make a crib

Pope at Audience: ‘Life is reborn at Christmas’

Pope Francis invites Christians to make a crib in their homes as a
preparation for Christmas, noting that in a world in which weapons
continue to be manufactured, the crib is “an artisanal image of peace.”

By Linda Bordoni

“Christmas is a week away,” Pope Francis reminded those present for the
weekly General Audience, inviting them to ask themselves “how am I
preparing to celebrate the birth of the Lord?”

A simple, but effective way, he told them, is to make a crib.

This, he told them, is exactly what he did: “I went to Greccio, where
Saint Francis set up the first crib, with the people who lived there.
And I wrote a letter recalling the significance of this tradition.”

The crib: a living Gospel

The Pope went on to describe the crib as a kind of living Gospel that
“brings the Gospel into the places of our lives: our homes, schools,
workplaces, community centers, hospitals and clinics, prisons and squares.”

It reminds us, the Pope said, of how the Lord showed His love for us by
being born as one of us.

To make a crib, he continued, “is to celebrate God’s closeness, and to
rediscover that He is real, concrete and alive,” and the baby Jesus with
open arms tells us that God came to embrace us in our humanity.

It is nice, the Pope said, to stand before the crib and share our daily,
lives, hopes and concerns with the Lord.

Then, he went on to speak of the other figures in the crib: Mary and St.
Joseph who symbolise the joys, worries and harmony of family life.

A domestic Gospel

“The crib is a domestic Gospel,” Pope Francis continued, and the image
of the manger evokes the meals we share as families and the centrality
of Jesus, the living bread come down from heaven, into our family life.

Caught up in the frenetic rhythms of today’s life, the Christmas crib,
he said, also reminds us to pause and contemplate what is truly important.

In a world in which weapons continue to be manufactured every day, and
violent images penetrate our sight and our hearts, Pope Francis said,
“the crib is an artisanal image of peace, that’s why it is a living Gospel.”

The Pope wrapped up his discourse inviting everyone to make a little
crib in their homes “as a reminder that God came to be with us, was born
a man like us, and continues to accompany us in our lives.”

“He doesn’t change things with magic, but if we welcome Him into our
hearts everything can change,” he said.

Making a crib, Pope Francis concluded, is like opening the door to our
home and saying: “Jesus, come in!”: “If Jesus dwells in our lives, life
is reborn, and if life is reborn, it really is Christmas!”

The Carnival of Obscurity is over.....

By
  NICOLE WINFIELD / AP

December 17, 2019

(VATICAN CITY) — Pope Francis abolished the use of the Vatican’s highest level of secrecy in clergy sexual abuse cases Tuesday, responding to mounting criticism that the rule of “pontifical secrecy” has been used to protect pedophiles, silence victims and prevent police from investigating crimes.

“The carnival of obscurity is over,” declared Juan Carlos Cruz, a prominent Chilean survivor of clergy abuse and advocate for victims.

In a new law, Francis decreed that information in abuse cases must be protected by church leaders to ensure its “security, integrity and confidentiality.” But he said the rule of “pontifical secrecy” no longer applies to abuse-related accusations, trials and decisions under the Catholic Church’s canon law.

The Vatican’s leading sex crimes investigator, Archbishop Charles Scicluna, said the reform was an “epochal decision” that will facilitate coordination with civil law enforcement and open up lines of communication with victims.

While documentation from the church’s in-house legal proceedings will still not become public, Scicluna said, the reform now removes any excuse to not cooperate with legitimate legal requests from prosecutors, police or other civil authorities.

Francis also raised from 14 to 18 the cutoff age below which the Vatican considers pornographic images to be child pornography. The reform is a response to the Vatican’s increasing awareness of the prolific spread of online child porn that has frequently implicated even high-ranking churchmen.

The new laws were issued Tuesday, Francis’ 83rd birthday, as he struggles to respond to the global explosion of the abuse scandal, his own missteps and demands for greater transparency and accountability from victims, law enforcement and ordinary Catholics alike.

The new norms are the latest amendment to the Catholic Church’s in-house canon law — a parallel legal code that metes out ecclesial justice for crimes against the faith — in this case relating to the sexual abuse of minors or vulnerable people by priests, bishops or cardinals. In this legal system, the worst punishment a priest can incur is being defrocked, or dismissed from the clerical state.

When he was a cardinal, Pope Benedict XVI had persuaded St. John Paul II to decree in 2001 that these cases must be handled by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and be dealt with under the “pontifical secret” rule. The Vatican had long insisted that such confidentiality was necessary to protect the privacy of the victim, the reputation of the accused and the integrity of the canonical process.

However, such secrecy also served to keep the scandal hidden, prevent law enforcement from accessing documents and silence victims, many of whom often believed that the “pontifical secret” rule prevented them from going to the police to report their priestly abusers.

"Pedro Arrupe Was a Prophet"

Pope Francis meets with the Jesuits of Thailand on November 22, 2019 in Sampran.

(Rome) In its current issue ( issue 4067 ), the Roman Jesuit magazine La Civiltà Cattolica published a copy of the encounter between Pope Francis and the Jesuits of Thailand, penned by his confidant P. Antonio Spadaro SJ. Comparable to the flying press conferences, these internal meetings give better insight into the thinking of Pope Francis than his official speeches. The summary publication after each meeting is made with papal approval. The head of the Church knows that his answers will be made publicly available.

A question from the Thai confreres referred to the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS). It has had an office in Berlin since 1996, in Switzerland since 2010 and in Austria "it was able to work intensively again in 2015". Francis reaffirmed his call for boundless migration and declared refugees a "theological place".

Pope Francis: Working with refugees has become a real “theological place” for the Jesuits. I consider it a theological place. That was the will of P. Pedro Arrupe [1], who emphasized the importance of this mission in his last speech here in Thailand. Father Arrupe was a prophet to me: his "swan song" was the foundation of the Jesuit refugee service right here in Bangkok. Then he suffered a stroke on the return flight from Thailand to Rome. [2]
The refugee phenomenon has always existed, but today it is better known for its social differences, hunger, political tensions and, above all, war. For these reasons, migration movements are increasing. What is the answer the world gives? The policy of segregation. Refugees are waste. The Mediterranean was turned into a cemetery. The impressive cruelty of some detention centers in Libya touches my heart.

Here in Asia we all know the Rohingya problem [3], I have to admit that some of the stories I hear across borders in Europe shock me. Populism is gaining strength. In other areas, there are walls that even separate children from their parents. Herod comes to mind. However, there are no walls to stop drugs.

As I told you before, the migration phenomenon is compounded by war, hunger and a "defense philosophy" that makes us believe that it is possible to defend ourselves only through fear and strengthening the borders. On the other hand, there is exploitation. We know exactly how the church works - how many sisters are involved in this area! - works hard to save girls from prostitution and various forms of slavery. The Christian tradition has a rich evangelical experience in dealing with the refugee problem. 

We also remember the importance of welcoming the stranger that the Old Testament teaches us. But also many small folk welcome customs, such as providing an empty chair on a festive day in the event for when an unexpected guest arrives. If the Church is a field hospital, one serving the most injured, then we have to go to these hospitals the most.

I return to the “theological place”:  the will of Father Arrupe gave work with the refugees a great boost, and above all he asked for one thing: prayer, more prayer. The speech he made to the Jesuits who worked with the refugees here in Bangkok was not to neglect prayer. We have to remember it well: prayer. In other words, do not forget the other, the spiritual, in this physical periphery. Only in prayer will we find the strength and inspiration to go well and fruitfully into the “disorder” of social injustice.

Hardly any superior general is more controversial than Pedro Arrupe, whom a part of the Jesuit order venerates like a saint. On February 5, 2019, his beatification process was opened, which Pope Francis sympathizes with.

Another question that Pope Francis was asked by the Jesuits present was about pastoral action towards the remarried and divorced. Francis does not seem to like the question. In contrast to the refugee question, for which he took a lot of time and answered in detail, he stayed briefly on this point and redirected to the next question. The willingness to respond and the length of it indicates a priority setting.

What is remarkable about his short answer is a confusing juxtaposition, which the Pope formulated as a contradiction: on the one hand there is a "Church" answer, which is "not Christian", and his answer, which he identifies as "teaching".

Pope Francis: I could answer you in two ways: in a casuistic way, but which is not Christian, although it can also be ecclesiastical; or according to the Magisterium of the Church, as it is written in the eighth chapter of Amoris laetitia, that is, to make a way of accompaniment and differentiation in order to find solutions. And that has nothing to do with the situation ethics, but with the great moral tradition of the Church.
But I see that the time is up. But let's take another quick question…

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: La Civiltà Cattolica (screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

---

[1] P. Pedro Arrupe (1907 to 1991) was from 1965 to 1981 28th Superior General of the Jesuits. He promoted an alliance of Christianity and socialism and also the young Fr. Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

[2] Pope John Paul II used Arrupe to disempower and to initiate the election of a new superior general.

[3] The Rohingya are a Muslim group that lives mainly in Bangladesh, but also in the border area of Myanmar, the former Burma. It is controversial whether it is an autochthonous group, or whether it has only recently infiltrated from the more populated Bangladesh. Since they organized themselves as an independent group and appeared politically, there has been a conflict with the Burmese government.

AMDG

AMDG

Chechen Terror Cell Had Planned Attacks Across Europe Starting in Vienna Christmas Market

A Chechen group around an IS sympathizer who is already in Hirtenberg is said to have planned attacks in Vienna, Salzburg, Germany, France and Luxembourg between Christmas and New Year.

 Three native Chechens are said to have planned a whole series of attacks in Vienna and other cities between Christmas and New Year.  The driving force behind the terrorist attack allegedly planned in Vienna was probably a 24-year-old Chechen who was most recently housed in the Hirtenberg prison.

 He is said to have planned his outbreak from prison and then to a series of the terror attacks.  According to the investigation, which has not been confirmed by the authorities, an explosive attack was initially planned in downtown Vienna, specifically on the Christmas market on Stephansplatz.  Then attacks in Salzburg, Germany, France and Luxembourg should have followed.  Two suspected accomplices, Chechens aged 25 and 31, were detained last week (as reported).

The law enforcement authorities are said to have tracked down the three men, an anonymous whistle-blower, who is said to have warned above all of the inmate who was imprisoned in Hirtenberg, since he was still attached to the IS ideology after his conviction.  Extensive investigations, telephone surveillance and observations confirmed the suspicion that led to the arrest of the Chechens who had been released - because of "imminent danger", the court officials have said.

 The responsible regional court in Wiener Neustadt assumed that the men who had previously been considered harmless had been given the risk of escaping, collusion, perpetrating an offense or executing an offense.  Formally, the investigation is ongoing towards terrorist groups.  The case is being carried out as an interdiction, both law enforcement agencies and the Ministry of the Interior reacted cautiously to inquiries.  What is certain is that the three suspects were in constant contact with one another via their cell phones, even though prison law prohibits cell phones and communication with the outside world should be impossible.  According to the current investigation, the alleged accomplices should initially have helped the main suspect escape from prison.  A fake Romanian passport in the name of the 24-year-old was seized from the 25-year-old.

 Police try to calm fears

 It is unclear to what extent the two were involved in the 24-year-old's terror plans.  The attorneys for the alleged accomplices, Wolfgang Blaschitz and Florian Kreiner, assured that their clients had communicated with the prisoner, "but did not plan any crooked things," as Blaschitz emphasized.  He represents the 25-year-old, who is known in the Viennese martial arts scene as a very successful MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighter.  Like the 31-year-old, he has never harmed anyone, and acquaintances from the MMA scene described the athlete as "perfectly integrated" in conversation with the "press".  For him, competitive sport was in the first place, he was a "normal believer".  Kreiner, the lawyer, asserts that the 31-year-old, a family man, has "nothing to do with the whole thing".  He was a Muslim, "but not radicalized.”

In any case, the central figure is said to be the 24-year-old, and he is anything but an unknown: he was twice convicted of organizing for terrorism (Section 278b of the Criminal Code).  In October 2015, he was found guilty in Vienna after joining IS in the company of his mother in a wheelchair and his pregnant wife in Syria.  The accused had been put under police control in Turkey and had been sent back to Austria.  The young man - his wife appeared fully veiled in court, only when he nodded did she take off her face veil - was given two years of unconditional detention in his first trial.  He was released prematurely after around 14 months, although it was announced that he had "missionized" prisoners in prison.

Shortly after his release, the Chechen wanted to go back to Syria, failed again and was again sentenced to two years in Korneuburg in October 2017.  The 24-year-old has now been transferred to a maximum security prison.

 The population had to, as a police spokesman told the "press" Monday evening, "not worry": The security concept for Vienna's Christmas markets, which has been in place for months, will not be changed.  The risk situation has not changed.  According to the police, authorities and organizers in Vienna are in constant contact, police officers in uniform and in civilian clothes are on duty - similarly in Salzburg: Christkindl markets or the city center where New Year's Eve is celebrated are also well secured with the previous measures.

 Prison minister: Stepping up the radicalization work

 Ramazan Demir, Honorary Chairman of Islamic Prison Counseling in Austria, worked as a pastor for eight years and wrote the book "Among Extremists: A Prison Counselor looks into the soul of radical Muslims". He points to the enormous importance of prevention and deradicalization in prisons. Because almost all assassins across Europe had been in prison and had been (further) radicalized there because they would equate Islam with violence without a stop or orientation and with a wrong understanding of religion.

 It is all the more important to "support and educate these people" in cooperation with the state authorities and the Islamic community in Austria. To do this, more resources are needed, after all, there are around 2,000 Muslim prisoners in Austria.

Edit: 2,000 too many. Shouldn’t they be located somewhere to the east of the Danube?

https://www.diepresse.com/5739569/drei-festnahmen-gab-es-plane-fur-eine-anschlagsserie

AMDG

 (k.b./cim/win - "Die Presse" print edition from 17.12.2019)

Mary's predestination and fiat

  One more point that can be addressed here with regard to the Redemption and Christ's sole role in it.

That role includes only the Blood of Jesus Christ and no other's.

 So, one can say, that while many essential factors played a part in the Redemptive work, which is still ongoing, only the Blood Letting of Jesus Christ is the factor that separates Him from the rest of the co-redeemers.

Thus, one can say:  The Blood of Christ effected the Fruits of Redemption.

Therefore:  Christ's Blood == Fruits of Redemption
BTW:  Blood  is very Incarnational and from what I understand, Christ shed EVERY DROP of His BLOOD.

Then, came the Waters of Baptism, without which no one can be saved, in any form or fashion. 
Desire alone being salvific is semi-Pelagian, and heretical as well as Protestant.
Water coupled with desire is ancient Roman Catholicism and thus, God ordained.

Mary's fiat and predestination....

From a Predestinarian's point of view, Mary was predestined in Genesis.  In fact, she is predestined in the (created) stars -- Virgo!
As such, we know from St. Augustine's definition of Predestination:  It is simply the preparation of and for Grace.
That is, for each of the Elect, their Will is prepared and the Graces for those Wills are also prepared.
I.E.  Not all Wills are created  equal,  and  Not everyone receives the same amount of Grace.
The converse of this is:  Some Wills are not created for salvation and some do not receive Grace.  HARD SAYINGS INDEED.

Now, to the FIAT  of Mary.
By Mary's WILL, she said Yes.

For the Pelagian, the Will is inherently supreme.
For  the Catholic, Grace supersedes the Will.

The title of Co-Redemptrix boils down to an act of Will -- the Fiat of Mary.

Noticably, the push for the title Co-Redemptrix comes mostly in the last 500 or so years......  mainly during the times that Pelagian forces in the Church had increased  their influence in the Church.

The latest Vatican Theological  Commission, which commissions of late have pushed for more nonsense, has applied its wiles to  have Mary declared Co-Redemptrix!
And why?  The Will of Mary is the cause or co-cause of our Redemption.  If this is so, and Mary said NO, there would be no Redemption.  But since God's Grace is SOVEREIGN, No One's Will (remember -- all Wills are created by God) can divert or overcome God's plan for man.

I am  guessing that the push for the supremacy of Mary's Will in the Redemption is being authored by those Pelagian forces bent on humanizing and de-supernaturalizing and de-Incarnationalizing the Roman Catholic Church, outside of which there is neither Salvation OR the remission of sins.
Further, because of her  cooperation by saying Yes to  become the Mother of God, does that make her Co-Redeemer?

What about all those that came before in the lineage of Our Lady from the time of Adam and Noah?  Should they not be also added to the list of Co-Redeemers?  As well as the Apostles and disciples  that brought forth the Fruits of the Redemption to the masses of people  by their spread of the Faith and Baptism?
Baptism, after all, redeems the particular soul and marks  them with the seal of Redemption.  So all those  baptizers out there, laymen and laywomen and priests, bishops, etc. etc. can also be Co-Redeemers.

Thus we see, in the very same sense that  these others can be  co-redeemers, Our Lady can be  considered as such. 

However, to aver that by not claiming her to be Co-Redemptorix is to deny her co-operation in the salvific  plan of God is way over the top.

Pope Francis says Mary is loving mother and humble disciple...

CNS photo/Paul Haring

Mary is loving mother, humble disciple, Pope Francis says on Guadalupe feast

By  Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service

• December 12, 2019

VATICAN CITY -- Celebrating the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pope Francis said she reminds Catholics of her true essence as a woman, a mother and a "mestiza" or person of mixed race.

She revealed herself to St. Juan Diego as a "mestiza" to show "that she is everyone's mother," and she speaks to everyone as she spoke to this indigenous saint five centuries ago, with tenderness and motherly love, the pope said in his homily during a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica Dec. 12.

Seminarians and priests from Rome's Pontifical Latin American College alternated singing their traditional guitar-accompanied songs with the Sistine Chapel choir singing parts of the Mass in Gregorian chant.

The pope and concelebrating cardinals and bishops processed into the basilica dressed in white. Among the concelebrants were U.S. bishops from Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin who were in Rome as part of their Dec. 9-13 "ad limina" visits to report on the status of their dioceses.

Pope Francis stood before a replica of St. Juan Diego's tilma, which bears the image of Mary, who appeared to the saint in 1531.

In his homily, which the pope delivered off-the-cuff in Spanish, he reflected on the way Mary appears in the Gospels and in the apparitions to St. Juan Diego.

She is first and foremost a woman who has been given many titles -- many which contain the title "Our Lady," which underlines her womanhood, he said.

But, he said, "she doesn't try to be something else: she is a woman disciple," the pope said.

She is humble and faithful to her teacher, her son, "the only Redeemer," he said.

She never asked and "never wanted to take something of her son for herself. She never presented herself as a co-Redemptrix, but as a disciple" who served him and gave life, he said. (Hellloooo….can you read?)

Pope Francis' mention of Mary and the role of co-Redemptrix was a reference to the fact that, for decades, some Catholics, including specialists in Mariology, have requested that Mary be officially proclaimed co-Redemptrix for her cooperative role with Jesus, the redeemer. However, St. John Paul II and Popes Benedict XVI and Francis declined to do so. (Not just Pope Francis, folks.....it was John Paul II and Benedict also, so get your story straight. Do you understand calumny?)

Mary is the mother of Jesus, she is "our mother, the mother of our people" and the church, Pope Francis said in his homily.

Understanding the church through Mary is essential also for understanding the role of women in the church, he said, because their role is more than just "functional."

Like Mary, women make the church maternal and transform it into the "holy mother church," he said.

It is also important, Pope Francis said, that Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego as a woman of mixed race.

That way she shows she is the mother of all peoples; she became one with the people and, by bringing Jesus into the world, she also made God one of the people with Jesus as both true God and man.

At the end of the Mass, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, head of the Vatican Congregation for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, gave special thanks and congratulations to Pope Francis for the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood Dec. 13.

After applause from the congregation, Cardinal Ouellet thanked the pope for the way he lives the priesthood, "in a spirit of humility and mercy, in a spirit of reform and holiness, giving priority and great charity to those most in need."

"Not everyone understands fully" the pope's gestures, words and decisions, he said, "but I can assure you that the people of God who walk in faith are inspired and consoled by your example and magisterium."

Pope Attacks Co-Redemptorix and Traditional Mariology Calling it Foolishness

ROME - Pope Francis appeared to flatly reject proposals in some theological circles to add “co-redemptrix” to the list of titles of the Virgin Mary, saying the mother of Jesus never took anything that belonged to her son, and calling the invention of new titles and dogmas “foolishness.”

“She never wanted for herself something that was of her son,” Francis said. “She never introduced herself as co-redemptrix. No. Disciple,” he said, meaning that Mary saw herself as a disciple of Jesus.

Mary, the pope insisted, “never stole for herself anything that was of her son,” instead “serving him. Because she is mother. She gives life.”

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2019/12/pope-calls-idea-of-declaring-mary-co-redemptrix-foolishness/

AMDG