Priestly Society of St. John of Ciudad del Este Abolished -- Legacy of Bishop Livieres Dismantled

Ciudad del Este: Dissolution of the Society of Saint John (CSSJ) by Bishop
Steckling

(Asuncion) On March 16, the Priestly Society of St. John (CSSJ) has been abolished by Bishop Wilhelm Steckling of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay. The abolition is connected with the removal of Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano, who was deposed in 2014 by Pope Francis. Both interventions have something in common: they were done without official naming of reasons, were accompanied by dirty media speculations and are part of a hard factional debate on the understanding of the Church. 

Vocations crisis is no natural phenomenon

When Bishop Rogelio Livieres was deposed by Pope Francis in the late summer of 2014, the Holy See gave no reasons for the radical intervention. Officially, it was never disclosed what the bishop who died in 2015 during an operation had been accused of doing. This provided more space for speculation. From the Pope's decree, however, it was clear that Bishop Livieres had disturbed the "concord" in the Episcopal Conference. In Paraguay, which strongly progressive and liberation theological, lay the crux of the matter.

Bishop Rogelio Livieres (1945-2015)

Bishop Livieres belonged to Opus Dei . He was appointed by Pope John Paul II, and took over a diocese on ropes, which had hardly any priests. Until then, the seminarians of all the dioceses of the country were trained in a central national seminary in Asuncion, whose mind was formed on liberation theology. Bishop Livieres withdrew his seminarians and founded his own seminary. The education was oriented to the teachings of the Church, the sacramental priesthood was emphasized and the reverence for the sacrament of the altar was lived. In the parishes, the bishop intensified the religious instruction by founding Bible study groups and the formation of catechists. In addition, Eucharistic worship and the celebration of Holy Mass were promoted in the traditional Rite.

Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano is Dead -- Outstanding Bishop of the "Ecclesia Militans" -- Dismissed by Pope Francis

Msgr. Rogelio Livieres, mighty and traditional Bishop, who
was dismissed by the Pope

(Asuncion) Last Friday, 14 August, "on the feast of holy apostle and martyrs Maximilian Kolbe and the Vigil of the Solemnity of the Assumption  it has pleased God  Almighty,  to dismiss His faithful servant, Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano, aged 69 years from this world," said Messa in Latino. Msgr. Livieres remained a mighty bishop until his death. He had led his diocese to the rediscovery of tradition within a few years to an unprecedented flowering. In 2014 he was deposed by a conspiracy of a  political viewpoint, by  Pope Francis. Unlike other unjustifiably deposed bishops, Bishop Livieres did not withdraw into seclusion,  but actively continued his apostolate in other ways. At his deposition he said he was following "of course" all the instructions of the pope, but Francis would have to answer for this decision before God.

Born in Argentina He Did Not Sing in the "Choir" of the Latin American Majority Clergy

Bishop Lieveres was Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay. Born in Argentina, he was at the time of death in hospital  Sanatorio Austral of Buenos Aires. There he was to have a surgery on his liver, but due to sudden heart problems, doctors decided not to perform the operation.

Bishop Lieveres had  been known as an "authentic Catholic voice in Latin America" in three respects. It came about because the distinctive bishop did not sing in the "choir" of the Latin American majority clergy, nor that of his brother Bishops. He stayed away from all spiritual and ideological movements, which have dedicated themselves above all to "the promotion of earthly salvation". This includes above all the liberation theology, but not only. Bishop Livieres complained several times that in the Paraguayan Church a "doctrinal disorder" ruled, which unilaterally affected in favor of secular salvation to the detriment of eternal salvation.

Since 2004, Bishop of Ciudad del Este - Renewal by Rediscovering Tradition

Bishop Livieres, pugnacious bishop of the "church militant" is dead

Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano was a member of the personal prelature of Opus Dei. Born Livieres, 30 August 1945 in Corrientes, the capital of the Argentine province right on the banks of the Parana. In 1978 he was ordained a priest. The Parana River near  the home of Bishop Livieres forms the border between Argentina and Paraguay. From Corrientes there is a view to   the neighboring country, which would be the bishop's second home in the future.

Consecrated bishop of the Diocese of Ciudad del Este in 2004, Msgr. Livieres took over a diocese with only a few priests. Bishop Livieres followed Benedict XVI. with the freeing of the traditional form of the Roman Rite. The bishop himself publicly celebrated publicly bi-ritually, in the ancient rite. Recently the diocese had celebrated the ancient rite in almost every parish. The rediscovery of the tradition led to an unprecedented flowering in a diocese whose situation was quite dire at the turn of the century.

Old Mass in Parishes - Private Seminary with Nearly 250 Seminarians

The trend in the Church of Paraguay aimed at formation of lay. Bishop Livieres departed from this. For all of Paraguay there was only one seminary in Asuncion. But there was and is where  liberation theology was taught. Bishop Livieres, therefore, founded his own seminary, where there is  "true Catholic teaching and liturgy." In the academic year 2013/2014, the diocesan seminary of Ciudad del Este prepared nearly 250 seminarians for  the priesthood. Far more than all of the other Paraguayan dioceses together. This is considering that  the Diocese of Ciudad del Este, has only twelve percent of Catholics Paraguay. Ciudad del Este gave  visible proof, "that young men who feel called to the priesthood,  do not want an chaotic liberal environment, where the sacramental priesthood is no longer taken seriously, but will be demoted as much as possible in favor of a universal priesthood", so Messa in Latino .

Bishop Livieres had not only been opposed by the old liberal clergy in his diocese, but also drew  the envy and resentment of the other bishops of the country. In the Paraguayan Bishops Conference, he was shunned with his position as an outsider. The conflict was substantive in nature: it was about the understanding of the Church and a different theology. Above all the other bishops seem to have feared that the future of the Church throughout Paraguay could be affected the by many priests formed with a quite different approach in Ciudad del Este.

The Argentine, whose Catholic renewal displeased  confreres and Pope Francis

By 2014, thriving seminary of Ciudad del Este

This opposition of a part of his own clergy and other bishops earned him an Apostolic Visitation. The background was that the former Metropolitan Archbishop of Asuncion, the Redemptorist Eustaquio Pastor Cuquejo Verga was, among other things, a homosexual. Bishop Livieres viewed him as one of several reasons for the wrong course of Paraguayan church. Pope Benedict XVI. pulled the handbrake and put aside Cuquejo's Archbishop Coadjutor. It was an intervention which brought the liberal clergy and episcopate of Bishop Livieres in connection, as to who enjoyed prestige in Rome.

The aforementioned   liberal priests in his diocese from 2004 denounced Bishop Livieres to the Apostolic Nuncio. The other bishops of Paraguay advised the need for a visitation. Under Pope Benedict XVI. there was no prospect of such a visitation. With the election of Pope Francis, the situation had however changed fundamentally. Livieres is Argentinian and was personally known to the new pope. Both knew, they were not on the same wavelength. The seminary of Ciudad del Este was a challenge to Buenos Aires, where no less than 30 seminarians were preparing for the priesthood, even though the archdiocese is four times as large as the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires.

The Intrigue and the Apostolic Visitor

In July 2014, the Pope sent Cardinal Francis Abril as apostolic visitor to Ciudad del Este. The Pope sent   a close friend to Paraguay, who is as  skeptical about the traditional rite as the head of the Church himself. Cardinal Santos Abril had just discontinued the celebration of the traditional rite in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, whose archpriest he is. The Visitation held forth little good hope. Observers spoke of a correspondence of thought between the liberal clergy, the other bishops and since 2013, head of dissident church leaders in Rome.

Bishop Livieres seems to have sensed or seen through what game was being played and went so far as to make the thoughtless public utterance about the homosexuality of the now Archbishop Emeritus of Asuncion and spoke of an intrigue.That put the opponent into even greater outrage, because now they had a trump card. Such  public accusations  made against church officials are not admissible to the Church.

Rumors and Smoke Screens - Livieres has disturbed the "unity" of the Church of Paraguay

Meanwhile opponents of Bishop Livieres fueled suspicions. The rumor mill has been fired up, the media speculated.  Above all, Bishop Livieres took in priests from the United States who were conspicuously placed at the center. The ingredients of the rumors denominated homosexuality, child abuse (in the US) in connection with  tradition. This game of intrigue can be still found in the Internet, on the Wikipedia page about Bishop Livieres. However, the facts are different. In any case, action was taken against the US priests and not against the bishop. While the bishop was deposed, the priests remained unmolested. He served only as a smokescreen in the intrigue against Bishop Livieres.

The visitor returned to Rome and Bishop Livieres was dismissed by Pope Francis  on September 25, 2014. In the Vatican there are no reasons given for the dismissal, of what the bishop would have been guilty of doing. Yet it can be read out that the real reason for  the dismissal was the front building between Bishop Livieres and the other bishops of Paraguay. The Bishop of Ciudad del Este displeased the other bishops. He was accused of endangering the "unity". In plain English: We found him a troublemaker and wanted to get rid of him. That he could reap rich fruit in his diocese, made him completely unbearable. Its salience was his undoing. Also in Rome unity is seen by Pope Francis as a majority question. However, a significant break was visible through the deposition of Bishop Livieres.

Pope Francis deposed Bishop Livieres, but refused to talk to him

Bishop Livieres had been ordered at the time of dismissal to Rome to lure him away from his diocese. In Rome they made him wait in front of closed doors. He learned of his deposition from the media. He urged the Vatican with Pope Francis to speak. He wanted to know what he was accused and demanded the right to be able to defend against the complaints whatsoever. But Pope Francis refused an interview. A note more that it was about an "ideological" decision ultimately what Pope Francis accused repeatedly traditionally associated circles, but on the other hand the opposite tradition practiced himself. While Bishop Livieres waited in Rome in vain to be received and heard by Francis, Ciudad del Este was seized by an appointed administrator and taken possession of the diocese, leaving the bishop's  sister at the door who managed her brother's household, having changed the locks.

Unlike other dismissed bishops, Bishop Livieres did not  retire. He publicly declared that "of course" he would follow all instructions in papal obedience, but Pope Francis will have to answer for this dismissal before God. At the same time the Bishop Emeritus participated in the founding of Adelante la Fe, a new Spanish-speaking Catholic Internet portal.

Only eleven months after his dubious dismissal, which is symptomatic of the current pontificate, Bishop Livieres died of complications shortly before surgery.

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine:
et lux perpetua Luceat egg.
Requiescat in pace. Amen.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: ABC Color (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Order of Drought and the Order of Flowering -- the "Institute of the Word Incarnate"

San Rafael: Priestly Seminary of the Institute of the Incarnate
Word in Argentina

(Buenos Aires) Some have hardly any vocations, others have it in abundance. "It will not have a reason," writes the Spanish Catholic Church historian and blogger Francisco de la Cigoña and reports on the flourishing seminary of San Rafael Instituto del Verbo Encarnado (IVE) in Argentina.

In Argentina, the homeland of Pope Francis, the Catholic Order of the Institute of the Incarnate Word was born in 1984 in San Rafael (Mendoza).  Some years later, in addition to the apostolic, a contemplative branch of the order was also established. In 1988, with the servants of the Lord and the interior of the Virgin of Matará (SSVM), a female branch, which is also divided into an apostolic and a contemplative branch.

The founder of the flourishing religious family was the Argentine priest, Carlos Miguel Buela. In 2004, the it became a canonical establishment as a congregation in episcopal law by the Bishop of Velletri-Segni in Italy. In Segni there is also the Generalate of the religious family, which in addition to the male and female branch, also includes a Third Order. The monks and nuns take the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience including a fourth Marian vow.

Parish in Berlin, Contemplative Monastery in Luxembourg

Sisters of female religious branch

The Order is now almost a thousand priests and is active world-wide  with 14 Provinces in 40 states and nearly 80 dioceses. In Europe, the provinces of Italy exist (with Malta, Greece and Albania), the Netherlands and Ukraine. In Germany, the Order serves a parish in the German capital of Berlin. In Luxembourg there is a nunnery in Peppange. It is one of ten contemplative monasteries of the nuns of the Order.

The Order operates to care for the persecuted Christians and evangelization in a number of countries in the Middle East and North Africa, including Syria and Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Palestine, Egypt and Tunisia.

Order Leadership and Spirituality

The Superior General since 2010 is the Argentine Father, Carlos Walker.  Born in Buenos Aires in 1959, he was ordained a priest in 1983. After various pastoral activities in Argentina and the USA, he joined the Order. From 1993-2001 he became Provincial in Argentina, and in 2001-2010 Vicar General.  During this time he received his doctorate at the Angelicum in Rome.

In Buenos Aires   there is also the Founder, Carlos Miguel Buela who was born in 1941 and ordained a priest in 1971. These  priests inculcated by Mary, have taught dogmatic theology at various Catholic universities in Argentina. The foundation of the religious family took place on March 25, 1984. On that day,  Pope John Paul II.  consecrated the world to the Blessed Virgin of Fatima. Father Buela was Superior General from 1984-1994 and from 2001-2010.

The spirituality of the monastic family is based on the Incarnation of the Son of God as the Incarnate Savior and God as a child. It leans heavily on the spirituality of St. Louis Marie de Montfort. Priorities for the Order are the worship of God, the salvation of souls and reparation for the de-Christianization of culture. The Spiritual Exercises are based on the model of St. Ignatius of Loyola, who hold popular missions  as St. Alphonsus Liguori.

Not Just Friends

In 2000 the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, undertook the attempt to close the religious seminary of San Rafael. He found support from the then Apostolic Nuncio for Argentina, who since then became his friend, today's Cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló. The closure of the convent's Seminary of San Rafael at that time did not succeed.

Priests and Deaconal Ordinations on December 6, 2014

Bergoglio and Abril had recently attempted again to close  a blossoming seminary: Pope Francis sent the Cardinal last summer as an apostolic visitor in the Paraguayan Diocese of Ciudad del Este. The brief was to inspect the seminary under Bishop Rogelio Livieres, which had experienced extraordinary flowering   (see Vocation Boom by Old Mass - Pope Francis arranged visitation to ). In the seminary of the small diocese  (12 percent of Catholics Paraguay) had more  seminarians studying than in all the other seminaries of the other dioceses Paraguay together.

The seminary was not closed, but priestly ordinations were suspended and Bishop Livieres removed because he would disturb the "harmony" in the Episcopal Conference. The future of the seminary, where the seminarians were trained in both forms of the Roman Rite, has since been suspended. There are efforts to integrate the seminary again with all the other Paraguayan seminaries in Asuncion.

The Instituto Verbo Encarnado also works in Paraguay and this amazing little in the Diocese of Ciudad del Este.

This past December 6 was a day of rejoicing for the Congregation. Diocesan Bishop Eduardo Taussig consecrated in the cathedral of San Rafael six new priests of the Order and a number of seminarians as deacons who have been trained in the seminary of San Rafael.  Other of the order's seminaries have been established: since 1998  in Washington DC (USA), since 2001  an international seminary in Segni (Italy) and since 2002 in Brazil, Ecuador and Peru.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: IVE / Accion Liturgica

Trans: Tancred vekron@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Pope Visit in November 2015 to Paraguay -- No Visit to Ciudad del Este

Marian Shrine in Caacupe in Paraguay

(Rome / Asuncion) Pope Francis will visit Paraguay on 15 November 2015. The date has not yet been confirmed by the Holy See, but seems to have been agreed with by the Episcopal Conference of the South American country. The Pope doesn't want to visit his native Argentina till  2016. A visit to the Diocese of Ciudad del Este, whose outstanding diocesan Bishop, Rogelio Livieres. whome the pope deposed at the end of September, is not provided for.

The pastoral visit to Paraguay was made known by the Mayor of Caacupé, Roberto Franco, who appealed to Bishop Catalino Claudio Giménez Medina. The Bishop of Caacupé and chairman of the Paraguayan Episcopal Conference had just returned from a visit with Pope Francis in Santa Marta. According to Mayor Franco, Pope Francis told the bishop   he wants to visit the great Marian National Shrine of Nuestra Señora de los Milagros de Caacupé on 15 November.

Bishop Giménez has not yet confirmed the Pope's visit to journalists about the exact date. The trip will take place, "the date is not sure yet, because the final step took place with changes that require only familiarization."  An allusion to the description made by Pope Francis a week ago in a reshuffle of the Vatican State Department. The former "foreign minister", Msgr. Dominique Mamberti was appointed Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura and Msgr. Paul Richard Gallagher as the new "foreign minister". Msgr. Mamberti is succeeding Cardinal Burke, exiled in a papal retaliation from the Roman Curia. 

Visit the Ruins of a Jesuit Reduction - No Visit to the Diocese of the Deposed Bishop Livieres

Even the ruins of Trinity Church still impress

According to Ultima Hora  scheduled destinations besides Caacupé are the cities Villarrica and the capital Asuncion. In addition, Pope Francis wanted to visit the ruins of the Jesuit reduction Itapua and thus show reverence to the Jesuit Missions of the reductions of the 17th and 18th centuries. Probably he would visit the former  Reduction of La Santísima Trinidad de Paraná (Holy Trinity of Paraná), which was declared a UNESCO World Culture Site of mankind.

Moreover, the Pope is expected to visit an indigenous community in the Rio Pilcomayo in the Chaco. No visit is planned in the Diocese of Ciudad del Este, which was an exception among the dioceses in Paraguay until recently.  Although only ten percent of Catholics in the country belong to Ciudad del Este,  the priest candidates of its diocesan seminary outnumber by three times all of the other dioceses together. The 2004   Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano of Opus Dei was appoited by John Paul II, who created a diocese that was flourishing in many respects in ten years. A flower that was based by a return to the unabridged Catholic doctrine and its proclamation. Bishop Livieres also promoted the traditional form of the Roman Rite, which is celebrated in almost all parishes next to the Novus Ordo.

On September 24, 2014, Pope Francis deposed the Bishop  without specific allegations. From the brief explanation by the Press Office of the Holy See it was deduced that the other bishops had urged the removal of the bishop, because he had obviously disturbed the "unity" among the bishops (see Pope Francis sets from Bishop Livieres - intrigues against faithful bishops continues ).

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Portal Guarani / Wikicommons

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Pope Francis Names New Bishop for Ciudad del Este in Paraguay

Edit: these news reports from Catholic Snooze Network are so sterile and mindless, but the particulars are generally accurate. More later as details about the successor arise.

VATICAN CITY, 15 Nov. 14 / 10:11 a.m. ( CNA / EWTN News ) .- Pope Francisco has today named as the new Bishop of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, Father Heinz Wilhelm Steckling, who so far has served as rector the major seminary of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate Missionaries in the capital.

The Bishop succeeds Bishop Rogelio Livieres, who since last September 25 was removed from office by the Pope after an Apostolic Visitation held at  his diocese in July this year.

The controversy that led to the apostolic visit of Spanish Cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló began in early June this year, when the Archbishop of Asunción, Msgr. Pastor Cuquejo announced an investigation into alleged pedophilia against Argentine Carlos Urrutigoity priest, incardinated in the Diocese of Ciudad del Este from the United States, and named by Mons. Livieres as Vicar General.

In response, Mons. Rogelio Livieres supported the innocence of Father Urrutigoity, saying that "there were no criminal proceedings" against the priest "or civil justice in the United States, or in the Church ." Mons. Livieres also accused the Archbishop of Asuncion of being gay. [False, as usual for EWTN and their tentacles. This is one of the real reasons he was removed. It had nothing to do with Urrutigoity.  He even went to Rome to appeal to the Holy Father, but the doors were locked.]

Until today, the Diocese of Ciudad del Este was in charge of the Apostolic Administrator appointed by the Holy See , Mgr. Ricardo Jorge Valenzuela River.

Father Heinz Wilhelm Steckling was born on April 23, 1947 in Werl (Germany), and was ordained a priest on July 20, 1974, incardinated to the Congrgación of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

He is Consultant for the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

New Bishop for Diocese of Incarnation

The Pope Francis also appointed a new bishop for the Diocese of Incarnation, Father Francisco Javier Pistilli Scorzara, after accepting the resignation age limit of Msgr. Ignacio Gogorza Izaguirre.

Father Francisco Javier Pistilli Scorzara born in Asunción (Paraguay) on May 26, 1965, and was ordained a priest on May 10, 1997.

Scorzara Pistilli is Father to the Regional Superior date of the Secular Institute of Schoenstatt Fathers for the 'Region of the Father', which includes Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Nigeria.

The Holy Father also accepted the resignation because of age of the Auxiliary Bishop of Incarnation, Msgr. Silvero Claudio Acosta.

Link to CNS, the Spanish original...

"Adelante la fe" -- New Catholic Internet Site With Bishop Livieres and Roberto de Mattei

(Madrid) Adelante la fe is the name of a new Catholic Internet Initiative in Spanish. Its  director is Miguel Angel Yáñez. Among the associates, two personalities stand out. In the first place the bishop of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, deposed by Pope Francis a month ago, Msgr. Rogelio Livieres and historian Roberto de Mattei. 

Bishop Livieres part of the personal prelature of Opus Dei  which distanced itself from a comment  the bishop made about the Synod of Bishops in Rome. Already with his reaction to the dismissal by the Pope, that he  "must answer to God," and with his comment against progressivist aspirations at the Synod of Bishops the bishop has unequivocally made it known that he does not intend to remain silent. Quite the contrary.

Committed to the Defense of the Faith and the Church

The Bishop has published on his own blog and now also at Adelante la fe . The website offers what distinguishes it from similar pages, direct priestly pastoral care. An offer that draws upon colleagues of whom there is a number of priests from Spain and Latin America.

In addition to Father Alfonso Gálvez Morillas, the founder of the Sociedad de Jesus Cristo Sacerdote . The priestly community was established in the home diocese of Father Gálvez  in 1986, canonically recognized by the Diocese of Murcia in Spain. The Order is especially devoted to the promotion of vocations and priestly formation. The priests of the community are biritual, ad they maintain both the celebration and the administration of the sacraments in the new as in the old Rite. The Order is represented in Spain, the USA, Chile and Ecuador.

Attachment to the traditional rite

The second outstanding employees as mentioned by the historian Roberto de Mattei, which provides, among other laymen posts and comments. All three figures mentioned so far are for a traditional church affiliated understanding and love for the traditional rite.

Founder of Adelante la fe is Cesar Santiago González Alba, priest of the Archdiocese of Seville in Spain. Initially consisted Adelante la fe Blog in Catholic Internet Initiative InfoVaticana . By expanding and gaining new employees form the blog was no longer suitable, so the page has been independent since recently.

The first contribution of Adelante la fe was dedicated to the founder of Opus Dei, St. Jose Maria Escriva de Balaguer and it published images showing the saint at the celebration of the Holy Mass in the Old Rite. Escriva had, because of the liturgical reform of Pope Paul VI 1969/1970, requested and obtained a dispensation to continue to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass in the traditional Rite.

The new Internet initiative is about the preservation, defense and the spread of the Catholic faith. The focus is also the non-negotiable values, the Holy Liturgy and the critical observation within the Church of events such as the recent Synod of Bishops, because the faith is to protect against attacks within the Church, as well as outside.

News, Exegesis, Liturgy and Pastoral Care

Besides reports about the Church and the world  Adelante la fe  offers a category of exegesis of Sacred Scripture, references to books and writings, information and instruction from the four last things with the preparation for death, to live broadcasts of the Holy Mass in the Old Rite and a point of contact for questions to pastoral care. The page is also collaborating with the US-American, Rorate Caeli site, it has a Facebook account and a Twitter service.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Adelante la fe (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMGD

Hope Despite the Danger of Schism --- Bishop Rogelio Livieres About the Bishops' Synod

Bishop Livieres Plano 

(Rome) Katholisches.info published the full post of Bishop Rogelio Livieres (Bishop of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay 2004-2014)) to the Synod of Bishops and the associated dangers for the Church and the people of God. Two days after its publication   the personal prelature of Opus Dei to which Bishop Livieres belongs, distanced itself from him with its own press release it (see The Anticipatory Obedience of Opus Dei - Criticism of Kasper's Is Criticism of the Pope? Will translate soon). The bishop called a spade a spade, as hardly a  church representative dares, and speaks of the danger of a "Great Schism", but he opposes this with the hope of Christ. A "substantial" change in the pastoral practice is not possible without the damage of doctrine. There were efforts in the church  on "high-level" to align the teaching of the Church according to the wishes of the world. But this is an "abuse of authority" said Bishop Livieres.

Hope Against the Danger of Schism

by Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano

In the Holy Mass for the opening of the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family, Pope Francis called on the bishops to participate in the plan of God and so to form a holy people. I offer these reflections in the desire to serve the Pope so in the best way I can.

The Church which was founded on the rock of Peter expects the Synod promoting the Christian Church. But what the Bible calls "the world", however, has very different expectations: The media calls  every day that the Church should "renew itself." A euphemism which seeks the blessing of the aberrations but not condemnation, which spread more and more, partly because they are systematically promoted by the press and the entertainment industry.

The Church, however, was not founded to endorse what is desired by the world, but to teach what God wants from us and to lead on the way to holiness. For it is the will of God, who knows everything and can not be misled and can not be led astray, that we find true peace and true joy. Neither the doctrine nor the following of this teaching, pastoral practice, are the result of consensus of the priest, even if they were cardinals or bishops.

Since the origins of Christianity, the Apostles and their successors had to endure the pressure of the powerful religious and political elites who pushed it to distort the truth, and the evangelical mission they had received from Christ. However, instead of bowing to other gods, they gave us a testimony of unconditional loyalty to the truth by shedding their own blood. After all, "we must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). These days it is a comfort to think of the example of Saint Athanasius. He was not once, but five times expelled from his diocese due to machinations of his confreres, Arian bishops, with whom he was not "in communion", was because he wanted to promote the "Catholic and apostolic faith", as it is called in the Roman Canon of the first Eucharistic prayer.

To bless and accept "what all ask" is neither mercy nor pastoral charity. Rather, it is inertia and convenience because we do without it, to evangelize and educate. And it is a genuflection to the people, because we are more important, as  they  say, rather than the prophetic rebuke in obedience to God.  St. Benedict already grasped in a different era which was also marked by great confusion, the principle of eternal life in obedience: "To thee, therefore, I now teach my word, whoever you are, by renouncing your self-will, you will fight under the Lord,  the true King,  and take firm hold of the strong and most excellent arms of obedience "(...)" So, you return by the labor of obedience to the one you have left by the sloth of disobedience "(Rule of Benedict, Prologue ).

Inside the Church - and more recently on some of the highest levels - "a new wind is blowing", although not from  the Holy Spirit. Even the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, among others, has criticized the trial as utopian to think they can make substantial changes in the pastoral practice, without thereby attacking the Catholic teaching on the family.  Without condemning their intentions and for want of which I will assume the best and I regret having to name them, Cardinal Kasper and the Jesuit magazine Civiltà Cattolica are active promoters of this confusion, and it was sad to have to call them by name, but they are anyway . What has been banned as serious disobedience to the law of God,  is now blessed in the name of His mercy.  They justify what is unjustifiable, with the help of subtle interpretations of texts and historical events. But those who really know the issue, have quashed these quibbles. Let us not forget what the Lord has promised us: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24:35).

We take advantage of the extraordinary opportunity that the Synod gives us to affirm in a positive way what the Church has always and everywhere believed on the family and implemented by Her order in practice. This requires at the same time that we  defend the truth that divide the people of God and confuse against those who attack it. The situation is very serious  and I'm not the first to draw attention to the fact that we are tragically facing  the risk of a major schism. It is exactly what the Lord and His Blessed Mother have predicted in the apparitions recognized by the authority of the Church. 

Against those who thirst after, "remaking anew" the sanctions and to manipulate the statistics, as though the people of God are  in the mind to want to impose on reality with the power to abuse authority, we recall that the Church is neither defined by the opinions of people, nor lives lived in changing times, yet is defined by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. As the story ends when the schism of the Church of England was imposed on a whole Catholic people, is a lesson that is worthwhile today, as is shown and deepened precisely together in the testimonies of the martyrdom of St. John Fischer and Saint Thomas More.

Let us pray for the Pope, the cardinals and bishops, so we are all prepared, if necessary, to shed our blood for the defense and promotion of the family against the storms of deception and against the idolatry of an alleged sexual freedom of man before God. Let us not deceive ourselves nor be deterred from the faith and practice of morality that Jesus Christ has taught us. We know that the world has hated our Lord. The servant can not be greater than his master. The world will persecute us and do so fraudulently even in the name of God. And the Church leaders who talk like the world, enjoy listening to it, who are applauded, they will be loved, "because they are of itr" and not from God.

Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
image: rogeliolivieres.blogspot.com

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMGD

Bishop Livieres: "Pope Francis Will Have to Answer Before God For The Dismissal"

Bishop Livieres: "I am the victim of ideological persecution"

(Asuncion / Rome) Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, dismissed yesterday from his office by Pope Francis,  sees himself as a victim of an intrigue, which he describes as "ideological persecution." In an open letter to the Prefect of the Roman Congregation for Bishops, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the bishop wrote that Pope Francis will have to answer for his decision before God.

At the same time Bishop Livieres announced that he has as yet no knowledge of the contents of the investigation report of the Papal Visitor, Cardinal Santos Abril. As a "son of the Church,"  he added,  he will abide by the arrangement of the Pope. The letter to Cardinal Ouellet was published by the Paraguayan daily ABC yesterday.

The Vatican  justified  the resignation for "pastoral reasons" and the "unity of the bishops."  Specific allegations against the bishop dismissed were not disclosed. The Bishop sees himself as a victim of an intrigue of the Paraguayan Bishops. Pope Francis arranged for an Apostolic Visitation in Livieres' diocese  after he publicly accused the Archbishop of Asuncion of homosexuality and demanded his removal from office.

The leading group of the Paraguayan Bishops makes no secret of their satisfaction with the dismissal of Bishop Livieres.  Livieres was considered a militant defender of the orthodoxy. In almost every parish of his diocese the Holy Mass was celebrated in the Old Rite. His seminary  altogether has many  more seminarians than any other of the Paraguayan dioceses and about seven times as many seminarians as the much larger Archdiocese of Buenos Aires.

With the statement that he is "a victim of ideological persecution," Bishop Livieres gave an indication of the reasons behind the sensational impeachment.

Bishop Livieres like  Pope Francis is from Argentina.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Aciprensa

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG