Saturday, February 25, 2017

Cupich: Protect (New Religion of Vatican II) Protect Human Dignity!

Cupich: Protect (New Religion of Vatican II) Protect Human Dignity!
The Conciliarist heretics still hiding behind human dignity as Pope St. Pius X
I say, of all this, it is frightening to behold new apostles eagerly attempting to do better by a common interchange of vague idealism and civic virtues. What are they going to produce? What is to come of this collaboration? A mere verbal and chimerical construction in which we shall see, glowing in a jumble, and in seductive confusion, the words Liberty, Justice, Fraternity, Love, Equality, and human exultation, all resting upon an ill-understood human dignity. Pope St.  Pius X

If all of a sudden one began patrolling neighborhoods looking for people who do not have documents, we would witness a destabilization of the social fabric” Cardinal Blaise Cupich comments with Vatican Insider, president-elect Trump’s first measures. He explains the attitude of bishops and stresses the fact that he does not believe in the usefulness of street protests that, for the first time, question the president’s legitimacy. The Cardinal urges us to wait before making judgments on Trump’s member of cabinet and their actions. On the debate inside the Church concerning “Amoris Laetitia” he says he does not see any confusion, but welcomes the fact that questions have been raised, since they have allowed us to understand more deeply the message of the document.


What is your opinion on Trump’s first weeks in office?
I think every new administration has to become acclimated to governing. And that’s especially true for president Trump, this is the first time he has held political office, so I think we are seeing that effort to, as we say in English” getting your sea-legs”. We, The Bishops in USA have decided to speak policies not persons. We think it is better to be very clear that we need to have policies that protect human dignity and integrate people into the economic life of our country so we are going to continue to speak with one voice about policies.

A unified response came from the bishops regarding immigration decisions.
In USA we have some people living in the shadows. The solution is not to chase out people who have been living here for many years and children especially. We need to fix a broken system and until we do that, we are going to have policies that could very easily be an injustice to people who have lived here for a long time. I was with a number of students who are able to study here even though they don’t have documents because of a special program. They are afraid that this could change.

Also the Obama administration has deported many immigrants. 
Yes, however, we know that while the Obama administration did many deportations, they singled out people who had felony charges against them. If all of a sudden now you begin to sweep up neighborhoods of people who do not have documents who have been living here for many years, separating families, taking away the father who is the bread winner, we are going to have a lot of social... it’s going to be destabilizing to the social fabric. We are going to have a lot of children then who are here who do not have means of support. A lot of them are citizens because they were born here. We need a systemic solution. Not one that is piecemeal. 

Are you happy with Trump’s decision to cut off funding to the international program, which financed abortions?
Trump has reintroduced the Mexican City Policy, a policy before the Obama administration that the Bush administration had. Therefore, he is just going back to that. We have always been in favor that state should not be using tax money to fund abortions. That’s why for instance we are for the Hyde amendment, and in my state there was an effort recently to pass a law that would have tax payer funds to pay for abortions thorough Medicaid. We were opposed to that, so we have always had that policy from the bishop’s conference that tax payer money should not be used, people should not be forced to spend their tax dollar to pay for abortions. 

What do you think of the protests that are taking place in the country against the President?
It is unprecedented, I think it is reflective of the division that was present during the campaign and is still present today. My position is that we have an election process by which we select a president, and these now are the selected people that are now in charge, who have the responsibility to carry on their duties. I think that people surely can protest and demonstrate for policies but to aim their demonstration at saying we are not accepting this president that has been elected lawfully; I think that in the long run it doesn’t have any means to achieve anything. It is just a protest to protest. If a protest is designed to change policies that’s fine, I don’t see the point of protesting the election of one who is elected by the rules of the country. To say he is not my president. I don’t see that as a very successful strategy.

What do you think of Trump’s team? 
I see now that the president has selected various individuals for his cabinet, many of whom are widely respected, and there are concerns that have been raised by some groups in the US about some. But that has been always the case. Even when Obama came into office, people did not like some the cabinet members that they had. So I think we have to wait and see, how they do their job is now something for everyone to measure and to judge. But I don’t think anyone can speak with clarity about how the decision-making process is made within the administration. It’s too early to say that. 

How do you see the relations between Trump’s administration and the Holy See?
I think that the Holy See will wait to see who is going to be the ambassador to the Holy See. We need to wait and see who is going to be appointed. 

A year ago, there were tensions between Trump and the Pope. How do you see this relationship in the future?
The Holy Father will always be respectful of newly elected officials of any state, and wants to look for a way that he can continue his ministry of the church, to promote human dignity, and respect human life in the world. That is his agenda. The Holy See is not a political power, nor a military power, but it wishes to bring the light of faith to the issue of human dignity. As Benedict 16th said, we do not impose, we propose. 

Will there be a possibility of joint work? Do you see a possible convergence?
I hope that is the case. There are important issues not only that every country faces but that the world faces. The Holy Father has issued a remarkable encyclical “laudato si” on our common home, the environment. I think that must be pursued, especially the USA has an enormous carbon footprint in the world. We are responsible in many ways for the degradation of the ozone, the depletion of the ozone layer, the degradation of forest. We have a major responsibility as a leader in the world; I think I would go back to what the Holy Father said to congress, in terms of challenging the USA to accept its leadership in the world, not to be isolationist, but to see that we have a remarkable responsibility that God has given to us. In the sense of the blessings that we have. That we have to make a difference in improving the situation in the world. I think that is what the Holy Father is going to continue to press for. 

Let us talk about the internal situation of the Church. Do you see any confusion after the four cardinals’ publication of the “dubia” on “Amoris Laetitia?
My experience says that there is no confusion. I think that there are people who have questioned various things, I think that Cardinal Coccopalmerio's small book that recently came out is very helpful, He makes important distinctions, but I also want to say that church has always come to a better understanding of its teachings in moments of controversy. Let us look at what we have. We have Amoris Letitia released, we have had questions raised about it, but now we know more about the church’s teachings about conscience that we have ever had before, because we have recovered and retrieved some teachings. The understanding of the divine pedagogy is something that is very helpful to understand how God is working in the lives of other people. We had this wonderful article by Walford that was published in the Vatican insider, with regard to the teaching office, the Petrine office, and whether the Pope can error in these various things and it was a very helpful document. We have also the development of doctrine, that was very well explained to us by Rocco Buttiglione. That was a beautiful article. So we have had a number of people come forward and help us understand what the Pope is saying, and that has been made possible because, there were questions. And so I see this is part of the way that the church understands itself in moments of controversy. So, I’m not too upset about this. I think that the responses have been very good from all of these people. I think Amoris Letitia is very clear and it is a magisterial document and I am confident that my brother bishops and the cardinals in USA firmly believe that it is a magisterial teaching. But it is important I think, to recognize that this is now more attention to Amoris Letitia than there would have been had there not be a controversy. More people are reading it now. 

What do you think of the “formal correction” of the Pope of which only one of the four cardinals of the “dubia”, Cardinal Burke speaks?
I do not know what he intended by that, but I surely think that it is not the competence of any one person or cardinal to say that the pope is in error and needs to be corrected. I think that this wonderful article by Walford put to rest that that is not the appropriate way at all. The Holy Father has a special Ministry and that cannot be ignored. So it’s not for one individual to step forward and say that. NO one person has the competence to do that. That’s how I would answer that question. And again, it is very important to say that the number of people who are putting themselves in the positions of saying that the document is not clear or they object to something. It is a small group. They are not as much large as loud.