(Rome) A group of Catholic lay associations and websites have started a petition: They demand the dismissal of Father Fidenzio Volpi from his post as authorized Apostolic Commissioner for the Franciscans of the Immaculate. Anyone who wants to support this appeal to the Congregation of Religious and for informing Pope Francis, this website by well-known, traditional historian Roberto de Mattei is available here do Corrispondenza Romana (first name, last name, e-mail app) . Below is the text for signature collection.
Petition to Demand Resignation
by Roberto de Mattei
We demand the resignation of Father Fidenzio Volpi from his job as political Commissioner of the Franciscans of the Immaculate. In the short period of just five months, Father Volpi has shattered the Order, resulting in internal chaos and suffering, externally causing scandal among the faithful, criticism in the media, and discomfort caused astonishment in the ecclesiastical world. It does not matter to know whether Father Volpi is the author or only the exporter of the destruction plan. One thing is certain though, if the plan is not stopped, the consequences will be devastating, and to prevent the calamity yet added to new disaster, Father Volpi must be dismissed.
According to the decree of last 11 July, the Order of the Franciscans of the Immaculate was placed under provisional administration, and Father Volpi began with the help of a small band of subcommisars, among them Father Alfonso Bruno and Prof. Mario Castellano, to lay with his ax to the Order. He forbade the celebration of the Holy Mass and the Divine Office in the manner provided in the Motu proprio for the Extraordinary Form, he dismissed the whole Order leadership, starting with Father Stefano Maria Manelli, who since then is under house arrest, without then having been given to him the reasons why he dissmissed one by one the most loyal collaborators of Father Manelli and sent them every which way, personalities of intellectual and moral greatness, he transferred their duties to dissident brothers who lack preparation and experience, he threattened and punished the brothers, who petitioned to the Holy See and refused to withdraw them; and finally he closed the Order's own seminary on 8 December 2013, during the Solemnity of the Order, and suspended all priests and deaconal ordinations; he imposed an interdict against all publications of religious publishing house Editrice Casa Mariana and forbade their distribution in the Order churches and chapels supervised by the order; he expanded his personal war to the SFO [Tertiaries] and the laity, who are connected to the Order, by forbidding all the activities of MIM (Mission Immaculate Mediatrix) and TOFI (Third Order of the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception); he threatened the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, who adhere to the traditional ERte to also have them put under provisional administration and withdrew the two female religious branches, the missionary branch of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception and the contemplative branch of the Poor Clares of the Immaculate Conception from the spiritual care of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate Conception, and now finally, he has demanded of all Franciscans of the Immaculate a "Modernist Oath" to the Novus Ordo Missae and the Second Vatican Council (see the letter of Father Fidenzio Volpi from December 8, 2013 ). 1
Father Volpi has accused every critic of being against the pope. who has challenged him. But is his rather tyrannical rule, which in its hardness is unprecedented in the history of the Church and directly contradicts the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, is it in itself not an open contradiction to Pope Francis as well, who admonished to avoid any authoritarianism towards friend and enemy, to practice mercy and gentleness?
Even the Vatican expert Marco Tosatti has noticed it and wrote on 4 December, "What these poor religious men supposed to have done? Have they speculated money, sexually abused minors or maintained an immoral lifestyle? None of that. "Truth is that Father Volpi, of his own accord or on behalf of third parties, wants to "normalize" the Franciscans of the Immaculate" in which he wants to make them equal to other declining Orders. To achieve this, it is necessary to convert their spiritual and moral charism, to destroy their internal discipline, stifling the recovery of the traditional rite, to open the Order of corruption by the world as it is - with disastrous results - which is what he and his Capuchin Order have done.
Paul VI. recalled religious with the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelica testificatio of 29 June 1971, that they are committed to their superiors against obedience, except in that "something is ordered, which is contrary to God's laws or the constitutions of the institute clearly or certainly lead to a major disadvantage - in such cases the duty of obedience is void." Should Father Volpi not be dismissed, a crisis of conscience for religious men and women will inevitably open up, who want to preserve the charism of the Franciscans of the Immaculate and fidelity to the tradition of the Church.
Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Corrispondenza Romana
image: Corrispondenza Romana
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMGD
52 comments:
Outright diabolical persecution! The only goal and agenda is to destroy this faithful Order. Faithfulness like this cannot be tolerated in the modernist world! God help us! O Mary Immaculate, pray for us!
I signed the petition.
Does this apply to popes? Most of the charges could certainly be applied.
Go for it Roberto de Mattei! Yay!
I find myself being brought to incredulity reading de Mattei's Petition and yet it's worse because it's all true. The total destruction of a religious order and their outreach to the laity due to a spiteful member of the Franciscan family, an Apostolic Commissioner's petty attitude and pet hates. A destruction that goes against the endless play of the Spirit of Vatican II universalism, ecumenism, diversity and Justice and Peace ad nauseam rendering this whole Vatican II polemic totally deflated and worthless. It's embarrassing to read of Fr Volpi's draconian treatment of an innocent order. You can almost feel the hatred. Another situation the Catholic Church can loose face over. Laughable if it wasn't so sad.
I find the irony galling that we have a new pope, naming himself after St Francis, whose endless spiel is "poverty" and yet we have a Franciscan religious order that has embraced a greater penintential life and they have been totally dismantled.
I think we are at war supernaturally. Plain and simple. Chillingly so. And yet it seems that Catholic powers that be seem to want to denude us of any spiritual protection. Jesus asked St Francis to rebuild his Church, the FFI embraced the EF. Fatima, the FFI's "Days with Mary". The rise of Islam again. (Nevermind Nostra Aetate.) St Francis attempt at converting the Sultan during the Crusades and their presence in the Holy Places since the early 1200s. God forbid that it should come to it, but I think we are going to need Our Lady of Fatima and as many "Days for Mary" the FFI can muster to achieve the same outcome with the Rosary that happened at Lepanto.
I think this is all for these times, right here and right now. Some call it the End Times.
St Francis of Assisi, St John Capistrano, Blessed Fr Junipero Serra, St Padre Pio and St Michael the Archangel, pray for us.
It is not impossible to think of a grassroots movement of faithful, traditional or traditionalist Catholics to begin a similar petition demanding the resignation of Pope Francis.
If enough faithful Catholics swarmed St.Peter;s Square chanting something like "Francis must go!!", I think the entire corrupt system wpuld collapse, and Francis would be brought down and with him, everything he stands for.
It is not outrageous to think of this. Indeed, it isbecoming increasingly urgent to do so, to save the Papacy, and the Catholic Church and Faith.
Idiotic last statement. Popes dont "resign under pressure from laity chanting at saint Peter square". I sometimes think traditional Catholics are our own worst enemy after reading some of these comments
As if liberals or neocatholics never say anything stupid. They say worse it is just tolerated and excused.
You don't know enough church history to be calling anyone an idiot. There have been several instances where the flock corrected their bishop or even the Pope.
The first involved the then layman Eusebius who corrected Nestorius when Nestorius denied that Our Lady was the mother of God. Nestorius was later deposed.
The second involved Pope Gregory the Great who made a small change to the canon of the mass. The laity understood that no Pope could change the Sacred Liturgy and threatened to kill him. No changes were made to the canon thereafter until John XXIII.
I guess what you're really afraid of is a "Jesus and the moneychangers" moment when faithful laity shatter the illusion that we all love Pope Francis and his balloons, clown nose and beach ball on the altar.
Last I checked, borgolio wasnt commiting any heresy. Lets just take a deep breath and pray. We cant allow neo Catholic and progressives to get the better of us. This is demonic attack, and anger and playing into the hands of them helps no one. Francis has been in the chair for a year, hes just a man, and he has powerful forces against him also. Lets not add to them, no?
Father Stefano Maria Manelli, isn't being allowed to see his own family members? What an obscenity.
Is anybody able to point to a translation of Volpi's letter of 8th December? I must say I thought this was merely an internal matter where possibly the people in charge had insisted upon using the EF throughout the order. If that happened then surely it is wrong and I can understand that some authority has ruled that the must stick the OF unless they have specific permission to use the EF which I understood had been granted in certain cases e.g. the sisters at Llanherne If the scenario I have described is correct it seemed to me to be something that was resolvable. However this letter of Volpi, judging from my sketchy knowledge of Italian, seems to suggest some terrible goings on which need to be punished with extreme harshness. As I say without a translation it is difficult to see what those goings on have been - wholesale disobedience to reasonable requests? It does seem to be a ferocious letter. From my limited knowledge of this order - attending several Days with Mary - they have my unstinted admiration. However I would need to know a lot more before signing this petition.
If you don't think he has committed acts of heresy and apostasy you don't know your faith. For example, he has frequently stated that proselytizing is wrong. By doing so he is contradicting and disobeying Our Lord. If he does not belief he has a responsibility to spread the faith he should resign now because his beliefs are incompatible with fundamental the missionary nature of the Church.
Further, his attempts to redefine "evangelization" to mean converting those who are already nominally Catholic and to exclude attempts to convert non-catholics is implicit heresy.
Typos: Last sentence of first paragraph should read: "If he does not believe he has a responsibility to spread the faith he should resign now because his beliefs are incompatible with the fundamental missionary nature of the Church."
It's unbelievable to me that so many people are blindly marching behind this man who claims to be Pontiff. He is a wolf and a destroyer. What more do the faithful need to see before they wake up? Lasalette is a reality before our eyes. What's next Vatican 3? Nightmare for sure.
I am not blindly marching behind the Pope but he is the Vicar of Christ on earth and we had better respect that petrine office! Please, lets not name call him, etc. Rather let us pray for him and for his faithfulness and orthodoxy, his clearness and unambiguity in matters of faith and morals.
Interesting, Volpi is Italian for "foxes" in English.
Wonderful. I've signed. I see this is flooding the traditional blogsites, which is great.
"What Does The Fox Say?" Ahhhhhhhhh, now we know, it says "crypto-lefebvrian"
Fr. Volpi was appointed by the Vicar of Christ, His Holiness Pope Francis. The only people upset by this are those who question his authority and that of the Holy Father. The two perenial sources of Divine Revelation are the Sacred Sciptures and Sacred Tradition. Protestants interpret scripture according to their own opinion, and there are many who now interpret tradition according to their own opinion. If there is any diabolical action at work, it is clearly to question authority, encourage disobedience, and transgress charity in speech.
Open your eyes and stop with all that whiney rhetoric that I hear so much with Catholics that say the same thing (just pray and hope for the best etc.) as it's so cowardly. When I see a heretic play the part of the supreme Pontiff and is leading people into error, I have a duty speak up and so due you. You also have a duty to use your common sense. He is a wolf.
At you anon: As soon as a Pope embraces heresy and apostasy he falls from the office and the Church, and can command no obedience. Throughout the history of the Church the majority of Popes have steered far clear of apostasy and heresy and so the faithful could accord them docile obedience. This Pope has not steered clear of the boundaries but has approached them and, in some cases, has crossed them. For example, exactly how does the Pope's statement in an interview that "proselytizing is solemn nonsense" accord with the perennial teaching of the Church? It doesn't and you know it.
Yes, diabolical persecution. Clear attempt to destroy an orthodox, and thriving Order.
Please pray and fast! Something big may be happening tomorrow, Dec. 12, on the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. (It's not a coincidence that he closed the seminary on Dec. 8 (Immaculate Conception) and will be taking further action tomorrow. In this, there are no coincidences).
I don't question the Pope's authority, and I'm extremely upset by this. How do you explain me, my family, and my friends, all of whom feel the same way? You can't paint us with your broad anti-trad brush. Whether His Holiness is aware of what's really happening here remains a mystery right now.
Anon at 3:15
You are either a brainwashed disciple of EWTN, George Weigel, the Nathional Catholic Register, or all three who are still throwing bouquets of flowers and heaping praise on this worthless person acting like a Pope, when in fact he hates Catholic tradition, the tradition of the Papacy and how to act as Pope. He is just a "dime a dozen" Vatican II priest....that's all.
The real Pope is Benedict XVI, and perhaps not even him because of his cowardice in resigning we now have this crisis in the Church on our hands. This would not have happened were it not for Benedict XVI.
There is only one good thing about Pope Francis. He is old, and won't be here much longer.
"I don't question the Pope's authority". The New Testament is replete with warnings that false shepherds would come and mislead the faithful. Numerous approved private revelations have warned that the church hierarchy would defect from the faith. During the Arian heresy 80% of the bishops were heretics.
You assume these warning cannot encompass the Pope. Popes in history have already defected from the faith and become heretics.
You have transformed papal infallibility into a guarantee - "I can always obey the Pope and believe that everything he teaches is in accordance with the faith." Papal infallibility does not work like that and is narrow. It should not be treated like a Catholic equivalent of the protestant heresy "once saved always saved" - "I can trust that all Popes will be faithful catholics and that everything they preach will be in accordance with the faith". No you cannot - that would relieve you of the obligation to know the faith. Learn your faith and you will not be fooled by modernists like the current Pope.
EXPEL THE MODERNISTS! SUPPORT THE HOLY FATHER!
Ioannes Martialis,
This Pope is a modernist, expel the Pope....Francis is a modernist. He is behind the ruin of the Franciscans of the Immaculate.
If you think that Pope Francis is a faithful, traditional minded man respectful of the office he holds and determined to uphold the Catholic Faith, then you live in some neo-con bunker where they refuse to acknowledge the truth.
Posts like this gave plenty of fuel to Volpi. "Well, dear brothers, with me and with the Congregation for Religious, these actions have produced quite the opposite effect! The more they were slandered and vilified, the more we admired them." Posts like yours have caused more harm than good, and as someone with a daughter in FSI - loyal to Fr. Stefano - this hurts.
Opposition to our Pope's unjust actions is the showing of respect for the Petrine Office.
I am one of those waiting for Our Pope to show some respect for the Petrine Office. You know, the Divinely-Constituted office is not his personal possession and he has no authentic authority to use it as such anymore than he has the authority to, say, sell Saint Peter's Basilica.
In preserving the Faith there is a role for to be played by those who wish to suffer silently and offer their prayers but where in Tradition is the role to call others to prayer while at the same time demanding others cease legitimate Catholic militancy?
If the Pope is a modernist, then he is no Pope because he is a heretic, and we are obligated to oppose him. I am not a sedevacantist. If Francis is not the Pope, then Benedict is Pope 'till death.
EXPEL THE MODERNISTS! REVERE THE POPE!
No one judges the Pope, and any protestant or self-proclaimed religious authority can post on here, but not for long.
I agree with this mother of the sisters. The sisters are in the bulls-eye too. When the righteous upset over the dismantling of the faithful Order leads to criticism of the Holy Father, that is used as fuel for further suppressions because of the 'scandal' to the laity that the faithful ones 'cause'. Keep in mind that it is faithfulness that is punished and modernism is given a pass.
My son is an FI in Italy and is suffering terribly from this whole affair. Let me tell you a story. When he was a postulant, he and about 10 of his fellow friars were praying the Rosary outside of an abortion clinic. Suddenly about 10 middle-aged women who worked in the clinic came outside and each one stood in front of one of the friars. They were engaging each of the friars in a conversation about women's rights and how judgmental the friars were, etc. Suddenly my son realized that no one was praying the Rosary any longer because they were trying to defend themselves and were explaining why they were there. He shouted out to his brothers, "They are stopping us from praying the Rosary. Keep praying!" As soon as the friars ignored these women who were being instruments of satan, the women turned around and went back inside. Let me say to everyone who speaks ill of anyone involved in this situation, and believe me, I have a right to be very angry with what is going on in my son's life, "This is stopping everyone from saying the Rosary for an end to this injustice. KEEP PRAYING!" Our Lady is the Queen on the chessboard. She has the power to stop the injustice against this holy Order dedicated to Her Immaculate Conception. We must keep praying and never speak ill of Our Holy Father Francis or anyone else. Our Lady of Guadalupe, who crushes the head of the serpent, please HELP THE FI. Stop bickering and PRAY PRAY PRAY, especially the most holy Rosary which is the WEAPON!
Amen to this, FI Mom!
Amen! Would that there would be a great wave of prayers for the FI's and their apostolate!
I don't know of any protestant who would post here. But Francis is not a Pope to be respected. He is to be judged because his actions and agenda are leading the Church to ruin. Many,many scholars in Europe...especially Italy, are judging him and actually condemning his agenda and positions.
Benedict XVI on the other hand is praised without end. Benedict XVI is the true Pope before God.
We don't get to decide who the Pope is.
It is the Holy Spirit who decides who the Pope is, for better or for worse- indeed, there are both sinful pontiffs and most holy pontiffs, and it is the Will of God that they are given to us!
EXPEL THE MODERNISTS! REVERE THE POPE!
"EXPEL THE MODERNISTS! REVERE THE POPE!"
This slogan makes no sense, if indeed, as is stated by very many people, even scholars that this present Pope Francis is himself a Modernist bent on overthrowing the Church of its sacred tradition.
This slogan would only apply if all the bishops, and all the cardinals were mostly Modernists and the Pope was trying to uphold the Catholic Faith and tradition. When we consider the horrible actions against the Franciscans of the Immaculate, and other issues and agenda We know that he is not. So this slogan therefore is a violation of valid judgement.
Does anybody know whether Fr. Volpi was referring to Bishop Fellay in his letter of Dec. 8, 2013?
If you know your Church history, there are plenty of heterodox popes with whom the rest of the Church did not necessarily agree with, but respected because HE IS THE POPE.
If there is no reverence for at least the office, then you are not Catholic, but an Orthodox or Protestant, or an Atheist.
It is the ultimate judgement to make the right judgement, and the supremacy of the papacy must be upheld, even if this particular pontiff has to be dragged kicking and screaming.
I don't know why it's such a challenge to respect the office. Part of the problem is that a lot of American enthusiasts for decapitating the Church are themselves Americanist heretics or some kind of Jacobin, whether they know it or not.
Any member of the FI or associate who signs the petition should prepare themselves for retribution. Just sayin'.
From bad trees come bad fruits.
I do not rejoice in their error and possible damnation, but let them wither and die if it is God's Will. Yet for the sake of true charity, let us pray unceasingly that the Lord shows mercy to them and us, sinners all.
I revere the office of the Papacy, and the very many holy and saintly men who have been Supreme Pontiff. BenedictXVI was the last man to who deserves extreme respect considering his august office and title. Also, he presented himself as such. He was worthy of all respect and honor.
However, knowing this Bergoglio Pope and his agenda and actions, I nether revere or respect the man. The office which he himself seems to have little respect or regard, I revere.
The danger is in a subjective interpretation of who a Pope is. Let's examine the attitudes exhibited by the Orthodox Christians and those who say they are, or what they consider "tradition", the final arbiter of truth regarding who is the lawful and legitimate Pope of Rome, the rightful successor of Saint Peter.
If, for example, a traditional Pope A was elected, and a traditional Antipope B was elected by different people who consider they are the final arbiter of the matter, who has the truth in the matter?
Yet if we examine closely, to the extreme logical conclusion, both Francis and Benedict can be considered modernist, one just merely a subjectively indefinite degree greater than the other. Isn't this why the Society of St. Pius X have spawned the abomination of sedevacantism? You have your Society of Pius V, and various schismatic heretics and others who deny the existence of the Pope in Rome, or at least his legitimacy?
Or shall we soon expect a canonically-irregular "Society of Benedict XVI" whose members consider him the "last true pope"?
Benedict resigned. Is he still pope? There is an occupant on the Throne of Peter. Thank God He is not like the Borgia, but even if there is a Borgia, or a worse Pope, a Pope is objectively a Pope regardless of how you feel about it. And He exists, by the Grace of God. Or is the fact of the papacy subject to your personal feelings regarding the matter?
I do not like the theology of Francis. Nor am I a heartless lump of stone that discredits the genuine good he does, because to do so is the sin of calumny, of malicious and rash judgement and this is disobedience against the Eight Commandment.
The Pope, validly elected and recognized by Christendom, is sacrosanct. Pope Francis is neither Pope Michael nor Pope Pulvemacher, nor the Palmyran Pope nor Pope Jim-Bob in Mississippi. Deny his legitimacy, and you confess your disbelief in the Holy Spirit and in the Holy Catholic Church; this is the objective truth.
To deny the legitimacy of this Pope is to fall into demonic deception.
I say again, clearly:
EXPEL THE MODERNISTS! REVERE THE POPE!
The last comment is a bit OTT given the fact that St Vincent Ferrer, probably the greatest saint of the fourteenth century spent most of his life backing an anti-pope. Yet this didn't stop the Church canonising him within 36 years of his death.
So the Holy Spirit gave us the Borgia's? No, men make the decisions and God just has to deal with the result. (He has his work cut out with this one).
Let's do it.
Francis is the modernist par excellence.
WHEN WILL THESE NAMES BE SENT TO POPE FRANCIS??? THE SEMINARY WILL BE CLOSING SOON!!!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us!
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