Hour of the Laity?, Rapping Away, & Rock N Roll In Sistine Chapel
The Novus Ordo latest vomit. Can anyone doubt the chastisements are right around the corner?
Francis blasts clericalism, says clock has stopped on ‘hour of laity’
He also accused the Catholic hierarchy on his home continent of generating a “laical elite,” formed by those who work in the “things of the Church,” instead of helping ordinary baptized people live their faith in everyday situations.
“I remember the famous expression: ‘It is the hour of the laity,’ but it seems that the clock has stopped,” he said. “Watching the People of God is to remember that we all entered the Church as laity.”
“It’s never the shepherd who tells the laity what they have to do or say [in public life], they know it as well or even better than us,” Francis wrote in a message to Canadian Cardinal Marc Oullet, who heads the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops and is also President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
“Our role, our joy, the joy of the shepherd is precisely in helping and stimulating, as many did before us, so that it’s the mothers, the grandmothers, the fathers who become the true protagonists of history,” Francis wrote.
Helping the laity to become the real protagonists, he said, is not a “a concession of our good will,” because it’s their “right.”
The pope’s letter was a follow-up to a plenary assembly of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, which took place earlier in the year under the theme, “The indispensable role of the lay faithful in the public life of Latin American countries.”
Francis, history’s first pope from the global south, wrote that it’s not possible to talk about the laity while ignoring “one of the strongest problems that Latin America has to face – and I ask you to pay special attention to this – clericalism.”
Clericalism, the pope continued, “nullifies the personality of Christians” and it also “leads to the functionalization of the laity, treating them as ‘errand boys [or girls]’.”
Catholicism in Latin America, as Francis noted in his letter, is wildly diverse, but one of its main features is popular expressions of faith, including both popular Marian shrines in Mexico, Brazil, and even in the pope’s own Argentina, as well as the “base communities” that were the backbone of liberation theology.
Francis commended this popular level of faith, describing it as a “very interesting phenomenon” and one of the few places where the faithful were “sovereign of the influence of clericalism.”
“It reflects a thirst for God that only the simple and poor can know,” Francis wrote.
But the Church in this region, the pope suggested, is also marked by a strong form of clericalism, which some observers define as the inevitable result of Catholicism having been effectively a state-imposed monopoly until quite recently.
Latin America still holds 40 percent of the total Catholic population, and in some countries, such as Paraguay, 90 percent of the total population defines themselves as Catholic.
However, in recent years the Church in Latin America has sustained massive losses due to the twin onslaughts of secularism and Pentecostalism, tied with a strong clericalism where clergy see themselves as political power brokers. The Church projects an image of power and privilege, and the role of the laity is seen in a passive “pray and obey” manner.
The pope warned the hierarchy against the temptation of believing that a “committed lay person” is she or he who does the work of the Church or things for the parish or the diocese.
“Without realizing it, we’ve generated a ‘laical elite,’ believing that commitment is working on priestly things and have forgotten, neglected the believers often burning their hope in the daily struggle of living the faith,” he said.
The Church, Francis wrote, must recognize the lay person “for their own reality, for their own identity, for being immersed in the heart of social, public and political life.”
In his letter to Oullet, Francis also called the local hierarchy to look at the “People of God” to avoid certain “slogans” that fail to sustain the life of the Catholic communities.
According to Argentine Theologian Father Juan Carlos Scannone, Francis instinctively rejects any distinction between social activism on behalf of the poor and the Church’s traditional doctrine or liturgy, since the poor are generally the most strongly devoted to both Church teaching and pious devotions.
If you care for the poor, in other words, you also have to care about their faith, and he said as much in the letter the Vatican made public Tuesday.
“An evangelized popular culture contains values of faith and solidarity capable of encouraging the development of a more just and believing society, and possesses a particular wisdom which ought to be gratefully acknowledged,” the pope wrote.
Complaining that many cities on the continent have become “real places of survival,” with people “seeking the Lord and trying to give testimony,” Francis said pastors are called to work particularly for and with the poor, looking for ways to promote efforts already being made to “keep hope and faith alive.”
The pope also called the Church to recognize that the pace of everyday life is much faster than 30 years ago, which requires “imaginative spaces for prayer and communion,” particularly in the cities, “according to places, times, and people” and not in a “uniform” way.
Chilean Prelates attend B'nai B'rith ritual
Judas prelates hanging with the enemy
Above in the foreground second from the left, you see Card. Ezzati embracing Jews and singing their religious hymns. First row below, an euphoric Ezzati is welcomed by the B'nai B'rith director.
Second row, Archbishop Ivo Scampolo is seated at the center of the first table; third row, wearing a Jewish yarmulke, Scampolo gives a greeting to the audience. Fourth row, Ezzati, also donning a Jewish cap, reads his speech. Last row, he is lectured by the Jewish director.
In his address, Scampolo affirmed that the Jewish Pesach was a model to show us that God wants to liberate us from "our material poverty" and ended with an appeal to those present "to renew our commitment with this liberation." Card. Ezzati, in his turn, stressed the interreligious character of the celebration and declared that his faith seeks its roots in the people of Israel.
Both Prelates are meticulously following Vatican II guidelines, which have been reinforced with despotic authority by Francis.
News report and photos from the Archidiocese of Santiago, here.
Those ‘prominent’ Catholics pushing abortion in Poland are anything but....
Natalia Dueholm
April 21, 2016 ( LifeSiteNews.com/opinion/those-prominent-catholics-pushing-abortion-in-poland-are-anything-but ) – The National un-Catholic Reporter, a dissident American Catholic newspaper, would like its readers to think that, in an open letter, “Prominent theologians ask Polish bishops to reconsider support for proposed abortion ban.” But is it true?
It depends on how you understand “prominent.” It also depends what you mean by “theologians.”
“Nearly one hundred prominent Catholic theologians, historians and lay people from Europe and the U.S. have written to Poland’s bishops to express concerns about the prelates’ advocacy in favor of a new law that would make abortion illegal in their country under almost all circumstances,” the National un-Catholic Reporter wrote. The letter refers to the bishops’ support for the abortion ban, a bill initiated by Polish pro-life citizens.
The newspaper does not publish the list of signatories, but it is to be found in the pro-abortion press in Poland. Polish left-wing weekly Polityka published the entire list of 90 signatories as did the daily Gazeta Wyborcza. In Poland, this letter was modestly promoted April 19 under the title “Open Letter of Concerned Catholics”, but also was passed off as a letter by theologians. It did not receive much attention.
This Polish title seems more fitting than National un-Catholic Reporter’s “Prominent theologians.” Indeed, the number of people who could be considered theologians signing the letter is insignificant. There are only about twenty people who are somehow related to theology. The overwhelming majority of them are not. Among the signatories, who come from all over the world, there is Tomasz Kamil Gbur, who identified himself as a technical consultant in the field of quality control, from Berlin, Germany. The letter was also signed by Katarzyna Martynuska, an icon painter and musician from Warsaw, Poland. Signatories include an administrative employee, an economist, a student, a librarian, an art historian, a conductor, a business instructor, teachers, translators, and two self-identified retirees from Great Britain. One person’s only credentials were that she has “Polish parents.”
Six Polish journalists signed the letter, a stark contrast to the 108 Polish journalists who recently signed an open letter in support of the abortion ban. One of the pro-abortion signatories represents Magazyn Świąteczny, a magazine of Gazeta Wyborcza, which is responsible for orchestrating the attacks against the proposed abortion ban. Another is from the monthly Znak that is known in Poland for publishing very controversial articles on homosexuality, or so-called queer theology. The list of people with no mentioned credentials at all is very long. They live in the United Kingdom, Argentina, the United States, Germany, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Australia, Columbia, and Holland. It is a letter signed by 90 people from all over the world, among 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide.
Notably, among the signatories there are some controversial figures. For instance, Lesley-Anne Knight was once head of Caritas Internationalis, the Vatican’s charitable arm, but lost her job under Pope Benedict over concerns about the organization’s Catholic identity under her leadership. Knight now leads the pro-abortion organization “The Elders,” which advocates population control. And she does not appear to be a theologian.
Among “noted global theologians,” the National un-Catholic Reporter mentions feminist Tina Beattie, from Britain’s University of Roehampton. The newspaper admiringly describes Beattie as “no stranger to wrangles with local bishops and the Vatican’s doctrinal watchdog.” In 2014, she was uninvited from a lecture in Scotland by Archbishop Leo Cushley of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, who acted on instructions from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Another feminist signatory is Ursula King, from the University of Bristol, a “scholar on spirituality, interfaith dialogue, women and religion” who once taught Feminist Theology at the University of Oslo.
And there are also some feminists from American universities: Jean Porter, from the University of Notre Dame, and Susan Ross, from Loyola University Chicago, and Barbara Hilkert Andolsen, from Fordham University.
It seems like these English-speaking signatories misunderstood the new proposed law in Poland. The bill specifically states that the doctor who causes an unborn child’s death trying to save women’s life will not be punished. The focus of the proposed law is not punishing women who do have abortions; in fact, it leaves that to the discretion of judges. Instead, it increases punishment for abortionists and people who harm pregnant women and force them to abort by ruse or threat.
It also seems like the signatories misunderstood the current abortion law in Poland. According to Polish law there are no legal limits as to the time when abortion can be performed when the woman’s life or health is endangered. Abortion is also legal when a doctor believes the baby has a severe and irreversible handicap or an incurable and life- threatening disease. Most legal abortions in Poland are performed because of this. In such situations the procedure is legal until the baby is viable, so until more or less the sixth month of gestation. When the pregnancy is a result of a criminal act, abortion is permitted until the 12th week.
The truth thus contradicts the National un-Catholic Reporter quote that Poland permits abortion “only in the first twelve weeks of pregnancy,” perhaps repeated after the Washington Post made the same error earlier in the week.
What both publications call “one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe” allows for killing of unborn babies with Down syndrome who survive the abortion procedure. Two months ago one such baby was left to die after a botched abortion and screamed for an hour before dying.
Another child two years ago received some help after a botched abortion, but died later. This time no feminist theologians from foreign countries wrote a letter discussing “profound moral dilemmas” concerning abortion.
The signatories directly advocate for abortion and birth control, statements against the teachings of the Church, and promote the discredited belief that birth control lowers abortion rates. Their letter states, “In situations where abortion is deemed necessary — such as those currently permitted under Polish law — we believe that access to early, safe and legal abortion is essential.”
ROME Returning Soon to Ancient Paganism
Francis Makes Surprise Visit to Rome Park to Mark Earth Day
ROME — Pope Francis has made a surprise visit to one of Rome's main parks to participate in an Earth Day event.
Francis, who wrote an encyclical decrying the exploitation of the Earth's environment and resources often at the expense of the poor, went to Villa Borghese, a park filled with Sunday strollers.
He sat on an outdoor stage along with an Italian priest who has courageously denounced Naples-area mobsters for systemically dumping toxic waste on local farmland in a lucrative, illicit operation often serving legitimate businesses.
The pope told the audience that money has become a god "at the center of the world."
Francis, who wrote an encyclical decrying the exploitation of the Earth's environment and resources often at the expense of the poor, went to Villa Borghese, a park filled with Sunday strollers.
He sat on an outdoor stage along with an Italian priest who has courageously denounced Naples-area mobsters for systemically dumping toxic waste on local farmland in a lucrative, illicit operation often serving legitimate businesses.
The pope told the audience that money has become a god "at the center of the world."
...the new evangelization in Germany
...with a rapping Elvis Presley impersonating pastor, Norbert Fink
Norbert raps his new song 'Your God'
Norbert impersonating Elvis including
his immoral lyrics and dance moves
pastor Fink sharing the same immoral
song and dance moves with youngsters
Rock 'n Roll in the Sistine Chapel!
David Evans (aka The Edge) played one Leonard Cohen song and three U2 songs on Sunday in the Sistine Chapel.
After renting out the Sistine Chapel to Porsche in October 2014 we asked what was next, the Cirque du Soleil?
Only 11 days ago David Evans, laid his father John Gavin Evans to rest
at Howth’s Presbyterian Church in the north of Dublin. His father
passed away from cancer. Taking a break from the current unorganized U2
Tour of globalist venues,
David attended the conference at the Vatican on regenerative medicine
called Cellular Horizons this past week. He becomes the first rock
star, as he performed four songs, to play in the Sistine Chapel.
Describing the chapel The Edge said it was, “the most beautiful parish
hall in the world.” Reuters News Service has the rest of the details,
He joked with his audience, telling them he was stunned when asked to play in the chapel, which was painted by Renaissance master Michelangelo in the 16th century.
"When they asked me if I wanted to become the first contemporary artist to play in the Sistine Chapel, I didn't know what to say because usually there's this other guy who sings," the musician said, referring to U2 front man Bono.
"Being Irish you learn very early that if you want to be asked to come back it's very important to thank the local parish priest for the loan of the hall," he said.
He then thanked Pope Francis and other Vatican officials "for allowing us to use the most beautiful parish hall in the world".
The Edge dedicated his performance of "Walk On," written in 2000 for Myanmar democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi when she was under house arrest, to Pope Francis, who he described as "the people's pope.
"He's doing an amazing job and long may he continue," he added.
The rock star sprinkled his address with technical terms such as bio markers and angiogenesis.
"I can tell this is a really cool audience because normally when I say angiogenesis eyes glaze over," he said.
After renting out the Sistine Chapel to Porsche in October 2014 we asked what was next, the Cirque du Soleil?
Looks like Call Me Jorge... was wrong!
Is there nothing sacred anymore to Francis?
Or is everything now profane?
David Evans with Irish bishop Paul Tighe before listening to U.S. Vice President
Joe Biden speak in Paul VI Hall 29 April 2016.
David Evans (aka The Edge) playing in the Sistine Chapel on a Sunday no less
University of San Francisco Jesuit President attended 2015 Gay Pride Parade
USF president Father Paul Fitzgerald (in green cap) holds a t-shirt printed with an image of Pope Francis and the words “who am I to judge?” at the 2015 Gay Pride Parade in San Francisco.
Homosexual activism at the Jesuit University of San Francisco has been present for decades. The April 16 California Catholic Daily article USF President Endorses Same-Sex ‘Marriage’ made clear that the activism goes right to the top. CalCatholic now reports the university president, Father Paul Fitzgerald, attended San Francisco’s 2015 Gay Pride parade.
BDSM participants at the 2015 Pride Parade. Past grand marshals include San Francisco gay icon Larry Brinkin, convicted in 2014 for possession of child pornography. In 1999 the parade’s grand marshal was Harry Hay, who has publicly defended NAMBLA, the National Man Boy Love Association.
The USF student newspaper, the San Francisco Foghorn, published an April 21 article lamenting San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s recent initiative to ensure fidelity to Catholic teaching in Archdiocesan high schools, contrasting with the actions of Father Fitzgerald:
In addition to the archbishop sending a bold and conservative message to the San Francisco Catholic community, last summer university president Father Paul Fitzgerald faced a situation which seemed to represent the tension between Catholic principles and his own apparently more liberal views. Fitzgerald attended the San Francisco Pride Parade with others from USF in support of LGBTQ+ members.The article describes the confusion USF students feel between Catholicism and the school’s progressive ideology:
The tall, dark wooden doors of the St. Ignatius Church are open every day from dusk ’til dawn, yet a relatively small fraction of the USF’s students are seen among the pews. Metal crosses decorate the front walls of many classrooms in the Lone Mountain building, though only a handful can be seen in any of the newer classrooms down the hill. The prevalence of the school’s religious identity appears to have slowly but surely weakened on campus over the years.The students and faculty in the story are concerned that USF reconciles with their values. Sophomore communications major Consuelo Reyes is “currently not practicing Catholicism as she has in the past, she is worried that if she were to return to practicing, her progressive values would conflict with Catholic rules.”
2015 Gay Pride Parade attendee wears a sticker emblazoned with the USF logo with the words ‘proudly part of the city that defines the word “pride”
The Foghorn interviews the director of USF’s University Ministry, Julia Dowd. Dowd asserts that “although Catholicism gets a bad rap in society these days, ‘It’s important to claim who we actually are because if we don’t, other people get to claim what ‘religious’ looks like.’ ”
CalCatholic reported that in 2007 Dowd, “joined by members of USF’s LGBTQ Caucus, attended the ‘OutThere’ conference at De Paul University. The conference’s program makes clear that its purpose was to create more effective advocacy for positions opposed to the Church’s teachings on Catholic universities.”
President Fitzgerald’s endorsement of a same-sex ‘marriage’, attendance at the gay pride parade, and the actions of other faculty have shown that the USF’s Catholic identity is all but gone.
Divorced and remarried are now asking [and getting “exceptions”] for Communion, says senior Milan official
Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, has begun to change attitudes to Communion in the archdiocese of Milan, according to a senior official.
In an article for the Milan archdiocese website, Monsignor Fausto Gilardi, who is in charge of Confession at Milan Cathedral, says that there has been a growing “demand” in the diocese from the divorced and remarried for absolution and Communion.
Mgr Gilardi’s piece claims that some priests have changed their practice. He says that some have “opened a ‘teller’s window’ for consultations”.
Mgr Gilardi comments that this seems to contradict Amoris Laetitia’s warning against “the grave danger of misunderstandings, such as the notion that any priest can quickly grant ‘exceptions’”.
The article says that other priests have asked divorced and remarried people to enter a pastoral process, but he does not specify whether Communion is a possible goal.
Mgr Gilardi writes that in the last few days, the divorced and remarried have mostly not been “disappointed” by the invitation to a “journey”.
He also says that pastors “aren’t called to impose a norm, but to lift up the value expressed through that norm’”.
Francis and the Appointment of Bishops: “He Looks For the Most Progressive Candidates
(Rome) Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the Roman faith prefect is not the only cardinal who is marginalized by Pope Francis (see Pope Francis and the Marginalization of the CDF). This also applies to another “Ratzingerian”, the French-Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect the Congregation for Bishops.
In his first interview with the atheist Eugenio Scalfari on the October 1, 2013 for the daily newspaper La Repubblica, Pope Francis said, looking at some members of the Roman Curia: “the court is the leprosy of the papacy “.
But Francis seems “to fight the leper and not the leprosy,” said Secretum meum mihi . The daily newspaper Le Journal de Montréal headline in yesterday’s edition: “Cardinal Ouellet no longer has the ear of the Pope”. Cardinal Ouellet is responsible, as prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, for the appointment of bishops. His dicastery is preparing the appointment of bishops by the pope, is collecting the necessary information and recommends candidates.
Pope Francis “throws Ouellet’s recommendations in the trash”
Under Pope Francis, things have fundamentally changed: “Pope Francis has thrown his recommendations for the appointment of new bishops into the trash,” said the French-Canadian newspaper.
“It is worrying because it is the task of Cardinal Ouellet in Rome to propose in the Pope’s name, but he ignores them and decides on all other candidates,” said Quebec Religion specialist Alain Pronkin.
The French daily La Croix reported a few days ago that “it has already happened, that Pope Francis rejected all three names submitted to him by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, […] and even sought out others for direction. ”
According to the weekly magazine L’Espresso that was the case, for example, in the replacement of three important Sees: Chicago, Madrid and Sydney.
The appointments for Francis are not only a question of suitability, but a question of direction. The real revolution of Pope Francis is done by appointment .
Pope Francis looking for “the most progressive candidate”
According to Le Journal de Montréal , it was even “very rare” that the Pope follows the recommendations of the Cardinal, although that is his task and Cardinal Ouellet, through his staff, has the best overview of the situation in a diocese.
However, the Pope uses his own channels, not the official, but informal, and which may also come about by accident. According to Alain Pronkin, Pope Francis is looking for the “progressive candidates”. For this he has to rely on recommendations. What he rejects with Cardinal Ouellet are accepted from among the Pope’s confidants. In other words, the belief and understanding of the Church by Cardinal Ouellet, a Ratzingerianer, displeases the pope.
“A concrete example: The Pope believes in the fact that the divorced and remarried can receive Communion, while Cardinal Ouellet, however, expressed his rejection of this,” said Alain Pronkin.
The same applies to the issue of homosexuality.
For this reason, Francis shuns everything that is presented to him by Cardinal Ouellet and relies instead on labile random recommendations.
Recommendation by a progressive confidant enough to be Bishop
This was not quite by chance. The Pope operates by information obtained from part of the Jesuit Order. What is decisive for Francis is the progressive attitude of the candidates who must be confirmed to him by a confidant. That is enough. The Pope then needs no dossiers and reports, as they are presented to him by the Congregation for Bishops. A person’s recommendation of trust is sufficient to make someone a bishop.
The archdiocesan chair of Chicago is one of the most influential in the US. and Pope Francis rejected all three candidates that were presented to him by Cardinal Ouellet, in collaboration with the Apostolic Nuncio and the former Archbishop Cardinal Francis George. Instead, he appointed Bishop Blaise Cupich, who was regarded as one of the biggest outsiders in the episcopate of the United States because of his progressive views. Thus, Francis not only drove a splinter, but a real stake into the heart of the Catholic Church in the United States. Archbishop Cupich has already called for the communion for divorced and remarried and the acceptance of homosexuality.
Shortly before his death, Cardinal George wrote about the Synod of Bishops in Rome:
“The pope has said he wants to see on every question, and so it happened, so he got what he wanted, and now he has to fix it. […] This raises the question of why he does not clarify these things himself. Why is it necessary that apologists have the burden to find the best interpretation? He has not realized the consequences of some of his statements, or even his actions? Does he not realize the impact? ”
As is known, the post-synodal Letter of Amoris Laetitia did not receive papal clarification, for the “apologists” are busy again on the road, “to find the best interpretation”.
Appointments: Here the “revolution” Francis performs most effectively
Pope Francis has been working meticulously on a new personnel network on the decision-making level, which should lead the Church structurally well beyond his death in a particular direction. Maybe his personal policy, which is usually revealed very quietly, revealed even in the most important field of activity in which he transposes his vision of the Church vision. Here his “revolution” is at its most enduring.
According to Pronkin, Cardinal Ouellet could soon be replaced by Pope Francis. The French Canadian, says Pronkin, would not be the first high Curia employee who would deposed because of his criticism of the papal course. However, Francis had found a way to make the appointments himself, although the competent Congregation is in the hands of persons whose convictions he rejects. The informal, semi-clandestine appointments to official bodies in the past is not only a temporary solution, but probably corresponds to the disposition of the Pope and his aversion to rules and laws. [Or he doesn’t want to spend the political capital to get rid of him, when he can do the job himself.]
There have been advantages for the “revolution” of episcopal appointments that a Ratzingerianer still officially stands at the head of the Congregation for Bishops. It maintains the impression in the Church that there is a balancing counterweight, but one that does not exist in reality. [There were still very, very bad appointments under Benedict.]
Exhortation allows Communion for divorced/remarried on case-by-case basis, claim 3 German bishops
Francis’s apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia permits divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to access the sacraments on a case-by-case basis, three German bishops claim.
Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop Dr. Heiner Koch, and Bishop Franz-Josef Bode all cited footnote 351—the controversial footnote that critics worry undermines Church teaching by in certain cases allowing Holy Communion for those in objectively sinful situations—in their praise of the exhortation.The bishops also cited paragraph 301 of Amoris Laetitia, which states, “Hence it is can no longer simply be said that all those in any 'irregular' situation are living in a state of mortal sin and are deprived of sanctifying grace."
The bishops wrote that it is not sufficient for a judgment simply to determine that a second union “contradicts the first, sacramental marriage and is thus contrary to the objective norm.” Instead, they said, it is necessary to “consider the special situation of those concerned in each case.”
This, they said, is why the pope has not proposed a “general system of rules” for readmitting the divorced and remarried to the Eucharist: instead, on the "question of admission to the sacraments of reconciliation and communion" he proposes a discernment of individual cases based upon "the biography of a man and his efforts to live a Christian life.”
RELATED: Pope Francis: ‘I don’t remember’ controversial footnote in exhortation
"We ask especially the priests to reach out in the spirit of this statement to the people, to those who are on the road to marriage, the spouses, but also to those whose marital relationships are unsuccessful and who often feel themselves abandoned by the Church," they wrote. "The tenor of this letter is: No one is to be excluded from the mercy of God.”
This case-by-case approach is starkly different from that taken by Pope St. John Paul II in Familiaris Consortio. In his exhortation, John Paul II wrote with unmistakable clarity:
…the Church reaffirms her practice, which
is based upon Sacred Scripture, of not admitting to Eucharistic
Communion divorced persons who have remarried. They are unable to be
admitted thereto from the fact that their state and condition of life
objectively contradict that union of love between Christ and the Church
which is signified and effected by the Eucharist. Besides this, there is
another special pastoral reason: if these people were admitted to the
Eucharist, the faithful would be led into error and confusion regarding
the Church's teaching about the indissolubility of marriage.
German Cardinal Karl Lehmann wrote on the German Bishops’ official website that the exhortation’s approach to the question of the divorced and remarried was a “great shot ("Wurf").”Lehmann, the Bishop of the Diocese of Mainz and the former President of the German Bishops’ Conference, wrote that Pope Francis’s “three fundamental attitudes” toward remarried divorcees are “to accompany the fragility; to discern; and to integrate.” Lehmann said that Pope Francis urged priests and Catholics to accompany remarried divorcees in a way “that goes far beyond our existing capabilities.”
In his statement on his diocese’s website, Lehmann also praised the document’s lack of attention to homosexuality despite its condemnation of same-sex “marriage.”
Dr. Maike Hickson wrote at OnePeterFive, “Cardinal Lehmann stresses in his statement…that the pope says now, with regard to those couples who live in ‘irregular situations’ that one cannot simply any more say that they live in ‘the state of mortal sin’ and that they have thus lost the ‘sanctifying grace.’ Lehmann stresses the importance to discern and differentiate each case individually, and he then proceeds to claim that there is no explicit change of the Church’s norm, because of that enhanced need for differentiation.”
In an interview with Die Tagespost, Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said, “the question of admitting remarried divorcees to the sacraments is not decided in a principled way, but the answer is referred to the ‘internal forum.’”
Kath.net reported that German Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes had a remarkably different take than his fellow German prelates. Cordes warned of a “misuse of the sacraments” that could come about if Pope Francis is quoted selectively.
Discernment about reception of the sacraments for the divorced and civilly remarried “can never prescind from the Gospel demands of truth and charity, as proposed by the Church,” Cordes said.
Cordes has previously rebuked his fellow German bishops for declaring that they would potentially officially abandon Church teaching in their pastoral care for the divorced and civilly remarried.
Bishops in other parts of the world appeared to interpret Amoris Laetitia in ways similar to Marx, Koch, and Bode.
Archbishop Mark Coleridge, the bishop of Brisbane, Australia, tweeted, “Never enough to say a situation is ‘objectively sinful’ without attending to the subjective factors. #AmorisLaetitia doesn't; others do.”
“#AmorisLaetitia subverts absolutism - all v. nothing, black v. white, in v. out. Why do some seem to depend on absolutism? #Jesus doesn't,” Coleridge wrote in another tweet.
British Bishop Peter Doyle, however, told Susy Hodges of Vatican Radio, “[Amoris Laetitia is] upholding the teaching of the Church, presenting marriage in a very positive light as a gift of God, and at the same time, embracing people who are in difficult situations...It’s not a change of teaching, it’s a change of focus.”
Hodges asked Doyle whether he was surprised by Pope Francis’ suggestion of dealing with the treatment of the divorced and remarried on the question of reception of Communion on a “case-by-case” basis.
He responded:
No, I was thrilled, because all my life as a
priest—I’ve been a priest for 48 years, most of the time in a parish.
There was always a tension: on one hand being loyal to the teaching of
the Church, and on the other hand reaching out with compassion to people
who did not fit into the categories. And I think that this document
provides a key to unlock that tension and to build a bridge for people
who at the moment feel they have no hope.
Doyle also told The Tablet,
“Some people will be disappointed that it is not full of black and
white solutions, but as Pope Francis says, every situation is different
and needs to be approached with love, mercy and openness of heart.”
22 "Catholic" churches to close across north Wales
More than 20 Roman Catholic churches across north Wales are set to close as part of a major reorganisation.
Bishop Peter Brignall, of the Wrexham Diocese, plans to shut 22 out of the current 62 Catholic churches by 2020.The measures, outlined in a letter, are due to a fall in under-retirement-age priests, he said. Some churches would close "within weeks".
Bishop Brignall added parishes may find the plans "shocking" but stressed it was a "huge opportunity for renewal".
Churches and parishes would be closed or amalgamated in Wrexham, Flint, Rhyl, Dolgellau, Caernarfon and Colwyn Bay deaneries.
Sunday Mass would also be scrapped at a number of churches while mass times are expected to change at others.
Bishop Brignall said he would hold a final Mass of thanksgiving in each church earmarked for closure.
Classic Francis!...notice the bobblehead doll?
On April 13, 2016, feeding his insatiable thirst to appear, Bergoglio posed for the crowds wearing a fireman's helmet.
When a group of firemen from the city Fort de Domont in France, present at his general audience, offered him a helmet from its brigade, Francis could not prevent himself from putting it on his head.
It is an efficient way both to make people laugh and to degrade the mission of the Vicar of Christ.
When a group of firemen from the city Fort de Domont in France, present at his general audience, offered him a helmet from its brigade, Francis could not prevent himself from putting it on his head.
It is an efficient way both to make people laugh and to degrade the mission of the Vicar of Christ.
