[Reuters] The head of the Knights of Malta, who has been locked in a bitter dispute with the Vatican, has resigned, a spokesperson for the Rome-based Catholic chivalric and charity institution said on Wednesday.
The spokesperson said Grand Master Matthew Festing, 67, had resigned after Pope Francis asked him to step down at a meeting on Tuesday. Grand masters of the institution, which was founded in the 11th century, usually keep their positions for life.
"The pope asked him to resign and he agreed," the spokesperson said, adding that the next step was a formality in which the group's Sovereign Council would have to sign off on the highly unusual resignation. The order would be run by its number two, or grand commander, until a new head is elected.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-knights-idUSKBN159001?il=0
AMDG
22 comments:
This Bergoglio is a total nut!
Rumor has it that Festing will become a monk of the Franciscan Order...
This has much wider implications than the problems of the Order of Malta. Pope Francis has sided with Boeselager and his distribution of condoms. This is the first step in the undermining of Humanae Vitae.
He was a coward to agree to Bergoglio's demand that he resign.
So many traditional,loyal Catholics complain about this Pope, but except fpr the brave 4 Cardinals, especially Burke,and some others, it's all either cspitulation to the Bergoglio agenda, or a Benedict XVI style cowardly silence.
Francis will be in 4 years in March. Four years of his g.d.b.s. Hopefully there won't be four more after that!!
Damian Malliapalli
God help the Church if it is interfering in the internal operation of a sovereign state. Will Pope Francis now want to interfere in the UK regarding Brexit or in the US regarding President Trump's Mexican wall? I don't think he would dare. Perhaps Fra Matthew Festing should align the Order with the SSPX!!
I would have told him no thanks, you step down.
When will a group of Catholics formally ask Francis to step down? Why has it not happened yet? Myself I'm a person of no prominence though I would add my name to the petition. But some group of faithful Catholics has to do this soon.
The only person who should resign is the dictatorial socialist madman who masquerades as the pope. Bergoglio is a disgrace, but his winning streak continues. And sadly, it appears it will continue for a long, long time. Since he has stacked the deck in the Sacred College, the next pope will only be worse. Tagle or Cupich will just do this kind of crap with a smile on their faces.
Bergoglio has done one good thing though. He has shown how convictionless the supposed conservative Cardinals really are.
Maybe we need a soldier monk to finally stand up to this man.
There is another explanation: The Vatican holds a file on Festing and blackmails him.
Possibly this file will be proven void and even slanderous, like in the case of Fr Manelli the founder of the FFI, since the Vatican's commissar, Fr Volpi who eventually died some time later, vas sentenced to reparations to Fr Manelli and his family in a civil suit.
Anyways, the Pope recalled Festing about his duty of obedience to the Holy See and, who knows, threatened him with excommunication?
You are right, but this man should be the holiest person in the world without the slightest dark background the Pope may use to silence him, like St Bernard of Clairvaux or St Catherine of Sienna who corrected the reigning pope of their times.
I think the next pope will be the total opposite of Francis, both liturgically and everything else.
In 1846, Pope Gregory XVI died. He was a Camaldolese monk who was Pope for close to 17 years, and he was a hard line conservative...some thought a fanatic. He was succeeded by Pius IX, who in the beginning had a very liberal reputation, both as a Caridnal and bishop, and for a year or so, as Pope. Everone know however, that his nearly 32 year reign turned out to be another hard line, conservative Papacy, the crowning point being the First Vatican Council which defined the idea of papal infallibility (not used since 1950). Francis couldn't use it to promote his agenda, becaue it would be against Catholic tradition. Popes can't use it on a whim...like Francis.
But the point is that in Pius IX, many were expecting a liberal/progressive. He turned out not to be....at all. Neither was Leo XII (1878-1903) although he wasn;t as harsh.
So even though many think Francis has stacked the Cardinals and the next Pope will be filth like him, I don't think so. I think we'll get someone not in the Francis camp. And that will be a horrorifying thing for these Francis' clowns who are smiling now.
They won't be smiling in a few years.
Damian Malliapalli
I admire your optimism, but I don't share your view. The Cardinals and bishops of today don't view the Church in the same way men before the reforms of VII did. In today's Church, the VII Bergoglians seek to strip the Church of its religious underpinnings and, instead, favor a spiritually based organization that promotes global liberalism. It's why we hear so much about social justice and all of the other tripe Jorge spews.
It's hard to imagine a surprise at the next Conclave if Bergoglio has stacked the deck by ensuring all those who vote for his successor are hand picked by him. Honestly, are Kasper and Daneels acolytes going to choose someone who might become Pius XIII? Or are they going to choose someone who becomes Francis II, Paul VII, or John XXIV? The evidence supports the latter.
To my eye, the only chance of a positive outcome is if a new Conclave occurs very, very soon and I just don't see that happening. Bergoglio seems to physically look as he did the day he was elected. I think it's far more likely he's still pope when he turns 90 than not.
The Catholic Church is experiencing its own Passion. The 2013 Conclave will be recorded as the worst moment in Catholic history since the Inquisition. Those who split between Scola and Oulette should be ashamed of themselves because it gave us Bergoglio.
"Bergoglio has done one good thing though. He has shown how convictionless the supposed conservative Cardinals really are."
Agreed completely, when I heard Cardinal Burke say "after the new year we'll blah blah blah.." I thought oh boy, Bergoglio doesn't sleep, driven by his demons why is Cdl Burke taking such a lax attitude towards this.
Cardinal Burke could learn something from Trump who attacks his enemies day and night from every direction.
Robbie:
I do share some of your misgivings, but I doubt very seriously that Bergoglio will make it to 90. I certainly hope not. I'm not wishing him ill or dead, but I don't think he will be here long. I think he knows it too.
Everyone, please correct me if I'm wrong about this Order of Malta thing....but don't you all think there's something strange here? OK, there was a high ranking member who got alled out for distributing condoms to some group under the guise of proper health care/ charity. The head of the Order of Malta, backed up by Cardinal Burke, sacked him because what he was doing is against Catholic Church teaching. That's fine and good and proper.
But along comes Bergoglio who, instead of applauding the action as standing up for Catholic teaching and tradition, instead sides with the accused man who did wrong, orders an inquiry into the Order of Malta, and pressures the head guy who stood up for Catholic Faith and fired the dissident...to quit!! Seems to me that Bergoglio is siding with the one who broke the rules, rather than with those trying to maintain them.
And to me, that's sick....and so is he (Bergoglio, aka Francis).
Damian Malliapalli
i agree with robbie, its defeat for us. bergoglio will stack the deck like the synods and his egotism means he'll be pope into his 90s, his family is long lived.
Agree with you, we wonder where are the MEN, the men who love Jesus so much they are willing to take one for the team.
I disagree that Donald Trump "attacks". He only seems to since he refuses to play the Liberals game, and none of us, have EVER, seen anyone like him. In addition, he is not hesitating to do the will of the people who put him into office. He is doing exactly what he promised. We are loving it.
He is the Pope of Dorian Grey.
http://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/sacked-grand-chancellor-of-knights-of-malta-reinstated
In a few years there will not be one single active bishop or cardinal who was ordained & consecrated in the pre-April 1969 rite of holy orders.
(Other than Bishop Rifan)
This is important because once these men are literally nonexistent in the Vatican,the college of Cardinals and active Bishops will be from the post 1969 ecumenical seminary mindset.
Wish I could share your optimistic outlook but from a practical historic perspective its not looking too good.
I have confidence that the next Pope will be a holy hard line Traditionalist. Because of the Modernist heretics that Bergoglio is choosing to be Cardinals, I believe the next Conclave will be a long one. Christ will defeat satan again. Our Lady will be at the Conclave to continue crushing the head of the serpent. Like another Pope done in the past, the next Pope will declare every decision that Bergoglio has made as null and void. That is what I hope and have confidence in.
We haven't had a Catholic Pope to keep the faith unaltered since Pius XI in 1939.
His successor Pius XII was the first to make radical changes that departed from traditional Catholicism.
Wish I could share your enthusiasm but God does work in mysterious ways.Who knows we have a miracle in the next 10 years?
Ihe Knights of Malta have my vote. They're a quiet group, but the amount of charitable work they do globally is enormous.
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