Successor War in Vatican Media

The new top of all Vatican media: Andrea Tornielli, and the new editor-in-chief of the Osservatore Romano: Andrea Monda.

(Rome) The surprising change at the head of the Osservatore Romano is confirmed as the first "official act" of the papal house Vaticanista, Andrea Tornielli in his new post in the Communications Dicastry. However, the Cardinal Secretary of State should not have known about it and be "very irritated" about it.

The winners

According to the daily La Verità, the former editor-in-chief of the Pope's daily newspaper, Giovanni Maria Vian, was dismissed by joint intervention of Fr. Antonio Spadaro SJ, editor of the Roman Jesuit magazine La Civiltà Cattolica, and Andrea Tornielli, Pope Francis's house Vaticanista. Both belong to the Pope's closest circle of acquaintances.

Tornielli had been called to the Holy See by Francis on 18 December. Since that time, he has directed all Vatican media as a publisher with central alignment and coordination powers.

On the one hand, Tornielli's appointment represents a crucial step in Pope Francis' media reform. The Italian journalist has had privileged access to Francis. Now he exercises his alignment and control function directly. The Vatican media are thus available to Francis directly and in close association with Santa Marta.

The intervention triggered within the papal court, however, also has "some abdominal pain". The State Secretariat and the Secretary of State was evidently not informed of the dismissal. Cardinal Pietro Parolin was "very irritated" about it.

The appointment of Tornielli is seen by the media as a "reckoning" within Pope Francis' closest but heterogeneous circle of intimates. Winners of the power struggle are Tornielli and Spadaro. The Jesuit is considered the most influential adviser to the Pope in this area. In 2017, an agreement was signed with the Jesuit Order to secure its influence over the Vatican media.

The losers

The loser is first and foremost Giovanni Maria Vian. He has since been replaced by Andrea Monda. Monda is close to Spadaro. He is the President, Spadaro the founder of the Roman cultural project with the unusual name Bomba carta (letter bomb).

However, one of the losers is the Vatican State Secretariat, which was overrun by the events. By the evening before Vian's release, Cardinal Secretary Parolin is said to have known "absolutely nothing" about it. Pope Francis had neither involved him in the decision-making process nor informed him in advance, although in the past the Secretariat of State had a not inconsiderable influence on the Vatican newspaper and on the Vatican Press Office.

According to Vatican sources, Vian's work as editor-in-chief under Francis had never been contested. The historian and philologist was still employed under Pope Benedict XVI. Under Francis he opened the pages of the Osservatore Romano, however, to readily heterodox, feminist and heretical voices and positions.

The daily La Verità sees "small orthodox methods" at work that are part of an "internal power struggle between many roosters in the same chicken coop".

As far as reconstructable, it was Pope Francis himself who wanted to replace Vian, in order to make the more than 170 year old Osservatore Romano stronger as a house medium in duty for the direct support of the line of Pope Francis. However, the decisive step came from Spadaro and Tornielli.

Had it gone to Francis, Spadaro should have taken over the job of chief editor, but this was refused. On his recommendation, however, the close collaborator, Andrea Monda was meanwhile used.

The internal power struggle for influence and closeness to the pope

More than four years after media reform began in 2014, the operation seems complete. Pope Francis was also not deterred by unexpected and unwanted setbacks, such as the tragicomic overthrow of his first communications chief, Dario Edoardo Viganò. At the beginning of the year he had manipulated a letter from Pope Benedict XVI. to give Pope Francis a particularly flattering gift for his five-year jubilee on the throne. Viganò, not to be confused with the former nuncio in the United States, fell easily. Pope Francis caught him again immediately and set up a new office ad personam for him in the same communication dicastery.

There is not only a tough fight in the Catholic Church between faithful and modernist circles in progress, but also a massive struggle within the very heterogeneous entourage of Pope Francis. Tornielli and Spadaro seem to have taken control of all Vatican media. The method used to push the last rival out of the field is not endorsed by all the pope's confidants. At least not by those whose influence was curtailed. Cardinal Secretary of State Parolin belongs to the media. The new mighty power that unites Tornielli in his hands has also weakened the position of the Vatican press service and Vatican spokesman Greg Burke.

Tornielli was so far only an informal papal spokesman. Now he is officially taking over this function. That will not be without consequences in Tornielli's activism. Francis used Paolo Ruffini as Viganò's successor after he had to accept more reluctant than willing Viganò's resignation. Ruffini, however, is more of a placeholder. Real influence is not attributed to him. The role that Dario Edoardo Viganò will play in the media in the future remains to be seen. At least he will not be able to oppose Tornielli.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi

Picture: MiL
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Masonic Grandmaster Says Pope is “Prototype of Enlightened Despot of the World”

Freemasonry, the mafia and Pope Francis as a prototype of the "enlightened despot" who was supposed to rule the "global society" because democracy was "not suitable".

(Rome) What does a Grand Master of Freemasonry say about Pope Francis? A few days ago, the official website of the Grand Lodge of Italy (GLRI) published some Thoughts by Grandmaster Fabio Venzi. Even more enlightening seem to be words of his predecessor in the office of grandmaster.

The main concern of Grand Master Venzi is to correct on 28 pages "enormous inaccuracies, contradictions and misstatements" in the recent report of the Anti-Mafia Committee of Inquiry of the Italian Parliament. The Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry had submitted it on 21 December 2017.

Rosy Bindi as Chairwoman of the Anti-Mafia Committee of Inquiry of the Italian Parliament

Rosy Bindi as Chairwoman of the Anti-Mafia Committee of Inquiry of the Italian Parliament
The committee, which was in office until the parliamentary elections last March, was chaired by former Christian Democrat politician and Minister of Health, Rosy Bindi.

In the Bindi report, among other things, is the revelation of the infiltration of some Masonic organizations by the mafia. On page 155 there is a brief paragraph on the incompatibility of the Catholic Church and Freemasonry, without giving the reasons for this incompatibility. It wasn’t the allegations of infiltration by the mafia, but this paragraph of eleven lines, that was addressed by Grand Master Vanzi. "This is undoubtedly the most troubling part" of the report (page 2).

In his reply, the Grand Master claims a perfect compatibility between Church and lodge. Freemasonry is not plotting, the anti-masonry critics are absurd and slanderous in their statements (p.2ff) and probably suffer from a "dysphoria of personality" (p.26).

Grandmaster Creates Confusion

Grandmaster Fabio Venzi

Venzi, a sociologist, tries to confuse the average reader himself in apparent trivialities. So he writes:

"As I have already suggested, we know that hostility to Masonry was born before Freemasonry" (p. 25f).

In his latest book "The Last Heresy" (L'ultima eresia) he says:

"Hostility to Freemasonry goes with Freemasonry" (p. 11).

At his hearing before the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry on 24 January 2017, he stated (see Stenographic Minutes of the Committee of Inquiry):

"Freemasonry was created in 1717. The first anti-Masonite document dates from 1652."

And further:

"The problems of free masonry are problems that arise along with Freemasonry.”

 Not "Satanic", just a Luciferian component

"Lucifer" by Franz von Stuck (1890)

So what !? There is considerable confusion in the statements of the Grand Master. When was the hostility to Freemasonry really born? Even he doesn't seem to be able to believe that it could have existed even before the founding of the Masons. The statements of the Grand Master, however, help to better understand the incompatibility between Church and lodge. In his remarks, the Grand Master clearly shows that Freemasonry is a "mystery school" with an "initiation rite", "one of the many esoteric movements" (p. 4).

The Grand master, however, resolutely defends himself against the assertion of a "'Satanic' component of Freemasonry" (p. 5). On the other hand, he does not reject an initiatory, esoteric, gnostic and Luciferian component. The title page of his already mentioned, most recent book "The Last Heresy" is at least adorned with the picture of the painting "Lucifer" by the German painter Franz von Stuck (1890).

Conspiracy against the church? "Ridiculous…"

Freemasonry has conspired against the Church?

Impossible, ridiculous, absurd, says Grand Master Venzi. He also describes it as "ridiculous" that he is supposed to have "important, clerical allies" and "contacts with high-ranking representatives in the Vatican" (page 3f). In the book "Masonic Vatican. Lodges, money and occult power: The secret side of the Church of Pope Francis" (Vaticano Massone), published by the Vaticanist Giacomo Galeazzi in 2013 with his colleague Ferruccio Pinotti, sounds quite different. The two journalists also spoke with Grand Master Venzi.

Masonic Vatican (2013)

He "revealed to us that in his obedience, the only one recognized by the Grand Lodge of England, there are many priests. Venzi is in a sober and discreet way to begin a dialogue with representatives of the Vatican "(p. 54).

Galeazzi and Pinotti wrote:

"It is suggested by many that behind the recent and revolutionary events in the Vatican, especially the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, is the hand of the lodges. In the corridors of the Sacri Palazzi it is whispered that even the election of the new Pope is their work. After a pontificate of closure like that of Ratzinger, it is probable that many among the lodge brothers hope, with the help of the Jesuit Bergoglio, to re-establish the old sympathies between the Society of Jesus and the Freemasons "(see also The Jesuit on the Pope's throne).

"Do you know the 'Santa'?"

Venzi denies in his "Thoughts" that the Masonic rituals are secret because "they are easy to find on numerous websites" (p. 13). However, he does not name such a website that could serve as a reliable source. If the rituals of Freemasonry, its obedience or any other obedience are not secret, then why not publish them on the official site of the Grand Lodge?

"The Last Heresy" by Grandmaster Fabio Venzi (2017)

Rather, the Grand Master blames the chairman of the parliamentary committee of inquiry Bindi for asking him a "provocative" question at the hearing (p. 23). In fact, the question to the Grand Master was directly related to the mission of the Anti-Mafia Committee:

"Do you know the 'Santa', the leader of the` Ndrangheta, who smuggle their men into the Masonic lodges? "1)

"Freemasonry can survive in the underground"

Grand Master Venzi is astonished that the Bindi report mentions a possible "dissolution of the societies" (p. 25) by the state.

Cryptically, the Grand Master indicates that the Masons are capable of working in the underground in such a case.

He says:

"Even if Italy forbade Freemasonry, it would still exist abroad, which could infiltrate it and rebuild it in Italy" (p. 25).

In other words, the Grand Master indicates that a state ban can not shake a secret society with so much experience.

The Bindi report also mentions Pope Francis, who in 2017 refused accreditation to the Holy See for a designated ambassador because of his membership in the lodge. Apparently, the Grand Master is concerned that the Italian State could follow suit and remove the Freemasons from its diplomatic service among its ambassadors. But this danger does not seem to exist, for Bindi emphasized in her report that the Anti-Mafia Committee of Inquiry had "nothing to do with the phenomenon of Freemasonry itself", not even with Italian Freemasonry as a whole, but only with four obediences including the Grand Lodge (p. 91f).

The Grand Master does not have to worry. The Italian state will not ban Freemasonry because every government would fear a massive national and international reaction from Freemasonry. In view of the Grandmaster's suggestion of contacts with high-ranking Church representatives, it would not be excluded that even there someone could tune into the choir in defense of the lodge brothers.

Ex-grandmaster Di Bernardo

Ex-grandmaster Di Bernardo

Venzi also criticizes his predecessor, Grand Master Giuliano Di Bernardo (p. 24). Di Bernardo was Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy (1990-1993). As the Italian party system of the post-war period imploded under corruption charges (Christian Democracy, Socialist Party) and the collapse of the Eastern Bloc (Communist Party), and the Great Orient and its networking came into the spotlight, Di Bernardo sought safety, resigned and founded the Grand Lodge of Italy, whose grandmaster he became. The Grand Lodge was, in contrast to the Great Orient, recognized by the Grand Lodge of England. It was Di Bernardo who in 1999 brought the Mason Venzi into the Grand Lodge and presented him as his successor. Since 2001 Venzi is Grandmaster.

In a radio interview for Border Nights, Di Bernardo said last April:

"The Grand Lodge of Italy, according to the report of the anti-mafia commission on the Great Orient, is most contaminated by infiltrations of the mafia and the 'Ndrangheta" (Min. 31: 50-32: 13) .2).

Di Bernardo added:

"The Grand Lodge of Italy, which was the showpiece of Italian and English Freemasonry, was reduced to rubble by Fabio Venzi. I wonder how the Grand Lodge of England can continue to recognize her as the only Masonic obedience on Italian soil. Why does not Venzi come back? If Venzi leaves, perhaps someone else could return a minimum of dignity to what I call my Masonic creation "(Min 33: 23-34: 20).

An "enlightened despot" is supposed to rule the world

Far more interesting than these internal-lodge animosities is another statement by Di Bernardo, who was, after all, the grand master of Italy's two biggest obediences and internationally well-connected. Di Bernardo is convinced that "global society" can not be governed democratically, but only through "a community of wise men who embody the One, the enlightened tyrant" (Min. 40: 00-40: 47).

Pope Francis with Cardinal Secretary of State Parolin

But was it not Freemasonry, which in the 18th.-- 20th Centuries fought with particular determination against the ancien regime and against the monarchies (except the English) and for democracy? Did democracy serve only as an intermediate step to get rid of the old order?

In an interview with the daily Libero on 22 February 2016, the former Grand Master praised Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, the Vatican diplomat whom Pope Francis sent to the Vatican Secretariat of State in the Summer of 2013. Parolin attended an annnual convention of the Bilderbergers at the beginning of June as the first Secretary of State with the consent of Pope Francis.

And what does a Grand Master praise a Cardinal Secretary of State for? Because Parolin, according to Di Bernardo, has "no negative and hostile attitude towards the freemasonry and the esoteric." This then resulted in the following question and answer in the Libero interview:

Libero: What is your prototype of an enlightened tyrant?

Di Bernardo: If I really should name one, I would say: Pope Francis.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Corrispondenza Romana / MiL / Wikicommons / IxR (screenshots
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

1.	↑	`Ndrangheta is called the Calabrian mafia, which consists of different clans (` Ndrine), which territorially divide Calabria, Italy and the foreign countries. The structure of ` Ndrangheta is very similar to Freemasonry. The membership is acquired through an initiation rite. At the top stands the 'Santa ', in which the memberships are again only possible under certain, already passed stages and according to hierarchical regulations. Similarly, there are degrees and special lodges in the lodges. The ' Santisti ', members of the ' Santa ', ritually call three "patron saints": Giuseppe Garibaldi, Giuseppe Mazzini and Alfonso La Marmora. All three were high-grade freemasons, Garibaldi even Grand Master of the Great Orient of Italy.
Second	↑	Abroad, every form of organized crime is often mistakenly called a mafia . In reality, only the Sicilian is called that. That of Naples and Campania is the Camorra , that of Calabria the ' Ndrangheta , that of Apulia the Sacra Corona Unita

AMDG

Russian Orthodoxy Sees Progress in the Dialogue with Catholics

Moscow Metropolitan Hilarion in newspaper interview: A lot has happened in the past ten years - progress also in the political relationship between Russia and the Holy See

Rome (kath.net/KAP) Russia's Orthodox Church sees a "significant step" in dialogue with the Catholic Church. In the last ten years, much has been done in relation to each other. As well as between Russia and the Holy See, said the Foreign Minister of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolit Hilarion, the Italian daily "Il sole 24 ore" (Thursday). There is consensus on current problems such as the loss of spiritual values ​​and Christian persecution. "This is a problem which disturb both the Orthodox Church and the Holy See in all of our soul, and drives us to unite our forces to find a common solution," the Metropolitan said.

Hilarion spoke on the occasion of the upcoming Moscow visit by Cardinal Secretary Pietro Parolin from Sunday to Thursday. His main themes he identified as the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine; Also a peace solution for Syria would surely be an issue. Parolin's visit could help to approach different perspectives and find common solutions to different problems, says Hilarion, who will also meet with Parolin himself. "I will discuss with him the full range of bilateral relations between the Russian Orthodox and the Catholic Church, and hope that we can set new perspectives for further development."

With regard to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, he said that this was still "the most delicate issue in the relations of the two churches." At the same time, the foreign official of the Moscow Patriarchate in the interview appreciates the admission of full diplomatic relations between Russia and the Vatican in 2009 as well as the historic first meeting of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kiril I in Havana, Cuba in 2016, resulting in strengthening the collaboration of both churches.

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG 

The Vatican "Admonishes" the Communist Venezuelan Government

The events in Venezuela have made the Holy See a rare gesture

Venezuela (kath.net) Events in Venezuela have led the Holy See to a rare gesture as "Radio Vatican" reported. The Vatican Secretariat of State has called on the government under Socialist President Maduro to refrain from dissolving the constitutional assembly. Initiatives such as these are "to be avoided or suspended" because, "instead of favoring reconciliation and peace, fuel a climate of tension and struggle and burden the future," the Vatican says. It was only on Thursday that Cardinal Secretary Pietro Parolin, in an interview, had made it clear that the diplomacy of the Holy See for Venezuela was characterized by low tones and "proactive, non-reactive diplomacy." According to the report, Pope Francis very closely follows the events in Venezuela and continues to pray for the country and its people. The letter from the Vatican reminds Venezuela's politicians and, in particular, the government that the crisis should be solved through negotiations. Venezuela should follow the guidelines which the State Secretariat had indicated to the government in its letter of December 1. This included, inter alia, the release of political prisoners for the opening of negotiations. The armed forces were called upon to refrain from an "excessive and disproportionate use of force". Cardinal Secretary Pietro Parolin is known as Venezuelan, since he was previously nuncio in Caracas.

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

The "Luxury Residence" of Cardinal Bertone -- One of the Media Campaigns Against Pope Benedict's Secretary of State?

(Vatican) Catholic  media itself  has been grazing  in the field of moral sanctimony against the former Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. He has created a "luxury apartment" of 600 or 700 square meters through extensive renovations. Pope Francis disapproves this luxury. And many Catholics believe  the media at the touch of the button whatever is put before them.

Now the Salesian Bertone could actually make one a lot better. But that was  not for the years of scolding that made hardly any good to say about the son of Don Bosco. Almost always, when there were attacks anywhere from within the Church against Bertone, it  was mostly mean for Pope Benedict XVI.. Calling him by name was avoided for reasons of expediency.    It was directed to the Cardinal Secretary of State, if only because he also synonymous with the  long odious Roman Curia, led to the  bashing being more uninhibited. It was not always wrong, but in the sum highly disproportionate.

The Jacobin flail it Afflicts Those Representatives of the Church,  That Didn't Dance in the Rio  Flash Mob 

The Jacobin flail was not put away after the resignation of Benedict.  More than a year after the election of Pope Francis Bertone himself is being called upon to contrast between a supposedly "dark" past and now a radiant present of the papacy and the Church in memory. A kind of perpetuation of the same propaganda. Here Pope Francis made known the dismissal of Bertone last year by the Vatican diplomat  Archbishop Pietro Parolin. According to the methods of the Jacobi only certain high church officials are neatly pelted with dirt. Amazingly, it was precisely those that were not ready in Rio de Janeiro to dance the bishop flash mob dance  and thus presented proof, nor to sell their priestly and episcopal dignity in such a clownish way for the amusement of the world.

Scandal Headlines: 600 m² "Luxury Apartment" for Cardinal Bertone

Now Bertone has been  placed in the  pillory for the last few weeks because of an alleged "luxury residence". The former Cardinal Secretary of State had put together several existing apartments in the Vatican in order to make an  extensive, costly reconstruction work. 600 square meters of living space and 100 square meters of terrace. This is a scandal and in addition, a provocation, because Bertone has his new "palace" refers directly next to the guesthouse Santa Marta, where Pope Francis occupies an apartment of less than 100 square meters. The press is underlining the stark contrast between the luxury of pre-Francis-time and the sober modesty of Pope Francis.

The "scandal" was unleased by  the Italian anti-Catholic tabloid Il Fatto Quotidiano . It  drew attention to no less anti-clerical newspaper than La Repubblica last April 20, for international attention.  Cardinal Bertone's reaction was even more late. Which again, is, however, not entirely his fault. Such delays unfortunately were several times a feature of his tenure as Cardinal Secretary of State to the detriment of Pope Benedict XVI. What  Pope Francis  makes too much of in the way of public relations today in their own right, was completely lacked both Pope Benedict XVI. and Bertone. 

Assigned Apartment is Actually Half the Size

The "luxury residence" is quite a canard, in reality. Bertone occupies a space assigned according to his age in office within the Vatican walls. It is a part of one floor in the old Palazzo San Carlo. The rooms are by today's standards  particularly  large, but also not a number of rooms. This all sounds great, but is not very practical. Overall, the former Secretary of State lives in a apartment that is just half as large as that claimed by media, namely 300 square meters. There, he and four members of staff, a secretary and three nuns are housed. In the apartment there is also the study of the Cardinal. The financing of the renovation work organized by the Cardinal himself.   He owns nothing as a religious.

It's Not About Facts, but About Moral Discrediting

The comparison with Pope Francis in Santa Marta is lagging in several ways, starting with the smaller space layout of the guest house. The comparison was made by certain media only to stage a contrived contrast between luxury and modesty, between rich and poor, between good and evil, between Benedict XVI. and Francis. While Il Fatto Quotidiano  still insisted after its first report knew to  present Bertone's higher "luxury" "angering" Pope Francis,  to present the Cardinal  now in a letter to two church newspapers that he had been called by Pope Francis to explain this to him in solidarity. The Pope has shown his disappointment over the media campaign against the former Cardinal Secretary of State.

Vatican Spokesman Asked Unsuccessfully for Official Correction

However, it goes for  Bertone's part also that the Cardinal had asked the Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi several times in vain for an official correction of the incorrect media reports.

The appointment of the Secretary of State Cardinal Bertone has never been accepted by his predecessor, Cardinal Angelo Sodano. In protest, that the German Pope did not assign one of his diplomats to the highest Curia Office, Cardinal Sodano  did not leave his residence until the end of 2007, more than a year after being replaced by Bertone, the official residence of the Cardinal Secretary of State at the Vatican. For that reason Bertone was only able to move  in much later.  This affront, who was made by  the elegant but relentless opponent Bertone Sodano, was the real reason for the ever-changing public attacks on Bertone through the targeted dissemination of true, half-true and false information.

One reason why the public relations during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI. never really worked well. If there was trouble, as in the Williamson case, where there is a persistent rumor in Rome that some Church circles that they intentionally let the German pope  run into the knife, ultimately Bertone was held responsible. But now  others are  throwing a wrench in the gears.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: screenshot of Google Infovaticana