Showing posts with label Bishops' Synod. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bishops' Synod. Show all posts

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Cardinal Burke: Appeal to Pope Francis -- No More Controversial Themes Taken Up at Synod in 2015

(Dublin / Rome) Cardinal Raymond Burke,  who was removed by Pope Francis for his opposition to the papal agenda as Cardinal Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura discontinued and removed from the Roman Curia, spoke on the 15th of November at a meeting in Limerick, Ireland.
Cardinal Burke reiterated his concerns at the meeting of the Synod of Bishops on the family, which began in October 2015. Through his dismissal, Pope Francis saw to it that the American Cardinal can no longer participate ex officio at the upcoming Synod.
Cardinal Burke recalled that the attacks on the sacrament of marriage come from within the Catholic Church. One part of leadership was trying to abuse the Synod to make behavior socially acceptable, "which contradicts  Catholic doctrine".
Cardinal Burke appealed to Pope Francis, to renounce the further handling of the controversial issues at the Synod in 2015. He also urged the faithful to write their bishops and the Pope. You should insist on defending the Catholic doctrine and you should prompt bishops and Pope to prevent a further spreading of the confusion.
At the meeting was also Father Marcel Guarnizo who participated as a speaker. Father Guarnizo was pastor in Maryland in the United States of the Archdiocese of Washington when he was reprimanded  in 2012 when he refused a self-confessed lesbian  Communion. The complaint was issued after because of the refusal launched a bitter aberrosexual campaign against the Catholic priest and which was fanned by influential left-wing liberal media.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Chiesa e Postconcilio
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Friday, November 21, 2014

Spain's Bishops Elect Members for Bishops' Synod -- Surprise Bishop Reig -- Little Ratzinger Elected to Chairmanship

Bishop Juan Antonio Reig Surprisingly Strong in the
Bishops' Conference of Spain
(Madrid) The Fall General Assembly of the Spanish Bishops' Conference elected  three synododalists for the Synod of Bishops on the Family in 2015 with a not insignificant surprise.
The  Cardinal Prefect of the   Congregation for Divine Worship, who was dismissed by Pope Francis and sent back as Archbishop of Valencia, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares to Spain, has been, it seems, chosen with great support to the Chairmanship  of the Conference of Bishops. He replaces the retired Archbishop of Madrid Rouco Varela.

Archbishop Blázquez and Bishop Iceta in 2015 as Synodalists in Rome

The second vote is likely some food for thought. The Spanish Episcopal Conference was represented in the first part of the Synod of Bishops, which took place as extraordinary Synod last October, automatically and exclusively by its President, while  three representatives will participate in the second part, the Annual Synod, who were elected by the bishops from their own ranks. First place will  go to the Vice President of the Bishops' Conference, then Ricardo Blazquez, archbishop of Valladolid, who was elected by a large majority. In second place comes a Mario Iceta Gavicagogeascoa, the Bishop of Bilbao who is an acknowledged expert on bioethical issues. Both are considered of "strong character and conservative," said the Spanish Catholic church historian and blogger José Francisco Fernández de la Cigoña.

Jockeying for Third Place at Synod 

For third place, however it came to a scramble.  For this spot,  the Archbishop of Madrid, Carlos Osoro Sierra, who was appointed by Pope Francis,  and him alone, would have gotten the position owing to his rank. In reality, several rounds of voting were needed because Archbishop Osoro could not gather a sufficient majority. In the end, Osoro prevailed because of one vote.. His opponent was none other than Bishop Juan Antonio Reig of Alcalá de Henares. Archbishop Reig is the Spanish bishop who speaks in the most definitive language and does not hesitate to publicly engage in clear words for faith. But he is also most severely under attack by opponents of the church and media. "If the Archbishop of Granada had been present, Archbishop Osoro would have gotten a nasty surprise," says Fernández de la Cigoña.

Surprising Moral Support for Bishop Juan Antonio Reig

The humiliating ballots are a snub for the new Archbishop of Madrid. Perhaps the voting behavior of many bishops were directed not against him, but were rather in support of the positions of Bishop Reig. The Bishop of Alcalá de Henares had to put up with a thorough drubbing in public in recent months, but stood at the forefront in the defense of non-negotiable values ​​and expressed clear positions on the controversial issues at the Synod of Bishops. The vote for him, if he ultimately lost the election, means a substantial strengthening his position in the Bishops' Conference. Bishop Reig was the one who sharply criticized the reigning bourgeois Partido Popular  because of the pandering  to the abortion party. Next year, a new parliament will be elected in Spain. The support of the bishop by his confreres can also be seen in this context and even more importantly, there is nevertheless in most of the Episcopal Conferences a certain unwillingness   to mess with  political power, and certainly not before elections.
The close defeat of Bishop Reig is a loss for the Synod of Bishops. More surprising than its failure, however, is that he could ever unite so many votes against the Archbishop of Madrid, almost half the episcopate. It may be as general custom now   such that Bishop Reig  is a replacement synodalist, should  one of the three newly elected Synod members should not be able to go to Rome.
Spain's bishops are well positioned in sum for the Bishops' Conference. Their position was clearly stated with the election of Archbishop Blázquez, Bishop Iceta and the votes for Bishop Reig.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: InfoVaticana

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Sharp Criticism of the Media by Cardinal Tagle After Bishop Synod

Edit: don't blame the media, blame the German Cardinals.

Filipino Cardinal Tagle: "Some people have the feeling that only the subjects that were discussed during the Synod were divorce and homosexuality" - Cardinal is disappointed with the preferred reporting of "Western" themes.

Rome (kath.net/RV/red) Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle (photo), Archbishop of Manila, criticized the Western media in sharp tones for their one-sided reporting of the Family Synod in favor of the "rich countries". This report from "Vatican Radio" from the  presentation of the Asian Catholic news agency Misna. The problems of poorer countries and developing countries were little discussed in the media. "Some people have the feeling that the only subjects discussed were divorce and homosexuality during the Synod," said the Archbishop of Manila as one of the three Synod Presidents to the Philippine media. Among other important questions discussed by the Synod Fathers  the Cardinal mentioned were domestic violence, pornography, poverty or immigration.

About the report, he said that the media's reporting was "fair", but he was extremely disappointed that the journalists focused exclusively on "Western" focused, namely, divorced and civilly remarried,   and homosexuals. Tagle commented on this as an unconstructive practice. He also denounced the fact that the press is clearly dominated by the West, because there was not "a single Asian or African journalist among the hundreds of journalists present," said the Cardinal.

Link to Kath.net...

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Bishop Schneider Attacks the Pharisaical Denizens of Gender Ideology at the Synod

Edit: from the Toronto Catholic Witness who offers some commentary on what he thinks are the highlights of the following interview translated below.  



The Church and the world do urgently need intrepid and candid witnesses of the whole truth of the commandment and of the will of God, of the whole truth of Christ’s words on marriage. Modern clerical Pharisees and Scribes, those bishops and cardinals who throw grains of incense to the neo-pagan idols of gender ideology and concubinage, will not convince anyone to either believe in Christ or to be ready to offer their lives for Christ - said + Athanasius Schneider Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana, Kazakhstan in interview with Izabella Parowicz. 

Your Excellency, what is Your Excellency’s opinion about the Synod? What is its message to families?

During the Synod there had been moments of obvious manipulation on the part of some clerics who held key positions in the editorial and governing structure of the Synod. The interim report (Relatio post disceptationem) was clearly a prefabricated text with no reference to the actual statements of the Synod fathers. In the sections on homosexuality, sexuality and “divorced and remarried” with their admittance to the sacraments the text represents a radical neo-pagan ideology. This is the first time in Church history that such a heterodox text was actually published as a document of an official meeting of Catholic bishops under the guidance of a pope, even though the text only had a preliminary character. Thanks be to God and to the prayers of the faithful all over the world that a consistent number of Synod fathers resolutely rejected such an agenda; this agenda reflects the corrupt and pagan main stream morality of our time, which is being imposed globally by means of political pressure and through the almost all-powerful official mass media, which are loyal to the principles of the world gender ideology party. Such a synod document, even if only preliminary, is a real shame and an indication to the extent the spirit of the anti-Christian world has already penetrated such important levels of the life of the Church. This document will remain for the future generations and for the historians a black mark which has stained the honour of the Apostolic See. Fortunately the Message of the Synod Fathers is a real Catholic document which outlines the Divine truth on family without being silent about the deeper roots of the problems, i.e. about the reality of sin. It gives real courage and consolation to Catholic families. Some quotations: “We think of the burden imposed by life in the suffering that can arise with a child with special needs, with grave illness, in deterioration of old age, or in the death of a loved one. We admire the fidelity of so many families who endure these trials with courage, faith, and love. They see them not as a burden inflicted on them, but as something in which they themselves give, seeing the suffering Christ in the weakness of the flesh. … Conjugal love, which is unique and indissoluble, endures despite many difficulties. It is one of the most beautiful of all miracles and the most common. This love spreads through fertility and generativity, which involves not only the procreation of children but also the gift of divine life in baptism, their catechesis, and their education. … The presence of the family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in their modest home hovers over you”.

Friday, October 24, 2014

Cardinal Meisner Complains that John Paul II. Was Excluded from the Synod

Emeritus Cardinal criticizes organizers of the Synod of Bishops "St. Pope John Paul II was inexplicably excluded as it were from the preparatory bodies of the Synod.  How are we to explain this?"

Cologne (kath.net) The Cardinal of Cologne Joachim Meisner has been critical of the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops in Rome in a comment in the "Daily Mail", since no representatives at the Synod of the Rome ecclesiastical institute of "Saint John Paul II." were allowed to be there. This looks as though an exclusion of the holy Pope from the Synod took place. Yet many bishops have nevertheless mentioned the holy Pope John Paul II's "Theological basic data on marriage and family" in the Synod. "The continuity in the teaching and preaching was always the guarantee and the soundness of our faith," said Meisner.

Emeritus Archbishop of Cologne pointed out that faith is a "lived doctrine." "Why is it conceivable that you want to change only the practice, but not the doctrine? 'The Word was made ​​flesh and dwelt amongst us'(Jn 1:14). This is the heart word of the Christian faith."

The word and doctrine are both together from "the Word made ​​flesh, the Christian faith." "Saint Pope John Paul II. was inexplicably excluded as it were from the preparatory bodies of the Synod. How do you explain this?"

Meisner then recalled that  months before  John Paul II. was canonized there were many pilgrims from Poland  in Rome . "For the synod organizers that seems to be without meaning: Vox populi - vox Dei  The voice of the people of God was not desirable and seems to have been therefore not heard." link to the comment in the "Daily Mail": " Joachim Cardinal Meisner. excluded The Saint John Paul II . " Cardinal Meisner and John Paul II.

Friday, October 17, 2014

Kasper Talks About Pope's "Hundred Year Plan"

(Vienna) This past Wednesday, October 15, 2014, Walter Cardinal Kasper briefly interrupted the more or less obvious destruction within the context of the Synod of Bishops, to lecture at the "dies facultatis" the Catholic Theological Faculty of the University of Vienna  on "The keeping of the ecclesiological and ecumenical vision of Pope Francis ".
Although the full text of the lecture is not available, there is a  a detailed article published by the Katholiche Austria Press Agency. It has Kasper  quoted as saying: "The spirit of the Council is blowing  in the Synod." The recent and increasingly bitter remarks about Cardinals Müller and Burke who are  opposed, said Kasper, is contrasted instead by the work of the synod,  where a climate of "confidence, joy and freedom" is found, which has been  shown also in the interim report from last Monday. Kasper tried to play off the history of the Church for Pope Francis, speaking of a pessimistic mood, that is accusing  the new Pope of initiating a rupture. In his presentation, the German cardinal described the Holy Father as "God's gift to the Church and this time."
The "Catholic News Agency Austria" writes in its article: "The reform program, which Pope Francis Church had decreed was a '100 year program', said Kasper, since it  concerns all dimensions of being church in the attitude of every Christian. Thus, the current choices of rich, according to Kasper, are also far beyond the pontificate of Francis; the success of the Pope [...] therefore depends on whether we will be able to bring the awakening spirit to life in future pontificates."  Whether  a Catholic can reform his "fundamental beliefs", of course, is highly questionable. The Catholic does not change his fundamentals because the church does not change her basic fundamentals. The Church does not change  Her fundamentals, because God does not change. Incidentally, the overbearing Kasperian concept of "100 year program" seems hardly compatible with the Pope's "humble church." 

Cardinal Kasper in Vienna
Nevertheless  Cardinal Kasper has bandaged the pontificate of Pope Francis with the mood of a "new springtime", so that among the participants in the Synod of Bishops, which comes to an end in a few days,  observed the much-touted "Francis" effect. With Francis, a "paradigm shift" has been completed. Accordingly, we could not squeeze him into the "familiar progressive-conservative schema" or determine to assign a "theological school of thought" to him.The "Catholic News Agency Austria" writes: "Rather, it combined elements of tradition in his understanding of the Church  with elements 'a ecclesia semper reformanda '- a church that is pushing for change. Francis thus consciously imagines the tradition of the conciliar Popes John XXIII. and Paul VI., who always wanted to re-interpret it in the light of the signs of the times' the unchanging gospel." Pope Francis was a "practical man and of encounter ", referring to the "primacy of reality consists before the idea ".
The German Cardinal even puts the Pope in connection with the widespread Latin American liberation theology.  So this was  taken up in the liberationist three steps "see, judge, act". At the same time one should not connect Francis with the kind of liberation theology that has been condemned by the Church. Instead, the "Catholic News Agency Austria" says, "the liberation theology of Jorge Mario Bergoglio builds on a special Argentine variant of a theology of the people and culture. These have strong European theological and philosophical roots and a high level of sensitivity to local pieties and regional social situations. Instead of the idea of ​​class struggle, the liberation theology of the Pope was influenced by the idea of ​​reconciliation."
Against this background the other statements made by Cardinal Walter Kasper may be able to be understood by what Francis had in mind with a "participation of the people of God, every individual in the Church." The Church must be therefore primarily, be a church "with an ear to the people." One should not play out the relationship between church doctrine and gospel against each other, says Kasper. This immediately raises the question, why is the Cardinal doing exactly that as regards the indispensable since at least February 2014. Finally, doctrine and gospel is on a line, it's straight and very clear when it comes to adultery. According to Kasper, it constitutes the "joy of the Gospel" the foundation of any "proper understanding of the doctrine." With his evangelical program "Francis seizes  the original message of the Church and its mission from the past" - whatever Kasper means by this statement.
Text: Benedict M. Buerger
image: katholisch.at (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches....

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

"Love is Love" -- Cardinal Schönborn's Inclination to Aberrosexuals and a Perverse Logic

(Rome) Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn of Vienna agreed in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera to praise  homosexual relationships. As to the matter  of the Bishops' Synod on the Family the President of the Austrian Bishops' Conference gave an interview.
In a seemingly already quite unrealistic addendum, he relates, is his appreciation already under the context of the article.  If homosexuals interpret their relationship in sustainability, then, says the Vienna cardinal, homosexual relations are "exemplarily human". The Holy Scriptures, which the Cardinal concealed as far as possible,  speaks of a "abomination in the sight of God," on the other hand.

68er Slogans with 50 Years Delay in the Church

He himself, the Cardinal,  knows a Gay couple in Vienna (!) who live in a registered partnership. As one of the two gay men became ill, the other has "not left his side." Schönborn's exact words were: "It was wonderful, human and Christian, as the one  took care of the other."
This "exemplarily human behavior must be recognized" the cardinal took issue against those who make objections in principle to homosexuality and those who flatter them. A condemnation of homosexuals was not possible, said the Cardinal. And so, what Schönborn did not say, there is no condemnation of homosexuality. "Love is Love" was one of the dumb 68er sayings that seem to have arrived in the Church after an  almost 50 year delay.

Bishops and Priests Should Bow Before Aberrosexual "exemplary human behavior" 

Schoenborn also provided a selective presentation of the Scriptures, in which the Cardinal pitted Jesus against himself and his teaching position. If bishops and priests are not able  to bless them, then they should at least bow before the "exemplary human behavior of homosexual," said the ÖBK-President. "These things must be acknowledged," he added, turning to a condemnation of homosexuals. Jesus told the people, even the tax collectors and prostitutes would enter heaven, a message that should not be forgotten especially by bishops and priests.

"All is love": In Addition to Homosex Polygamy, Pedophilia and incest?

The statements of Cardinal Schönborn was published in the Tuesday edition of the Corriere della Sera. In it, he accepts the thesis of an alleged "gradation" of relations, according to which there are no bad or sinful relationships any more, but only more or less perfect forms ("long form"). This applies to open marriages, premarital relationships, gay relationships, polygamous relationships. Only implicitly, it seems are pedophilic or incestuous relationships are not excluded, neither from the interim report of the Synod or by Cardinal Schönborn.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Archdiocese of Vienna
Trans: Tancred vekron99@nhotamil.co
AMGD





Monday, October 6, 2014

Pope Francis: "Wind of Pentecost" May Blow Over the Bishops, So They "Hear the People's Cry"

Opening of the Bishops' Synod of 2014 by
Pope Francis in St. Peter's in Rome
(Vatican) With two speeches Pope Francis was at the prayer vigil on the eve of and during the sermon at the opening of the Synod of Bishops of the 191 Synod Fathers has shown the way. This leads to two questions: What did the Pope say? And most importantly: What exactly did the Pope mean? What does he mean specifically in connection with the Synod of Bishops and their questions when he equates the "shepherd" with the "winemakers" from the parable of Jesus, God's "dream" of "confounding" his people  and  placing "intolerable burdens on the shoulders" of the people? And what if he says that the "cry of the people" sounds, and the shepherds acquire the "smell" of the people and explore his will and can finally touch the "wind of Pentecost" in  order to be "creative" (... ) to discover "new and unprecedented opportunities"?
 Pope Francis, opened this morning's  Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family with a Pontifical Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, For two weeks, 191 Synod Fathers and 60 consultants and observers will discuss on family and marriage. It is based on a working paper which was drawn up by the Permanent Secretariat of the Synod under the presidency of Cardinal Secretary Lorenzo Baldisseri, a close confidant of the Pope. There will be a press release daily to inform over the course of the Synod of Bishops.

Pontifical Mass in St. Peter's Basilica - The "Dream of God"

In his homily , the Pope spoke of the vineyard as a "dream of God". This "dream" was "his people: he hath planted it and he maintains it with patience and true love for it to be a holy people, a nation bringing forth much good fruit of righteousness." However, "both in the old prophecy as also in Jesus' parable   God's dream is confounded. "
Jesus turn with his likeness "of the ruling class": "That is the job of the leaders of the people: to cultivate the vineyard with freedom, creativity and diligence." With the "elite" says the Pope, the shepherds are compared these with the winemakers who the vineyard "usurped; in their greed and their arrogance they mean to do with him what they want, and they take the opportunity for God   to realize his dream for the people he has chosen for himself. "
The Pope goes even further in his charge to the shepherds: "For they bind heavy and insupportable burdens, and lay them on men's shoulders; but with a finger of their own they will not move them. (cf. Mt 23.4.). "
The Synod of Bishops was there to "cultivate the vineyard of the Lord better and to beware of his dream to work his plan of love for his people. In this case, the Lord requires us to take care of the family which was an essential part of his plan of love for humanity from the beginning. "

"Elite" - "Greedy Winemakers" - "Shepherds"

Then the Pope said addressed to the synod fathers: "We are all sinners, and for us there can be the temptation of greed that is always present in us humans, to take the vineyard for ourselves'. The dream of God always collides with the hypocrisy of some of his servants. We can frustrate the dream of God, 'if we do not let ourselves be guided by the Holy Spirit."  But what does he mean when Pope Francis says,  "guided Holy Spirit?"  "The Spirit gives us the wisdom that goes beyond pure knowledge to work generously in true freedom and humble creativity."
"Brothers, to cultivate the vineyard and it is well to beware, it is necessary that our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus are kept by the peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding (Philippians 4.7). So our thinking and planning is consistent with the dream of God: to  form a holy   people that has heard him, and brings the fruits of the kingdom of God" (cf. Mt 21,43.).
Prayer Vigil at St. Peter's Square for the Synod of Bishops on the Family
Prayer Vigil at St. Peter's Square for the Synod of Bishops on the Family
The Pope actuated  no substantive comment on the hotly debated issues in the run-up to the Synod of Bishops, especially the approval remarried divorcees to Communion or the recognition of a second marriage by the Church.
Yesterday, Saturday, Pope Francis took  part  at a prayer vigil in part on St. Peter's Square for a "good send off" of the Synod of Bishops. The  Italian Episcopal Conference had been invited. More than 80,000 people had come, especially families.  Catholic doctrine shone in the testimonies. Among them was a coupled married in the Church   who had divorced civilly, but got together again after six years.
In his speech , the Pope said: "Already the convenire in unum to the Bishop of Rome is an event of grace, in the manifested episcopal collegiality on a path of spiritual and pastoral judgment. "

Perceive the "Smell" of the People of Today - to Give Ear to the Pulse of the Time

And he appealed to the Synod Fathers: "To explore what the Lord wishes for His  church today, we must give an ear to the pulse of the time and perceive the "smell" of people today, until we have penetrated   their joys, hopes, sorrows and concerns  (cf.. Gaudium et Spes, no. 1). Then we will be able to make the good news about the family with credibility."
He continued, "by the Holy Spirit, we ask for the Synod Fathers, especially the gift of hearing". The bishops gathered in Rome  should "listen to God, to hear the cry of the people with him"; "Listen to the people, until they breathe the will to which God calls us."

"Return to the Origins of Christian Experience Opens  New, Unexpected Possibilities"

At the same time for "listening", the Pope called for "willingness to honest, open and fraternal" dialogue, "which leads us to accept with pastoral responsibility implied, the questions that this period brings. Let it true that they pour into our hearts, without ever losing the peace, but with the serene confidence that the Lord in due time will not fail  due to lead to unity. The history of the Church tells us, as we know, not perhaps of many similar situations, where we learned to overcome our fathers with persistent patience and creativity?"
The "secret" lies in a "view", said the Pope, so that was "third gift" to which it applies ask, "if we really want to check our steps on the floor of today's challenges," let our "glance be directed to Jesus Christ." "If we think his way of us to live and work with people, make it our own, we will not have difficulties to cast the work of the Synod  informatively and find ways for the pastoral care of the person and the family. Because every time we return to the origin of the Christian experience, we open to new and unexpected ways. "

"Wind of Pentecost, May Give Us Creative Love"

These three things, the hearing, the synodal discussion about the family,  the same loved with the look of Christ, "will be an opportunity for Providence, with which we will renew the Church and society after the example of Saint Francis. With the joy of the gospel we shall find fall in the step of a reconciled and merciful Church, poor and a friend of the poor. A church that is capable of "defeating through patience and love, the equally inner and outer afflictions and troubles," (Lumen gentium, n. 8).
"May the wind of Pentecost blow across the Synod work, the Church, over the whole of humanity. Let him untie the knots that prevent people from meeting each other. May he heal the bleeding wounds and rekindle hope. There are so many people without hope! May he give us that creative love, which makes it possible to love as Jesus loved. And our preaching will regain the vitality and dynamism of the first missionaries of the Gospel. "
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Giornalettismo / Avvenire
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Cardinal Ravasi's "Cunning", Allows For No Revelation About the Synod

(Vatican) Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi has introduced the event "Court of Gentiles", which begins in Bologna on 26 SeptemberOn this occasion, the President of the Pontifical Council of Culture asked what he makes of the question of the admission of remarried divorcees. Cardinal Ravasi does not come from the Diplomatic Corps of the Vatican, but he is known for his "diplomatic" skills that  it appears in this particular case it is not possible yet to say anything in its infancy. But what exactly?
The "Court of the Gentiles" has been developed by Cardinal Ravasi initiative, the implementation was begun under Pope Benedict XVI. It's about dialogue days in various cities around the world that promote the encounter between Catholics and atheists and to introduce the latter to the Church.
Pope Benedict XVI. however admonished it two months before his resignation, saying that the initiative could not be self-perpetuating in its own right.  Benedict XVI. could have described  the "Court of Justice"  with more genteel words, had it stopped at several cities, where the initiative offered the same old participants anointing themselves pretty fruitlessly on stage with incense. There can be no staged encounter without any real effort to openness to the faith of the Church, otherwise the initiative was fruitless, as the then head of the Church (see separate report Benedict XVI Brings the "Court of Gentiles" Back on Track. no Dialogue as an End in Itself, but Evangelization ).

Ravasis (comfortable) Retreat to a Role Super Partes

On the question of divorced and remarried, Cardinal Ravasi said that it was better not to give an explanation, because he had received a standing position on the task. Ravasi is automatically the President of a Roman Synod Congregation. Pope Francis has also entrusted him with the management of the "Commission for the Message," the Synod of Bishops on the Family.  Ravasis deputy in this function is Pope Francis' protegé, the Titular Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, rector of the Pontifical University of Buenos Aires.
At the same time, the cardinal said that a "certain problem" had already been recognized with regard to the indissolubility of marriage in the early Church on the theological level, but was met with "practical difficulties". "Now is not the time to make a statement, especially because the synodal event has not started yet and I am the chairman of the Commission for the Message, a tricky thing, because it might be the only official document of the upcoming Synod.  If we present the message, I will try to explain how we worked," said the Cardinal.

The Remarried Divorcees and the Porneia Question

"I would only add that one can already see in the Gospel of Matthew, yet exegetes, however, do not agree on the exact content  that it was a problem in the early Church, though they have the absolute certainty that the indissolubility would be a message of Jesus." Specifically, the Cardinal describes the exegetes' debate falls on the interpretation of the word "porneia".
"Regardless of what this 'porneia' means, it shows that the Church had a problem and that what happens at the Synod on the Family, is not a thing of chasing for the pleasure of the time, but was a priority that was raised by a broad group of believers, yet it was already a problem in the early Church."
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Catholic Herald (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Who Are the Participants in the Bishops' Synod on Family?

(Vatican) 253 participants, are going to the III. Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of BishopsAmong them, 14 couples will be present as experts or as auditors. The published list of the participants was announced by the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops on Tuesday. From the 5th-19th October, they will speak at the Vatican on the theme "The pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization".
Previously there were only two extraordinary meetings in the years 1969 and 1985, which dealt with the relationship between Episcopal Conferences and collegiality of the bishops and with the implementation of the Second Vatican Council.
Of the 253 participants in 2014 191 will be actual Synod Fathers. Of these 162 will take  part from their own offices: including 25 Leaders of Dicasteries of the Roman Curia, 114 Presidents of the Bishops from around the world (36 from Africa, 32 from Europe, 24 from America, 18 from Asia and four from Oceania) and thirteen representatives to Rome of Uniate Eastern Churches, including representatives of the persecuted Christians of the Middle East and the Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad, Raphael Louis I. Sako, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk as well as the majority of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Add to this the Secretary-General, the Under Secretary and the members of the Permanent Council of the Synod of Bishops, like Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan of New York, Archbishop Donald Cardinal Wuerl of Washington, Archbishop Luis Cardinal Tagle of Manila, Archbishop Odilo Cardinal Scherer of Sao Paulo and Archbishop Wilfrid Cardinal Napier of Durban, where they are not already participating in other functions like Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, who is also chairman of the Austrian Bishops' Conference.
Three other synod fathers are posted by the Federation of Superiors General of the Catholic religious orders. It is the Superior General of the Jesuits, the Capuchins and the Josephites of St.. Leonardo Murialdo.

The Synod Personally Appointed by Pope Francis

26 Synod members are directly appointed by the Pope. Among them is Cardinal Walter Kasper (Germany); Cardinal Godfried Danneels (Belgium); Cardinal Angelo Sodano (Dean of the College of Cardinals); Father Antonio Spadaro SJ, the editor of the Roman Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica ; Titular Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernandez, the special supporter of Pope Francis Rector of the Pontifical University of Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Cardinal Fernando Sebastian Aguilar, a personal friend of the Pope, who a few months ago was ruled against by the Spanish prosecutor's office because of "homophobia". Also included will be Archbishop Cardinal Carlo Caffarra of Bologna and Archbishop Angelo Cardinal Scola of Milan.
The synod fathers are still 62 other participants who are divided into three groups. They include 16 experts who are invited to work with the Special Secretary Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto (Italy), including the couple Francesco Miano (Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Tor Vergata in Rome and former President of Italian Catholic Action) and Giuseppina Miano-De Simone (Professor of Philosophy at the Faculty of Theology of Naples).

Fourteen couples as experts and auditors

The second group consists of 38 auditors who have speaking rights but not voting rights, including thirteen couples. A couple comes out of Iraq as a "witness of Christian family life in an Islamic environment". The other couples are from Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Philippines, South Africa, Chile, Rwanda, Lebanon, Italy, Australia, France and two married couples from the USA.
The third group consists of eight "fraternal delegates" of other Christian Churches as observers: Bishop Hilarion, the "foreign minister" of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church; Metropolitan Athenagoras as a representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople; Ndanganeni Peter Phaswaha, as representative of the Lutheran World Federation; Benebo Fubara-Manuel as a representative of the World Communion of Reformed Churches; Valerie Duval-Poujol as representative of the Baptist World Alliance, Paul Butler, representing the Anglican world community as well as representatives of the Syrian Orthodox and the Coptic Orthodox Church.
From the German-speaking area   come following Synod: Archbishop Reinhard Marx, Cardinal  of Munich and Freising as President of the German Bishops' Conference; Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn of Vienna as President of the Austrian Bishops' Conference; Bishop Markus Büchel of Sankt Gallen as President of the Swiss Bishops' Conference; Cardinal Gerhard Müller as Prefect of the Congregation for Doctrine and the Faith; Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity; Cardinal Walter Kasper (personally appointed by the Pope) and Ute Eberl as auditor.
Little good can be expected from Ute Eberl   as representative of the  Pastoral Marriage and Family.  Vatican Radio interviewed her about the appointment, as she said today:
I expect that  because of the questionnaire, which has shown significant results in Germany, we will provide some answers as a church and world church. People of faith have said: this is how we live. And that does not fit with what the Church tells us. Now the Church is about to give answers. My big expectation is that we are going to get there together on the way to look at how we can  serve the people who live in marriage and family, I stress that: can be served - with all its challenges in happy and very unhappy days that are there too. 
It is very different world wide when the Instrumentum Laboris is read through. For the German Church, I think, the really the big question is how do we deal with the issue of divorce and remarriage; and how will we deal with it if same-sex couples want a blessing of the Church. The big question is, how can we, the people today- and I live in Berlin in a city where the Catholic Church has always been a minority -  how can we proclaim the good news in this situation. 
I think the extraordinary Synod is really there for the questions that need to be on the list which we can find out together. It will  probably be decided only a year later. But it is a pastoral synod. It is to highlight ways.  And because I think  the exchange with one another is very important. "

Reorganization of the Synod?

In two weeks, the synod, the experts and auditors will discuss the Instrumentum laboris  the working paper, which was distributed by the General Secretariat in June. The aim of the Synod was there, says Secretary Lorenzo Cardinal Baldisseri, "in order to show today's world  the beauty and the value of the family, resulting from the proclamation of Jesus Christ, who takes away  anxiety and gives hope"
The Synod's efforts are also held as a new way to promote a "dynamic participation" of the Synod Fathers. We will take steps says Cardinal Baldisseri, "to adopt rules or lay hands on a real reorganization of the Synod organism". The cardinal didn't name details.
There are no final documents  provided, as it is only to "the first stage" of the Synod of Bishops, with the 14th Ordinary Session of the 4th-25th October 2015 under the theme  "Jesus Christ reveals the mystery and appeal of the family"  which will conclude  its second stage.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Asianews
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Sunday, June 8, 2014

In Japan As on the Banks of the Rhine. The Church's Surrender

The responses of the Japanese and central Europeans to the questionnaire for the synod on the family register the yielding of Catholics to the dominant “uniform thought.” But also the pastors' inability to lead

by Sandro Magister

ROME, June 6, 2014 – So far six episcopal conferences have violated the terms of confidentiality and have made public the responses to the 39 questions of the preparatory questionnaire for the upcoming synod of bishops, convened on the issue of the family. 

German:


Austrian:


Swiss:


Belgian:


French:


Japanese:


As can be noted, five of the six episcopal conferences belong to the central European geographical area that was the activist wing of the innovations of Vatican Council II but afterward was also the one most marked by the phenomenon of secularization.


Today it is above all from this area that the strongest pressure is coming for a change of teaching and pastoral practice concerning marriage, in particular with the request to give communion to the divorced and remarried.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Weak Reaction to UN Attack Against Church -- Bishops' Synod to Attack "Humanae Vitae"?

Pope Francis and Secretary
 of State Parolin
(Vatican) While looking at the official reactions, then one would have come to the conclusion that the Holy See considers the frontal attack by the United Nations as an industrial accident, to which it doesn't  pay too much attention. In reality, the whole order of creation is at stake. All the more incomprehensible is the inadequate response of the neo-Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin to the attack. Another little positive signal for the Synod of Bishops on the topic of family, which some in the Church obviously want to repurpose as a late revenge for the encyclical Humanae Vitae. 

Appeal to Pope Francis: "Give Clear Response" to anti-Church Attack

The speech is from the report of the UN Children's Rights Committee 5th of last February. If it were actually "just" an industrial accident, you could sit back, as it seems  all do  at the Vatican. But this is not so, why not at least someone isn't sitting back. On Tuesday, Giuliano Ferrara was in the columns of the daily newspaper Il Foglio with an open letter, a Plea to Pope Francis, from whom he calls for "a stronger, clearer answer" ... "which combines the power of faith with the resources of rational culture, which is common to all, believers and non-believers." If you look at the names of those intellectuals who have signed the appeal, it quickly becomes clear that the concern of Ferrara is shared not only by many Catholics but also many secularists.[!]

"Inadequate Response" of the Holy See

Among the signatories of the new appeal to Pope Francis is also the chief editor of the Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, Riaccardo Cascioli: "I too have signed up, because I consider the official response of the Holy See as deficient: deficient in its content and worrying in its form."
Consider the first point of criticism: the substance is deficient. Even the Wall Street Journal noted that the attack against the freedom of religion by an agency of the United Nations is unprecedented, but the new Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin (whose official Cardinal survey will follow  on 22 February) seems to want to play down the matter. If you read the report of the UN Children's Rights Committee , you quickly realize that the keyword pedophilia, which is also presented with fantasy figures and notes of out-dated facts, only a pretext to attack the Church on a very different, much larger field (see own report, the UN Children's Committee: How the Church Should  "Change" -- Abortion, Gay Marriage, Gender Ideology ).
The committee is expecting the Catholic Church even to change their "interpretation" of Scripture and their own teaching on family, abortion, contraception and homosexuality, even their understanding of man.  A presumption of an international panel without equal.  An incident which can not be simply dismissed as inconsequential individual case of a somewhat extremist Commission, which  one graciously overlooks  and acts as if nothing had happened.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

News Reports -- The Pope Addresses the Bishops' Synod

Vatican.  Yesterday morning Pope Benedict XVI spoke in an extemporaneous speech before the Bishops' Synod. He informed them about two changes in the Curia.  Responsibility for the seminaries went from the Congregation of Education to the Congregation for Clergy.  The responsibility for Catechesis is to be undertaken by the newly created -- and till now unemployed -- Papal Counsel for the New Evangelization.  Finally the Pope justified the six new Cardinal which will take place in the Consistorium at the end of November.  It should complete the Consitorium of last February and show the universality of the Church.

A Good Shepherd Goes Home

Germany.  The chaplain in the seminary of the traditional Society of St. Peter in Wigratzbad, Father Pierre Gaudray (91) is dying.  The clergyman has been a priest for 64 years.  He always remained true to the Rite of his ordination.

Adultery as the Means for the New Evangelization?

Vatican.  On Friday the Bishops' Synod was presented a concluding document in the Vatican "Message to the People of God" with 58 proposals.  Therefore the Pope is going to deliver an unnecessary post-synodal document.  In the message the career Bishops -- even though the Synod had already discussed the New Evangelization -- also talk about adultery and fornication.  They tendentiously downplay bigamy  as "forms of family and cohabitation, which does not mirror every picture of unity and love of life which the Lord has given us."  It gives "pairs, who live without the bond of marriage."  It gives an increasing number of "disordered facial situations, which are built on the  failure of a previous marriage."

Right-wing Extremists Throw Molotov Cocktails at Home

Occupied Palestine. Recently, Right-wing extremist, Jewish settlers -- near an illegal Jewish settlment to the east of Ramallah -- attacked a house with several molotov cocktails.  This caused the burning of several homes.  The defense responded.

Old Liberal Word Games

"The progressives plead a hermeneutic of discontinuity and of break.  The Traditionalists plead a hermeneutic of pure continuity:  only that which is to be found in Tradition can be Catholic teaching, for which reason there can't be an actual renewal.  Both see the Council at the same time as a break, if only in another point of view.  This understanding is the Conciliar Hermeneutic of Break which the Holy Father has called into question and the stated 'Hermeneutic of Reform', the continuity and the renewal are bound up together."

The Old Liberal Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifial Council for Christian United, in an interview with the Roman news agency 'zenit.org'.

Link to kreuz.net....

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

News Clips -- Planned Attack on Marriage at Bishops' Synod

Conspirators Handled as Advertised -- Objection to Illegal Criminal Penalty ---- Settlers Storm an Abandoned Outpost -- Bad Comparison -- The Crimes of Syrian Terrorists

Plotters Handled as Advertised

Vatican.  The conspirer Bishop Felix Gmur of Basel stood in -- as it had been long planned before -- on behalf of adultery at the Bishops' Synod.  Msgr Gmur the specially drilled journalists, how the Church addresses people, who "live in other family forms".  He prated on of two divorced bigamists, who have lived for fifty years in adultery.  Bishop Gmur would like to know if fifty years of fornication "can't be really valid in our eyes".  The Church should recognize adultery -- demanded Msgr. Gmur.

Objection to Illegal Criminal Penalty

Germany.  The British SSPX Bishop Richard Williamson has lodged a claim against the new German penalty.  The penalty was conformed to a non-existing sin, according to international legal standards, of "inciting hatred".  Another hearing will take place next year.

Settlers Storm an Empty Outpost

Occupied Palestine.  Dozens of Jewish settlers recently attack -- under the protection of heavily armed occupation soldiers -- in the abandoned outpost of the settlement Tarsala south of the 40,000 population city of Jenin in the northerly West Bank.  Witnesses reported that fourteen vehicles with bands of settlers stormed the place.  After that security patrols were led into the streets between Jenin and Nablus.  The inhabitants were threatened and insulted.

Poor Comparison

Germany.  The New Evangelization must be begun by individuals.  The Neoconservative Cardinal Joachim Meisner said this for the to the press official of the Diocese of Basel.  As Christianity received its freedom under the Emperor Constantine in 313, it didn't give Christian families and Christian schools:  "Then one began at point null and we appear to be again at that point."  Only:  Then, Catholics were highly motivated and anchored firmly in the faith.

Crimes of the Syrian Terrorists

"The refugees from the terrorist infested part of Aleppo report of abortion, kidnapping, abuse and burned from their homes and their cars stolen.  'My son was shot by a sniper of the [so-called] Free Syrian Army', shouted a father infuriated in an abandon school functioning as a refugee camp.  The boy has a cast on his foot and metal rods in his bones after an operation.

From an article on the online-edution of 'Springer' daily news 'Welt' about the foreign terrorists inciting a Syrian civil war on the 25th September.