Another Traditional Society Being Wrecked by Bergoglian Commissar

Traditional Society of Familia Christi by the papal commissioner in fact dissolved.

(Rome) The Commissar appointed by Pope Francis has de facto dissolved a traditional
fraternity. Not one reason for the drastic measure was mentioned. The Priestly Societt of Familia Christi is the first genuinely Italian Ecclesia Dei community. This is the name given to the traditional communities that are committed to the traditional form of the Roman rite and are therefore subordinate to the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, today a division of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It also appears to be the cause of the profound aversion to the Society which progressive Italian Churches hold against them and the Archbishop, who recognized them as ecclesiastical.

 The Priestly Fraternity Familia Christi (FSFC) is ecclesiastically a clerical society of Apostolic life of diocesan right. Its founder, at that time still as a lay association, is the Vatican diplomat Msgr. Giuseppe Canovai, who died in 1942 at the age of only 37 years. Before joining the diplomatic service of the Holy See, Canovai was a student pastor in Italy. In this capacity, he founded the lay association Familia Christi, which was recognized in 1938 under canon law. His spiritual diary, which he kept from the age of 15, is considered a special treasure and aid for personal sanctification. His beatification process is under way. After a long journey, priestly vocations grew out of the lay association, eventually leading to the founding of the fraternity. In 2014, after a long examination, it was first recognized by the then Archbishop of Ferrara-Comacchio, Msgr. Luigi Negri, and canonised on 8th September 2016, the Feast of the Nativity, with the benevolence of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei according to diocesan law.

Archbishop Negri, who was praised by Pope Benedict XVI., among the diocesan bishops of Italy. He was attacked accordingly. After the election of Pope Francis, his opponents tried to get rid of him as soon as possible. At the same time, people did not shy away from public discrediting. Although Msgr. Negri remained in office until the age of 75, it was not one day longer. In his book he spoke in connection with these hostilities,  of a "climate of retribution". The change at the Church hierarchy at the  top made it possible.

With his retirement, though in good health, the problems for the Fraternity of Familia Christi began. The appointment of the successor meant a provocative break with Negri's line. The new archbishop was Msgr. Giancarlo Perego, a "street priest" who "works on the margins" in February 2017, as he was officially described. A "super-progressive migration advocate", as the Vaticanist Marco Tosatti put it.

The same was repeated in Ferrara, which had previously happened in the archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels.  There, too, Pope Francis retired Archbishop André Joseph Leonard, hated in progressive church circles, as soon as he was 75 years old. Previously, he had already denied him the cardinalatial dignity, which is traditionally associated with the most important diocese of Belgium. No sooner had Leonard's successor, the progressive Jozef De Kesel been installed than he began to dismantle Leonard's acknowledged, New Rite, but "too conservative" brotherhood of the holy apostles.


The numerous priestly vocations of the Society did not speak well for them, but were a thorn in the side of the progressive church circles with their empty seminaries. Finally, the Priestly Fraternity, whose priests were very popular in the parishes entrusted to them in and around Brussels, was banished from Belgium by De Kesel, whom Francis, unlike Leonard, was immediately called to be a  Cardinal, and dissolved by Pope Francis.

Christmas Mass 2017, the Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity, blesses Santa Maria in Vado.

Like De Kesel, Msgr. Perego immediately showed an open aversion to the traditional fraternity of Familia Christi. He deprived the priests of the parish church of Santa Maria in Vado, an ancient basilica in the center of Ferrara, where in 1171 a Eucharistic miracle took place, which had been
entrusted to them  by Archbishop Negri. The expulsion took place under the pretext of a "structural reform" through parish mergers to pastoral units. On October 1, 2016, Archbishop Negri, in the presence of the mayor of Ferrara and other officials, had canonically appointed the Superior General of the Society in the traditional rite as Pastor of Santa Maria in Vado and other Friar Ministers as chaplains.

Further unfriendliness by Archbishop Perego followed. He banished the Brothers to a secluded church and denied them the public celebration of Holy Mass in the traditional rite of the churches entrusted to them. At the same time he set up a "people's altar" in a central chapel of the Ferrara Cathedral, where Archbishop Negri celebrated Mass in the traditional rite.

On December 1, 2018, the Prefect of the Roman Congregation of the Faith, Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer SJ, appointed the Auxiliary Bishop of Rome, Archbishop Daniele Libanori SJ, as "the Commissioner Plenipotentiary sent by the Holy See". Father Libanori, co-brother of the Pope in the Order of the Jesuits, was appointed as auxiliary bishop by Francis in November 2017.

The Commissar, with all authority, took over the leadership of the Society with the task of clarifying whether "the elements and conclusions" that had emerged in the course of a canonical visitation were well founded, and "if necessary to establish future paths for the fraternity".

What "elements and conclusions" were found, is still unknown.

Marco Tosatti wrote:

"And again the question arises: what such a serious thing can these priests have done to attract the canonical attention of a church, such as the Franciscans of the Immaculate, the Gospel of the Gospels, or the Sisters of Laval, to any kind of doctrinal and theologically approves and favors bizarre and affirms prelates without hesitating in important and delicate offices, which speak out for the gay marriage and the women's priesthood. "

Archbishop Perego had had a canonical visitation of the Brotherhood in 2018 and sent his report to Rome on September 30. The wish he expressed in it was promptly fulfilled by the Holy See: Rome sent a Commisar.

Tossati in December 2018:

"And then one wants to make us believe that this pontificate is merciful, rich in dialogue and tolerant of the various sensitivities and by no means biased and hostile to certain ecclesial realities," Tosatti said in December 2018.

Commissar  Daniele Libanori SJ


On 30 June, the Commissar issued a decree unbinding all priests, novices and subjects of all promises and commitments. In a nutshell, he dissolved the Society  and sent home all those who are not yet ordained priests. Although the Society of Familia Christi was not dissolved by formal law, all its activities are prohibited. It may no longer accept, arouse, or look after any vocations. The Society members, who are already ordained priests, "remain in a kind of limbo," according to the traditional side Messa in Latino.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Priestly Fraternity Familia Christi (screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Billy Goat and Gardener: Pedophile Friend as Lecturer at Pontifical Center for Child Protection

Patrick Degrieck as Lecturer for the Pontifical Center for Child Protection has spoken
on the topic of "Secondary Victims" in child sexual abuse.
In the picture above (from the right) Bischop Bonny (Antwerp) und Cardinal De Kesel (Mecheln-Brüssel)

By Ferdinand Boischot

In the last 50 years, the Catholic Church has been devastated by a huge wave of pedophile and ephebophilic abuse by Church employees and dignitaries.

For a long time, and very intensely, incredible abominations have been committed, which are in total contrast to the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Particularly deplorable is the embedding of the perpetrators into large networks and the protection of the perpetrators by obstruction on many levels of the Church hierarchy.

As early as 1995, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then under the leadership of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, had been very courageous and persistently prosecuted these atrocities and called for punishment.

After his election to the Papacy, Benedict XVI.  was not infrequently sabotaged in this line by well-known bishops, cardinals, and bishops' conferences.

Under Pope Francis, dealing with the problem of pedophile offenders in the Church has fundamentally changed:

-Few and resolute statements, on the one hand, and a very different approach to pedophile offenders, where Pope Francis, apparently, personally chooses to employ perpetrators in pastoral situations (Don Mercedes case), and intervenes with the personnel of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He intervenes in such cases, if sympathetic shepherds are being prosecuted.

Patrick Degrieck as a speaker at the Center for Child Protection in Rome [Photo]

In December 2014, the CCP (Center for Child Protection) was established on the personal initiative of Pope Francis at the Pontifical University of the Gregoriana to study this problem. The director was the Austrian Jesuit and psychologist Hans Zollner SJ.

On March 9, 2017 the Gregoriana reported on two lectures held a few days earlier by Prof. Karlijn Demasure from the University of Louvain and F (ather) Patrick Degrieck from the Diocese of Bruges and a member of the Belgian Research Commission Bishops.

Belgium, and particularly the Flemish North, suffered particularly severely from pedophile atrocities.

The so-called "Catholic" University of Leuven has not done anything for decades, but has supported the pedophile-tolerating line of Cardinal Danneels (until 2010 Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels), produced totally dissipated catechesis and religious studies books, and a broad and loud campaign against Pope Benedict XVI. And Archbishop Monsignor Léonard (the successor of Danneels, was appointed by Benedict XVI).

In the end of 2014, the Religious Science Department stupidly had a lot of sermons and statements from the pedophile bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, on their website, Thomas (which was still present more than four and a half years after his unmasking).

With the priest Patrick Degrieck, a noted pedophile friend and supporter has managed to speak before a large public at the Child Protection Center CCP.

Patrick Degrieck and  Tom Flavez

On October 27, 2014, the Kerknet site, which belongs to the bishops of north Belgium, reported that the then Bishop of Bruges, Jozef De Kesel, assigned Tom Flavez as a pastor in the West Flemish coastal community of Middelkerke.

Immediately a tremendous turmoil ensued. The population protested massively, the (liberal) mayoress and the council unleashed the storm and the restaurant and hotel sector and went to the barricades: it was apparent that T.F. was a convicted pedophile.

However, Bishop De Kesel remained stubborn. He said that "... everyone deserves a second chance ... He [De Kesel] made this decision after careful consideration and with the support of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The bishop will not change his decision." The latter is extremely rare for the otherwise not very brave De Kesel).

Within 48 hours it was discovered that T.F. had repeatedly relapsed. Despite all the conditions, he had always had dealings with children, liked to be photographed and posed everywhere in churches' websites.

On the 31st of October, in the morning, Kerknet was informed that "... the bishop (De Kesel) has to withdraw the applicant from nomination."

Vangheluwe's shadow

In the following weeks, the bomb detonated of a number of uncovered pedophile rapists in the Diocese of Bruges. The bishops De Kesel and Bonny (Antwerp) were summoned before Parliament and "grilled".

It soon became apparent that both Tom Flavez and Patrick Degrieck had been ordained priests by the pedophile Bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, and knew this very well. Tom Flavez was the only one tohelp Vangheluwe move from the episcopal palace in Bruges in 2010. According to reliable testimonies, Flavez and Degrieck never missed his birthday without a visit and a small present.

Patrick Degrieck studied 1986-1989 theology and canon law in the University of Leuven. From 1989 to 1997 he was a priest-teacher at H. Hartcollege in Waregem (which was also A school affected by abuse). Since then he has been a Church jurist in Bruges (now also in Antwerp with Bishop Bonny) and professor of Holy Scripture at the priestly seminary in Bruges.

Degrieck was very practical and clever as a church jurist in 2013-2014, responsible for the case of his pedophile friend T.F., apparently supplying incomplete documents to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in order to get a favorable assessment.

The fact that Bishop De Kesel tried to unload his own serious mistakes on the back of Cardinal Prefect Gerhard Müller made the case even more shabby.

As a result, Tom Flavez had to vacate his apartment in the Ordinariat and continued "with an unknown occupation." He was caught up by his old comrade Patrick Degrieck in the convent of Our Lady of Sorrows in Ruiselede, not far from Bruges, where Degrieck (not laughing) became a "spiritual director."

Patrick Degriek in the CCP

Degrieck's "Awareness Training"

Degrieck, incidentally, was in the immediate phase after the break-up of the Vangheluwe affair and the (hesitant)investigator of the sex scandal of the Church jurist and the bishops' expert in the inner-Church "Andriessen's Investigation Commission."

In November 2010 an interview with Degrieck, deeply disturbing by the oily tone and the hypocritical content, was published in the magazine Het Teken, 83rd edition, no.5 (Nov. 2010) - notabene interviewed by Doenja van Belleghem, then director of a "Roger Vangheluwe support group".

The many crimes, deceptions and cover-ups, embedded in a pedophile, ephebo, and homophilic swamp of the local clergy, were extensively documented and analyzed at www.kavlaanderen.blogspot.be (keyword: Crisis in de Kerk ... hoezo?).

The press reported in part very thoroughly.

De Kesel, Flavez and Degrieck were badly burned.

Patrick Degrieck at the CCP

Bishop De Kesel's position in Bruges had become untenable. Not more than a year later he was called to take over the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels.

It took a very long time for a new bishop to be appointed, by the way, from East Flanders (Ghent), which is not involved in the West Flemish problems.

Pope Francis, known for his personal preferences, appointed Jozef De Kesel as Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels in spite of all the mistakes and concealments, and made him a cardinal (which he denied to the dedicated advocate for the right to life and to combat abuse in the Church, Bishop Léonard).

Billy Goat and Gardner

Since the end of 2014 Degrieck has hardly been able to do anything in Belgium.

To this end, he gave a lecture in Rome in 2017 before the Pontifical Center for the Protection of Children, and the topic "Secondary Victims".

He is a well-known specialist in the field of cover-up and embodiment of these vile deeds, and as a highlight also of the victims' offenses: considering the perpetrators as "also victims" (sic Danneels), and probably their own impulses.

Psychiatrically this is well known: denial - displacement - sublimation by association with the victims - absorption.

The perpetrators themselves give themselves absolution.

Widely and well known. Zero Consequences.

And now also with access to the highest channels of the Church in Rome.

Miserere Dei

Text: Ferdinand Boischot

Image: CCPBlog (Screenshots)

Trans: veleon99@hotmail.com

AMDG

After the Priestly Society, Daneels' Protege Also Casts Out Communities of Jerusalem

The Communities of Jerusalem Leave Belgium (photo of their establishment
in Great St. Martin Church in Cologne)

(Brussels) An icy wind is blowing now under the new Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels. After throwing out the Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles from his diocese, the Communities of the Brothers and Sisters of Jerusalem must now pack their bags.

Jozef De Kesel was appointed Archbishop of Brussels and Primate of Belgium at the end of 2015 by Pope Francis. His appointment ended a five-year-old plan begun by Pope Benedict XVI. in an attempt to correct the progressive course of the Belgian Church. With the appointment of De Kesel, the old squad of Cardinal Godfried Danneels returned. De Kesel had already been Danneel's chosen successor in 2010. In November 2016 De Kesel was elevated to the rank of Cardinal by Francis. A dignity denied to his predecessor, Léonard.

Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles

De Kesel's predecessor and Danneel's successor, Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard had brought the Fraternité des Saints Apetres / Broederschap van de Saint Apostles of the French priest, Michel-Marie Zanotti, into the country. The Society took over the care of two parishes in the Brussels region and founded a seminary. Archbishop Léonard insisted on this parallel priestly training, hoping to train a new clergy.  Three years after the foundation, 21 young men were already preparing for the priesthood. The new foundation was "too successful," as it was described behind the scenes. De Kesel, only a few months in office, blocked the priestly seminary and threw the priestly brotherhood "from solidarity with France's bishops" out of his archdiocese. At the same time, he made sure that they were not included in any other Belgian diocese. "France also needs priests", was the well-founded reasoning.

In reality, De Kesel strives to make a tabula rasa of the "restorative" phase of his predecessor. The Church understanding of the Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles was "miles" away from that Danneels, as it was said in Brussels. The traditional priesthood of the Society and the numerous priestly confreres, which were attracted to the Society were considered undesirable in progressive circles. De Kesel himself promoted the abolition of priestly celibacy shortly after his inauguration.

Brothers and Sisters of the Communities of Jerusalem

Now the brothers and sisters of the Communities of Jerusalem must also pack their bags. The Fraternités Monastiques de Jérusalem 2001, founded in France in 1975, were brought to Brussels by Cardinal Danneels. The monastic communities have two offices in Rome in Trinità dei Monti and in San Sebastiano al Palatino. Their charism is, among other things, to live in monastic isolation in the midst of large cities. Communities have been settled in the famous abbey of Mont Saint Michel in Normandy and also the abbey with the famous cathedral of St. Mary Magdalene of Vezelay. In the German-speaking world, there are branches in Greater St. Martin in Cologne and in Strasbourg.

The Belgian branch is located in Saint-Gilles, Flemish Sint Gillis, in the Brussels region, a highly multicultural area with social problems. In the parish there are adult catechumenates, numerous missionary and apostolic initiatives, bible circles and a community of Eucharistic worship.

The reason for the expulsion is in this case: reform of the pastoral units. Churches are abandoned and parishes are united. The Sint-Gilliskerk is to become the center of a larger pastoral unit, but the presence of the monastic communities, although they have revitalized the parish, is no longer desired.

Their Presence Not Desired by the Archdiocese

At the suggestion of the Archdiocese, the Community agreed to seek a new place of action. "We have complete confidence and are ready to work together," quotes Nuova Bussola Quotidiana (NBQ) Soeur Violaine and Frere Jean-Christophe, who are responsible for the Brussels branch. A new site has also been found, but the Archdiocese is only prepared to issue a guarantee for two years. This is too little for a community. When the community pressed for a longer time, the Archdiocese was opposed. After a discussion with the Archbishop and the delegates for consecrated life, "we have decided to withdraw," as the two leaders of the communities write. There was no room left.

The explanation bears a bitter undertone, which makes the disappointment of being forced out of the archdiocese after fifteen years. The leaders ask for prayer: "The future belongs to God. If He wants our Communities to return to Brussels one day, we will be very pleased."

The ouster of the Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles and now of the monastic Communities of Jerusalem raises questions. Can an archdiocese like Brussels afford to set aside two of its most fruitful communities?

"These are episodes that show that the Church in Brussels, or at least some of its high-ranking representatives, has a tendency to self-mutilation and an urge to centralize power," NBQ said.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Wikicommons

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Bishop Bonny (Antwerp): "New Rituals for the Blessing of Aberrosexuals and Second Marriages"

Bishop Bonny wants "New Rituals" for the blessing of aberrosexuals
and second marriages

(Brussels) Johan Bonny, the Bishop of Antwerp in Belgium, wants a private ritual to bless gay couples, second marriages and "wild marriages".

On the 6th of October, the Gazet van Antwerpen reported the plans of the bishop. In a few days, on 11 October, Bonny's book " Mag ik? Dank je. Sorry.Vrijmoedige dialoog over Relaties, huwlijk en gezin "(May I? Thank you. Sorry. Frank dialogue about relationships, marriage and family) will appear. As the Antwerp newspaper reported, the bishop is thinking aloud about "new religious rituals." In cooperation with Roger Burggraeve (Emeritus Professor of Moral Theology at the Theological Faculty of the Catholic University of Leuven ) and Ilse Van Halst (editor of the Antwerp church newspaper Kerk & Leven ) he says of the resulting book: "The question is whether we were able to put it all in a single model."

"Should we not develop various rituals in which we can recognize the reality of life between homosexuals and also from an ecclesiastical and religious perspective?

Because, says Bishop Bonny, homosexual couples can enter into an exclusive and long term relationship."The deep symbolic bond between the different sexes and the fertility of this relationship, becomes the real sacramental covenant," reported the newspaper about Bonny's theses.

Even remarried divorcees, says Bonny, demand a differentiating approach. The Antwerp Bishop "believes that the Church in some cases can bless a second union," wrote Gazet van Antwerpen .

"It is known that the Orthodox Church traditionally practiced the confirmation of a new union for reasons of charity, which allows the new couple to find a place in the community. This new blessing is not a repeat or a substitute for the first sacramental marriage. That was and remains unique."

Johan Bonny was  in 2008 at the request of Cardinal Godfried Danneels and with the help of the then apostolic nuncio in Belgium, Karl-Josef Rauber, named by  Benedict XVI. as Bishop of Antwerp.

Belgian Situation

Cardinal Danneels, at that time Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels and Primate of Belgium received criticism  because of his liberal views and aberrophilic church policy. 2010, where there were spectacular house searches in the episcopal palace and a scandalous grave desecration by the Belgian police, of the graves of departed bishops. There were no findings, and no official apology. Danneels survived everything.

Only Pope Benedict XVI. sought to correct the liberal course of the Belgian Church. This had previously become highly visible in the year, when only a single bishop defended the German Pope against the unprecedented criticism by the Belgian Parliament. The Parliament, unique in its history, had condemned the Pope's statement in a formal resolution, during his visit to Africa where he had reaffirmed the ecclesiastical condemnation of artificial contraception.

Catholic Action Flanders published this picture in response to Bonny's statements about a homo-event. What do children probably  think of the picture, who are the irresponsible ones there?

Against Cardinal Dannneels' wishes,  Benedict XVI. named this single courageous bishop, André-Joseph Léonard of Namur, as Primate of Belgium in January 2010. From the majority of progressive Church in Belgium, this was regarded as an unprecedented affront, one for which it has never forgiven Benedict. Nuncio Rauber, who was standing with these groups in the best of terms, led an outrageous media campaign and criticized the decision of Benedict publicly, which resulted in a dismissal from Belgium and Luxembourg and - because he had just become 75 - to retire.

Cardinal Danneels was, as was announced on 23 November 2014 in a book on the pope by the Englishman Austen Ivereigh, that along with Walter Kasper and Karl Lehmann, he had organized "Team Bergoglio"," for the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio in conclave of 2013. On September 22, in 2015. this became known by a Danneels biography and from his own mouth that he was, since the 90s  subversive, belonging to clandestine circles within the Church. Named after the meeting in Sankt Gallen in Switzerland and founded by the  Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini SJ, deceased in 2012,  the aim was to achieve the election of a progressive pope and to boycott the activity established by the "restorative" Popes John Paul II. and Benedict XVI. Danneels explained frankly that the members of the secret circle thought of themseleves as "the Mafia."

Belgium Church remains in progressive hands

After the election of Pope Francis the bounty did not remain. Archbishop Leonard was denied the dignity of Cardinal. This however was a humiliating slap for Leonard and for Benedict XVI. for former Nuncio Rauber .  Francis retired Leonard at  75 years, although he was in perfect health. The new Archbishop and Primate was Joszef De Kesel, Danneels' preferred candidate before the "accident" Leonard. The attempt at a turnaround in the liberal occupied Belgian Church, which Pope Benedict XVI. had tried timidly, has since been considered "eradicated". Archbishop De Kesel called a few months after taking office for the abolition of priestly celibacy from, an old demand of the ecclesiastical '68ers. In this context, there was also the expulsion of a "too conservative"  French priestly community of Belgium whose ability to attract  priestly vocations in a considerable volume, bothered the usual complaint [pretext] over the "prevailing lack of priests."

Bishop Bonny attracted considerable attention by an accentuated aberroophilic attitude. The turn of 2014/2015 saw the demand that the Church should recognize homosexuality stir.  A Petition from faithful Catholics, turned to the Pope and demanded a clarification of the question whether Bonnys Homo-looking statements "are Catholic or not." Rome remained silent. Instead Bonny was summoned by the Belgian Bishops 'Conference in June 2015 appointed to Synod for the Bishops' Synod  on the family. Pope Francis in turn appointed Cardinal Danneels personally to synod. On May 6, 2015 Primate Leonard completed his 75th year. On November 6 De Kesel was announced as his successor. With that, the "reconquest" of Brussels was successfully completed by progressive church circles.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Catholic Action Flanders (screenshots)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

New Archbishop of Brussels Proposes the Abolition of Priestly Celibacy

(Brussels) The new Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels and Primate of Belgium, Msgr. Jozef De Kesel, said in an interview with the Free Sunday newspaper De Zondag on 8 May that the Church  could not require every priest celibacy.

The Archbishop  De Kesel was asked by De Zondag whether celibacy has not "discouraged" him:

"No, not when I was 18 years old. As you opt for the seminary, it then takes many years to become a priest. But then, when the moment has come, that ... is a difficult decision. "

"I am for the Eastern Catholic model"

De Zondag: Did you have to decide between a bride and the church?

De Kesel: No. I had good friendships,  but they never brought me in conflict with my choice of life. This is true for others, and I can understand that it is very difficult to let someone go. Maybe I, therefore, consciously or unconsciously avoided a relationship.

De Zondag: Should the Church adhere to this celibacy?

De Kesel: I'm not for its abolition. A celibate life is not a life without meaning. I chose it deliberately: It was a part of the life of Jesus. On the other hand I do not think that you can charge it of any priest, especially not in a moment in which sexuality plays such an important role. I am for the Eastern Catholic model, where married men can be ordained priests.

No "Catholic model"

With the "Eastern Catholic model" said De Kesel, is in reality the Orthodox model. The Orthodox Churches understand celibacy like the Catholic Church but this is not employed like the Catholic Church, for historical reasons. Bishops and monks are still  called to it today, which is why only. In the diocesan clergy in contrast, there was softening. Once the ordination has been received, a wedding is no longer possible with the Orthodox. The seminarian marries before ordination, he can stay married. The result is that seminarians marry very young in order to forestall the celibacy requirement. If the wife of a priest dies, he is not allowed to marry. The somewhat complicated scheme proves, however, that the ministerial priesthood is also linked to the Orthodox inseparably with celibacy. However, you can - as in the sacrament of marriage - also recognize the Orthodox discrepancy between requirement and reality, because it is the Orthodox Church in those points which concern two sacraments, and more pertinently, failed to maintain the original apostolic teaching.

When smaller parts of the Orthodox churches returned from the 16th century to union with Rome, they were allowed during the course of the ecumenism of return  to maintain certain traditions. These include the Byzantine Rite in the liturgy and the Orthodox practice of celibacy. What De Kesel falsely, but probably deliberately, sees as the "Catholic model" is called not really a "Catholic model," but a foreign practice to the Roman tradition, which was granted only for historical reasons, clearly to formerly Orthodox communities.

The true and faithful retaining of priestly celibacy in the Latin Church since apostolic times, as well as the indissolubility of sacramental marriage, are ultimately special evidence that the Roman Catholic Church is actually the one true Church of Jesus Christ. However, this evidence itself is currently not held in very high esteem  by Catholic dignitaries and sometimes, as De Kesels remarks show,  recklessly called into question.

De Kesel uses a dialectic in his claim, which suggests a retention in theory, but at the same time seeks a fundamental change in practice. A dialectic as it has been frequently heard in the past two years in connection with the recognition of divorce and remarriage. Its spokesman, Cardinal Walter Kasper made his speech to the Cardinal Consistory in February, 2014.

Pope Francis has sent mixed signals on this issue, according to his nature. According to the Vaticanist Sandro Magister, these contradictory signals would nevertheless demonstrate the desire for a weakening of priestly celibacy. The request made by De Kesel would probably come closest to the papal intention.

Cardinal Danneels' preferred candidate: Thanks to Pope Francis still Archbishop

Msgr. De Kesel was appointed by Pope Francis as the new archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, 6 November, 2015. The archbishop of Brussels is automatically Primate of Belgium and President of the Belgian Bishops' Conference. The Archdiocese has been a liberal stronghold since 1961. An epoch which was defined by Cardinal Leo Suenens (Archbishop of 1961-1979) and by Cardinal Godfried Danneels (Archbishop of 1979-2010) and was accompanied by an unprecedented decline of the Catholic Church. In the Belgian capital today,  only 12 percent of its residents profess as Catholics. Of these, only one in ten makes his Sunday duty and visits the Holy Mass.

In 2010 Benedict XVI. tried to bring about a reversal. He did not appoint  Danneels' chosen successor the leftist De Kesel, but the Bishop of Namur, André-Joseph Leonard, instead. Leonard was then equally relentlessly opposed and boycotted just like Pope Benedict XVI. Above all this was directed at Benedict XVI's personnel decision of 2010 which drew the the hostility which Danneels and his allies drew upon. Danneels was, since the 90s, a conspirator with  the Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Martini, in the clandestine Sankt Gallen circle,  which had already opposed the election in 2005 of Benedict XVI.

In 2013 Daneels belonged to the so-called Team Bergoglio. Together with the German cardinals Lehmann and Kasper and the English Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, he organized, this time successfully, the election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Archbishop Leonard was denied the dignity of cardinal and retired with the completion of his 75th birthday. After only five years of intermezzo,  Pope Francis appointed  Danneels' still preferred candidate De Kesel as archbishop of Brussels. The Belgian Church thus remains firmly on progressive course, as stressed by the remarks of the new archbishop to abolish the celibacy priest.

De Kesels' proposal on celibacy was also supported by the Internet platform katholisch.de of the German Bishops' Conference.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi

Image: Mil (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG