Gänswein: Pope Benedict Intends to Stay in Rome This Summer

Emeritus Pope is actively pursuing the religious and political life, "reads newspapers, is informed about the news,  receives visitors." Walking causes him some trouble, "but the head is bright and  the mind completely clear"

Augsburg (kath.net/KNA) Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI. intends to spend this summer in Rome and not at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo. He had so chosen to do so because  Pope Francis had rejected a rest in the Alban Hills, said the Prefect of the Papal Household,  said Archbishop George Gänswein (photo) in an interview to "Catholic Sunday Newspaper" / "New picture postcard". In August the emeritus pope will also be visited by  his brother Georg Ratzinger from Regensburg.


Gänswein, who is also the private secretary of Pope Emeritus, regretted that the brothers did not go to Castel Gandolfo. There it is a more pleasant summer than in Rome, because the village lies at a height of 450 meters above Lake Albano. "In the late afternoon there is always a slight westerly wind from the sea, which is refreshing and healthy," which is lacking in midsummer Rome.

On the health by Benedict XVI. said the Archbishop, given his age of 87 years,  he is doing relatively well.  Although he had some difficulties with walking, "but the head is bright and  the mind completely clear". The emeritus pope actively pursues the ecclesiastical and political life, says Gänswein. "He reads newspapers, is informed about the news,  receives visitors." He is involved in prayer for his successor and for the whole Church in a special way. Gänswein confirmed at the same time  that the emeritus Pope would no longer come to Bavaria. But that he misses his home was no secret. Because Bavaria is where his roots run: "His heart beats Bavarian, as he describes a beautiful book title." In his thoughts Benedict XVI often goes to his home, stressed Gänswein. It grants him inner joy and consolation. In addition, there still are many connections in the home, such as letters, visits and other contacts that would bring the Bavarian home to him in the Vatican. (C) 2014 CBA Catholic News Agency.

All rights reserved. Photo (c) kath.net/Martin Lohmann
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to kath.net...
AMGD

Benedict XVI. Has Recently Started Using a Walker

Archbishop Gänswein: The legs are dragging, but his spirit and his health are in good shape

Rome (kath.net / CBA) Benedict XVI. is walking with walker: An appropriate press photo is not beneficial, in the words of Archbishop George Gänswein, for speculation about the state of the emeritus pope. "He's fine, the legs drag a bit, but his spirit and his health are in good shape,” said his private secretary Gänswein said on Thursday in the course of a lecture in Rome. Benedict XVI. has been using a walker for two or three weeks during his walks.

"He just realized that he easily falls while walking," says Gänswein. The Italian magazine "Oggi" had published a photo this week, that the the emeritus pope relies on a walker.

Link to Kath.net….(C) 2014 Catholic News Agency KNA GmbH. All rights reserved.

Photo: Bild.de

Church-tax: German Bishops Overstepped their Authority

Bonna locuta est - causa finita non est

Edit: Archbishop Gerhard Mueller just might have stepped too far this time. The media reports are making the German Bishops look terrible, and Canon Lawyer Father Gero Weishaupt, whose work appears here below via kath.net, has devised some canonical solutions for committed German Catholics who feel uncomfortable supporting the many Diocesan initiatives which go against Catholic teaching and practice.





Canon Lawyers:  The faithful may file grievances against the Decree of the German Bishops' Conference to the Papal Counsel for Legal Texts --- Document of the DBK is in contradiction to the Vatican's document from 2006.

Rome (kath.net/m)  The discouragement of German Catholics about the decree of the German Bishops' Conference has still as big and the debate over it continues -- against some Bishops' wishes.   There is confusion at the present with respect to the question, which Vatican dicastery had  really "blessed" the document. It is also unclear if Pope Benedict XVI had even signed it.

According to the Bishops Conference the document had been recognized by the Bishops' Congregation.  FAZ reports that had there been personal approval by the CDF  under the German Archbishop Gerhard Mueller and Pope Benedict, a suggestion, which in any case is not anywhere in the official documents of the DBK.  At least the general vaidation by the Pope will be questioned by Vatican observers in Rome, in any case called into question, where Benedict XVI has been a significant critic of the German system.

About the competence for such particular laws there is the legally pertinent apostolic constition "Pastor Bonus"  for information.   There it says in article 82:  "The Congregation deals with matters pertaining to the celebration of particular councils as well as the erection of conferences of bishops and the recognitio of their statutes. It receives the acts of these bodies and, in consultation with the dicasteries concerned, it examines the decrees which require the recognitio of the Apostolic See"

How does that apply to the faithful in Germany?  Canon lawyers, who view the conclusions of the DBK critically have given the advice to resist against it.  It is recommended to write a registered letter, sending it to the Nunciature in Germany to the Papal Counsel for the Interpretation of Legal Texts (00120 Citta Del Vaticano, Vatican City).

As an alternative it can be sent directly to (this Counsel), and indeed referring to the Apostolic Constitution "Pastor Bonus" where it reads in article 158, the following: 
 At the request of those interested, this Council determines whether particular laws and general decrees issued by legislators below the level of the supreme authority are in agreement or not with the universal laws of the Church.

As KATH.NET has learned the Papal Counsell for Legal Texts has a great interest in this that the questions will be clarified.  If the Counsel has already has already previously been appraised is unclear at the moment.  Already in its clarification of 2006, 'ACTUS FORMALIS DEFECTIONIS AB ECCLESIA CATHOLICA" it had clearly laid out the following:

"The  apostasy from the Catholic Church must, in order to be validly represented as an actus formalis defectinis ab Ecclesia, also has to be made concrete with respect to the foreseen cited canonical exceptions in: a) an inner conviction, to leave the Catholic Church; b) the following through and outer demonstration of this decision; c) the adoption of a decision against Church authority."

At least point a) is a clear contradiction of the declaration of the German Bishops' Conference.  The reason is simple:  In Germany the number of Catholics is growing, who are no longer prepared, in their consciences, to transfer Church-tax to Diocese, who clearlt agitate against the Catholic Church's teaching g and discipline with this money in either concealed or open projects or groups.  It is  patently clear that at least in this group, none of these Catholics wish to leave the Church, but quite the opposite.

Critics on the document of the Bishops are also coming from the worldly media.  This is what the "Sudddeutsche" in a commentary last Monday:  "The signal from outside is catastrophic however:  It doesn't apply to people who are leaving, it's all abut the church finances.  It is not applied in the first line n people who are going, who apostatize,  the quarrelsome, who have become estranged, for whom the Church stand -- rather it is accounted to secure the institution."

Even Catholic bloggers have shown themselves not afrighted  by the document from Bonn and showed some humor.  The following joke is circulating:  "Hey, did you know who the patron saint of the German Bishops' Conference is?  Naturally, St. Mathew, patron saint of tax collectors ;-)"

Das Vatikanschreiben (Write the Vatican) ACTUS FORMALIS DEFECTIONIS AB ECCLESIA CATHOLICA im Wortlaut 

Will Pope Benedict Ditch Assisi III?

Edit: was alerted to this development. Apparently, Asssisi III isn't on the Holy Father's calender.

VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 27, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI will preside at a canonization Mass and make at least one pastoral visit within Italy in October, and in November he will make his second international trip to Africa, reports the Vatican.

Today, the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff published the Pope's event schedule for the months of October and November.

Missing from the schedule is the previously announced pilgrimage to Assisi on Oct. 27, which will mark the 25th anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Peace, convoked by Pope John Paul II in 1986. The day is being organized under the title "Pilgrims of truth, pilgrims of peace."

Holy Father Foreshadows Assisi Meeting as a Battle Cry Against Relativism: Feast of Peter and Paul

Editor: Paying close attention to what the Holy Father is saying in his address to the Patriarch of Constantinople on the Feast of Peter and Paul, he points to his intention at this coming Assisi to declare the truth of the Gospel and a decisive attack on relativism.

Benedict XVI received the delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople for the event of the high feast of St. Peter and Paul. by Armin Schwibach

Rome (kath.net/as)The event of the high feast of St. Peter and Paul, which will be celebrated tomorrow on Wednesday, began today with a visit of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on its traditional visit to Rome. The representative of the Patriarch was received by Pope Benedict XVI.

In his address Benedict XVI stressed that Jesus, the Lord, had given the task to the Apostles, to be the witnesses of the Gospel of Salvation. The Apostles had brought this mission to its completion and proved their faith in Christ by a bloody sacrifice of their lives and the love of the Father.

The Pope accentuated that the participation of the Orthodox delegation on the feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul in Rome brings brotherhood to expression, which the Church of Rome and the Patriarchate of Constantinople are bound together, for which Benedict XVI. expressed his gratitude. At the same time however, the growth in the still incomplete unity between the both churches must continue to grow, in order to come to a complete and visible unity.

The friendship between the Catholic Church and the Patriarchate of Constantinople forms a secure bond through the witness of the faith received by the Apostles. At the moment it is possible with the common witness for the truth of the Gospel, to help the people of today, to find the way, which will lead them to the truth.

The Pope recalled then the adoption, which Patriarch Bartholemeos participates respective of the basic themes of the quest for the truth, justice and peace. IN consideration of Blessed John Paul II, Benedict XVI invited all Christians, who are members of other religious traditions, as well as personalities throughout the world of culture to participate, in the event which will take place on the 27th of October in Assisi. The common way through the streets of the city of St. Francis, "will be a sign of the desire to set out on the way of dialog and brotherhood."

Link to kath.net...

Pope Benedict Consecrates New Church in "Little Hell"

Italy. Yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the new Titlular Church of Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, the new parish church of St. Corbianiano in the Roman suburb of "Infernetto". The name is translated as "little Hell". In his Sermon the Pope recalled that St. Korbinian († 730) traveled to Rome and had his mount ripped from under him. Thereupon he put his burden on the bear. As he came to Rome, he turned the animal free again.



Brought over from Kreuz.net...

Two German Attorneys Charge Benedict With Crimes Against Humanity in World Court

Once again invoking the rare instance of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, they have an agenda to promote.  It's the only institution left in the world which is standing against their dictatorship of relativism. 

TWO GERMAN lawyers have initiated charges against Pope Benedict XVI at the International Criminal Court, alleging crimes against humanity.

Christian Sailer and Gert-Joachim Hetzel, based at Marktheidenfeld in the Pope’s home state of Bavaria, last week submitted a 16,500-word document to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at the Hague, Dr Luis Moreno Ocampo.

Their charges concern “three worldwide crimes which until now have not been denounced . . . (as) the traditional reverence toward ‘ecclesiastical authority’ has clouded the sense of right and wrong”.

Read further...

Will the Pope Allow King Juan Carlos to Sign the Abortion Law?

Apparently, there are reports that the King of Spain is being given permission by the Pope to sign this thing into law. This will be very interesting, indeed. In any event, so far, this is only one person, Alfonso Ussia, saying that this is what happened. It would be hard to believe indeed if the Pope were to have said this.

It also brings to mind article by Dr. Thomas Drolesky about Cardinal Cushing of Boston, who once told a radio audience when he was interviewed about how a Catholic politician should vote about allowing contraception to be sold in his district, that the politician has to represent his constituency before he is true to his Catholic Faith, so the Church teachings need to take a back seat to Americanism.

This is a strikingly similar pattern.

A google translation from Christinidad reads:

Little presaged in the early hours of Saturday, the information would be heard in the last moments of "Tears in The Rain", the film program and discussion of Juan Manuel de Prada on Intereconomía TV, that deals with the always hot Friday dilemma between monarchy and republic.

He had shown the film My Street (1960), Edgar Neville, and along with the show's hosts, Prada and Maria Carcaba, had discussed the issue with Miguel Ayuso, Professor of Constitutional Law, Dalmacio Black, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Peter González-Trevijano, rector of the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, and Alfonso Ussía writer.

In the final minutes a point was raised of different moral issues that may arise in a Constitutional Monarchy in the case of Catholic kings. The most famous were those of Henry of Luxembourg (which in 2008 refused to sanction the legalization of euthanasia), Baudouin (who in 1990 refused to enact the law on abortion) or Don Juan Carlos (who passed twice, in 1985 and 2010).

But it was when he took the floor and launched Alfonso Ussía's informative bombshell of the night: "The king went to see the Pope and ten days ago, the Pope said, 'you meet your obligation. Their duty is to obey the Constitution' The King personally went to see the Pope to request some relief."

Link to intercommunia, here

Christianidad, here.

ReligionenLibertad.com, here.

H/t: fisheaters

A New Motu Proprio on Liturgy is Here

Hero-Bishop Williamson

Bishop Williamson described a Motu Proprio that was to come out soon, back in August. There was also talk from Bruno Volpe of a Motu Proprio touching on the current talks between the SSPX and Rome.   Bishop Williamson also mentioned this talk as we reported.  No sooner this than that denials came forth by Society Superior Bishop Fellay that there was any such Motu Proprio in the future.

The current one in the works looks like it will touch on the Mass, and there's no indication that it will deal with the SSPX at all, but we'll see more when it comes out.  Here's an excerpt from Rorate Caeli.

The document, which will be published as a motu proprio, is the result of a long development - it has been reviewed by the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts and by the offices of the Secretariat of State - and is mainly motivated by the transferral of competences on matrimonial matters to the Roman Rota. ... Foregoing this [competence], which will be passed on to the Rota, the Congregation for Divine Worship will not occupy itself, in fact, with the sacraments, and will keep solely its competence in liturgical matters.

According to some authoritative rumors, a passage of the motu proprio of Benedict XVI could expressly mention that "new liturgical movement" of which Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera has spoken in recent times, when intervening in last November's consistory.  ...

The Congregation for Divine Worship - which some would wish to rechristen as "of the Sacred Liturgy" or "of the Divine Liturgy" - will henceforth busy itself with this new liturgical movement, including the creation of a new section of the dicastery dedicated to sacred art and music.

Pope: The Church is not Merely the Dispenser of Social Services

Editor: While remaining ambivalent to the nature of the Church and the State, the Holy Father restates the importance of the State in maintaining the moral order.  Religion may not be merely limited as the participant in culture.

Rom (kath.net/as) This Thursday morning Pope Benedict invited the new ambassador of the Republic of Austria to the Holy See, Alfons M. Kloss, for the handing over of qualifications, with which this extraordinary and appointed emissary was accredited.

In his address Benedict XVI. called Austria the "Land of Cathedrals", that in its culture, its history and not least in everyday life, the faith is deeply stamped and, while at the same time it could demonstrate a long history of friendly coexistence between different religions and cultures.

The Pope went about the "peculiar tension" in the relation between Church and State which exist in the various states of Europe.  It appears that one wants to adjust the Gospel to the culture, yet it is painfully intended to avoid the fact that the culture has been participated in by the religious.

As a second point Benedict stressed the actuality of the respect for religious freedom, which allows the ecclesiastical community to exercise its various activities, from which from which the entire society makes use. The engagement of the Church has its deepest foundation in God, "in God, is love": "therefore it is necessary, to attend the nature and actual effect of the Church, without making it merely a bearer of social services.  It is much more evident in the completeness of a religious dimension."


So, there is in place of prayer, "the tendency to counter egotistical individualism.  For all communal powers consist in the penetrating and persistent mission, to secure the moral dimension of the culture, the dimension of a culture, that which is representative of people as well as of life in society. 

Finally the Pope underlined the importance of family politics and the meaning of marriage as a natural help to social ordering:  "Therefore, marriage and family necessitates the special protection of the state.  They are, for all of their members, a school of humanity with positive consequences for the individual and for society."

The Pope's complete address is available on kath.net in German, here...

King of Rome and Jerusalem Bears Gifts to Poor Children

Rome, Jan 5 (DPA) Pope Benedict XVI Wednesday visited a Rome hospital where he distributed gifts to children on the eve of the Catholic Feast of the Epiphany. Dozens of children - some held in the arms of their parents - waved yellow-and-white Vatican flags to greet the 83-year-old pontiff as he arrived at the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic. Some of the patients of the hospital's paediatric centre sang a hymn for the pontiff who, thanking them, offered prayers that they may be cured of their illnesses.
Read further, here...

Spain: Record for Pilgrimage of St. James

The Holy Year of James in Santiago de Compstela has come to an end -- Correspondent's Report by Manuel Meyer

St. James in Battle

Santiago de Compostela (www.kath.net/ KAP)  With a historic record number of pilgrims, the "Holy Year of James" is at an end this Friday in the northern Spanish pilgrimage destination of Santiago de Compostela.  "It is almost inconceivable, but we have registered a total number of 271.93", said the director of the Office of Pilgrimage in Santiago, Jenaro Cebrian, says Katholischen Nachrichten-Agentur  (KNA)  In his "wildest dreams" it was at the most 240.000... in any case, he had prepared his office well and had even ordered ten temporary employees; but still no one could have figured on such a massive surge in numbers, said the director of the Pilgrimage Office.

Especially chaotic were the busiest Months of July and August. "In July we had 40.000 and in August   60.000 registered pilgrims -- we've never had so many before."  The number of pilgrims has been climbing continuously in the past years.  In the "Holy Year of James" in 1993 there were 99.436;  in the last "Xacobeo"  2004 there were another 179.944.

 "The Spanish James Pilgrimmage is today as beloved as never before",  said Ignacio Santos also, General Director of the Xacobeo-Consortium, which is responsible for the organizing of the "Year of St. James".  In order to care for the mass of pilgrims, the Consortium erected ten new hospices on the various St. James Pilgrimage routes through Spain.  In addition there were mobile Pilgrim shelters established along the beloved "French way", so that no pilgrim would have to sleep under the open sky.  Even so there weren't enough sleeping areas.  "I had to walk until five o'clock in the morning, so that I could get to the the next day's destination.  Otherwise I would have not gotten a bed",  said 39 year old Madrilene Cesar Perez, who had taken the "French way" .

For all, the destination is Santiago, to which all eight of the paths go, the place to which all are bound.  In addition, there are more than 2.000 cultural events of the accompanying cultural performances with demonstrations, concerts and other events which in the estimation o fthe media consist of about eight million visiters who have been drawn to the city.  Actually not everyone is pleased by this.   "When you have been walking through nature all week and are looking for reflection, the arrival in Santiago can be almost a shock",  said Cesar Perez.

The Church tried to accomodate the pilgrims with five daily pilgrimage Masses and spiritual conferences.  For this there were not a few pilgrims who would have liked more peace at the end of their jounrey.  Even for Xacobeo-Director Ignacio Santos it was a balancing act between the protection of the religious character of the pilgrimage and its commercial exploitation, whose business element is very important in the financially poor region.

Next to the plenary indulgence for every Pilgrim who goes to the "St. James Year" in Santiago and goes to confession, even the market crisis in Spain plays an enormous role in the climb of the number of pilgrims:  many see the pilgrimage as a suitable alternative to a vacation, says Jenaro Cebrian.

The Pope too admonished the pilgrims on his visit at the beginning of November to Santiago, that the pilgrims do not exhaust their  wonder in seeking out some destination for its natural beauty, artistic treasures or history.  It's more important for a pilgrim to have an encounter with God in a place, which he has shown himself in a particular way.

From the tomb of the Aposgle Benedict XVI. recalled Europe to its "Christian roots".  And even at the beginning of the "Holy Year" he had expressed his hope that as many, who have gone further from believe in God, might come back to him.  And the faithful should be encouraged by the pilgrimage to rethink their Faith and to deepen it.

A "Holy Year" always takes place in Santiago when the previous year the date of the Apostle's death the 25th of July should fall on a Sunday.  That will not take place again until 2021.

Read original... kath.net...

Copyright 2010 Katholische Presseagentur, Wien, Österreich (www.kathpress.at) Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

The Holy Family -- The Model For Every Family

After violent attacks against Christians in Nigeria and the Philippines the Pope called for peace and forgiveness.

Rome [kath.net/as]  This year the Feast of the Holy Family fell on the first Sunday after Christmas on today's feast of St. Stephen.  In his address before the traditional prayer of the Angelus, Pope Benedict expressed the unity of the Holy Family, which must be a model for every family.

After the Angelus the Pope discussed the episodes of violence which occured in the Phillipines and in Nigeria against Christians,  which in the Philippines claimed 32and in Nigeria a dozen lives.  Benedict XVI renewed an urgent call for peace and reconciliation and explained his sorrow for the victims of this "absurd act of violence".

"I renew again my outcry to leave the way of hate, for peaceful solutions for these conflicts, and to create security and peace for these dear people," said Benedict XVI.  "On this day, when we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family, who survived the dramatic experience of beimg pursued by Herod's murderous anger into Egypt, remind us also of everyone and especially families who are forced to leave their homes because of war.  To flee violence and intolerance.  I invite you, therefore, to join me in prayer, to ask the Lord that He could touch the hearts of men and instill hope, reconciliation and peace.

On the feast of the Holy Family the Pope asks the faithful, to consider this "Ikon", in which the small Jesus in the midst of affection and concern of His parents.  Every child has something of this mystery within.   People don't only experience the procreation of children solely as a pure act of reproduction.  They "take its richness for real and understand that every person, who comes into the world, comes as a sign for the prominence of the creator and the Father in Heaven."  For this reason it is important that every child that comes into the world should be received in to the warmth of a family.

Extraordinary luxuries are not important, said Benedict XVI rather just the love of the father and the mother.   This gives the child security and places him in their care, to discover the reason for life.

The Holy Father greeted the pilgrims from Germany with the following words:

A Christmas Greeting for the pilgrims and visitors in the German language.   Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family.  The word of God has become man and has grown in a family, which had protected him from the storms of the time.  Jesus Christ also blessed our families and left the gift of his divine love shining in them.  For you and your loves I wish you a Grace filled Christmas time.

Read original, kath.net. ...

Study: 83 Percent of Poles Trust Benedict XVI

Only 15 of those questioned knew who the Primate of Poland's name.

Warsaw (kath.net/KAP) In Poland Pope Benedict XVI. enjoys the highest esteem of all Catholic worthies.   83 percent of those over 14- years old trust the Church head, according to a study of the Institute GfK of Poland in connection to the paper "Rzeczpospolita" [Thursday] .  He follos the local Bishop 73 percent or  local Pastor (71 Perent).   For the study, 1.000 Poles were personally asked.

Only 15 Perxent of those questioned knew correspondingly, the name of the Primate of Poland elected last June, Archbishop Josef Kowalczyk.  Never the less 73 percent said they trusted the honorary head of the Church of Poland.  17 Percent believed that Warsaw Cardinal  Kazimierz Nycz was primate: 15 Percent thought that Cardinal Jozef Glemp still occupies the office.

A majority of 56 Percent spoke out on the subject that the Church in Poland will be supported completely by collections and donations; 8 Percent desire a Church tax like in Germany.   Still in the summer Opinion Taker CBOS reported sinking polls for the Church.  According to that 35percent of Poles have a negative opinion of the institution.   Correspondingly only 54 percent of the Church was positive about the work of the Church.  In April was was still 73 percent.

 Read original at kath.net...

Faith and Politics Meet: Pope Benedict on Faith and Legislation

Benedict XVI to the New Ambassador from Hungary:  Legislative initiatives which value alternative relationships and family models, will promote the relativization of legislation and awareness of values in society.

Rome (kath.net/as)This morning Pope Benedict received in audience the new Ambassador of the Republic of Hungary to the Holy See, Gábor Győriványi.  In his German address, the Holy Father recalled the reinstatement of diplomatic relations with the Holy See and the Hungarian Republic in 1990 and expresse the hope, "that the deep wounds of the materialistic conception of man, which after  45 long years years will strengthen and heal the heart and society of the citizens of your land, in a climate of peace, freedom and attention to the dignity of man."

Benedict XVI explained that the Catholic Faith belongs as the cornerstone of Hungary's history.  Politics and Christendom [Sic] were touched upon: "The Faith has its own certain and particular nature as an encounter with the living God, who opens a new horizon wide of an actual domain of reason.  But he is also a purifying power for the reason thereby, that he enables reason, to do Faith's work better and to better see its qualities.  For that reason commands and patterns of behavior which impose, which don't take part in the Faith.  It simply goes to the purification of reason, which will help, that which, what is good and just, which is understood here and now and then can be carried out".

The Pope underscored then that it is of importance that a new constitution of the land is inspired by Christian values, respects marriage and family, and defends the country.

"We all know, how much marriage and family are engangered today --  to which through the removal of its most essential values of the constancy and indissolubility on the basis of an increasing liberalization of divorce and increasing habit of cohabitation between man and woman without the legal recognition and the protection of marriage, to various other forms of life styles which have no foundation in the culture and legal history of Europe.

The Church can not endorse legislative initiatives which legitimate alternative partnerships and family models:  "They attack the principles of natural legal principles and thus are for the relatizing of  legislation and also the consciousness of social values."\


The rest of the Pope's speech is down at kath.net...

This Identity is Self-Awareness: A Study of Ecumenism and Novelty

Through all epochs the Catholic Church and only the Catholic Church shows itself to be the Church of Christ.  by Doctor Wolfgang Schüler

Personified Representation of Mother Church

 (kreuz.net)The Communion-Ecclesiology of the early Church -- so far as I see -- never answered the question if the Church of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church are one and the same.

Because this identity is self-evident to it.

That goes not only for the early Church Communion-Ecclesiology, but the whole tradition of the Church up to the Pastoral Council.


No Renewal, Rather a Novelty

Alexandra von Teuffenbach in her book which appeared in 2002 in Munich "The Meaning of 'subsistit in' (LG 8) -- in the Self-Consciousness of the Catholic Church" came to the following conclusion:

"When we let our glance glide through the epochs of Ecclesiological History, we recognize, that it's always the Catholic Church and only the Catholic Church  that shows itself to have been the Church of Christ."

Therefore one can say: With the doctrine that the Church of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church not being one in the same, the Pastoral council constitutes a break with the complete teaching tradition of the Church.

The understanding of the Pastoral Council of the Catholic Church is not reconcilable with the self-conception of the Church.

For that reason the Communion-Ecclesiology of the Pastoral Council is not a renewal of the early Church Communio-Ecclesiology, but it is nothing to this but complete novelty.


The End of Ecumenism

The overdue correction of 'subsistit-in' teaching could have far reaching consequences.

This teaching  had opened the door to the Ecumenism of the Pastoral Council.

Really this door will be closed again, if Rome returns to the traditional teaching of the Church, which means, that the Catholic Church is the Church of Jesus Christ.

The entire Ecumenical Decree would then be decrepit.

Benedict XVI. has hinted at this understanding, as he held his lecture over "the ecclesiology of the Constitution of Lumen Gentium", which was held on 27.2. 2000, saying:

"In the difference between 'subsisit' and 'est' conceals the entire ecumenical problem".

Read original, here...

Moscow Patriarchate, Vatican wage common fight against secular liberalism - Patriarch Kirill

Moscow, November 19, Interfax -Despite a difficult relationship between the Russian Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches, they have been effectively cooperating along many avenues, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia told students and diplomats at the Russian Foreign Ministry Diplomatic Academy in Moscow.

"Together with the Roman Catholic Church we have been defending the traditional Christian concept of family and human values from aggressive secular liberalism. Our Churches are waging a common fight against medico-biological experiments incompatible with respect for human dignity," His Holiness said.

Cooperation with the Roman Catholic Church has become possible thanks to Pope Benedict XVI and is proceeding simultaneously along several avenues.

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=7927

Motu Proprio Regulations Before Christmas?

The Mass of All Ages

The Traditionalists have been waiting for three years for the regulations for the implementation of the Motu Proprio 'Summuorum Pontificum'.  Is it still really necessary?

(kreuz.net, Vatikan)  The publication of the regulations for the implementation of the Motu Proprio 'Summorum Pontificum" of July 2007 is almost here.

This is according to the news site 'kathnews.de'.  The page cites "high Vatican sources".

Finally Here After Three Years?

Already in  2007 it was known that the regulations for the implementation of the Motu Proprio 'Summorum Pontificum' would appear.


Since then many publication deadlines have been announced and gone.

The site 'kathnews' knows why:  "The document was already completely revised, but then had to be reworked and corrected on certain points."


A corrected version of the text by the Pope will be produced in the coming days. 

The website figures that the regulations for implementation will be ready still before Christmas.

There will supposedly be clarified any "open questions in relation to the handling" of the old Mass.

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The Bishop is Neither Manager Nor Bureaucrat!

Benedict XVI. on the Shepherd's Responsibilities of the Successors of the Apostles -- by Armin Schwibach/ Rome

Rome[kath.net/as] The Bishop is not a pure manager, he is not a bureaucrat or a simple moderator and organizer of the life of the diocese. Much more, he must be a "father, brother and friend" and be on the "Christian and human path", who knows he has to create, "an atmosphere of trust, acceptance, sympathy, but also uprightness and justice".

With these words Pope Benedict XVI. addressed a second group of newly ordained Bishops this morning, who participated in a course organized by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

In his speak the Pope adumbrated a proper life program, that has validity for every Bishop. For that he went to some "enlightening" words of St. Thomas Aquinas. "Authority" and "Love" as "caritas" are says Thomas the fundamental requirements for a Bishop, which is also defined in the Dogmatic Constitution of the Second Vatican Council, "Lumen Gentium". The Council explains: "A bishop, since he is sent by the Father to govern his family, must keep before his eyes the example of the Good Shepherd, who came not to be ministered unto but to minister,(comp. Mt 20,28; Mk 10,45) and to lay down his life for his sheep (comp. Joh 10,11).

Taken from among men and compassed with weakness, he can have compassion for them, who are in ignorance and error (comp. Hebr 5,1-2). He should not refuse to hear his subordinates, who he cares for like true sons and be exhorted work eagerly with them. For he will give an account for your souls before God (comp. Hebr 13,17), should you observe through prayer, preaching and cared for him with any kind of charitable work, the same for any, who are still not of the same flock and are yet really commended by the Lord.

That he is as the Apostle Paul the most sinful, he is ready, to preach the Gospel to all (comp. Röm 1,14-15) and encourage his faithful to missionary zeal. (Lumen Gentium, 27)

The assignment of Bishops, according to the admonitions of Benedict VI., may never be understood within a mentality, in which efficiency an effectiveness are understood as the the center points. The attention of the Bishops may not valid in the first line to consider "what is to be done"; it is much more necessary, "to always keep the ontological dimension, which stands on the basis of the functional dimension."

So the office of the Bishop is located "within a deep perspective of faith and not simply in a human, administrative or sociologically certain perspective".


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